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Damn -23° sounds like not fun at all! I was complaining about -1° lol :)

You have definitely art skills my friend. Don't stop doing it. Not everybody is blessed with those hidden talents. Would definitely love to see more works from you!

At the same time I have to say you did a great job on that rusty part on your trokita! Looks awesome now! Keep it up my friend!

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cab corner looks real good, so does the gas filler piece! can't even tell you haven't welded before! i like the filler pieces you did on the grille panel, i thought of doing that myself! what does the frame notch for that look like?? keep it up its looking good!!

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Thank you for looking, I appreciate the feed back!

Yep one of the coolest things about this site is seeing folks make progress in many different settings! I tend to not only learn from this vast diversity, but also keep my sense of adversity in perspective. I can certainly sympathize with the fellows who dont want to get out and work in 100+ degrees when I have to deal with 20 or 30 degrees below!
It keeps my whining to a minimum :waah:


Thanks Chad.
No frame notch.
I cut the frame end off as I will be adding a face panel under that to connect those two spots from the fenders, and dropping my bumper to below that. I will be modding the bumper as well.
The only way I can get away with this is because I am not dropping my front more than a very few inches.
Although I respect and admire the slammed guys for their work and vision, I would not be one of them...

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:lol:Hey sarge,, good looking art,, I'm about as artistick as a bowling ball..:haha: LOL But I do work good with my hands. Ha Ha :smoke: When I was beginning to weld up the holes in my firewall was on a local contraction site and pick up a couple dozen plugs from the electrical boxes that the electrications were throwing around. With a little fileing several of them fit perfect and saved alot of cutting and )(*()*)*. if you know what I mean..

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Much better. And I learned a new word. Trokita, I'm suprised I did'nt alraedy know that word. Keep up the good progress.

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You may already know this 57truckguy, but make sure you have PLENTY of ventilation or a fumes mask if the plugs are the galvanized kind. Very toxic from what I have heard!

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its looking good man nice work!!!! btw have fun on that floor...im in the works of doing mine right now and im not having fun..lol

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Yeah, I welded up some holes on my d-side door last night. Not a fun process by any stretch.
There is a welding shop here that lets me rummage thru their scrap dumpster for odds and ends and all they charge me is a couple dozen doughnuts from time to time. I think I am going to pop in there Tuesday on my way to work and see if they have an Iron Worker machine that punches holes and if I can get the plugs from it.

Thanks Coulter, I just ordered my patch parts today, hopefully they will be here in time for next weekend. I ordered both cab corners, floor pans, and complete rocker panels for each side.

Chad, I fabbed and put in the last of my grill mount modifications yesterday. It doesnt look like much right now, but when the paint goes on, you will see a huge change in the look of the face of the truck for it. I mounted it on the radiator core support and up onto the frame for you to see what I have done.

What I would not give for an anvil though!
You guys would laugh I think if you saw what I am using to fab my parts with!

#1 The spot I plan to fill.
#2 The part I made to fill it, roughed in.
#3 After tack welding in from both sides
#4 finished and mounted on the truck
#5 attempt at a perspective shot to show how flush it set.

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killer work, patch panels look awesome, that kerosene heater must be doing its job....-23 wow, i would have gave up till spring:lol:

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Yesw I did know but it is good you brough it up for thoes that may not be in the know... good Work.. :metal:

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:smoke:Sarge Your patches are coming along great... I didn't have any of that to do on mine.. cab was in real good shape.. I think I could now that I've had some pratice with the welder...:smoke:

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looking good man keep it up and that 6 arms snake lady is crazy!

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lol just read through your first post all the way you dirty wow player!! i was hooked on that **** since it came out finely quit for good 10 mouths ago i have well over a year /played time crazy waste of time!! to anybody with kids never let them touch that game give them heroin instead they will probably quit it easyer lol

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Good job on those welds, I'm sure it was a little scary attacking with that welder for the first time.

