jaransonT3 from MI

[jaransonT3]

OK...back to the subject at hand.

Used my new brake today and made the base pieces for the new crossmembers for the seats.



The taller ones on the left are for the rear seat attachment and will go on top of the floorpan between the tunnel and the rocker.

The shorter ones on the right are for the front seat attachment and will actually go on the bottom of the floorpan. This lets me get the seat low enough for the chopped top and still have some decent structure for attaching the seat.

I am hoping to get them welded in tomorrow....if I don't run out of welding gas.......

[jaransonT3]

Originally Posted by HeidelbergJohn4.0

good lord, he'd be the size of a navigator if he drank high test dew.

No kidding.....

I spent most of Black Friday in my garage and grinding. Got the all of the seat crossmembers fit and welded in. Also made the local reinforcement and tapping lugs for the seats to bolt to. Still need to do some more grinding and clean-up and then hit it all with MasterSeries again.















and Yes, I said seats with an "s". I am still going for the bench seat look, but have decided to do a faux bench. I will will have individual seats on the driver and passenger side with a fixed center section that when the seats are full down and full back and the recline is set properly it will look like the bench seat in my rendering from last week.

The reason for doing this is that I scored a pair of 8-way power heated seats. I will have new foam and covers made to fit the shape and style I want and build the center section from scratch. These seats will let me get low enough to accommodate the chop and still let me have a bunch of adjustment in the seat to make sure I can find a comfortable driving position. More on the seats in the future.

[jaransonT3]

So, I have been spending the last few days in the garage stripping paint and chasing little rust spots. Boring, but necessary stuff. Getting close to being ready to get the bottom of the car in MasterSeries.

As I said it has been kind of boring, so today I finished up by working on the dash doing a little more creative stuff. This is what I started with....





I have been a little concerned about the angle of the gauges and getting glare through the windshield making it hard to see the gauges. So I decided to add a eyebrow/hood similar to the ones I added to the fenders/headlights. I started by bending up an 1/8" steel rod and welding it up to make a bit of a frame and to give the hood a nice radius-ed edge.





Then I added a sheet metal skin and welded it all up and ground it down...







I like it. I will add a similar one for the clock bezel.

[jaransonT3]

Got the hood on the clock bezel tonight....









Also did some some paint stripping and welding up of more holes.

Goal is to get to the point by Sunday that I can fire up the heaters nice and high...get it warm in the garage...and get the pan and the bottom foot or so of the car in Masterseries. That should just about finish off the can I have. Will have to order some more.

[jaransonT3]

Just about made my goal for the weekend. I got the floorpan all cleaned up and repainted with MasterSeries.





You can see the reinforced pads where the seats will be bolted down. They need to be drilled and tapped still....but the pan is otherwise done. At least from a metal work standpoint. Need to get some sound and heat insulation and stuff for it still.

I also got most of the body shell prepped. Still chasing small rust spots and such. I did manage to get the pan mating surface and rockers in MasterSeries. Need a second coat still but I will wait til I get the rest of the rest of it stripped and prepped.

[jaransonT3]

Been fiddling with the seats in the basement for the last few weeks, but finally got out in the garage for a few hours today.

I started out grinding the mounting feet off the bottom of the Ford Flex seats that are the starting point for my "bench" seat for the Sled. This is so they will sit nice and low on the new mounting pads in the floorpan.

After setting them on the floorpan, I was able to finally get a good measurement of the space left between the seats for the center section armrest. Only about 6.5" which meant I need to section out about 6" from the F150 center seat/console that is the starting point for my armrest.



not much left of the armrest structure. You can see the part that I section out laying on the pan. I will need to add some wire supports for the foam and such when I get to that point. Still need to modify the lower brackets to attach to the tunnel and make a simple pan to support the cushion foam that will complete the bottom cushion of the "bench" seat.

Here are some more pics with everything mocked in place.













It is going to be nice having all the adjustment in the seats and the heating elements...considering the car won't have heat or side windows....

