Ok, got some work done this weekend, although it doesn't seem like it. (Don't you hate that stage?) Anyway, we'll start Friday night. Got the floor flipped over and made up a new xmember over the gas tank out of leftovers. Cleaned out and redrilled spotweld holes in prep for welding. Welded GR. 8 clamp washers over the bed to frame bolt holes, as they were blown out. Sat.- Went junkyarding and desperately resisted a 700r4 in a Sub for my GMC. Cut a big section of frame out of a 68 Sub to fix ours. I think we got a section that's a pretty good match. We'll see. Cut a gas door out of a 91 Ranger and got the fill tube to match. Went and dragged the dr bedside out of the scrap pile. Cut it in half and mocked up the fit of the door. Cut the stuff out of the old xmember in the front that they don't provide in the new ones. (crush sleeves, holes for bed bolts, weld nuts for bed braces.) Today- weld city, baby! Put old stuff in the new xmember, rosette welded all the xmembers in, painted everything to match underneath with tractor enamel, tried to pull a surprise of cutting the stamped Chevrolet out of the old tailgate and welding it into the headgate, but hit a 1/4 inch of mud before I hit sparks. Oy! So much for that idea, now it'll be a wall hanging. Got rid of a bunch of scrap. Boppa is hip to new inner front fenders, thank God. That was gonna be the limit of my capabilities. Anyway, here's some pics.
A little side project-
The start of the crossmember repair-
What I made out of scrap-
The gas door mockup-
Boppa and Neighbor Jay Scrubbin the new stuff for the tractor enamel. The whole underside is now enamel black over the rust bullet. My repair in the foreground.
