project 39

[CSHADES]

saturday morning decided to get the bracing in the drivers door tacked together and the brace that holds the door latch and the window regulator needed to be lengthened. i had to make a decision on which end to make longer which you think would be easy but actually required some thought. If i added the 6 inches to the front the the door handle would be farther back than i wanted, if i added to the rear the window handle would be to close to the dash like my 40 is now. i have to be careful not to rap my knuckles on the dash. so in the end i decided to add the 3 inches to each end so the door handle remains centered in the door. i also was having problems with the drivers door upper hinge had slop in it. i decided to make a new door pin for the drivers upper. i have a bunch of old stainless 5/16 rod so i bored the pin holes to 19/64 and turned down the pin to fit. i needed new upper pins anyways because i have the mirrors that mount on the upper hinges.

[CSHADES]

welded on the drivers door on sunday. i wasnt happy with the upper window frames that i had tacked together last week. so i cut out a 4 inch section and welded in a left over piece. it still needs some work but i am gaining. i also messed around with the door lock situation. i decided i really dont like the lock in the handle set up so i am going to change it to the lock cylinder style in the door that the 46s had. i really want a outside lock in the drivers door but i havent worked out how that is going to happen yet. i know thw the lock cylinder from a car will work but i have to figure out how to make the latch work with it.

[CSHADES]

worked o\n the drivers door on sat. the front half that i used the bottom was kind of rotten so i decided to make a new piece for that and install it. i didnt want to lose my sense of where the bottom was supposed to be so i did that first then i made a new piece the length of the door where the outside panel overlaps. so i bent it and then used the shrinker to get the curve. i made a new panel about 2 inches up the outside of the door and shrunk the edges of that to get the curve. when i downloaded the pics this morning i see that i didnt get any of the completed door so i will take some and get those on here.

[CSHADES]

we got a sizable snow fall on sat nite so i had to get up early(4:30) sun morning to take care of that downtown. So i got home about 8am and did my usual sunday morning chores. i was feeling a bit lazy after all of that so it was about 3pm before i finally made my way out to the shop. I messed with the door a bit more then decided it was time to start on the rocker. i decided that my plan was to get everything cut, mocked up and tacked together before i finish welding it all together in case i have to change anything. so i used 2 rockers to make 1. I went to bolt on the front rocker to check its fit and couldnt find the mount holes after looking at the back side of the door jamb i could see where i had cut off the screws to get the rocker off originally, so there was a bunch of screwing around to get the remaining screw pieces out. after all that nonsense i figured out the floor i bent up was to far out in the rocker area. i had to cut the bent edge and make a new one up, which actually worked out for better because i didnt have enough material hanging down to mount the rocker on any ways. i ended up making 3 pices by the time i got done before i was happy with the results. I ended up with a nice reveal to set the edge in when i am done.

[CSHADES]

got some more pics of the work on the bottom of the drivers door. got home a bit early last night so i had some time to work on the rocker a bit. got it final cut and tacked together. put it back on truck and tried the door. it all fit together quite well just had to adjust the front corner of the lower door skin because it just touched on the top of the rocker. had to adjust the rocker drop off that i made on sunday because it stuck out about a 1/4 inch farther than i wanted. this is really going together better than i thought it would. my goal on this is to have it in primer and driving this summer and painted next summer. i want to take it to the back to the 50s for their 50th anniversary show and my 50th anniversary of owning it. i have a lot of work to do but i think the interior guy will be my hold up. it may not have a complete interior for back to the 50s but i am going to get on his list for spring of 2024.

[Rickysnickers]

Nice work!!

[CSHADES]

worked on passenger door this weekend. repeat of previous steps as the drivers door. didnt think anyone wanted repeat pics so non e this week.

[Rickysnickers]

Got it, rinse and repeat

[3757chevy]

Originally Posted by CSHADES

worked on passenger door this weekend. repeat of previous steps as the drivers door. didnt think anyone wanted repeat pics so non e this week.

