Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Shot a picture of the welding magnet modified to hold a piece of smashed copper pipe. Works great provided the hole you are trying fill is flat and in a place that has enough area for the magnet to grab. Note that I had to grind a bit of the magnet frame so the copper is flush with the edge of the magnet frame.

The 5.3 looks like a pretty big engine when all the sheetmetal is removed.

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Just took a quick cruise back over your thread. You opted for a new engine wiring harness. I did not pick up on why you bailed out on reusing the original harness. ?? Also, made the mistake of rereading your bad day thread when the bed got damaged. That was horrible. Hopefully you got that rectified.

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Thanks. Love the Iphone app art work. Will be looking into this. dug

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Good idea on the magnet.
the frame looks good.
Kim

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Kim: Thanks...did you wire your LS yet? Do you plan on stripping the OEM harness or are you buying a fresh one? Thx Dug

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

You've got a nice build going on there. Subscribed.

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

I got a fresh one from PSI. I had them flash my computers also.
Kim

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Last day for the truck for a week. Yesterday I sand blasted the firewall using screened playground sand. Went pretty quickly until I hit the undercoating. Will have to find another way to take it off. Recovered about 80% of the sand and rescreened. Will put a trarp down next time.

Got the cab mounts on the driver side finished. Cut the top off flush with the top of the frame and cut out a plate to fill it. The small corner cut is for the front of the cab step. Ground down the welds on the frame where the old mounts were located. Discovered that the front mount was an integral part of the frame. By the time I finished grinding the welds, there were two vertical openings (1/16" wide) in the frame from top to bottom. Welded them up and hit it with a wire brush and paint.

Finished the day by cramming everything on one side of the garage to get the wifes car back in. dug

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Got the four cab body mounts boxed and painted. Cut out the area behind the old battery and the area where the steering column went through and replaced. Filled all but three of the remaining holes in the firewall. The nail trick (thanks Kabwe) came in very handy. Much grinding to do. Still a welding hack but improving.

May go ahead and replace the rotten passenger floor while I have the cab off. The water that got in that rotted the floor came through a hole somebody drilled from inside the cab through the cowel. Everytime it rained, it drained into the cab. Note the repair in the top left of the firewall photos. dug

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Looking good.
Kim

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

What Kim said, I'm really enjoying this build!

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Tossed the cab back on the frame and reinstalled the steering column and pedal assembly so I could cut the hole for the steering shaft and get the trans tunnel started. Patched the top left triangular piece that I got carried away with when doing my initial trans cut. Ordered cab corners, passenger floor and both steps with integral rockers so I can get started on the sheet metal.

Did a preliminary 10 minute mockup of the trans tunnel. Shorter but wider than I envisioned. Will push it to the right to get a little more clearance right of the gas pedal. Remember, the trans is 1"+ off center to the right. Cleaned up the donor shifter and e-brake units and took a look. Top is currently rectangular. May tapper it on the next mockup and see how it looks. Fortunately, when I removed the e-brake from the Ranier donor, I drilled out and removed the bracket it mounts to. The bracket comes with the mounting points for the cables under the vehicle.

Also, cut the long piece of steel (you can see it in the 3rd photo) to begin fabricating the beam that that the fronts of the seats mount to. Decided to abandon my initial approach which simply bolted seats to the existing beam and create this long piece with nuts welded to the bottom. Once fabricated, I will weld to the front and top of the existing beam. This piece will also bridge the structural beam I cut out for the trans/driveshaft clearance. The bridge will get a couple of pieces on top to replace what I cut out below and will be under the trans tunnel and out of site.

Question: Does anyone know what the third hole in the firewall is for under the hing mounting holes? You can see it in the top left of the first photo below. Could not determine what it was for so I was not brave enough to weld it closed. It is under the fender liner. thx dug

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Looking good.
I have no idea about the hole.
Kim

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

photo is cropped this might help.

