Fitting the bedwood

Check it out!! We now have wood in the bed!! And let me tell you.. it looks awesome.

The wood and strips needed to be trimmed by about an inch to fit the new dimensions of the bed.. Also the outside planks had to be cut to fit around the tubs.

As you can see, now that the bedwood is cut, the hard part is trying to fit the edges together to secure the bed to the box.

Here is a picture with the wood and strips laid out next to the bed header panel (near the cab)

Now that the strips have been laid out, Joe will use a TIG welder and tack the angle strips in place and secure them to the bed and fenders..

Vroom Vroom!

Zach fell asleep on the way to the shop so Logan took full advantage of the situation by running around the shop and checking out Thunderpig.

You can see Logan checking out the rear wheels of the pickup on the left and there's our 4-runner on the right .. We had Joe replace the front and rear bumpers as well as the hitch after an accident that left the 4-runner feeling a bit like the middle layer of an oreo cookie.. :-/

Logan loves the wheels on the truck.. He always runs over to them and checks them out when he visits the shop.

Here's Logan motioning for us to give him a fist bump.. He was thinking, "Sweet ride Dad!"

He then jumped right into the drivers seat to pretend to drive the truck.. You could hear Logan repeatedly saying "Vroom Vroooom!" while he moved the steering wheel back and forth.. He really had a good time.

We were actually just saying today that Logan is about the same age now (1yr 2mo) as his brother Zach was when we started restoring the truck!

Since today was nice outside, we decided to pull the truck out of the garage.. That was exciting.. Instead of just pulling the truck outside we took it for a quick spin around the yard.. The seats aren't bolted in and the fenders, and mufflers aren't on the truck so we couldn't take it on the road, but it sure was fun to be riding in the pickup again.

Check out the video of Thunderpig in action! Just wait till this baby hits the pavement! :)

Seat options

Picking out the right seat for Thunderpig is crucial.. Because the inside has to look as sweet as the outside of the truck.. Right now we have two options.. Both have good and bad things about them in which I'll try to explain.

1. Bucket seats from a Chevy Silverado
- Safety - The bucket seats come with a built in shoulder harness and the jump seat even has seat belts -- yeah!
- Seats 3 - Jump seat fits nicely in the center, and comes with a cup holder -- yeah!
- Fun for 2 - As far as we can tell, the jump seat doesn't fold down as an arm rest.. -- boooo!
- Fit - The seats don't fit very well - They're slightly larger than we have room for which would require modifications to the jump seat to make it more narrow so the drivers seat would line up with the steering wheel. -- boooo!

2. Bucket seats from a Ford Ranger
- Safety - The bucket seats would have to use lap belts since the cab is not reinforced for a shoulder harness and the seats don't have a built in seat harness. Also, there is no seat belt with the jump seat -- boooo!
- Seats 3 - The jump seat is attached to the drivers seat and is quite small (most likely only a child could sit there) and without a seat belt for the center this would probably rule out a 3rd passenger anyhow -- boooo!
- Fun for 2 - Without a doubt, the seats look and feel nicer than the Silverado seats, and with a fold down arm rest and plenty of leg room, the ride would be quite comfortable for the driver and passenger -- yeah!
- Fit - Lower profile seats give us more leg room in the cab, and are more narrow than the Silverado seats which give us more options for seat mounting -- yeah!

So as you can see from my pros and cons list above, each set of seats come out with 2 pros and 2 cons.. why are these decisions never easier.. lol!

Check out the pictures and let me know what you think.. Keep in mind, the seats will be completely torn apart and new material will be used for the leather upholstry.


Silverado Seats

Here I am testing out the Silverado seats.. -- With the jump seat removed, we were able to set the seat perfectly in place.. with my arm out the window, and my other hand on the steering wheel, it definitely passes the "I'm ready, lets get this truck on the road!" test :-)

Side view of the seats setting in the truck.

View of the entire seat - They set further forward than the Ranger seats, but to be fair, the seat isn't actually sitting in its proper mount position (seat back is pushed back further than it would end up being also)

Here is the jump seat -- If only that sucker could fold down!

Ranger Seats

Zach gave these seats his approval right away and tried out each seat 5 or 6 times.. Of course each time would require opening the door and running around to the other side to open that door and close it behind him..

You can tell the seats are smaller than the Silverado seats, but they're quite comfortable.

See how much further back these seats can be positioned?

Since Logan was asleep we weren't able to get him in this picture, but he would have fit well on the center arm rest. :-)

Zach was making vroom vroom noises and the only complaint he had was that he couldn't reach the gas pedal.. He tried starting the truck twice! Thank goodness we installed that battery kill switch! LOL!

Yeah, someday him and his brother are gonna have a blast in this truck.. oh... boy.

Here's Zach trying to figure out how to get the truck into drive.. yikes.

So what do you all think of the seats? I'm still not sure what to do..