I'm already a little nervous since I know I have some rust repair in my future and I've never touched a welding machine before. I've got my old front bed panel that I'm replacing to practice on though, so hopefully I'll be ok.

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Ummm Yeah... it was -40* when I went to work this morning. Oddly enough, they close the ski resorts when it gets below -20*. Thanks for looking at my patches, I appreciate the kind comments. Hopefully by the time I am really ready to do some serious stuff, I will know what I am doing!!

Thank you 57truckguy, I you always have positive feedback!! On getting on your welder you just need to... (to steal a golf quote...) grip it and rip it !!

Thanks Kro! Wife and I played EverQuest for 8 years until they nerfed my Ranger into the stoneage. At that point we were both 3boxing on 3 seperate desk top computers, and putting in about 40 or more hours a week. My Ranger was ranked 10-12th on the server and we were in the second highest guild.
Then we switched to WoW to play with some friends of mine from work, but the sense of community wasnt there, I guess because of the amount of solo and PvP .... but.... the truck is more fun now and certainly has a tangible sense of productivity.
Oh and glad you like the snake chick. You should see the original art piece on her, the detail still amazes me (that I actually did it hehehehe)


Thank you for looking Chad215 !!
My first runs with the welder were more fustrating than scary because I could not see what I was doing so well. Then I got the auto hood and life with my welder changed LOL !

Just put on at least one leather glove (on your guide hand) and some not-so-flamable clothes and get up close with your gun and face, you will do fine I bet! It will help if you know someone to coach you a little too. I did about 30 years ago, but didnt take advantage of it when I had it....

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Good progress man, looks like your having fun...
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So what else I did this weekend...

I took my mud flaps and reworked them. I know the repops are real cheap, but I wanted to see if my little mod will work well first, so I hammer and dolly worked them, and did what I did...
Guess the pics will tell the story.

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:metal:hey sarge... guess it just better to lucky then good.. Great job on the patch pannels.. If I'd have tried that big of a panel it would have warped all over the place. LOL I can really appreciate the work you put in in smoothing out the grill.. great job.. the cab cornor lined up real nice... like I said sometimes its better to be lucky than good , nice job on the mud flaps also. ..:metal::chevy:

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The mudflaps look great... keep up the work on your truck.... it helps those of us without a truck to dream as we watch you guys work on yours....

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Thank you for looking DRTYRAT30 .... I cannot tell you how many times I have read through your thread on your '63. I am simply amazed at how you keep your garage so clean and the level of work you do !!! But yes, on the fun part, this truck build may well be the highlight of my tour here in Alaska.

Hey there 57truckguy, I am pretty sure it was Napolean who said he would rather have Generals that were lucky than good. But whatever ..... when it comes to luck I am certainly of Irish stock :lol:

Thank you Owen, I know how you feel ... I am the same way when I visit the '69 GTO pages over on Performance Years. I love my '66 Tempest, but the dream car always has been a '69 Goat.

Next I think is tearing into my cab. I have some ideas and it is time to meet the mother bear in her den.

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:haha:Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat.. !!!!!!

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hell ya man those mud flaps look good fix and make whatever you can saving money is saving money! my sun visors took me 2 nights of work but i spend mabe 20 bucks and there way cooler then if i payed who knows how much out of lmc

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Yes that's something what really amaze me too... I am european and brought this word here. Would never expect that lol thought you know it guys

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Great progress buddy! Keep it up! Hope you and wife are ok!

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Keep up the good work.

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Just wrapped up 4 days of working in my garage.
On Saturday I built a welding cart out of an old shop/wet vac chassis. It works a ton better than what I did to my rolling tool box, and even has a cradle for the air tank behind it, so it is a lot more mobile than it was.

Sunday I tinkered with my guage cluster bezel. With that I am omiting all the knobs and starter and cigarette lighter; those will be relocated to other places on the dash.