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Got it, rinse and repeat

GOTCHA!
Something like this.

[CSHADES]

exactly the same just a mirror image. the passenger door front part is a bit rougher than the drivers door but basically the same steps. i thought it was going to go a bit faster after doing one side but it doesnt seem to. of course i also thought i was going to get a lot more done this past weekend but my 5 year old fridge decided to stop cooling on fri nite/ sat morning so it was off to the appliance store for a replacement so that finished saturday afternoon.

[CSHADES]

decided to get the rocker and rocker mounting flange done and installed this weekend.i finished the rocker flange, i bent the lower edge to give it some strength instead of just flat like the factory left it. i also installed riv nuts to hold the rocker on instead of the nuts on the back side. i made filler pieces for the ends of the flange to the cab so it looks a bit more finished than the factory did. i also worked on the passenger door some more. i had been fighting the curve flange on the bottom of the door. i couldnt figure out why the drivers door went so well and this one isnt. well i was over thinking how much curve i needed so i must have had a brain fart. so cut off what i had started tacking in and make a new piece and tack in. when i chopped the top and stretched the cab i changed the rear panel. the outside of the panel is nice straight and rust free but something caused the inner brace to get rotten on the drivers side brace. so sat morning i spent digging out the cut off remains of a 46 cab so i can harvest the brace and the little pocket where the bumpers for the dovetail sit. it looks like somebody tried prying bumpers out and it is all bent.

[CSHADES]

a little slow at work this week so i left a little early to try and get some of the 39 stuff done. welded in the rocker flange on the drivers side same as passenger side. i was a bit concerned on how the garnish mouldings were going to work out but after working on them a bit i dont think there is going to be a problem . the rear one was really easy after looking at it i decided i could just trim the bottom 2 inches and it would work. the front one i cut the 2 1/2 inches and it fit back together nicely. the biggest problem was figuring out what to use on the missing 7 inch gap front to back. i ended cutting a piece from another front moulding and using the factory splice cover to finish. i have a bit more to finish them up but i tried the glass channel and it fits nice. hopefully i can finish the bottoms of the doors and make my glass patterns this weekend.

[Kermitt47]

Great tutorial on what it takes to stretch one of these cabs for some more leg room. Please keep the postings coming.

[CSHADES]

i am glad you guys have been enjoying it. it has been a lot of work to do but after driving my 40 for the last 25 years i am looking forward to having the leg room. i have more pics from this weekend to put up i will do that soon.

[CSHADES]

worked on the door bottoms. the drivers door i had tacked before but was not happy with the gap on the bottom so i cut it loose and moved it around. only doing 2 inches on the bottom didnt allow me room to hammer on the inside as much as i wanted so the passenger door i went to 4 inches which will allow me to hammer on the inside a bit easier. i used one of my worn out thicker cut off disc for a gap gauge which made it a lot quicker and easier to check my gaps.

[CSHADES]

last night i decided to work on the bottom of the cowl. as most of you know i have a lot of these trucks and parts of trucks. everyone i have ever had has been rotten on the bottom of the cowl. after cutting into it i can see why, there is no place for moisture to go once it gets into the space. i repaired the bottom of the cowl on the 40 when i built it but that was long before i had a clue what i was doing or the correct tools to do it. the bottom of the cowl is rounded so i made a pattern first of what i wanted and then made a hammer form from a old particle board shelf that was laying in my odds and ends pile. i cut it out of 18 gauge sheet metal, bent the jamb side in the brake and then hammer formed the bottom edge. i was not very happy with the result. after looking at it against the truck i came to the conclusion that 18 gauge is too thick to get it formed the way i need it and the brake i used is not sharp enough in the bend. so my next plan is to use what i made for the inside cowl piece on the other side and make the outer piece from 19 gauge and use the press brake to make the jamb bend. hopefully then i can shrink the jamb edge and get the small curve i need. i also got lucky and found an original reveal piece that goes on the lower cowl in front of the rocker. most of them rot and fall off. this one was on the leftover parts 40 that i am building. i am going to use the rusty part as the pattern to bend new ones from the left over pieces of rocker that i have and then weld them into the new lower cowl.

