I hadn't posted in a while, but the exterior is about done now, except for the rear view mirrors and wipers.
The tips of the exhaust are now clipped at an angle and are moved to be symmetric. Making aluminum holders for the blue dots in the curls of the bed sides was fun. No two were the same size.
Even the wiring is complete at the front and rear. I have put a TON of hours in lately, but thankfully the wife sees the end in sight and is getting excited. I estimate about 100 hours to go, but I am REALLY slow. If I did this for a living I would have starved a long time ago.
I now have my rear tires (P275/60R17 Hankook Ventus RH06 on 17" x 9.5" polished Torq-Thrust IIs w/ 5.5" backspace).
I have about an inch clearance on the inside and outside, and had to do a little surgery on the bed cross brace in the rear and the bed side in the front to be sure I didn't do surgery on the tires going down the road. I didn't want to go off shore, but the tread pattern was just too cool. I was also limited by what my tire guy could get me at cost.
I'm into the next step, which is spec'ing the front wheels and tires. The wheels will be TT IIs as well, 15" x 7"s. I stuffed the "Fatman V8" springs in, and the truck's nose was bleeding like a gasser. After discussion with the great guys at Fatman, the standard spindles went into the mail, to be exchanged for 2" dropped spindles. Even after 6 years - and with them painted - Fatman will exchange them for the cost of shipping! GREAT company!
The radiator and condenser are installed, and I gotta say. I was not impressed with my Champion radiator and shroud. In their defense, I bought it on Ebay, so the guy selling it may have gotten one done by a novice welder. The bends in the shroud only had a vague resemblance to the bends in the radiator flanges. MAJOR re-work. Nuff said.
The windshield is IN! Last Sunday four of us attacked that Taiwanese beast (fifth time). We narrowed the gasket across the top and ground the upper corners about 3/16". In and out 5 times. I'll be stuffing a rope between the gasket and the edge of the windshield in the lower corners to get the gasket to fill the corners. There was never any indication that the upper cab was damaged. I'm just glad it's in. If I ever get a rock chip you'll see the aftermath on the news.
The elephant in the room is the interior. My console and door panels have been at the upholsterers since early November. He called me this week, so that's a good sign. The plan is for them to be done next week. We'll see.
Sorry the pics are all over the place, with a duplicate of the front end. I stuck two of the pictures in the wrong place and couldn't figure out how to un-stick them.