Columbus..the 1957 IH 4x4..

[Ol Blue K20]

Well, I'm glad it's nothing permanent. But, it really too bad I can't leave for a few days and you go and hurt yourself......geez......

[jjzepplin]

Oh thank god you are OK!

[Scott2]

Take care of that hand and don't do too much with it - just let it heal for a few days at least.

[mongocanfly]

Thanks guys..!!...the ortho dr thought they may have gone a little overboard at the er...
I've been making some fists with it to try and keep it moving...but its 100x better today than it was tues..

[jjzepplin]

Not to be morbid or anything, But PM me a pic. I have seen my bones a few times.

[mongocanfly]

Getting ready to put my shifter in...I knew I wanted a round shifter boot..they're harder to find than I thought...wound up one for a kenworth is just what I needed..problem is they dont come with a hold down ring...so i just made one...well a actually 3, but only one good one..I was trying to use my plasma torch and circle cutter to cut these out...but my plasma was acting up and made a mess outta the first 2..so I cut one 1/4" bigger od, and 1/4" smaller id, then stuck it in the lathe and finished it up...turned out nice..
Made it from 1/8" plate..

[mongocanfly]

Next, I needed to install the floormats, because the shifter boot needs to sit on top of the mat...
I had been holding off putting the mat in until I was closer to done wiring...with as much as I was sweating , it would have been like a slipnslide...
The floormat and pad was an adventure from the word go....
I should have known that...
when I ordered a 1957 IH A120 floormat, they sent me a glove box for a 60s IH truck instead....
Yeah right...
"Custom fit....just like factory....no trimming needed..blah blah blah"..
Yeah right...
It comes with padding to go underneath,,,a layer of some kinda tar looking mat, a layer of jute looking mat, and the rubber mat...started out trying to get the pad in...wrestling all that mess in was like trying to drag 3 mules into the cab by their tails all at the same time...
I finally got exasperated and just cut the padding up in sections to make it fit..
I'll use tape to hold that together..I've got some good stuff I thinkll hold the pad..
Next comes the floormat...oh boy ...
well I been trimming edges on it until I finally got it to lay down,but right In the middle where the shifter is , is a big hump that I cant get to lay down...
You can see in the pics how the mat is in 3 pieces...right, left , and the center section...
its sewed together, and not very good I might add..
If I had a way to sew it I would just cut the stiches and redo it but I dont...I'm gonna try to use 3M 77 adhesive on it and hope for the best....
I've sprayed a couple pieces of scrap mat and have them clamped together to see how it holds..
Will check that in the morn and see how it holds..

[Ol Blue K20]

Progress is progress, the boot ring looks nice. The mat looks to be a b***h. Best of luck with that.....

[jjzepplin]

Have you tried a heat gun on the hump?

[mongocanfly]

I dont think heat will help it any...the mat has cording in it...like a conveyor belt..

[mongocanfly]

Well I took a couple of scrap pieces of the mat and tried 3M 77 on it
Let it sit out overnight and about half a day...
..checked on my glue job...didnt hold worth a crap...
I didnt have much to lose, so I went ahead an cut the stiches from the wrinkle to the front..with a little pressure I can make it lay flat, but flattening it out also leaves a very narrow overlap to glue...
I had the test piece overlapped about 2in...
So I may just go ahead and get some bulk floormat and make one for it...
Still dont know how I would put it together where it would stick

[mongocanfly]

May get one of these and try my hand at sewing it back together

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

May get one of these and try my hand at sewing it back together

With your fab skills, I don't doubt your sewing skills.......

[mongocanfly]

Thanks Dale.....I had a guy that reworks IH seats tell me that a 180deg curved needle would work better...I just happen to have one from my taxidermy days...if I can find it...haha...

[mongocanfly]

I'll try to get caught up on the electrical stuff I been working on...between the heat, humidity, er trips ,frustration and other odd jobs I got this done..
Anyone who's done the LS thing knows the aggravation of finding places to put all the electrical stuff..
Once again. I wish PSI offered the option for the harness to be a foot shorter, or a foot longer than the way they sell them..
Well on a IH the dash doesnt offer much space to hide anything..
But there was a spot of firewall between the toeboad and dash that was about 18x18 that was bare..
So I held the ecm, tac, and fuse block up there and it was just enough space...
So...I started trying to figure how to mount it all up..
Heres what I came up with..
I took a piece of 16ga bent the bottom to fit the toe board, made some mounts, made some brackets to hold the wiring harness, I had a mount for the ecm so I used that...and put it all together..
Everything fits up pretty good..

[mongocanfly]

No way was I gonna leave all this exposed...so I started making a cover for it..
Took another piece of 16ga, used the radius dololly I made to use when I made the radio box..
And bent out a cover for it..
Not content to have a big ol blank looking piece of metal staring at me I decided to do a little detail work on it...
So I made a "IH" die and a stamp..

[mongocanfly]

I tried it out on a scrap piece of 16ga..
Applied a little bit of 20ton lovin..
Was pleased with the results..

[mongocanfly]

So now to do it for real..
I held my breath and went for it..
Pleased with the results....

[mongocanfly]

Got it painted, used dzus fasteners to hold it in place...happy with the results...
IH puts their logo on everything they build, so maybe this'll blend in with the whole truck...

[regan wilson]

If you change something you have to make it look like it belongs there. You've done that with the whole build.

[Ol Blue K20]

Wow! That's great planning and execution on the mount......NICE.

[mongocanfly]

Thanks Regan and Dale....

[67C10Step]

Holy crap, you got some skills. You better be glad you are not my neighbor. I'd be bugging the crap out of you all the time.

[rgunlock]

That is one seriously clean looking solution you fabricated to hide your electricals. Nice job! I hate even looking at the zip-tied mess I have under my dash.

[8man]

Incredible detail work! That cover looks great.