1931 Chevy 4door into pickup.

[smallfoot]

Quote endicott-"I really think she's coming along well and looking more and more like a car everyday."

er....truck!

 

[Old Iron]

I concur on the lookin good [P

 

[endicott_jb]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Y'all keep my motivation up when I don't feel like doing anything.

 

[willyD]

Man, you are getting into that final stretch now! Still a ways to go but getting there. Looking really cool. If you ever get down to Bozeman, give me a shout!

I just noticed that you welded the steering column in! I don't think I've ever seen that done before. Did you do it that way because of the chain drive system under the dash?

 

[endicott_jb]

Thanks y'all. Really, thanks a lot. And yeah, I'm definitely in the home stretch. I didn't really do anything to her today aside from cut the 2 holes in the second gauge pod and tighten down the 2 other lights(I had ran out of nuts for that size screw.) I think tomorrow I'm gonna see about mounting a couple of cowl lights I picked up at a swap meet and use them as turn signals but I dunno yet because they didn't come with lenses and so far I haven't seen any that will look right or fit. But we'll see about that tomorrow. Unfortunately, it's car show season and a lot of the shows I attend are at least 2 hours away(my favorite for the state is 5) so with traveling more comes more spending so certain things that I need won't be bought until either later this summer or early this fall. I'll probably keep hammering on it and do little things just to keep me busy and make it a bit more of a finished look inside. As for your question willy, I welded the column to the dash because really, I don't need a column but it gives it more of a finished look. Most cars aren't welded in because they bolt in on the underside and I didn't really have that option with the chain drive. And for whatever reason, that's one corner of the state I haven't been to yet and it's kinda weird cause I've even been down to Glendive area. [S

 

[willyD]

There's supposed to be a really good show in West Yellowstone too. You might look that one up as it seems like running the shows is your thing

 

[lowbudget50]

Very nicely done sir! Love the center console!

 

[endicott_jb]

There's supposed to be a really good show in West Yellowstone too. You might look that one up as it seems like running the shows is your thing

I really love doing the show circuit here in MT. It's the only time I really get to spend BSing with other car guys except when I'm on here but in person is a lot different. Plus, you get a more personal feel for everybody's rides. And you can get even more ideas.

 

[endicott_jb]

So, today didn't exactly go as planned. There is a lot of excess sheet metal after building the floor pans and tunnel but I knew there would be. Better to have too much than not enough. So, the easiest way to deal with that was pulling the cab back off the frame which isn't too hard as there isn't any wiring attached or any sort of plumbing yet. Now, how to do it? I've had a huge, I mean gigantic industrial shelves and they don't fit in my garage too well so it's just been sitting outside. In fact, the towers were about 6" too tall until I took the sawzall to em. Anyhow, put one of the shelves on the rack and cut some pipe to go across and support a couple of load hugger ratchet straps. After that, just lowered the frame off of the jack stands and whalla, a floating cab. Seeing as I have the frame bare again, I decided to rerun one of the airlines because I torched it on accident but luckily I had a lot more. Also, before I forgot, cause I'm great at that, ran the 1/4" lines to the gauges. If you are running air suspension of any sort, I would suggest electrical tape. Get the good scotch stuff though. It's a bit more flexible. That was one of the many things I learned in the Marines working on blown up trucks. And you don't have to wrap it the entire way. Just one wrap every 6" or so is more than enough. Anyhow, enough rambling, after I did that I had enough time to mount my speedo. Dumb me though, when I bent the metal around it and welded it, I somehow oblonged it so ill have to come up with some sort of seal or maybe redo it some time down the road, there's millions and millions of bugs in junk yards just waiting to give up parts. Now, for what y'all come here for, PICTURES!!!









A lot of the original sheet metal will be cut out and a new piece will be cut out and welded in. Should give in a cleaner appearance.






Like I said a lot of excess sheet metal.

 

[endicott_jb]

And here's the tunnel with gauges installed. Just for you Peabody.

 

[earthman]

That's real rat rodding Endo. Innovation everywhere. [P

 

[Sam_Fear]

Very cool console and gauges!

 

[Bamamav]

I guess it's not going to be driven on wet roads with the back sides of the gauges exposed to the weather like that? [S

It is a slick console mount. I think I would have made it to bolt on from the top of the console, with the bottom enclosed, but I didn't build it. Be a bitch to change gauge bulbs like it is though...

 

[peabody]

And here's the tunnel with gauges installed. Just for you Peabody.

Good golly miss molly !!! [P
That's absolutely too cool !!!
Neet-0 !!!

 

[CORPO]

Just got caught up on your build.. I haven't stayed up on the threads like I use to.. very bad of me. Lot of cool stuff you got going on.. keep at it!

I like your use of the AC tensioner on the chain... I hardly have any play in my chain when sitting still, but as soon as I hit the road I can tell, constantly making minor adjustments at the wheel but its not actually doing anything at the box.. Im still working on solving this... based on your under dash photo.. you can see a slight droop to your lower chain, you might have this same situation when you hit the road.. Problem for me is I have even less space to add tensioning.. Im rambling sorry about that.. keep at it!

 

[endicott_jb]

So, I didn't really accomplish a whole lot today but some is better than none. Got most of the excess sheet metal cut off of the body, still need to remove the speedo to get the last little bit out but it's mostly done. And cause I could, I figured that I would give modifying the drive shaft a whirl. Took a bit of time but she looks pretty good. What I did was I took the Mercedes dive shaft, cut off the 3 bolt flange, then took the front driveshaft from my other rat project(I used a 76f150 4x4 for most of the heartbeat), and lopped off the sliding portion. They didn't fit exactly together right so I used a bit of Emory cloth to smooth her out and she slid right on(with a little of coercion.) Made sure she fit, checked for phasing, and welded her up. Ground down the few high spots, and finally hit her with Emory cloth to give her that shiny look that'll just get covered up by black paint, maybe. I'll see if I can't take it down to the machine shop and have em balance it for me later this month.

 

[smallfoot]

Excellent!!![cl

 

[DozerII]

Console and gauges turned out great[cl[cl

 

[peabody]

Looking good --!!!![P

 

[I-R-POPS]

Your console gauges are spot on..[cl[cl
Keep hammering on it.