When I finished that I started in on my in cab hood release.
I looked in the mods and FAQs but did not see a walk thru for any ideas for this so I sorta just winged it.

Then Monday and today I worked on my hood, seperating the lower front hood panel where the turn signal bezels mount from the rest of the hood. I did this for a couple reasons. I had a pretty gnarly dent in my hood that the dent puller was not getting to good enough to suit me, and I wanted to make a mod to the fresh air intakes/hood release holes. I plan to screen that in and make it functional for a future mod/idea.

#1 is my original guages (silver) and a spare from the boneyard (black)
#2 is cutting out the old controls holes
#3 is the patches donated from the original guage cluster bezel
#4 is after some ZipStrip and brass wire wheeling on the bench grinder. It is now ready for some filler, contour detailing and then paint.

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Picture #1 is my hood release assembly.
#2 is the removal of the original hood release latch. Its rivet pin and the top plate are the piece at the top of the picture.
#3 the entire assembly disassembled.... LOL that just sounds funny to me sorry.

#4 is a 3/8 - 16 x 1/2" cap bolt that I took a 3/32 drill bit to and drilled a hole the length of the center (not so perfectly with a hand drill you guys with a drill press probably have better results) of the bolt. This will act as an adjuster for the hood release cable for when it starts to stretch, just like on a bicycle.

#5 is the backing plate that will weld onto the back side of the hood latch assembly. I drilled and tapped a 21/64" hole into it for the adjustment bolt to screw into, the 3/8 -16 nut will act as a lock for the bolt, along with a lockwasher.
This photo also shows the maximum travel distance required to release the hood, approximately 1/4" of travel.

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#1 is the mock up of the assembly with the release cable.

#2 I drilled a 3/32" hole in the top arm of the hood catch/release pendulum for the cable to attach to, and release the hood. Hopefully my 8th grade physics schooling is still working for me and there will be enough leverage here to allow this to function.

#3 is the HELP! cable I used Part#55195 that is 12 feet long, if that turns out to be too long, I will cut to lenght and hopefully remember to come back here and edit this post with a more useful measurement. I also have the cable stops Part#03338 but have not decided how to use these just yet. More to follow on this.

#4 is my adjustment bolt and backing plate. I cut 2 grooves in the plate to assist in mounting it, and hopefully disallow any torqueing of the assembly.

#5 is a spring tension adjustment I am toying with, in this picture I used a bit of coat hanger, but in reality I would probably use a large cotter pin. It seems the tension on the hood latch spring is stronger than it needs to be. Just easing the tension the amount shown in the pic made the tension on the latch pendulum lesser enough for me to actuate it with my thumbs, and not have to use a lever (screw driver ....)
Since I am not sure just how much of this tension is required to keep the hood secured this is not a set part of this modification.

I urge anyone doing this mod to proceed with caution and do not omit the secondary safety hood catch.
I had a truck hood come up at me at 55mph one day.
It is definately one of lifes bigger scrotum checks !!

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Nice work on the gauge bezel and I never would have thought of the hood release. How much pull does it take to pull the latch? I was thinking a solenoid might work depending on the pull rating.

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You know they make a solenoid called a trunk release solenoid that is really strong. I use them on the orginal set up to open the orginal latches on my 57's doors before changing over to the bear claw latches.. Only has about 3/8 of an inch of pull though if I remember right, been about 10 years since I made the change. LOL

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Nice work!!
I was in Fairbanks last week, I wish I would have looked you up.
Oh well, there's always next time ;)

Keep up the good work!

I'm waiting for spring, we have gotten 6 plus feet of snow and I don't have any shelter to "do work" lol
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My hood is currently in pieces, I ran out of steam posting pics last night Alan sorry. As for the pull pressure needed to pop the hood I cannot say yet at this time. Without the tension pressure of being latched against the male post, and of course the bends in the cable from the hood latch assembly to where it will be mounted in the cab will all factor in (if those 8th grade science classes are keeping me in line... LOL). Thanks for looking at the guage bezel too. I plan on filling the edges with bondo, skimming the top, then when it is fully dried, using my Dremmel to reshape the channels. Kind of tedious detail work, but what the hey, keeps me from playing in traffic !!

