78 downlow-littledough

[cooperhw]

well, got a little bit of progress done yesterday. bagged off the cab and shot the cowl, cab door openings, door jambs and inside edges of the front fenders. Whenever I shoot the body colors outside I don't want to worry about trying to get at all these hard to hit areas.
The last pic of the passenger side cowl you can see a reflection of the blue sky and a mountain that's about 10 miles from my house. I am really happy with how this clear lays out. Like glass.

[rusty76]

Liking every thing I see

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Liking every thing I see

Thanks. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. bite at a time.

[cooperhw]

Had to lay off the painting process for a bit now to do some final fabrication. Started off by recessing the floor for the 2003 seats to sit on. Dropped it down and put a channel over the frame rail (under the seat so you wouldn't see it). Next came the console which took a bit of head scratching. I had a sub I pulled out of my pro-street car (along with some other stereo stuff) before I sold it 2 years ago. Wanted to install it in the middle so I trimmed it to fit and started moving forward with it. The last section to be done is the middle. I want to build some kind of a shallow tray to hold sunglasses and cell phones as wells a one drink holder on each side.

[rusty76]

Looks good

[51Chevyman]

Nice Build! I was looking for a thread were someone Z'ed the front of a 73-87 frame and I came along yours. I will hopefully be doing the same to a frame I have. I really like the color combo too.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Looks good

Thanks

[LT7A]

Very interesting build. I enjoy seeing the progess. You seem to be very matter-of-fact and it seems to keep you progressing steadily.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by 51Chevyman

Nice Build! I was looking for a thread were someone Z'ed the front of a 73-87 frame and I came along yours. I will hopefully be doing the same to a frame I have. I really like the color combo too.

Thanks. If you have any questions just give a holler and I'll gladly share any info I have.

Originally Posted by LT7A

Very interesting build. I enjoy seeing the progess. You seem to be very matter-of-fact and it seems to keep you progressing steadily.

Thanks. I try to just keep putting one foot in front of the other or more like a chess match, just keep advancing when I can and retreat when I have to.

Here are a few pics taken this past weekend when I was finally able to put the bed back on and fabricate mounts for my fuel cell.

[cooperhw]

couple more pics for you pic junkies

[51Chevyman]

Nice, looks like a truck again. How much do you think you will have into just the suspension work with bags etc. Trying to figure out about how much I need to save up going with the Zeed frame like you did. Can't wait to see it finished.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by 51Chevyman

Nice, looks like a truck again. How much do you think you will have into just the suspension work with bags etc. Trying to figure out about how much I need to save up going with the Zeed frame like you did. Can't wait to see it finished.

I think all in around $1000. That's including plating steel, welding wire/gas, etc.

[rusty76]

Truck is looking wicked cool.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Truck is looking wicked cool.

Thanks Rusty76. That's the look I was after. I think it is heading in the right direction for the vision I had in my head this whole time.

[51Chevyman]

What did you decide to do with the rear suspension? It looks like you have the 4 link bars welded to the pumpkin? I know you talked about changing it but it looks like you haven't yet? Thanks

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by 51Chevyman

What did you decide to do with the rear suspension? It looks like you have the 4 link bars welded to the pumpkin? I know you talked about changing it but it looks like you haven't yet? Thanks

No, I didn't change them. I hired a welder to weld em up. He says he has welded many over the years with no problems. We'll see. Looks fine to me.

"I've had guys tell me on just about every decision I've made (front, back, middle) that you can't do that". Well, my answer is no, "YOU CAN'T DO THAT". Me, I'll do it my way, and if it needs some adjustment or heaven forbid, fixing at some point in time I will do that as well.
I march to the beat of my own drummer. We'll see if "he is mentally unstable".

[tinydb84]

Looking good. I think other than the 6 inch Z (I would have went a few inches less) your build is great.

For welding to the pumpkin, did he mig or tig it? What filler did he use if he tigged it?

Im doing a 3 link this weekend. It would make it way easier to weld it to the pumpkin rather than build a bridge over it to weld to. Not sure which way I want to go.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by tinydb84

Looking good. I think other than the 6 inch Z (I would have went a few inches less) your build is great.

For welding to the pumpkin, did he mig or tig it? What filler did he use if he tigged it?

Im doing a 3 link this weekend. It would make it way easier to weld it to the pumpkin rather than build a bridge over it to weld to. Not sure which way I want to go.

he pre-heated it and mig welded it.

[cooperhw]

Little progress today on my console. Trying to blend it in so you can't tell it's multi piece and also install a tray to hold my cell phone and sunglasses. The tray will lift in and out so it can sit on top of the upholstery work. Not much, but i'll take it. Actually worked on my El Camino most of the day buy finally got on my love for a couple hours

[Advanced Design]

Well shoot Wayne, I always enjoy your builds and just found this one. Enjoyed catching up with what you have going here. Very cool and creative! Will be tagging along for the rest.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Well shoot Wayne, I always enjoy your builds and just found this one. Enjoyed catching up with what you have going here. Very cool and creative! Will be tagging along for the rest.

Hey Doug. Welcome aboard. How you been?
Actually got the console finished up yesterday (good enough for my interior guy to polish it up. Had to finish welding on my roll pan today & get the filler work roughed in. All these things were always "on the list" just finally made it to the top.

[cooperhw]

Well, been busy. Finally got the bodywork done and decided it deserved a better paint job than what I am capable of putting out, so I flew my buddy in from PA. to handle the gun.
Best decision I made so far on this project.
Rented a booth (instead of my usual backyard trick) in town and about 35 hours this past weekend it's in color.
Had to start out with a silver band so we could have that as a separation between the body color (buckskin tan), and the white side stripe. Not a big fan of the bulky side trim the factory used.
Here it is,

[cooperhw]

Next came clear coat to all colors and haul it home.

[truckfan]

Originally Posted by cooperhw

Next came clear coat to all colors and haul it home.

killer colors

[3drburb]

Very nice! Your hard work and thinking outside the box is paying off well for you. That color combination is very classy.