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Thanks Kim.

OrrieG: I don't see it on your drawing. Worst case scenario is that I leave it open and, if not ultimately used, I put a nut and bolt through it. One of our fellow bloggers will be bringing his '58 Fleetside by soon. I will take a look at his. Thx for the drawing. dug.

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Antenna wire hole?

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

I will give that some thought. Took a look at your build. Now THAT's a project. One of my buddies had a Travelall back in High School. Was amazing what we could fit in that thing. dug

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Well one of the reasons i bailed on the factory harness was the amount of time it was going to take for me to do ....a few other reasons were the guy that was supposed to give me a hand pulled a no show a couple of times...and to send it out and wait....well it was easier to just buy a harness and fly at it. That was my first LS build so if i would have been on it earlier it might have been differnt...........But since then I started my low and go 66 short box that is getting a 6.2 ltr supercharged LSA set up and I think i will use more of the cars options and harness.......see how that rolls so to speak. I see your making progress....trucks looking great...going to be a great ride

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Got the trans tunnel bent and installed thanks to my buddy Jim. He dragged some steel over and set up a short metal brake. Matched the template on the first try but my cardboard template was not as accurate as it could have been. Had to add some steel here and there to get the welding done. Did not weld the passenger side since that floor will be replaced when I take it back off of the frame. Learned alot about warping on this weld. Had to slow down and space out the tacks. Jim also provided the piece of sheetmetal. It came from his dead packaged AC unit.

Before the tunnel went in, I fabricated the front seat mounting plate. It also acted as the bridge over the driveshaft to replace the portion I had to cut to clear the driveshaft. Welded the entire perimeter and added some support over the driveshaft.

Next move is to fabricate the trans tunnel between the seats. It will be the mounting point for the E-Brake and I will utilize the sheetmetal I took out of the donor that has all the mounting points. Right now, the shifter feels good left of center and the e-brake to the right of center. Note the that the centerline of the tunnel ended up 5/8" to the right of the center of the cab.

Started looking for a welder so I can Jim's back to him. I have my eye on a Millermatic 211. Factory is offering a 15% rebate. Any comments and recommendations would be appreciated.

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Looks good but you might consider making it removable. Make getting to shift stuff, transmission bolts, etc. easier. My transfercase is a B to align and mount from the bottom only too. Look at the photo in your post 187 to see all the stuff on the top of the tranny that is impossible to get to from the bottom.

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Looking good.
As far as welders I've been using my Lincoln for over 15 years without any problems at all.
I'm sure the Miller is a good unit also.
Kim

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

You are right...future maintenance would have been enhanced with it being removable and I did not do myself any favors keeping the tunnel smallish. Too late....it is officially welded in place. I guess I could add some access doors for the plug and the shift linkage. No telling what I will do if I can decide to pull the trigger on the new welder. Thx..dug

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

I can buy 2.5 H.F. disposable welders for what the dual voltage Miller costs but I intend to keep it for a while. The Miller 211 has an autoset control option which may be nice for a guy like me. The dual voltage makes it more portable than the 220V only models. The one I have been using is a Linde 100 and we think it is over 25 years old. It hadn't been used for years and it fired right up and ran good after I changed out the wire. I seem to be using alot of shielding gas. I leak tested everthing I can get to. I have it dialed down as low as it will go and still give me good welds. May have a leak somewhere or maybe I am just welding a bunch. Thx dug

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

Check where the gas tubing feeds into the stinger section there at the welder. This is a common area for leak. Maybe the stinger is not fully seated into it's housing or whatever seal/o ring that they use is not there or leaking.

Re: Dug's 1959 Fleetside
 

I've got a 211. They are great.
Smart weld capability, 110-220 with a switch of a pig tail end. You can use a spool gun if you have one. I use .030 wire in this machine.

For sheet metal though nothing beats my little Lincoln sp-100 with .023 wire.

Your work is coming along great.