65 Short Fleet Small Window Update

[Bomp]

Totally diggin the bed wood.
Thanks for the info and links on the bed wood.

[duallyjams]

Huh a build in Md, I really need to pay more attention to things that are close to me.
Really like the bed wood.

[nhr3]

Thanks for the positive comments on the bed wood. I have still not decided if I am going to just oil it or put a glass finish on it.


Not much happening right now I am in Upper Michigan waiting for weather to clear to fly a job. When that is done we are going to do about two months of heavy maintenance on the aircraft. After that things should slow down on the work side so I can get back to the important stuff.

Hoping the radiator from RnD comes soon so I can get the new motor going and be able to move the truck around to better be able to work the bed and body work.

Also waiting for the seat, interior guy has had it since June. It is amazing how much stuff can't get done in the cab without the seat to fit things. This guy takes much longer I may just have to go get it and take it to a different shop.

I know the truck will never be complete but I am hoping to have it a driver with paint done by spring or summer.

[nhr3]

Just returned from 47 days on the road doing a major inspection on an aircraft. Now we are going to have a bit of home time so it is back to the shop.

While I was away the RnD radiator came so I have been able to install it and get the crate motor running. First start up the motor was leaking antifreeze from a pipe plug on the back of the right head. After a huge mess I was able to change the plug and everything went smooth from there. The original plug had some flattened threads that were causing the problem. Motor and transmission (Bowtie Overdrive 700R4) run great.

I have spent a couple of days working on getting enough bolts in the bed to understand body lines. I found it necessary to shim the cab up 1/4 inch to get everything to line up.

Last night the seat returned home from the upholstery shop. I installed it this morning. I am very impressed. Just what I wanted.

Next up continue work on electrical harnesses, weld in a center arch panel over the right wheel well, start body work (mud and block sanding). Hopefully we can have everything straight enough so that when the weather turns nice we can be painting.

[nhr3]

Winter time and we are in the deep freeze. This ends up being a good time to do body work because of few interruptions. I head to the shop each morning and fire up the wood stove. by the time I have had the second cup of coffee everything is toasty. Last week we worked on the left bed side. It had few problems and went rather smoothly. The right side is a different story. There are a couple of dents. The remnants of the snaps from a previous bed cover and rot over the right wheel arch where the braces connect in the wheel well flange. We decided to replace part of the wheel arch. So far so good, said the man falling off the tall building. Weld and grind.

[nhr3]

The other part of the weld and grind work is I have eliminated the forward stake pocket structure and patched over both forward and aft pocket openings. I like the clean rail effect.

[nhr3]

Weld and grind session on both bed sides complete until we start into block sanding. I am now back to the cab. Door alignment is big time frustration but I think I have a good compromise worked out. I am disassembling the fenders and front piece. Going to spay inside of fender wells and inside of fenders with tinted bedliner. Also working on making a rubber bulkhead out of 1/4 inch material for the back end of the front fender well. Pictures to follow.

[nhr3]

Truck has been apart for so long (3 years) and off the road for 15 years that I decided last night i needed to review when it was last pretty. here are some throw back pictures, If I remember right it was late fall 1985 in Savannah GA

[nhr3]

I have been working two projects lately. In the 1985 I cut up a floor mat to make a bulkhead between the wheel wells and the front of the doors. I ordered the seal they produce for this area and was not satisfied with fit attachment etc. I ordered some 1/4 inch thick rubber mat from Ebay and have made my own seal. It will attach to forward face of the "A" post and extend to the front of the stiffener on the aft end of the fender.

[nhr3]

The second project was the vent windows. I have disassembled both sides and blasted the frames. I needed to prime and paint. Well if i was breaking the shop down to paint I decided I could also Prime the fenders and front piece, paint the backsides of the pieces and apply the bedliner to the insides of the fenders. Long day, skuff and Epoxy prime everything, basecoat black to vent window frames, basecoat red to inside areas of fenders and front piece, three coats of clear to everything and finally bedliner to exposed areas. The hard part was clean up but it was eased along with a bit of beer for the laborer. Thinking about doing the bedliner on the inner fenders today or starting on the inside of the doors.

