Long to short conversion

[mx574]

pics of progress

[mx574]

The first picture is the pop up gas cap from Harley D. The second is the gas tank going in. If i had to do it all over again i would have spent the extra $ to get an aluminum tank. But it is new and will work fine. The third is the bungs. The larger is off of my stock tank and the little one is a harley bung that i had to cut and use for the threads. The fourth picture is the bed floor, which has been done for a while but i cold not get the picture up. So what u see is all metal and in the end will be painted black. The strips are not in the picture but can see where they will go. They are satinless steel polished with no bolt holes on the top. there is a chanel on the bttom that a bolt slides into. The last pic is the hole i cut for the gas cap.

[mx574]

pics of under the truck

[mx574]

more pics uder truck. the bottom of the custom bed floor

[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

[mx574]

drivers side

[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

[mx574]

Not getting much done to the truck lately because of work and family. But because of SWB85 who built a killer 383 and talking to him, he is very knowledgeable and made the argument of motor ( 1 vs 2 piece rear main seal) so I advertised my old motor on craigslist and sold it today. Great news! Not 100% sure of what i will do from here. I still need to do alot of body work and get truck in paint but it is so fun looking up motors and different setups. So i will start saving. Dont know if 350 or I want to do a 383. Thought about building but thinking about a crate motor again. But will definitely be 1 piece rear main seal (1987-1999) Gm with full roller top end.

[mx574]

Same story as before. Been pretty busy which is a good thing. But not getting much done on the truck. Work on my brother in laws 66 mustang yesterday. I am not a ford guy but he has a really nice car and its tough. Has a 347 stroker motor. Got a little work done on truck today. Struggling with the fact that my truck is/ was really used being a 3/4 ton longbed. was sorking on my tailgate today and noticed it has a little bow in it from weight and my bedside top rails are a littlr of the same because somewhere along it had to have had a camper. Has anyone heard of T and L engines and have some feedback. i started saving my coins for a motor. They are on the east coast and im on the west but the seem very good at what the do and price is pretty reasonable for the parts. Any feedback appreciated.

[my67chevytruck]

Looking good

[nuke1]

starting to look like something again!

[mx574]

Spent some time on truck toda. Hope to get more done tomorrow. We moved in October so i threw the truck together to make it easier to move. Now i took the front end off and am prepping the front end for paint. Need to rework my cowl. Will post pictures after i am happy. This will be the third time i tackle it. Have not shown pics because it is the worst work ive done on the project

[mx574]

Got a nice refund from the feds. That will help get this thing to paint. I have been messing with it here and there the last couple of weeks. I finally got my cowl looking good. (third time is the charm). Took my front end apart again to clean up the inside of the front fenders and the core support and inner fenders. Started putting it back together and got my new hood hinges installed.