project 39

[CSHADES]

decided it is time to get the box finished up. i want to get all of the welding, grinding and body work done on the box then i will epoxy prime and weld the weather strip channels in. the wheel wells were just temp screwed into place so i pulled them out and did some finish work done on them. i drilled some weld through holes on the edges. i drilled and cut the section where the gas fill tube is going to go. did a bunch of grinding and die grinding on the rear section around the tail lights to get it smoothed out for the (hopefully) small amount of filler.

[CSHADES]

worked on getting the box finished. did a bunch of welding. made some lower drop offs and welded them in. figured out what i was going to do with the rear inside by the tail light and started making pieces for that.i should buy stock in the wire and welding gas companies

[CSHADES]

i have been trying to figure out what i was going to do about seat tracks and getting the seat mounted. as i had shown previously i mocked up the seat with blocks of wood to figure out my seat height. i had a set of aftermarket seat tracks but i wasnt impressed with them as far as mounting. on saturday mornings i take my garbage and recycles to the shop to dispose of them. when i was putting my garbage in the dumpster i happened to look over at the metal dumpster and saw that the seat that my brother had changed out in a 2000ish f150 last week. i looked at the seat tracks on it and thought those might work better for my project at home. so i stripped them off of the seat before any of the scrap vultures got to it. when i got home i measured them up and used a combination of tracks from the drivers and passenger sides. cut and weld drill a couple of holes and wala seat tracks. the only thing i didnt get done was the adjuster lever but after looking at it i have a plan. just goes to show sometimes the best plan just falls in place if you are looking and remember never throw away anything. the first picture is the track that i bought.

[Rickysnickers]

You are doing a lot of good work. Keep on truckin!!

[CSHADES]

not a lot to report this weekend. i worked on getting the final welding done on the box. it always seems to take the longest time to do things that you really dont even see or think about when they are done.

[CSHADES]

worked on finishing off the inside rear of the box. i had to make a rear panel, rear side panels and removable lower panels. the rear panel i made with a 90 degree bend on the bottom so the lower removable panels had a place to sit. the hardest ones to make were the short side panels because there is so much going on in such a small amount of space.

[Rickysnickers]

Nice fab skills!!!

[CSHADES]

started the filler/body work. sanding is like at the bottom of things i want to do. my plan is to get the box body work done, epoxy prime and then weld in the weather strip channels. after all of that is done i will spray the lizard skin sound and heat control inside and under the box.

[CSHADES]

i thought i would update this in case anyone is following it. i had a bunch of lawn mower repairs, house a/c problems and getting the coupe ready for the back to the 50s show in st paul. got everything done and left on june 22 for the show. everything was going good, checked in at the hotel and went over and registered for the show. went with a friend for dinner then we decided to hit the pool. that all went fine until i left the pool, feet went out from under me on the slippery tile. fell on my rear end and managed to break my left femur. never did get to go to the show or use my room. they put a rod in my leg and i spent the entire weekend in the hospital. GF came up on monday emptied the hotel room, picked me up and drove coupe back. of course with all of the road construction it was a 5 hour ride, never so glad to get home in my life.working on walking again so might be a few days before i make any more progresson the 39. but i am not giving up, the plan is to have it done for next years back to the 50s. i will win

[Rickysnickers]

Oh man!!! I hope you get back to walking normally soon!!!

[3757chevy]

Originally Posted by CSHADES

i thought i would update this in case anyone is following it. i had a bunch of lawn mower repairs, house a/c problems and getting the coupe ready for the back to the 50s show in st paul. got everything done and left on june 22 for the show. everything was going good, checked in at the hotel and went over and registered for the show. went with a friend for dinner then we decided to hit the pool. that all went fine until i left the pool, feet went out from under me on the slippery tile. fell on my rear end and managed to break my left femur. never did get to go to the show or use my room. they put a rod in my leg and i spent the entire weekend in the hospital. GF came up on monday emptied the hotel room, picked me up and drove coupe back. of course with all of the road construction it was a 5 hour ride, never so glad to get home in my life.working on walking again so might be a few days before i make any more progresson the 39. but i am not giving up, the plan is to have it done for next years back to the 50s. i will win

Man , sorry to here . I hope you heal better soon.

[CSHADES]

have been back working limited amounts of time in the last few weeks on project 39. Been doing some welding on the doors and working on the parking brake mount which i will get some pics of to post. had sthings going on the weekend but monday was free so i thought i would turn on the a/c and the radio and go to town. wasnt really in the mood for body work so i thought i would tackle finishing the condensor/trans cooler mounts and the radiator fan shroud. i bent some tabs, drilled the radiator cross brace and did some welding on the mounts. i figured out the fan to radiator location and proceeded to make a fan shroud from some 18 gauge steel. it took some figuring but it turned out pretty good. i cut the hole but forgot to take a pic before going in the house last night. got a bit more welding and hammering to do but it looks good. i will test fit it before i go any farther. it is good to be back at it after being off all summer.

[Rickysnickers]

Looks good, well done

[CSHADES]

had a productive weekend in the shop. still fighting discomfort/stamina issues from the broken leg but working through it. on saturday i test fit the fan shroud and discovered that the lower pulley was very close to the shroud so i ended up putting a bend in the lower part of the shroud. the way the radiator mounts tips the bottom towards the engine so adding the bend fixed that. i also came up with a removable section around the lower hose, the reason for that is if i made it solid i dont think i could slide the radiator in with the shroud sitting in there. i also decided i should make an overflow catch can and figure out a mount position. i had some 3" exhaust tube so i made the tank from that. i know you can buy premade ones but i have had to do more work to mount those than just building my own. i also drilled and tapped the condensor mount only broke 1 tap in the process. i worked on fitting the grille/radiator baffle. got a bit more finish work to do on everything but i am getting closer.

