Bringing the '65 back to life

[aggie91]

You have been doing a bunch of metal replacement. Your cougar looks great!

[racecougar]

Thanks!

I had a couple hours available today, so I swung by the shop and deleted the factory firewall holes for the engine harness, oil pressure line, and headlight/horn harness, along with a few other small holes (six holes total thus far). The engine harness and headlight/horn wiring will be relocated so that the wiring is hidden from view.

[racecougar]

The chassis is sitting on wheels/tires for the first time in almost a year. It'll definitely require a bit of a drop.

[dougf]

Awesome! love the pics, its helping me tremendously, im doing cab supports/rockers right now.

[racecougar]

Some friends dropped by today, so we put them to work flipping the cab onto its back. The cab is strapped to a skid, topped with 1" oak plywood and a layer of carpet. It isn't particularly heavy, but it was nice to have some extra arms there to keep everything under control.





Then the cab took a ride around the shop to another bay.





Ready to clean up, smooth out, and finish welding the underside of the cab.



The next step for the chassis will be a trip to the quarter car wash for a serious de-greasing.

[racecougar]

I've put another nine hours into the underside of the cab over the past two days, though the changes aren't all that noticeable from just a photo. For example, a solid hour went into just replacing the floor at the base of the throttle pedal area today.





The rest of the time went into smoothing out welds and welding areas that I had skipped over until the cab was on its back. Still a little ways to go before it sees primer.

[racecougar]

I finished up welding everything on the underside of the cab today. It's ready to wire-wheel, clean, and coat.



Note the high-dollar cab rotisserie.



I use a bunch of tools, but I feel like these few have become my best friends over the past year.

[dougf]

Too cool. Awesome work. Im doing the same thing, and man, I underestimated the amount of work this would be. You look like your getting a lot accomplished though.

[Bomp]

Spent the morning getting caught back up on your build. You've gotten tons done. Makes me wanna get back out on mine.
Lookin Good

[racecougar]

Thanks guys. It certainly is a lot of work, but I really enjoy it.

[Flthead]

30yrs in the autobody trade , so know where your coming from . I'm in the process of doing my ' 64 Lwb now an into spring when weather cooperates some. Your build gives a lil motivation. Keep the updates coming

[racecougar]

Will do!


I spent the afternoon cleaning up the underside of the cab, which is honestly one of my least favorite jobs. The original tar-based undercoating is just a mess to deal with. Everything shown in primer was wire-wheeled, sanded with 80-grit paper on the DA, then wiped down with Acetone. Everything not in primer is obviously yet to be touched. Once it's all in primer, it will get seam-sealed, primed again, painted, then coated with Raptor bedliner.

[TJ's Chevy]

Good work on the cab!

[racecougar]

Thanks! I had hoped to finish cleaning up the underside today, but I managed to get wrapped up in other projects. It may have to wait until next weekend now.

[clemdaddy]

cab bottom is looking good. it was a ton of work to get to this point but a fresh coat of bed liner makes it all worth it. looking to see the final result.

will you do the floor side in liner also? sure makes for a nice seal...

[racecougar]

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

will you do the floor side in liner also? sure makes for a nice seal...

That is a possibility we're entertaining.

[Ta2Don]

Lots of work, but in my opinion, worth the effort expended!

Great Work!!!

[racecougar]

Thanks! We finished cleaning up the underside of the cab today. It's great to just see it all in one color finally.

[jhrusk]

Looks good, let us know what you think of the Raptor after you spray it, I am going to use it on mine.

[racecougar]

Will do!

I forgot to post a picture of this when I was cleaning up the underside of the cab. The wire-wheels and cup brushes did a great job, but they couldn't reach some of the nooks and crannies. The old guy whipped this up real quick out of round stock, a plumber's brush, and a couple 1/4-20 set screws. It worked out great.

[timmytimm3]

Nice work on the cab. I'm starting on door skins then I'll be replacing the same exact parts you did.

It must be an awesome feeling having all fresh primed metal

[Ta2Don]

Originally Posted by racecougar

Will do!

I forgot to post a picture of this when I was cleaning up the underside of the cab. The wire-wheels and cup brushes did a great job, but they couldn't reach some of the nooks and crannies. The old guy whipped this up real quick out of round stock, a plumber's brush, and a couple 1/4-20 set screws. It worked out great.

Great Tool Idea!
Adapt and Overcome!!!

[64chevmn]

I just sprayed the botom of my cab with the Raptor bed liner on Tuesday after spending many hours of prep work. Very easy to spray and looks GREAT! Bad cell phone photo, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

[Bomp]

Looks great.

[racecougar]

That's good to hear, 64chevmn. It looks really good in that photo. How many coats did you do, and how much product did it take to do the floor?


I was hoping to seam seal today, but with the ambient temps being so cold lately, we'd really go through some firewood keeping the shop above 60 degrees for enough time to properly cure it. Instead, we spent the afternoon wirewheeling the lower firewall, cowl vents, and front door pillars. Dad made up a tapped pad to replace the chinsy threaded inserts for dimmer switch, and I tacked that in place. If it warms up at all this week, the frame may take a trip over to the car wash for the first round of degreasing.