id like to do the same thing at some point. but not the lower arm bushings. ive ran the front of them into a lot of things, so i dont want to try and struggle with them. haha. i measured it today, my engine crossmember is 2" off the ground, and my frame at the front bend is 3-1/2"

 

I was getting ready to do some carpet and my seats when I removed the floor mat I found rust. After I chiseled out the factory floor tar, whatever you call it. I found 3 small holes, about the size of a dime.

 

I wanted to continue on w/ my mockup so I used a drill mounted wire brush. Got it the best I could and used a leftover can of undercoat. It is not a solution. Just a temp bandaid. I know I have to cut out the floor, but at least it will let me continue on.

So today I got my carpet cut to size and laid down, I got my driver seat mounted. It is way more comfortable than that bench. I sit lower and farther back and w/ a tiny bit of recline. Much better.

Tomorow I'll do the same to the pass side. Then I'll post the pic of the seats mounted and the floor at least covered w/ the cheap Autozone carpet. I'll use that for my pattern when I get my good marine grade carpet from the boat store. Then the cheap **** will stay for under padding. Give it a little more plush feeling.

After that I can start my council mock up. Hopefully get that going this week. The temp started to drop yesterday. Woohoo, 1st couple days we have been below a 100*. In Vegas we are the opposite of everybody else. Try not to work in the summer, 100* plus just sucks. So we get the majority of the work done in the fall and winter. Then summer we try to stay in the A/C.

I also got my front bumper off as it was mangled pretty good. I'll be on the look out for another bumper. Also got my idler arm ordered from Pepboys. Going to try and see if that cures my shaking problem. So updates should be coming pretty regular now. Now that I can get outside to do some work.

 

Glad the truck is coming along well for you. As it turns out, I'm moving to Vegas next week. If you need help with stuff after i get setup let me know. I love heat so that isn't an issue. Lol. We can do a shoot with the 2 obnoxiously colored trucks when it's road worthy.

 

Oh, I also found another set of rims for the truck. Hopefully they fit, I won't know till I try them out. I'm coping Sho, Ford Mustang rims. I am picking them up tommorow. Not a bad deal 75 bucks for all 4 w/ tires.


standardbyker88, I'll pm you my #. Glad to have another Truck person in Vegas.

 

I had a '74 Hi-lux that was painted that color green with a factory orange pin stripe, the bed and cab were from differn't trucks you could tell because the paint faded differn't, I knew it was stock original when I peeled the vinyl dash cover and exposed the green dash, that was a cool truck it had a 18r-c I wish I still had that truck,

 

Here are my new wheels. 205 60 r15 Mustang 96 non GT wheels

 

Got the non GT wheels just so when I paint them black, I can paint those 3 little indents green

The rims that were on the truck were mismatched. That is why it shook so bad. I hit 65 on the streets tonight. No front end shake at all. 1 side was 205, the other side was 185. Truck feels alot better.


Now I have 3 sets of rims for the truck. a messed up set of 14's, the mustang 15's and the 18's.

Now I have to find the 16's and 17's. I am a wheel whore, what can I say. By the time I am done, I'll have at least 10 different sets

 

i have a set of 7 78 style factory steelies if youre looking for the kidney bean steelies. if i find one more its 2 sets. haha.

 

Oooppsy, found out why my truck still had a little shake tonight. The driver's side front tire is facing the wrong way. The little arrows and the tread are facing the wrong way. So I got to flip the fronts around and see if that gets rid of the last little bit of shake.

I also got inteior pics to post up. I think it looks better than it did. Not my best work but for the amount of time I get to spend on the truck it looks pretty good.

Also got a few little other things. pics and more pics to come soon. Stay tuned

 

Ran out of light to get a good picture tonight. I gave the G. Machine a oil change today. Also made a new overflow bottle tonight. Really simple, I took a empty sea foam can, metal can and a old coil bracket and used the bolt and hole from the old stock overflow bottle and good to go. Painted them gloass black and the hole in the sea foam can is the right size for the stock cap to seal into. Cleaned up that part of the firewall and it looks pretty good. Later on I'll get a really nice polished coil bracket and it will look even better. I know I am behind on pics. I also have a lot of stuff to clean up, paint and polish, and eleminate some vacum lines. Add some braided lines and this thing will start to look good again

 

for my overflow im going to use one of those metal tins that fifths of jager sometimes come in. its silver and black. looks pretty cool. itll clean up my core support a bit. and let me have access to my headlight bulbs from the back without having to take them out of the buckets. i have H4 conversions.

 

Not much been going on. Just been working the old girl. Monday me and standardbyker88 cleaned out my garage, took 2400 pounds to the scrap yard. Old yota has been hauling a**. She is now in the garage and the work can begin.

I got to finish on the interior and then I can get some other stuff done before she gets the chop. I'll get more pics up soon

 

flat bed

 

I had to get to work so I only took a quick pic. It is only roughed out for now. Tonight I'll get more work done and get ready to chop off the rear. Right behind the shackes.

The plan is to build a fitting flat bed out of wood, but instead of squars, I will mold it to fit the lines of the truck. And leave the bottom section so it looks right. Add to that the nice fiberglass wheel wells and the stained and glossy wood, it should look bad a**.

 

i like the idea of a flat bed on an old school the same thought crossed my mind when i took my bed off to notch the frame
cant wait to see the rest of it

 

The more I look at it the more I love it. I'll get more pics up so you guys can see what I am thinking.

Part of me wants to leave it a long bed and part of me wants to chop it off right behind the shackle and graft in the roll pan. Part of me wants to do a wood floor, other half wants a really smooth fiberglass floor w/ really nice rounded corners that flow down the rear and sides. Still another half is thinking about adding removable stake sides in a really nice stained wood, kinda low. Another part is thinking about also doing a nice low headache rack to the front.

I am torn between a more industrial look, wood floor, stake sides, maybe a headache rack, only as high as the bed originally was. Maybe the lights on the roof, very low led's.

Or a slick shaved look. smooth fiberglass bed, no sides, flows right into the lower sheet metal, shaved handles, filled body lines, no front bumper, just shaved all nice and smooth.

I also am going to give the truck a very nice subtle rack, not slammed just so the front tires close the gap in the front. Lower the rear just enough to give it a very subtle rack.

Once I get up more pics, I am off work tommorow so I'll have alot of time to get decent pics and hopefully some people will have opinions on which way I should take this.

 

keep the long bed or shorten??

 

I did not take the front of the bed off yet. So it does look a little wierd. The bumper is coming off and then the bed is coming off so I can clean and paint the frame.

I want to drive it around like this so tommorow I got to go figure out some taillights.

Then it will either get chopped or it may stay long or something.

I am leaning towards doing the fiberglass bed w/ some really thin metal stakes on the side, maybe only in front of the wheel.

Opinions or ideas welcome

 

call me crazy but i kinda like how it looks with the skirts of the leftover bed hanging down
then i would put down a nice decking i would be tossed between dimond plate or wood
then a short wood railing stained ofcourse
but thats just me