47-55.1 1953 3100 "Honey-do"

[6DoF]

that stuff is an artform and takes patients, looks good.

[lv2tri2]

Originally Posted by rnrdthefox

So what's the plan?

- 6.2L and 6L80
- TCI Frame
- Must be "Red" according to the boss
- Power windows (removing the vent window)
- Power door locks
- Power seats
- A/C
- Dakota Digital gauges
- Wheels and tires TBD, but probably 18s or 19s and as wide as I can go in the back w/o interference
- Gas tank under the bed with a behind the license plate access to filler cap

It took about 6 months, but I picked up a 2008 Escalade donor from auction for slightly more than the price of a used engine and tranny from one of the wrecking yards. These pics are after giving it a good cleaning inside and out before I started taking it apart. Since it was going to sit in my driveway for several weeks, I needed the HOA to think all was well while I pulled everything from under the hood and all of the front seats, electronics, and misc parts. Then over one weekend, I stripped the hood, front bumper, fenders, a couple of doors, HLs, mirrors, etc for sale on Craigslist before hauling to the Pick and Pull.

I like your build, I'm in the finish

[rnrdthefox]

Time for an update I think. I've been focused on some other things lately and Elk hunting season is approaching in a few weeks, so the distraction will likely last into the fall.

My focus of late is cleaning up a few loose ends with the cab and doors. Much of the time of late has been fussing with the doors on final gaps and alignment before I welded in the door strikers. I've got the doors now ready for the media blaster and will likely drop them off this week.

First, I wanted to close the hole over the transmission. Here are some pics of the transmission cover that I fabricated.

[8man]

Nice!

[rnrdthefox]

Finally welded in the door strikers. I fussed with the doors for a couple of weekends going back and forth with depth of closure to get minimum amount of filler on the doors themselves and keep it on the cab and also tweaking gaps. For some reason, I didn't get final pics of the door gaps and contour alignment. Go figure. I'll snap some late once I get some epoxy on them and remount them. Here are a couple pics of the striker pockets.

[rnrdthefox]

Cleaned up a number of welding areas from replacing the door skin and adjusting gaps with cloths hanger rod. Here are a few pics.

[rnrdthefox]

I knew I had some rust below the glove box, but didn't know that I had some issues under the trim. I found it once I removed the trim for the windshield. I need to deal with this.

The real disappointing part is that I didn't realize that the dash wasn't bolted in. I always assumed it was bolted in. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to fix it in place or pull it out. I REALLY don't want to pull it and deal with the spot welds on the windshield molding surface. Here are a few pics of what I'm dealing with.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by 8man

Nice!

Thank you Sir!

[8man]

I replaced a dash in the 48. While it's no fun, but it isn't that traumatic. The worst part isn't at at the, it is on the sides. If you can get a dash, when it comes out make sure they get all of it! I used a spot weld cutter on the windshield line and it left holes for me to plug weld the new one into place there.

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by 8man

I replaced a dash in the 48. While it's no fun, but it isn't that traumatic. The worst part isn't at at the, it is on the sides. If you can get a dash, when it comes out make sure they get all of it! I used a spot weld cutter on the windshield line and it left holes for me to plug weld the new one into place there.

I'll keep that in mind. Do you have an opinion on the aftermarket dashes? I can pick one up for ~$350 plus shipping. If I have to pull the dash, and a new one fits well, I'd rather just replace with a new one. Although they seem to be backordered right now.

[8man]

I had a used one. It fit well. It was removed very carefully and so I did the same to the truck. It worked well.

I don't know how a new one fits, someone else will have to address that.

[gigamanx]

Nice work on the patch panels. Slow and steady! Following along to see how the build goes.

[rnrdthefox]

Time for an update. I haven't tackled the dash yet and will get a game plan for that in a bit. In the meantime, I wanted to make some progress in some other areas.

I took the doors to the media blaster along with some of the trim. Here are a few pics and what I found. Overall I was happy with the job. I had some rust holes show up on the inside of the drivers door. I also learned that I need to clean the weather stripping adhesive better as the blasting won't take it all off. Overall the doors came back with a clean foundation to work from.

[rnrdthefox]

I decided to replace a complete section of the drivers door where the rust holes were. I have to say the internal bracing is a poor design IMO. It collected dirt and water over the years and rusted from within. Here is what I found.

[rnrdthefox]

I ended up using one of the pieces that came off the power window track to graft into the existing structure. I figured it wouldn't be seen and just need to be solid. Then I welded a solid patch back over it with several spot welds. On the left side, I just filled in the holes. One thing I don't like about doing welding on a clean bare metal door is the welding splatter that has to be cleaned after the fact. Because of this, I'm going to do some more finish welding on the cab before I send it out to be blasted.

[rnrdthefox]

I did get the doors into epoxy primer which was the goal after blasting. Now they can sit for a while until I'm ready to start body work on them. With the white epoxy, I can see all the little dings and dents that need to be fixed along with the weld seams with the patch panels. The body work will most likely start this winter.

[rnrdthefox]

Last weekend I decided to work on the bed inner tubs. I went to the local trailer supply store and bought two fenders. After some measuring, I decided that making the inner tubs about 3.25" wide would work for my needs. Cutting up good fenders was a little painful, but I don't have the tooling to get the rounded corners that I wanted.

Measured a few times, marked with tape, and went to cutting with the cutoff wheel. Also cut out a semi-circle of 16 ga and bent a 3/4" lip on it for the face and tacked it all together.

[rnrdthefox]

A couple last pics of the inner tubs mocked up before final welding work.

[Tempest67]

nice metal work on those inner fenders.

keep it going............

[8man]

Very nice work. Like the repurposed door patch as well.

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by rnrdthefox

I would suggest that anyone doing this, should make templates along the way as it speeds things up on the second door, and provides a uniform look. I know you can only see one door at a time, but my OCD wants pairs to look the same.

Here are a few pictures of the templates I made and used on the second door. Also, I highly recommend you take the time to make a metal template for the Miata handles if you aren't trying to weld in a sheet metal patch for the handles from the door vehicle.

Love the Miata door handles, great job! I had bought a set earlier but realized that the install was going to be waaaaayyy above my skill set!!

[rnrdthefox]

Originally Posted by mobileortho

Love the Miata door handles, great job! I had bought a set earlier but realized that the install was going to be waaaaayyy above my skill set!!

Thanks. It wasn't that hard, just a lot of thinking and figuring. All of the metal work was done with basic tools. It took a while to do however as I couldn't find any details on what needed to be done. That's why I spent the time to document my work.

[mobileortho]

You did an awesome job and your skills exceed mine by far! BTW, this is the link I saw that made me want to install them in mine.
Miata door handles on a AD pickup

[rnrdthefox]

Quick update. I've been jumping around a bit and doing some smaller stuff. First, I built a filler panel below the bed side and roll pan. This was my first test of 16ga metal on a cheap harbor freight bender. I found one for cheap on Craigslist and decided to give it a try. It worked ok. I got those tacked in.

[rnrdthefox]

Next up was getting the driver's rear fender in Epoxy primer. First I had to replace the inner brace where the running board attaches. Then spray it on the few remaining good days left this fall. Also got the inner tubs in Epoxy. Some pics.