[Kermitt47]

Nice job on the fan shroud. All these details take time to make it all fit right.

[CSHADES]

decided to work on the left front fender this weekend. the fender was a bit swiss cheesed on the bottom where it meets the running board and rotted away at the very inside mount hole for the board. it also had the usual stress cracks and minor tears. i have the original left front fender for the truck but it is very ugly. somewhere in the past before me there was a hole torched into the fender so a piece of angle iron for a tow bar stuck through. i decided the original fender wasnt really good enough to save but at least i could use the bottom piece to fix the other fender. i worked on welding in the piece and general rust removal on the fender. first pics are of the ugly fender and the other pics are the not as ugly fender i am going to use.

[CSHADES]

swapmeet was going on this last weekend so i thought i would go fri and sat but my body decided fri was enough. so i actually got some work done on sat and sun i welded a bit on the fender that i patched. i decided to get some of the panels stripped that still had paint on them. i hate sanding so whenever i am in the mood to sand i do it because i never know when i might be in the mood again. i hate forcing myself to do something but it all has to be done right? the hood tops were mostly stripped of paint but still needed the bottoms and edges done. the hood sides needed both sides stripped and the license plate surround needed the rust cleaned on the inside.i decided on this truck to remove the hood latch rods and brackets because it is a pain to sand around them. i hope it isnt going to be an issue putting them back together i plan on finding some smooth head bolts or just use some stainless buttonheads. depends on what i can find. i skim coated some mud on all the panels after stripping just so i felt like i accomplished some towards paint.

[Rickysnickers]

It's coming along nicely

[CSHADES]

didnt get as much done this weekend as i had hoped. my plan is to get everything done that relates to the cab it self. like getting the battery mount located and made, finishing the seat mounts and replacing the brace in the rear of the cab. so i can get the cab off the frame and on to the rotisserie. i have an appointment for the interior in January so i thought if i can get the cab and doors painted i would just send the cab out on a dolly or anther frame and work on the rest while it gone. i also have still been in the mood to sand so i did work on the hood a bit.

[CSHADES]

I thought it was time to get the back of the cab squared away so when i put it on the rotisserie it isnt moving around. when i swapped the lower rear panel of the truck i didnt think it out as well as i should of. so i got the crusty rear cab brace cut out and started cleaning the overlap sections out. my plan is to put some por 15 in between the 2 panels screw them together tight and then reweld them together. then install the replacement brace that i have. i also need to fix the floor to brace pieces which i made new ends for but forgot to get a pic of. i also found some more rust holes that i didnt know were there so i cut some patches and started more welding.

[CSHADES]

worked on the rear cab bracing. i rebuilt the floor to cab brace by making new ends for them. i painted all of the bracing and the cab rear panel on the inside with por15 to hopefully slow/kill the rust from returning. i got the battery box that is going under the left front fender tacked together. the last picture is the mount bracket for the parking brake actuator. i was going to use a the old tried and true hand brake lever but could not figure out a place to mount it that wasnt going to interfere with something around it. i decided a ESTOPP parking brake setup was probably going to be the best solution in this case. If you havent heard of them it is a self contained parking brake actuator that mounts pretty much anywhere on the frame and just has a button and a small module to mount inside the truck cab.

[CSHADES]

been working on the truck when i can. i was planning on working on it hard fri, sat and sun after thanksgiving but of course i caught whatever flu bug was going around so i spend thanksgiving weekend in bed instead. i have been working on it the last few weeks since. i got the battery box welded together, the mount is tacked on to the frame under the left front fender. i made a cover to hide the battery and the box. i tackled the inside part of the cab next, i needed to make a rear panel and figure out seatbelt placement. the seat belts are going to be 3 point with retractors. after looking at how the seatbelts are mounted in my newer ram truck i figured i could do something similar with the belts in 39. so the retractors are going to mount in the door pillar and the belt will run up on the inside of the pillar to the bottom of the cab brace. then it will pop out for abot 10 inches to the upper seat belt mount. the pics show the new panel i made for the back of the cab and the lower seat belt mount. i will take some more as i get the panel finished.

[CSHADES]

finished up the rear panel with seat belt holes and speaker holes. the tape on the speakers was to protect the speaker covers while i was tacking it together. made a trans tunnel and screwed it down, i will cut the floor from the bottom then weld the tunnel in. i hope everything is done that i needed done because i pulled the cab and mounted on the rotisserie. time to get serious on some metal finish work and body work. hope everybody had a good new year, now its time to get some work done.

[Rickysnickers]

Nice work on the rear wall and speaker enclosure.

[CSHADES]

started the weekend making a pattern for the headliner. the pattern helped but i still had a lot of figuring to do. having the cab upside down really helped with building the headliner, gravity can be your friend. i have a bunch more bending and welding but at least the basics are there. i also ended up with this free brand new steck panel tree. a guy called me on saturday morning wanting to know if i needed one and of course i said yes, the box was damaged so they were going to throw it in the dumpster if i didnt take it. i had thought about buying or building one so it was a winner for me. i think it will work good with some modification.