46 pickemup in NJ "the Rebuild"

[paintman]

OK some updates! So here's a perfect example of having something get way more involved then I ever wanted it to be. Originally my truck came with your typical V8. I decided to make the change to an inline 6. Well that poses some challenges. First off the inline 6 is about 4-5 inches longe than the V8. when I first put the engine in its hole I had no room to get the radiator in.

So after staring at the problem for a bout 2 months I decided I only had 2 options. Either try and re-work the radiator mount and move it forward. Or cut a hole in the fire wall and slide the engine back a bit. Moving the radiator support around seemed at the time to present much more of a challenge because as most of you know a lot of the front body work mounts to the support. Because of this I decided to leave the mount alone and cut a hole in the firewall.



At the time the fix seemed pretty simple......but now I had to figure out how to re- work the fire wall and not make it look like a hack job. Mind you now I do not have any of the high end tools the hot rod shops have ie....power hammer, english wheel, bead roller, etc etc. So I will have to just wing as best I can. the biggest problem is the stock fire wall has a rounded, stamped recess. So How the hell am I going to make something blend in with that?????????????

first I started off making a new floor. Just a simple piece of plate steel with a lip added to the bottom so it rests nicely in its hole.