My Project 36' Ford Pickup

[agdeuce]

Back at it!

Hi guys!
I finally got all the needed stuff done and am back working on the truck floor. I started by cutting out the firewall. I then made a narrow strip of 16 gauge and welded it into the cutout. Next made some patterns for the tunnel, cut them out of 16 gauge, fit and welded them in and finished up around the bottom front of the firewall. Now the floor started to stiffin' up. It was then time to tackle the tunnel area under the seat.

 

[agdeuce]

More floor.

I marked the back of the cab for the location and radius of the clearance cutout I would need for the driveshaft. I cut this area out and bent a 3/8" steel tube so it would fit on the inside of the cutout and welded all around. This gave the sheetmetal some strength and a finished edge. Next I whacked the center out of the body floor support. I took some 2 X 1/4 flat stock and made a half hoop to give the floor more support matching the height of the cutout. It was then time to make a pattern for the back half of the tunnel. I cut out some more 16 gauge to the pattern and tried to bend it. It is tuff stuff and I don't have slip rolls. I ended up clamping the piece to my MIG tank centered and put four ratchet straps around the tank and metal. I protected the ratchet straps by putting short pieces of hose over the edge of the metal. By cranking down those four straps a little at a time I was able to bend it pretty well. I worked it with my wooden slapper and that helped keep the shape. I had to massage the rolled piece some more but finally was able fit it into place. Welded it in and set the cab on it's back for clean up and finish weld. Between the old rusty metal (that I didn't clean well) and my terrible welding I have to grind my self sick. Later Steve

 

[Sam_Fear]

The tunnel is shaping up nice.

Welded it in and set the cab on it's back for clean up and finish weld. Between the old rusty metal (that I didn't clean well) and my terrible welding I have to grind my self sick. Later Steve

'Out of site, out of mind' is the way of the rat. When it comes to body/detail work at least. My .02$

 

[quandelgarage]

Sweet

 

[agdeuce]

Thanks Guys

I got a lot more done with the help of my friends. I'm on the east coast on vacation so when I get back I will post some more pictures "with circles and arrows on the back" (Alices Resturant). Later Steve

 

[agdeuce]

I'm back wiith new stuff for the build

Hey all I'm back from vacation and didn't run into any tornados. I am sorry for those folks who did. Well before I left we got a lot more done on the floors, tunnel, dash and the steering column mounting. We made templates from poster board trying our best to get a good fit. I chose not to put beads in the floor because it was easier and I like flat floors. The floors are made from 16 gauge metal. At the back and on the outside front area we bent a 90 degree area up so I could weld the floor to the cab at those locations. I had to fuss with bend up front some to get a correct fit but finally got it. I think by the time we had the entire floors fit correctly they had been in and out something like 25 times each. Slow but sure. Since the floor rises up with the kick in the frame we used the stretcher dies and worked the front bend so it fit almost perfectly. As luck would have it the passenger side was almost a mirror image of the drivers side. After marking the location of the braces on the underside of the floors we then located and drilled a series of holes for plug welds. I have some fitting up front and some welds to grind and the floors are done. I think they came out just fine. Steve

 

[agdeuce]

A continuation of the stuff I got done

With the floors done I wanted to get the steering column (46' Dodge pickup) fit so I could build the frame mounting bracket. Well as luck would have it the instrument cluster I chose (61 Corvair) needed to be fit first so the 17 inch steering wheel would clear my legs (needed to be raised up a lot). I proceeded to chop up the dash and make the instrument cluster fit, it also needed some clearance at the bottom for the column. After a lot of trial and error I welded a piece of heavy wall tubing in place for the column dash mount (no drop) and the cluster fit nice.

 

[agdeuce]

Oops forgot the pictures

Here are the pictures of the dash and steering column.

 

[agdeuce]

More oops

I forgot about having to take the seat I chose (free) and having to lighten it up plus modifying the side bolsters for door clearance. The thing came out of a Toyota minivan. It was the center seat and weighed a ton. Seat belts, extra reinforcement, seat tilt flat forward mechanisms etc. This was not a fun job. I had to disassemble the entire seat, cut all the extra junk away including the foam on the sides and then try and make the upholstery fit. I cut stitches and restitched new ones (not pretty). In the end the seat will get different upholstery either a nicely fitted Army blanket or I have some old original Goodyear aftermarket front seat covers for a 49'-51' Ford 2 dr. I hope we can sew the covers for the seatback together and make it fit. Who knows? Steve

 

[Z.Z.Rat]

Nice progress. What kind of seats you think'n?

Yes it is very sad what happened in S.Indiana & Kentucky.

 

[old man dave]

With the bed length you have i think the cab looks good unchopped. Neat truck and you are doing some nice looking work.
The tornadoes you missed hit at the end of my street and tore a bunch of trees and power lines. I never knew until i watched the news the next morning.