Felt good to be back out there working on the Sled. Supposed to start warming up here some in the next week. I plan to get out there more.

[jaransonT3]

Progress!!!.....

Really.....


With pictures.....


Honest....








I broke out the Harbor Freight cheapo HVLP gun and turbine tonight and put about a half gallon of the epoxy sealer on the floor pan and the underside of the body....















it looks pretty cool with some fresh paint and all one color.

I also gathered up all of the hardware for bolting the pan back to the body. Chased all the threads on the bolts and weldnuts. Did manage to break off one tap so will have to dig that out before joining the two and getting it off the rotisserie.

[jaransonT3]

Major step done tonight......

I mated the floorpan back to the body.









I recruited my daughter to help me lift it onto the body on the rotisserie. After a bit of pushing and shoving it into position, I got most of the body bolts back in.

Now I need to get some seam sealer on in a few places, shoot it with some rubberized undercoating and then get it off the rotisserie so I can get the rear fenders on.

Great feeling to be starting the re-assembly process. And having some extra space in the garage again.

[jaransonT3]

I ended up getting some Duplicolor Bed Armor aerosol cans today. Two cans did the entire underside of the pan. I will need a couple of more cans to finish off the wheel wells and the engine compartment and the underside of the front end. I need to get some seam sealer and do a few spots before I spray on the bedliner.

I liked the way it went on. Will probably do the inside of the fenders and stuff with it too.

I don't think I will have a problem with the pan rusting. It has two coats of MasterSeries, two coats of epoxy sealer, and a coat of bedliner.

Here are a couple of pictures....tough to get good pictures from underneath.





The car is a bit bottom heavy with the pan on and it doesn't rotate on the rotisserie as easy now.

Next step is to build a cart for the body and get it off the rotisserie.

[jaransonT3]

Got the body cart built today...



and started the process of getting the body of the rotisserie and onto the cart. Used the floor jack on the front. Needed the milk crates to get it tall enough and still be stable....




Used my engine hoist on the rear...



Front free and clear...



and the rear...



Then I lowered it down onto the body cart...



and finally wheeled it back into the garage...



Now I can make more progress...including getting the rear fenders welded on.

[jaransonT3]

Got some stuff done on the Sled over the last couple of days. Started out by masking off the front inner fender wells...



Then sprayed on the bedliner...









Then I did some welding on the doors and front fenders and got them remounted to the body and all lined up in preparation for lining up the rear fenders and getting them welded on...



Was fun seeing it with some of the body panels back on.
Then I decided to check the fit of the seats. This was the first opportunity to bolt a seat in and make sure I had enough head clearance. Turns out I have nearly 5" of clearance to the roof with the seat in the lowest position and can move the seat rearward enough that I can't reach the pedals.















looking forward to getting on with the rear fenders. Need to do some more welding on them and strip some more paint. Also need to seal-up the airboxes before getting the rear fenders on it.

Progress, progress, progress....

[jaransonT3]

With Volksrods being down for the last day and a half, I decided to get back out in the garage and get something done on the Sled. One of things I needed to do before getting the rear fenders fit and welded on was seam seal and close up the cooling airboxes under the fenders.

Get the seam sealer in there...



Got the filler panels cut-out and test fit...



and got them both fully welded in place...





And here is a composite shot looking down through the air intake area...



Tomorrow I can start fitting up the rear fenders!

[jaransonT3]

More progress today...

Started out stripping the old paint off the rear fenders. Decided now would be a good time to fill in the dimple for the stock bumpers...



Cut out the dimple...



Cut out a patch, shaped it, and tacked it in...



Got it fully welded and ground down...



Then decided to see how the fender fits to the body with the front fenders and doors lined up....



Not too bad, but the rear of the fender is a bit higher then I had it before when I get the body lines lined up and straight. Going to have some filler panels to make...



But the body lines line up pretty nice...







Here is a better shot of the space I need to fill up...



and finally a shot of the other other fender just set in place...



