Assembling the car.

Early this morning I went to my work to bent the sides of the bed.
When I came home again I installed the fenders to the panel and the inner rail.
And then we mounted the bed to the truck.
A view from the front.

 And a view from the rear.

 We then started to mount the steps to the car. The driver side was pretty straight forward. But the passenger side needed some tweaking. We had to bent the mounts to the front in order to let it line up properly. On the front fender I had to do some remodeling to make the gap even with the other side.

 At the rear of the pickup we made a bar that keeps the distance even and prevent the side to bend open under the pressure of the fenders. We also had to make some risers to mount the bed so that it would rise above the frame rails.
The sides were also mounted parallel to the bed.

 The Cabin was raised at the passenger side by about 1 cm. This made the gap with the steps equal on both sides.

 Then we did mount some miscellaneous parts to look for its fit. In searching how to mount the rear bumper and truck bed lid we realized that we had no mount to mount the bumper.
We will make a pair tomorrow.

 In between wen I had some time I started with the repair of the end pillars of the bed. In the picture below you can see the result. On the right side one that needs to be repaired on the left the one that is repaired. That little bracket in between the to side is newly made. It is to hold the top riser panels in place.
The little tube in between at the bottom is were the bolt mount for the chain. This way it can not collapse when tightening it.

 After the crew went home I did repair the remaining four pillars. Rust was removed with a wire brush and grinder.

 Then the inside was treated with phosphoric acid to remove the rust.

And then it was given a protective coating with some galvanic paint.
Tomorrow we will continue the shop we started.

Mounting parts

Early this morning we started with mounting the cabin on the frame. Next we mounted the inner fenders

 Next the air duct for the radiator.

 And Next the fenders

 Then we started with mounting the doors in the cabin. And the grill.

  And then the Bonnet was mounted.

 In the mean time I had some time for a bit of fitting. The lower rear corner near the door was not correct.

 And the top of the door to the roof was touching and I had to do some stretching.

 We then also mounted the bumper and the cover behind the bumper.

 Al the previous was done with the help of 2 Co-workers. So after they went home I started with cutting an other sheet of metal for the side panels of the truck bed. These 2 pieces were then layed on top of each other. With the help of the existing panel I drilled the holes and lay out the place to make the necessary cuts.

 Next I made a mold to form the edges of the panel and started with bending the for edges of the plate. This way I get the exact contour and the panels stay straight.

 This is the first bent. 3 more will follow.

And thats it for this day.

Preparing for trial fitting

Today I made everything in order to be able to start with the trial fitting of all the body work.
This way we can be sure that everything is going to fit when it's painted.
I started with the repair of the cross member for the transmission. There were some serious cracks  that need welding.

 First the paint was ground away to be able to weld.  The cracks were then tacked together and the welding could begin.

The next thing I did was remove the battery box fabricated by a coworker. The battery would not fit.
I had one original side piece laying aside and I first made it straight. Then I used that side as a template to make one for the opposite side. Including the strut. Now it resembles more to the original box. All I need to do is make a bottom plate for it.

 And now the cross member could be bolted in place

 The welds of the cross member needs some paint and then it will be OK.

 Then I started with the brace that holds the radiator. There were some cracks that needed welding and a piece was missing. I fabricated the missing piece from some 2 mm sheet metal and welded that in place.

 Next I cut the truck bed apart into pieces.

 A work table was pulled to the middle of the work floor and I started drilling the weld from the side panels of the bed.  Everything came apart nicely.

 I then did the other side next.

 Here is a picture of how I put everything in order so we can start directly with mounting the cabin to the frame.

 Back to the bed. I laid a piece of sheet metal on the worktable and took some measurements and layout the outlines of the side panel. And then the first piece is cut out.

Tomorrow we will continue the work.

Chassis

Today the Chassis arrived together with some other body parts.
We now can start again with this project.

 The bonnet, inner fenders and some other parts.

No pictures today

Today I turned out the drum brakes of the Chevy.
They are pretty worn.
I had to make special adapters to align the rotors of the front  drums , otherwise they would not spin in center.
Even for the rear drums I had to make an adapter.

In the end I was able to turn out the drums all 4 of them.
They were pretty oval.
To be on the safe side I looked on the Internet for tolerances.
At one side I found drums new and they gave a maximum internal diameter of 281 mm.
The rear drums are just inside that dimension and the front drums are over the top.
I think to be on the safe side they all should be replaced. That way the diameters are about the same and that will give less brake force difference left to right.

I did not make any photos of the progress. I this time tried something else. I made a video.

The video is about 10 mim long. Hope you enjoy.

Chassis work.

A few days a go the pickup bed , rear fenders , running boards and some other small parts arrived at my shop to repair and inspect them.

 While I'm waiting for some time to work on those parts an other crew is working on the chassis.

 They installed new bushings for the rear springs . New shock absorbers are installed and new breaklinings and brake cylinders. And not to forget the brake lines.

 Wheel bolts and nuts are ordered today as is the brake cylinder for the rear right side.

 On the front new springs are installed and the axle itself is completely overhauled.

 They are now waiting for the brake drums to be redone. And the steering box is being overhauled as we speak.

Soon we will update on more items that are done.

Cabin? Done

Today I started fabricating the new piece to weld in in the left rear corner of the cabin.
I was so eager to get it done that I forgot to take more pictures.
But here are a few pictures when I reminded myself.

 In this picture the part is welded in place.

And in this picture the part is ground and worked on some more to get the last bumps out.
Then I walked around the cabin and did a final check. A few small dents in the roof drip rail were repaired and a small piece on the edge with the door that was ground trough was welded.
This means that the cabin is completed.