Project "What was I Thinking" 68 SWB

[Bennett68C10]

Thanks Hector

[mikeleeshields]

I'm definately feeling you on no paint. By the way I'm too scared to actually capture the cost of everything. That way when I sell it I still feel like I'm making money and not losing my butt lol.

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by mikeleeshields

I'm definately feeling you on no paint. By the way I'm too scared to actually capture the cost of everything. That way when I sell it I still feel like I'm making money and not losing my butt lol.

I'm still undecided on what to do with the paint. I'm just going to keep working on the truck and figure it out later. I don't even bother adding up what I have spent so far on this truck, I know I could have spent a lot less on suspension and wheels and actually had money leftover to have a professional shop do the paint and body but I would rather rock primer then not have the dropmembers or intros.

[mikeleeshields]

Definately hearing you on that. Paint is way overrated when I want to drive mine everyday when it's nice out.

[zicc1835]

Hey Keith,
read the build thread tonight took about 2.5 hours to get thru it all amazing journey.... when you get her home maybe i could drop by see her in person..... sure hope you dont change your mind on that dakota cluster ill see you cruisin on 9 this summer I am sure
Jess

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by mikeleeshields

Definately hearing you on that. Paint is way overrated when I want to drive mine everyday when it's nice out.

Amen brother, just want to fire it up and drive.

Originally Posted by zicc1835

Hey Keith,
read the build thread tonight took about 2.5 hours to get thru it all amazing journey.... when you get her home maybe i could drop by see her in person..... sure hope you dont change your mind on that dakota cluster ill see you cruisin on 9 this summer I am sure
Jess

Thanks for checking out the build Jess, hope to have it home in a couple weeks. I thought I would have had it home by now but it was just easier leaving it at my brothers because of some welding I needed him to finish. Plus he has all the tools and I'm still trying to add to my small collection I'll let you know when it's home, you will be more than welcome to come by and see it. Oh and don't worry I have no plans of changing the Dakota Digital gauges.

[Bennett68C10]

Started working on my hood to fender gaps yesterday. The hood overall fits pretty good but needed some work especially at the front lip on the passenger side, plus overall it is just a little long. First we worked on the cowl piece and got that fitting good. We tweaked it a little and now it fits the fenders and the cab much better. After we fixed the cowl we were able to slide the hood back about 3/16". Now the hood only hung past the fenders in the front about an 1/8".







We spliced the hood along the edge pulled it out and added metal before welding it up. We made sure to do like 6-8" sections at a time so to not warp the hood. We also spliced the front edge of the fender and brought it out the 1/8" to match the hood. I think it came out great and the hood looks awesome on their now









Still have to work on the driver side a little as the hood sits about 3/8" higher than the fender near the front of the hood. If you have seen pictures of cowl hoods you know what I'm talking about.

[Lattimer]

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

Started working on my hood to fender gaps yesterday. The hood overall fits pretty good but needed some work especially at the front lip on the passenger side, plus overall it is just a little long. First we worked on the cowl piece and got that fitting good. We tweaked it a little and now it fits the fenders and the cab much better. After we fixed the cowl we were able to slide the hood back about 3/16". Now the hood only hung past the fenders in the front about an 1/8".







We spliced the hood along the edge pulled it out and added metal before welding it up. We made sure to do like 6-8" sections at a time so to not warp the hood. We also spliced the front edge of the fender and brought it out the 1/8" to match the hood. I think it came out great and the hood looks awesome on their now









Still have to work on the driver side a little as the hood sits about 3/8" higher than the fender near the front of the hood. If you have seen pictures of cowl hoods you know what I'm talking about.

Wow. I wouldn't even attempt that. Nice work!

[67ctener]

Very nice. Is the whole clip aftermarket or just the hood?

[mcbassin]

Nice work on the gaps Keith! I know how time consuming this can be. Keep the pics coming.

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by Lattimer

Wow. I wouldn't even attempt that. Nice work!

Thanks Shawn, I wouldn't have attempted it on my own but I had the help of my father and my brother. We really didn't have a choice, it was the only way to fix the gaps on the hood.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Nice work on the gaps Keith! I know how time consuming this can be. Keep the pics coming.