[CSHADES]

i had dug out one of my cut off cab parts last weekend to use as a donor for the rear cab brace and the dove tail rubber bumper bracket. but then i remembered i had an uglier yet rear cab section that i had bought when i was in kansas 12 years ago that i wouldnt even feel bad about cutting up. it was hacked off a truck with a torch before i bought it. so this morning when i got to work i ran down to my storage building in town and looked for it. after about 20 minutes of looking i found it and weaseled it out of the pile of parts in one of the back corners. it was a very ugly piece but it will work for what i need. i brought up to the shop and proceeded to cut what i needed. which is the brace that goes side to side. and the bonus is i needed the left rear cab mount plate for the 1940 left over parts truck. i guess it is a win-win friday for me.

[CSHADES]

i started on the lower cowl this week as you guys saw in my last post. so it actually took 4 pieces to make the lower cowl not including the reveal. the one pic shows the rusty under side of the inside mounting area i cleaned it up and sprayed some rust converter on it. when i get the cab on the rotisserie i will finish up the bottom of that and also weld the inside to outside cowl panels together and finish weld and clean up.

[CSHADES]

had company on the weekend so didnt get as much done as usual. worked on making patterns for side window glass. made 2 patterns from the 1/8 inch stuff on sunday they were close so monday went and found a 1/2 sheet of 1/4 tempered board and cut a final i hope pattern. will try it on passenger side next to make sure.

[CSHADES]

been working on the glass patterns for the side windows. i figured i had better make sure that the regulators and the glass channels were going to work correctly at the same time. it was a good thing i did. after chopping the top the angle that the window goes up changed, so i had to cut the front window channel mounts and move the bottom 1/2 inch to get the window to roll up and down without binding. so now i have all of my patterns done i can send them off to get some glass made. i also found some nors channels on ebay which definetly helped things along. most of these original channels are so crusty it is hard to find a decent pair.

[CSHADES]

on sunday i decided i should look at seat placement and figure out where my parking brake handle was going to mount. i am trying to get everything mocked and tacked together before i take the cab off the frame and put it on the rotisserie. i bought the seat frame and foam from glide when i was at back to the 50s show in 2019. i had never opened the box until now. it is a very nice frame. i mocked the frame up with some wood blocks under to estimate the height. with the top chop it looks like i need to mount the frame a lot lower than i had planned on. so now my plan to mount the park brake is not going to work. so what i came up with last night is to use one of those universal electric park brake actuator so i wont need to have anything on the floor of the cab. i put one of these in a friends car a while back, they do work nice. the only problem is using it in an emergency to stop the car. it is either on or off no slow pull on handle to slow it down. i am still thinking about this one.

[Steeveedee]

Looking good! You are a man of many talents.

[CSHADES]

i decided to do something different this weekend on the truck instead of the usual welding/metal work. i have been thinking about how i was going to get all of the terminal strips, relays, ground bars, power supplies and control boxes in the small space that i had set up in the side panels. i started shopping for a power strip that would fit in the panel and i have ground bars that i use for any of the wiring jobs that i do. i came across a fuse panel that was the height i needed to clear the side panel and the bonus was the panel has a ground strip on the top. i also had to wire the relays that will control the actuators for the bed cover. i had it set up for using a power window switch to control the actuators but i was concerned about the power draw through them so i found a diagram on wiring 2 relays and using the switch to control the relays. so saturday afternoon i got everything mounted, wired and i tested the actuator setup which seems to work well. the only other thing i had to think about hard was how we had set up the control box for the 3rd brake light. i looked back through this thread and found a picture of when we were bench testing the setup.

[Rickysnickers]

Nice clean wiring job

[CSHADES]

I forgot to add that after sending my glass patterns out last monday i got the new cut glass and the patterns back this monday. i have to say i was quite impressed with the quick turn around especially with custom cut glass.