Project "April"

[knomadd]

You should be proud of it. April looks really good! And like Buck said, keep posting pics. We all love to see pics.

[Fw190d9]

Well, beloved April bit the bullet late 2015. She had a disagreement with a 10' diameter pecan tree in our driveway. Needless to say poor Maverick was crushed. He hit the tree in reverse right on the frame rail which bent the left rail into an A, pushing the bed into the cab. Insurance took one look and said the dreaded words, "Totalled"

I got him a cheap tacoma to drive to college and bought the remains from the insurance company. Everything from the rear cab wall forward was fine so I started the rebuild in 2017. I ordered a new Roadstershop Fast track chassis with coilovers and the brackets to weld onto the existing 12bolt rear. The chassis was sent to powdercoat and Maverick came home from his sophomore year to assemble the new front suspension.

It was at this point I went super secret and planned a full rebuild while he was away at college and unaware. Every time he asked about April, I would just shake my head and say Sorry Son, aint got time to work on it. So as far as he knew, the remains and the new frame were just sitting in the shop collecting dust. The plan was to rebuild it from the ashes and present it as a College Graduation present. The Kid graduated with Honors and I was pretty proud of him.

The big reveal happened this past thanksgiving and the Kid was blown away, He had no idea that I was rebuilding it for him.

So I will continue this thread to the second completion of the truck named "April". I will post pics I kept of the build a few at a time.

Proud Dad,
Evan Q.

[Fw190d9]

Damage photos

[Fw190d9]

New frame being assembled

[Fw190d9]

So from here on out, the Kid had no idea that I was doing the rebuild. Starting to work on the stripped down cab's rear wall. I found a cheap cab that wasnt too rusty on craigslist to cut the repair panel out of. Cleaned it up and TIG welded it in.

[Low Elco]

Wow!

[Fw190d9]

More rebuild pics

The back wall of the cab was smoothed and straightened. There was interior damage as well to the steel panel that goes around the inside of the window and behind the seat. The old parts cab gave up this panel as well.

[Fw190d9]

The doors were in pretty good shape so were stripped down to bare steel, epoxy coated and block sanded till super smooth and straight. I also added the new Trique door latches

[Fw190d9]

Doors in the booth getting stripes and clear. Paint is PPG epoxy, K38 primer, PPG base, 2020 clear

[Fw190d9]

The cab was given multiple coats of K38 and block sanded many times to get it smooth.

[Fw190d9]

A good quality sealer was sprayed before the color coats.

[Fw190d9]

Sealer on before color

[Fw190d9]

White on the roof and stripes on the sides. The clear laid down especially well on the cab. very little peel and not much buffing needed.

[TA_C10]

Subbed.

[MDPotter]

I'm sure you were both heartbroken to see it totaled. But awesome of you to rebuild it as a surprise! Can't wait to see it in its new form.

[tinydb84]

That is awesome. If my dad rebuilt my truck like that I think Id have to go to med school as a thank you!

[Fw190d9]

Thanks Guys, I must admit I had a bit o fun rebuilding her. Im not a big fan of vent windows so went with the Brother's one piece power window conversion. Spent alot of time getting this cab wall right so the doors would close properly.

[Fw190d9]

Since I had to rebuild the rear window pinch weld from the damage, The fresh paint was too nice to cover up with an ugly gasket so I went with the Fesler flush mount rear window. It fit the window opening perfectly and is urethaned in like modern windows.

[Fw190d9]

Followed by a Fesler flush fit windshield. No mods needed to the pinchweld. it fit suprisingly well. Urethaned in and no more leaky gaskets.

[Fw190d9]

So since the Kid was doing so well in school, I thought a nice bonus was in order.

[MDPotter]

I'm drooling all over my keyboard now. Your shop with some form of heating/cooling, perfect bodywork, Fesler glass, and what looks to be a supercharged LT engine.

[Fw190d9]

Thanks MDPotter. Yeah its a crate LSA engine. Same as what the ZL1 camaro had a few years back. Its a connect and cruise LSA so came with a brand new 4L80e trans and harness. It fit well in the roadstershop frame with the exception of the trans mount. I had ordered the frame for the old 5.3 4l60e combo so I had to reposition the mount.

[Fw190d9]

Complete rolling chassis

[Fw190d9]

Put the accessory drive and blower drive on, then placed the cab on the chassis with some new cab mounts from LMC truck

[Fw190d9]

The new Roadstershop frame came with a rack n pinion so I had to fab up a steering shaft to connect to the column and clear the headers. 3 steering U joints were used along with a big Heim joint to secure the mid section to the frame.