Yeah it can be a bit of a pita but will be worth it once there is paint on the truck. I still have to tweak the door gaps a little bit, but overall everything fits pretty good now. I can say I am happy with the results. I am also very happy with these Tri-plus fenders and core support. They damn near fit perfect for me. It was only the hood that really needed modifying.

[CC69Rat]

Looks awesome man. Have you thought about a smooth wiper cowl?

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

Looks awesome man. Have you thought about a smooth wiper cowl?

Thanks Chad, I have thought about it but I think I'm just going to leave it the way it is and run a screen under it. I have left pretty much everything on the body stock like the drip rails, door handles and mirrors etc. The only real changes I made to the body was shaving the fuel filler & antenna hole and the cowl hood but I like them and a stock hood wouldn't clear my motor.

[jlsanborn]

Nice work making those panels line up!

[mikeleeshields]

Very nice Keith. That looks very tedious and time consuming but looks well worth it.

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by mikeleeshields

Very nice Keith. That looks very tedious and time consuming but looks well worth it.

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Nice work making those panels line up!

Thanks guys, that was only about a days worth of work so not to bad. Going to take a little more bodywork now to make it perfectly straight but I couldn't leave that passenger gap that way. It looked terrible.

[Bennett68C10]

More progress on the hood, almost done with it now.





On the drivers side I had to drill out the spot welds where the front cross brace was welded. This part was just formed wrong. Drilling out the spot welds allowed us to move the hood down about a 1/2" on the cross brace.





With a little persuasion from a 4x4 and a big hammer we finally got the hood to sit flush with the fender. It sits even with the front of the fender too. Have a little more finish work to do but I'm almost there.

[67ctener]

Excellent job, I would of just put it on and been frustrated it didn't fit.

[AJohn6]

Nice job on the hood/fender gap.

[Rusbuilt]

Very nice Keith!

[darkhorse970]

You are doing a great making those parts fit correctly, it's just crazy that new parts take that much massaging to fit right.

[mcbassin]

That looks great Keith! I always think it's funny how a series of pictures can take a repair like that and make it look so easy peasy..... I know it took some time to get it looking that good.
Nice work!

[CC69Rat]

This is what makes a nice truck into an incredible truck IMO. Fit and fender gaps are details often overlooked but very noticeable on the finished product.. . Now is the time to sweat the small stuff. I promise the time invested will be something you're proud of in the end.

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by 67ctener

Excellent job, I would of just put it on and been frustrated it didn't fit.

Yeah at first I felt the same way but the gap was so bad on the passenger side and the hood sat too high on the driver side it had to be fixed. Every time I looked at it my eye twitched

Originally Posted by AJohn6

Nice job on the hood/fender gap.

Thanks it's taking longer then I had hoped it would but will be worth it when it's done.

Originally Posted by Rusbuilt

Very nice Keith!

Thanks Rus, this is really the last thing I need to do before moving my truck back home. It's just easier to do this type of repair work at my brothers house since he has the welder.

Originally Posted by darkhorse970

You are doing a great making those parts fit correctly, it's just crazy that new parts take that much massaging to fit right.

Thanks, it's really on the hood. The fenders and the core support fit perfectly. I have no complaints and I didn't have to fix rusty parts. I only had to modify the front edge of the fenders because of the hood.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

That looks great Keith! I always think it's funny how a series of pictures can take a repair like that and make it look so easy peasy..... I know it took some time to get it looking that good.
Nice work!

Thanks Mike, believe me it wasn't easy. All we did was cut weld grind repeat we even had to redo the driver side front fender edge after we got the hood to sit flush. Once we had the hood flush it pushed past the fender. It think we have it tackled now.

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

This is what makes a nice truck into an incredible truck IMO. Fit and fender gaps are details often overlooked but very noticeable on the finished product.. . Now is the time to sweat the small stuff. I promise the time invested will be something you're proud of in the end.

Thanks Chad, I should have pretty nice gaps all the way around the truck when done. I'm trying to get everything as nice as I can because who knows how the paint will turn out

[sduckworth13]

Keith, very nice job on getting the hood to fit. That looks like a lot more work than I want to do to make a cowl hood fit. Very Nice!