Long to short conversion

[mx574]

Originally Posted by kev2809

hey nice work! i was looking at your lower cup replacement and noticed you did yours like mine (using the whole piece). how hard was it for yours to line up? mine was a huge major pain in the ass to get right. the contours from the cup wasnt even close to my fender. i had to basically pinch the new cup into contour with my fender lines, if that makes any sense. now its hard to get the filler sanded down in that curve.

Thank you guys for your coments. Helps me stay motivated. Yeah the cup replacement sucked. "If i knew then what i know now"... The picture of the cup installed and welded was tghe frist of two. I just lined up the cup to the fender. Then when i decided to check things it looked horrible with the grill and bumper in place, i started to notice it looked different than the drivers side and i had not even thought about my inner fenders yet. So it got cut off and, the second time i had the inner fender, and the grill installed to while i tacked it in place and there was a gap between the cup and the fender to fill the second time around. and i hear what you are saying about the filler, it is tough on the contour lines i havent even started sanding it yet

[domsan]

nice work

[mx574]

Making a little progress. Trying to put all the parts back on to finish up body work. Had to put the whole front end together to fit the grill. Grill is cool but had to recess my lights a secong time because they hit the billet insert(grill was a lot of work). all metal fab is done but i am mad at a local harley dealer. I ordered a gas cap that is usually in stock, said it would be in about a week. Called, today back ordered till mid-november. Not sure what i am going to do yet, they fuel fill is the last real fab needed before paint.

[VA72C10]

Sorry to hear about the fuel filler. Looks like a ton of work on the phantom grille but I know it'll get you the look you're going for when finished.

[mx574]

Went to the harley dealer. Over the phone they said if they had a kit that has the fuel cap that i want with a gauge they could break the kit and give me my cap, (but they did not have any-they had two when i was there a week ago). I went yesterday and they broke the kit so i got my cap. I will start on the work today. Hope to have some pics soon.

[VA72C10]

cool...looking forward to the pictures.

[VA72C10]

That bed floor is awesome. Great work and nice progress!!!

[mx574]

I am very happy with the way my metal work has turned out. However, i messed up my cowl by welding it off the truck. So the last two days i was working on it again. The gap between the cowl and windshield was pretty big. So i cut it up a second time and rewelded it on the truck. And as of today i am finished with all my metal fabrication. Shortening bed and frame, relocating gas tank, drip rail, firewall, door handles, marker lights, cowl, roll pan, homemade c-notch, shaved dash, phantom grill(recessing of headlights), bed floor, and tailgate shaved inside and out. I have been working on this build for two years now and most has been comprised of cutting, welding, and grinding. So now it is just bondo to paint.

[mx574]

Went about three months without touching truck. Must have gotten kicked in the head somewhere along the way. No we moved and work has been up and down trying to grow business. Anyway i looked and my truck was starting to get some surface rust. If you leave a truck in bare metal aparently it will rust. WHO KNEW! Anywayi have been sanding and priming for the last two weeks. I will try to get some updated pics up soon. Hope all of you Have a Merry Christmas out there.

[mx574]

some pics of progress. just sanding an priming. took the bed off. primed then sprayed some truck bed coating on out of a can.

[mx574]

more pics

[VA72C10]

Looking good. Glad you're back working on it.

[kev2809]

that looks great man. what did you make your notch out of?

[mx574]

Originally Posted by kev2809

that looks great man. what did you make your notch out of?

made it a while ago. Just measured the frame, i believe width/hight wise i figures 6 inch plate was big enogh. Just went down to metal yard(most of my truck came from there) and bought some thick plate out of the scrap pile for pretty cheap. Descent amount of time in measuring and cutting but all the kits I see out there are like 120 and up. Save money where i can. Nice to make it yourself and have less than 30 dollars in the notch.

[kev2809]

i hear ya man. im trying to make my notch too but the local welding store here wanted 60 bucks just for some 6.5" inch pipe. i thought that was ridiculous. so im waiting till i find some 8.5" ID pipe so i can make my notch. lol

[mx574]

Originally Posted by kev2809

i hear ya man. im trying to make my notch too but the local welding store here wanted 60 bucks just for some 6.5" inch pipe. i thought that was ridiculous. so im waiting till i find some 8.5" ID pipe so i can make my notch. lol

why pipe? I have seen a few guys get a round contour in their notch but all the pre made ones have flat surfaces. It will probably save you some money if you just get flat pieces.

[kev2809]

well what i really want is square tubing but i need it big enough so i can make a 4.5" notch. so i need like 8.5 or 9" ID...which is hard to find something that big around here. at least for me it is. i figured pipe would be easier to find..

[mx574]

Got the bed put back on and the bolts installed just need to tighten them. Blew through a couple of more cans of primer. Getting ahead of myself as I need to just focus on getting this truck in some paint. My goal was to have it painted by the end of 2009 but we all know how plans on projects go. Anyway it is just alot of fun researching and dreaming of a motor. As far as I know forged vs cast. You only need forged if you plan on running nitrous or a blower (which I am not) and you motor is only as strong as its weakest link. With that being said I found a shop on ebay that sells a 383 rototing assembly but stresses how important it is to have forged pistons (even though everything else is cast). They seam very reputable and the price is ver reasonable. Any thoughts? About the cast/forged...

[mx574]

got a little work done today. More sanding, bondo, priming. Worked over the weekend and pulled the gas tank back out and installed all the bed bolts(two of them you cannot get to with the tank in place. pics of the pass side. My truck has parts from a couple of different trucks, but I am blessed that the cab has spent most if not all of its life in So Cal.

[70stroker]

Man thats lookin really good. I love the bed. Keep up the great work

[my67chevytruck]

Looking good

[nuke1]

starting to look like something again!

[ms2335]

Your truck is looking great. Trying to get started on mine. I love the metal bed floor. Could you let me know some measurements on the metal planks and how they where made. kinda new at the metal work.

[mx574]

hey ms2335.
i like your drivetrain. the 5.3 and 4l60. man it has been a while since i built it. since i wanted it to be built like a wood bed but with no wood. the first thing is to get the bed strips. you can make it however you want so i went with 6 strips. then you figure out the width you need to fill. has to be standard on all these truck. i forget but around 65-69 inches. but for math sake lets just say 70. and your bed strips are 1 1/2 inches wide(x6)= 9 inches. so do 70-9=61. the metal you need to build your floor needs to be 61 inches. if you do like me and use 6 strips you will have the sheet metal centered and then symmetrical as you work to the sides but you need 7 pieces of sheet metal. 61 divided by 7=8.71 inches. you have a little play but not much so you can make your pieces 8 5/8 inches. i just went to local metal yard and ordered this, they had the sheet metal in stock and charge ou for each cut(worth the price). the other hard part is hieght. you want this floor to take up the same amount of room as the wood. i forget what the wood height is but i used 3/4 by 3/4 inch square tubing for the base/structure of the floor. you cut these the lenght of the bed and i used two for each side of the metal/strip. one piece the sheet metal sat on and the other was for the strip. the thickness of the sheet metal i would have to try and find my receipt. if you need more info let me know and i will look for the receipt. but checkout that picture i have on here of the bed satnding up and you get a good view of the bottom. hope this helps and isn.t too confusing. good luck

[ms2335]

That helps alot thanks. One more question was the planks notched or grooved so that the strips set flush in the bed