No sir, I did not know that.
Like I said, I looked for a mod thread for this and not finding one decided to wing it in a traditional Irish fashion !! Besides that, a solinoid would need wiring and I am going to have my hands full with doing my hideaway headlights as it is. I am no Jeeenuss after all !!

I would have liked that too! Shoot me a PM next time you are a day or two out, and I will toss you my phone number so we can make that happen! Thanks for taking a look at my build.... it is a ton of fun.

I will post more pics of what my hood is starting to look like, and my delivery from the UPS gal last night!! Glad I have a 4 day weekend next....gots lots to do !

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truck parts are looking good, keep the pictures coming! i like the hood mod. your doing, i've thought about that awhile ago but i couldn't figure out how i would make it work without breaking something! how are you planning on doing the headlights?

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I was looking at the '69 Ralley Camaro electric actuator motors and relay for the head lights.
I also looked up the premier metal fabricating business here in Fairbanks to make the front grill for me today. I will be going by there sometime in the next few weeks with some drawn out plans and ideas and see what they can do for me.

As for the hood release, I also want to mock up a back up for the hood release cable. One that I can get to in the case that the cable breaks on me!

Thanks for looking Chad!

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Ok.... about the hood....
What I thought was going to be a cool little project, turned into a real task.
Simple plan, seperate the turn signal panel from the rest of the hood; modify that panel and gain access to the front p-side corner of the hood to fix a mean dent.
Well getting that darned panel off was a heck of a job.
I have detailed photos if anyone is thinking of attempting this that show all the upper and lower spot welds you will have to contend with, and will gladly share in how I did it.

After that though it was smooth sailing and I am very happy with what turned out.

#1 is the area of the hood under consideration, specifically.

#2 ok the seam sealer was cool, putty blade was helpful in getting that out, but spot welds in there? How did that happen?

#3 much patience, and not too much damage or anger control later and they are finally apart! Yay team !!

#4 the cut center, and a test fabrication in the turn signal well for what I have in mind. Someone on this board in their sig has a quote about making a part knowing that if you goof it up, the next attempt will be better.... well this first attempt will lead to an improved actualization of what I have in mind. I plan on covering the turn signals and "grill"-ing in that center. More on that later as I either find more of the square grill-mesh-screen I already used, or I find something I like better.
I am hoping to find something I like better... this first one looks too swamprat/mudder motif for me. I am looking for more of a sports car air intake sort of look.

#5 Yay... Miss UPS driver found my house finally with the patch parts! No shortage of stuff to do this weekend after all !!

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How many blades did you break on the spotweld cutter?:lol: I liked the hood latch idea, too. I was thinking at 12' you could probably open the hood from the tailgate area or thereabouts.

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I didnt break any, but the first side is getting dull though.
We have a contract at work for sharpening and repairing surgical instruments, I will talk to the guy and see if he can resharpen it for me. Yeah 12' seems excessive, but I was at the parts store, saw it, and grabbed it knowing that too much is an easier fix than not enough....

In case Veronika pops back over here is an artistic rendition of the company logo I had while I was out of the Army in the mid '90s. The company was Photography, Art, and Graphic Design, and the name and logo was "Black Griffon Graphics ~----~ Create Your Own Reality"

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You drew that version...correct? It is really cool. Thanks for sharing about your hood...sounds like it was a ton of work, but you will get it like you want it in the end. Keep up the great job and thanks for posting and sharing pics/stories of your progress.

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Looks like someone is going to have fun with patch panels.
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looking good, really like the hood latch deal, thats sweet.:metal: cant wait to see the patch panels installed, your making great progress.