Project "What was I Thinking" 68 SWB

[mcbassin]

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

[CC69Rat]

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

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by 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!

Thanks Scott, I think it was worth the work. I love the way a cowl hood looks and a stock hood wouldn't clear my motor the way it is set up currently. I also would have had to completely rebuild my stock hood due to all the rust which would have been a lot more work.

[~Whitey~]

Keith your truck is looking sick man. I love it. Nice work on the gaps, I'm getting ready to go down that final gap road myself. Love that pic you have as your profile now.


also, that cowl hood on it is just right. Perfect.

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by ~Whitey~

Keith your truck is looking sick man. I love it. Nice work on the gaps, I'm getting ready to go down that final gap road myself. Love that pic you have as your profile now.


also, that cowl hood on it is just right. Perfect.

Thanks Jimmy it was a lot of work but worth it. I love the way the cowl hood looks on there. I wish I had your ability and confidence to paint, your truck looks great.

[Bennett68C10]

Spent another day on the hood, I now have over 30 hours into this thing but I do really love the way it looks now. Don't mind the shiney spots the primer didn't dry yet.

[jeh]

Looks good Kieth, its a shame that a person has to do that much work on new parts..

[sduckworth13]

Hood looks great Keith, nice work.

[Rusbuilt]

nicely done!

[Bhelton]

Looking great!

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by jeh

Looks good Kieth, its a shame that a person has to do that much work on new parts..

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Hood looks great Keith, nice work.

Originally Posted by Rusbuilt

nicely done!

Originally Posted by Bhelton

Looking great!

Thanks guys it's not perfect but at this point is as good as it's going to get and looks a hell of a lot better then when I started. I'm just glad the rest of the re-pop parts didn't need this much work to fit properly. I guess I lucked out with the fenders and core support.

Next week I have to fix the passenger side door fender gap and put in my Slosh Tubz, then she is finally coming home for good so I can finish the bodywork and paint it.