Latest progress on the truck

The truck has been taken apart again! :)

The cab of the truck has been removed so Joe could finish the firewall (to make the adjustments necessary to fit the AC, and so he can make any additional modifications to the cab before we paint. Also, the chassis has been wrapped so it doesn't get any overspray or debris on it.. We probably should have done that months ago.. but hey.. we've never done this before.. but we're learning! :)

This week the doors and cab will have one last sanding to make sure everything looks good, then it will be ready for paint. Next up, is the bed of the truck.. We need to finish the fenders, mount the roll pan bumper and lights and secure the bed mounts (currently the bed mounts are too far back leaving too large of a gap between the bed and the cab of the truck).

Once the bed is ready, the wires can be run so we can do what we've all been waiting for.. to fire up the engine!!

The truck looks pretty funny with the cab and front section of the truck removed..

All wrapped up! Is it christmas already? Oh thank you Santa!!

Hand sanded, to make sure the truck is free of any low or uneven spots..

This is what the new firewall looks like. Wedges were put in the center to allow room behind the firewall for the AC unit and hoses.

Close up of the new firewall design. We still have plenty of room for the engine!

Here you can see the back side of the firewall with the wedge in the center. Also above you can see where the dash was cut in an attempt to fit the AC (removing the hinge for the glove box. Now with the new modifications to the firewall we decided to put the glove box hing back in place so we can still have a shallow but somewhat functional glove box.

Another view of the inside of the firewall behind the dash. If you look closely you'll see a bolt that Joe welded to the inside of the firewall to mount the AC unit.. He did it this way, so we didn't have to mess up the smooth firewall seen on the engine side of the firewall.

Dash has been sanded and the steering wheel has been covered to prevent damage.

Inside of the door jams have been sanded and a light coat of bondo has been applied to clean it up.

The doors look nice and smooth.. This upcoming week Joe is going to work on the edges to make sure they're consistent and smooth.. Any flaw's not taken care of now will show up during final paint.

The rear fenders had to be extended down to the steps.. The cuts and welds you see in the picture are to correct the geometry of the inside edge to make it look original and to make sure all of the edges and lines are smooth.

The inside edge of the fender has been shaped and smoothed to align with the hood.


Here is the front end after it was removed from the chassis. There is still some work that is needed to the fenders where they hook into the cab that will need to be done this week, but its really coming along!