Updates
Got my RH fenders fitting along with the door gaps. Had to make a cut at the bottom of front outer fender, on the back where is make the cup. That part sorta hugs/wraps around the core support and was too tight. I needed to be able to lift the fender up a little to get the gap right. That is the fender I cut and welded a new bottom end on and it wasn't perfect. Just made a slit with the cutoff wheel and welded it back together. That was all that was needed.
Door and fender gaps are ok. If I was building a show truck I would definitely be adding/shaving material to the doors, they are out of whack. Not too bad for this go around though. The cowl however is a different story. Going to need some shimming and who knows what else to fit right. The RH side fits just fine no issue. The LH side, not so much. I have to pull the cowl and keep plenty of tension on it while I push it down and into place to get it fitting right. And because I shimmed my doors out some I may need to add material to close in the gap. We shall see.
While I was at it I fixed my heater/ac controls. The unit was in bad shape to start with and a while back I posted how I cleaned it up and attached the vintage air controls to it. Well the back side is held together with rivets and those too were in bad shape. Somebody tried to take it apart and didn't do a very good job. I used a hammer and punch to do my best to salvage the rivets that were left but they eventually came undone again. So I drilled them out VERY slowly as to not drill too far through the face place on other side. Added new rivets and it's back in the truck again, nice and solid.
Then I pulled out my air filter, had to cut another section out of the intake tube, installed the filter and got it pretty much where I want it. I think it's going to work out just fine. Need to build a bracket off the radiator mount and then a block off plate around the filter in the fender. I am also thinking about making slits in the inner fender to allow fresh air up into the air box.
Now comes the fun part. And also the part where I screwed up real good. I installed the hood and grill finally. When I got the grill on I noticed the headlight buckets were WAY off, not centered in the holes properly. Anybody guess what I did? This truck is a 1970. Front dog house is from a 67-68. Oops, I ordered a 1970 core support. I guess this means the headlight buckets from those years are in a different spot.... I will have to do some surgery to make this work I guess....
The hood lined up pretty decent, little work there. The grill isn't too bad either. Will know better once I get the core support fixed. I went driving around like this. Flushed the engine first, connected all my radiator hoses. And the water is nice and clean and radiator is working well, and staying clean! Hovered around 190 just putting around the neighborhood. Got on it some and the it's got enough power it chirps the tires shifting into second gear. I think that upgraded 4l60e and brand new torque converter has something to do with that too