[nhr3]

Yesterday was going to be a productive day on the truck project then everything else decided to have priority. Sunday my son and I removed the hood so I could prep the inside and paint. That evening my daughters car locked up the left front caliper on the brakes. I also acquired a sailboat silhouette for the front of the shop and remembered the snow thrower had thrown a belt last year. Bottom line, we our progress consisted of prepping the old engine for sale and listing it on clist, did a brake job on a Mazda, hung a silhouette, fixed a snow thrower and looked at the hood. Maybe today we will see more progress.

[tune_1]

looking good. Great to see progress.

Dwight

[markeb01]

Life has a habit of getting in the way of important priorities! Nice to see you're still chipping away.

[nhr3]

Well it took a week but we got the inside of the hood painted and reassembled. 3 coats of epoxy primer, two colors of base coat (Red and black) and three coats of clear coat. Next project is probably paint the insides of the doors and remount. Hopping to paint outside of the truck this spring or summer but all of this other stuff needs to be complete before starting into block sanding and prep.

No airplane jobs on the short term horizon so I am basking in the retirement mode.

[wutnxt]

Nice work ....I make most of my bed kits so I know how much work that actually is....good job man.

[nhr3]

Originally Posted by wutnxt

Nice work ....I make most of my bed kits so I know how much work that actually is....good job man.

Thanks for the comment. Bed is not done yet. I have decided I will Clear Coat the boards so everything has to come back apart for that and painting of the bed sides.

[nhr3]

Originally Posted by wutnxt

Nice work ....I make most of my bed kits so I know how much work that actually is....good job man.

Thanks for the comment. Bed is not done yet. I have decided I will Clear Coat the boards so everything has to come back apart for that and painting of the bed sides.

[scottco]

Looks Great !!

[cheessee]

I went with Ron Francis wiring in my current project and I loved it!! It was defiantly worth the money!! Don't think I'll ever try another brand!

[nhr3]

Well this week we decided to work on painting the interior side of the doors. rust proofing the inside of the doors, work at finish install of the close out rubber panels for the aft end of the front fenders and shooting bedliner on the front and rear inner fender wheel well sides. Not quite there yet but at least the doors are back on. We still have decisions to make on how to finish out the interior sides of the doors. Eventually we will install power windows and I am considering a panel covered in the black like the seat for the center in the area of the handles. We will also need an arm rest at least on the drivers side. All decisions that can be made later.

[chevy49]

truck looks great keep the info rolling in I will be watching this one.

[nhr3]

Today has been nice here so it was time to do some sand blasting. The last frontier as far as big part blasting was the tailgate. I have two, one that I put on the truck new (repop) in 1985 and one that had been given to me some years ago. Well both have their issues so I decided to blast them both and make a decision. The blasting is done and I should put both into primer in the next day or so. We finished that deal up and got all the equipment put away and still had daylight to play with. Decided bumper brackets in the blast cabinet would round out the day.

[nhr3]

Well today was the day. I was enjoying having the truck almost all assembled but knew it could not last. Today we took the bed apart so we could get started on final preparation for, paint varnish and every thing else that needs done.

I started the process by sanding smooth the teak I am putting in the bed. tomorrow I will start the finish on it and probably start into block sanding the bed sides. The plan is to paint the cab separate of the bed. I will shoot the bed in pieces and assemble after the cab has been painted. Hopefully by summer I will have a running driving truck for the first time in 10 or so years.

[nhr3]

Well after a day of sanding we put the first of many coats of Urethane on the teak bed wood. Because of the chilly outside conditions it will probably be a few days before I start wet sanding and re-coating. I am happy so far but it will probably take 6-8 coats to get that glass smooth finish I want.So I am back to body work and panel alignment.

[nhr3]

I have spent the last 4 days doing the old varnish, wet sand, repeat on the wood for the bed (Teak). A few more coats and it should be ready. We also received our new hood hinges from LMC and installed. I was having problems getting the back of the hood to sit down and far enough forward. The hinges did not seem to be worn and I extended the slots to try to compensate but it was being a very frustrating process. The new hinges made all the problems go away. We are working on final panel fit for the cab and then we will start on block sanding and preparing for paint when the weather turns. Temperatures in the single digits this morning and wind is howling, so it may take a bit for the wood stove to warm the shop enough for varnish. We are also getting ready to upgrade out membership on this board and start listing spare parts. Don't really need to sell but I am running out of room.