51 F1 Rat Rod

[Stacy]

This is a really inspirational build, shows what perseverance and determination gets you.

I got a giggle from the bf woodrich pics back at the start and read through the whole thing. [cl

 

[roddguy1]

Hey Stacy, glad your enjoying this build. It's been a long drawn out process, but I'm having fun with it.


I'm really excited about this update because it includes one operation in this project that I have been looking forward to for a long time. But first, I have finished ruffing in all the sheet metal work needed to complete the chop on the roof.

The pic below shows all the surgury that was needed and new pieces that were added to the inner A pillar. Right now I'm just going to leave things tac welded together untill I have all the cab modifications done.

 

[roddguy1]

Next I needed to replace the lower part of the windshield reveal. These first two pics show what I cut out and why.

I had a replacement from another cab to replace this with that was in mint condition. The last five pics show how I went about doing that.

 

[roddguy1]

Now the really fun part I've been looking forward to. When I started all these modifications to this cab the first thing I did was remove the original dash. I knew it was going to be in the way of laying the A-pillars back. Now I have this big hole that I want to do something interesting with.

 

[roddguy1]

A few years ago I traded a set of adapters I built to modify the original F1 front axel on my truck from parrallel leaf to transvers leaf too Brian at DVAP (Desert Valley Auto Parts in Arizona) for a dash out of a 60 Chevy. Thanks Brian. So now it's time to get it in there.

This series of pics shows what I had to cut out to make it fit. It needed 9 inches taken out of the middle, which completely removed the radio mount and ash tray. I also removed about 6 inches from the top of the dash along the length of it, which removed all of the speaker grill. The real tricky part of it was folding the front edge to match up to the bottom of the windshield reveal.

 

[roddguy1]

And finally some pics of it installed. I want to be able to urithane my windshield in like a modern vehicle. So this means I need to widen the pinch weld where the rubber seal goes to have enough glueing surface. You can see in the last few pics I've kept the dash up high enough to creat that surface. I will weld on more to the rest of the window frame later.

 

[maverickmk]

Wow, nice work. It's really coming along nicely

 

[sleazy]

Great sheet metal skills!I just [dr all over your dash!

 

[Dirtyrat]

Yep I'm digging the dash too, I'm doing something similar, but with a 57 pontiac dash =)

 

[roddguy1]

Thanks for the compliments guys, I really appreciate the imput. I'm having alot of fun with this project again and I'm squeezing in every minute I can. Between working on customer stuff and family it can be a challange.

Now for my next update. With the main fab work on the roof finished and the dash in place it's time to move on to building some doors for this truck. The idea here is that since the cab was stretched four inches in the door area I need to use two doors to make one. I've been thinking of what would be the best way to tackle this and decided that I would spit each door down the middle but with and exctra 2.5" left on each front and rear half. This will leave me a half inch overhang that will be trimed back for a butt joint once I'm happy with the fit.

The first thing I did was to layout the cut lines on the bottom corners of the window reveal that I want to cut out and save for later. Then the cut line for spliting the doors.

Now it's time to break out the cut off grinder, and the air saw.

 

[roddguy1]

Pic 1. First door cut.

Pic 2. Compared to the uncut door.

Pic 3. Second door cut...... looking good so far.

Pic 4. The two halfs clamped together and test fitting.

Pic 5/6. Timed and panel clamped ready for welding.

Pic 7. All tack welded together and another test fitting.

 

[roddguy1]

On the inside of the door the rear half still had the some of the original door pull handle along the window channel. I will be using a regular arm rest/door pull on this truck so I trimed a piece out of the leftovers and closed it up. It has surprised me how different the stampings from what are supposed to be two identical doors have been. I needed to do a little extra surgury to get things to line up nicely

 

[roddguy1]

Now for a little product review.

A friend of mine who owns Weber Chassie gave me this tip when he found out I was looking for some hinden hinges to go with making my doors suicide style.

ROCKY HINGE Inc.
1660 Harding Ave
Girard, OH
44420

I called these folks and explained what it was I was doing. They seemed very knowledgeable and understood exactly what I was looking for. So I placed my order. A week later this is what showed up at my door. For $300 bucks I recieved a very nicely engineered set of hidden hinges designed for making suicide doors on an F1 cab along with a set of bear claw latches and mounting panels. I also recieved a set of jamb switches and very thorough instruction book. I was so impressed I called them the day they were delivered just to let them know how happy I was.

I will deal with them again. [cl

 

[roddguy1]

On a side note, the same buddy loned me a set of drag wheels he wanted to try on my truck. What do you guys think. Personally I'm not digg'n them. I have something else I think I'm gonna like better. I'm just waiting for my adapters to get them on and see........[P

 

[GJunktionMike]

Wider?

 

[Dirtyrat]

I agree on the wider part, but I'm a little biased

 

[maverickmk]

Maybe a little taller also - [S