 

[agdeuce]

The last of the new stuff done to the truck for now

I made the front shock mounts from 2X2X1/8 square tubing. I notched the tubing at the bottom leaving only the one wall. The notch was cut at the appropriate angle to match the shock angle. Then I cut a diagonal across the back of the tube. After bending the tab to match the shock angle I drilled some lightening holes. I welded a 1/4 inch thick piece with a hole centered, inside, for the mounting bolt at the top frame flange. Next I trimmed a piece of tubing and welded it outboard for the upper shock mount. I will weld a cover over the top to clean it up. Locating and drilling the lower tab and frame flange as well is next. The mounts work well and I think look OK. Later guys Steve

 

[agdeuce]

Tornados

You guys are right about how sad the destruction across the affected area has been. I feel for those folks and am glad you were missed. Steve

 

[agdeuce]

Moving right along

Hey fellows:
I'm back and have made a bit more progress on my project. Since I made the shock mounts I finally got to the tougher stuff, the swing pedals and throttle pedal. I used an old Ansen swing pedal assembly, that my friend didn't want, to start with. Because I was using the clutch/brake master cylinder from a 60's GMC/Chev pickup I had to narrow the pedal assembly to accommodate. I did this by taking some out of the middle of the assembly. It worked well but was a pain. Next I made a 10 gauge metal plate as a doubler for inside the firewall for strength. That stuff is hard to bend without a brake. After bolting the doubler to the firewall I located, with help from my friend, the pedal assembly on the firewall. Locating the mounting and master cylinder clearance holes come next. After that I drilled and hole sawed the necessary holes. We cleaned up the holes and mounted the pedals and master cylinder. Now the hard stuff, we had to highly modify the pedals for foot clearance and operation. We cut, flipped around, extended, bent and cursed until they worked. I thought the clutch/ brakes pedals were hard until the throttle pedal came up. I wanted the spoon pedal and no cable look so man did we do some finagling. I also had to bash in the tunnel for clearance for which I will eventually make a nice piece to weld in place. I also finished up mounting and sorting out the steering box and linkage. I used a 46' Dodge pickup steering box, 35'-40' Ford tie rod and drag link, no mods. The pitman arm is also the same year Ford, heated and bent in the opposite direction to fit the tapered splines of the box. I believe the geometry is fine my, only problem is steering radius and Ackerman are not great but I shall see. I had to make new steering stops so the tires would not hit the wishbones. I might reverse the front wheels later. As you can see I mounted my headlights. I used a Model "A" headlight bar cut and bent to fit around the grill shell. I "got" the headlights from a COE cab along the side of the road "somewhere" in California. I'm not sure of the year but it was GM. I had to rebuild them because they were all rusted out. They are like Guide 682-C's and they had been there for years. Well I know this is hard to follow unlike other guys builds but thanks for looking. Guys keep moving forward on your projects. Driving will be fun. Steve

 

[skull]

progress

looking gooooooooooood[P


l agree, no chop, the paportions look really nice.

Later

 

[46FORD$PU]

Wow she is lookin good you are taken some nice pics of her and it is why I have fallen in love with this site so much fun to look and learn.
I am so close to starting my build and this will doing nothing but help me along
thanks[P

 

[Paul_J]

The build is looking great! Quick question: What is the drop on your lower steering arms? I'm about to order ours and we are running a similar front axle setup. It looks like they clear the wishbones fairly well.

Paul

 

[agdeuce]

Steering arm drop

Hey Paul I used steering arm drops from Speedway Motors. They are a 3 3/4" from the spindle mounting holes. The part number from Speedway is 707-2756-PLN. These are plain forged steel (I assume). They also come chromed and in stainless. They are not very hefty but as long as the front end weight is not huge i.e. big block, blown etc. I believe they will be safe. I used a 40' Ford axle and had to clearance (grind off) the bottom of the axle some. This should not jeopardize the integrity of the axle as I only removed about 3/16" at the most. I am happy with my results. Good Luck Steve

 

[agdeuce]

Thanks guys

Thanks guys I am really getting anxious to drive this thing and I agree about the top chop but I really like do like that low look going down the road. I only have the watts link and bed floor supports to finish before I take it all apart for chassis paint. Then comes all the cab finishes i.e seat mount, under floor sealing, fixing goofs and all other Oh Oh's. The rest is a lot of rattle can paint, brakes, wiring, fuel and brake lines, build the doors on and on. You know how it goes. I will keep you all informed. Steve

 

[agdeuce]

Here we go again

Howdy all! I have been able to put more time into the build and am now near the end of the chassis build. Can't wait to get out to paint. We built the watts link set-up, brackets and all. Installed it for final fit and it worked well. The next job was installing the rear shocks. I finished up the core support, mounted the radiator (V8 66' Mustang, hope it cools) and built the support rods. I used some 36" 5/16 rod from Ace and aluminum turnbuckles chopped off and cross drilled. That made the core support real nice and rigid. I also finished the trans tunnel cover with the e-brake and shifter boot accommodations. The big deal was the pickup bed floor supports and bed front, they are done. All the bed sheetmetal is now done and installed. I wanted to make some support rods for the dash to firewall. I looked around and found the old support rods that went from the x-member to the trans and shortened, machined the ends to 5/16 and threaded them. Cheap and cheerful. Up next is finish weld the underside of the chassis and out for sandblasting and paint. A friend is going to let me use his sandblaster (it is a big one) and he will shoot chassis all for a modest fee. While the chassis is gone I will put the cab on its back and finish all the screw-ups on the underside, seal it and squirt on something i.e. paint, undercoat, bed liner what ever will work the best and is inexpensive. There is still a lot more to do but that is my plan for now. Updates later Steve