I also set the front bumper in place to check for fit. I am going to have to modify the brackets some. It sits too high on the body when I get it parallel to the rocker. Going to add some material to it also to get the gaps to the body all uniform. Didn't get any picture of it tonight. Will do so tomorrow.

Good progress...

[jaransonT3]

Spent some time in the garage today working on the Sled. Got the both rear fenders mounted with a couple of bolts and the passenger side starting to be patched in. I am going to get the bolt on locations good and solid and then take the fenders off, do metal work to get them fully welded and a s smooth as possible and then bolt them back on and get them welded on so I can start the bodywork.

[jaransonT3]

Spent a few hours in the garage this afternoon working on fitting up the rear fenders on the Sled. Made a couple of pieces to fit on the bottom front of the rear fenders...



Got one of them bolted up and tacked in place....



and got some more filler pieces tacked in...



I also started noodling on the possibility of changing up the dash. I scored this very cool early 60's Rambler dash from Unkl Ian last weekend.



I really like the shape and lines of the instrument cluster. I think it fits the lines of the Sled a bit better than the early Ford Dash I have in there now. Not sure I am ready to do that much tear-up at this point...

Decisions, decisions.....

Which ever one I decide to go with, the other will end up in the next project....the Track V!

[jaransonT3]

OK...The Rambler dash option has been bugging me lately so today I decided to strip the dash down to just the sheetmetal and do a little mock-up. I had to cut the dash in half in order to get it to sit close to correctly in the car. Will ultimately need to remove about 8" from the center if I go this route.

Anyway...here are some comparison pictures between the new proposed Rambler Dash and the current 49-50 Ford Dash.









So which do you like better? Any and all opinions welcome. I think I want to change it out to the new proposed dash. I think the lines fit the car better....

Decisions....decisions....decisions...:pani c:

[jaransonT3]

OK....started with this...



A bit of cutting and grinding and got to here...







and this will be saved for a future project...



Some measuring and cutting and welding and I got the Rambler dash to this point...





and then some more cutting and grinding to get it fit in the car and I end up here for tonight. Just held in place for now...









and a few close-ups of the ends...







I like it a lot. Glad I made the decision to switch it. Will weld up all the holes in the dash before welding it into the car. This will give me a clean slate for any switches, radio, etc....

[jaransonT3]

Got some time in the garage today after picking up some more propane for the heater...

Made the last couple of patches for the holes in the dash. This one was fun...



Got them all welded up and ground down...



Found one more rust spot that I took care of before fitting the dash to the car...



Then I fit the dash on the car and started welding. This is the results so far....















Started patching in the passenger side corner....



This is what I have left on the driver's side...



I am very happy with the results. It looks much more at home in there than the 49 Ford dash.

[jaransonT3]

Finally got back in the garage and worked on the Sled a bit. Been almost 2 months...ouch! Nothing real exciting. Some more paint removal and lots more grinding of welds. I also started to clean up the front beam in preparation for the airbag suspension install. Finished grinding off the remnants of the bump stops on both sides.

More tomorrow...maybe with a picture or two also.

[jaransonT3]

The Sled will definitely be getting smoothed out and painted. The pictures hide a lot of sins. the metal work is nowhere near good enough to leave bare.

As promised, here are a few pictures of the last couple of days work. Nothing real exciting.

Got the last of the old paint off the outside...





and got started getting the front beam ready for the airbag suspension by removing the bump stops and cleaning it up some...





Spent the rest of the day working on the headlights for the UVT Shop Rod.

[jaransonT3]

Here's something to help with the morning wood.....










Spent a few hours in the garage yesterday afternoon working on the LH Rear Fender. Got almost all of the seams fully welded up and ground down. Cut out the divot for the original bumper and got the new filler piece welded in and ground down. I need to do bit of shrinking and stretching to get the basic shape of the fender a bit better, but this side is very close to being ready to be welded on and the final joint between the top of the fender and the body figured out. Then it is mudding time....

Did a bunch of grinding on other welded seams as well.

[jaransonT3]

Now that the Volksrod Hood Ornament patterns are done and I am just waiting for the foundry to finish their part....

I got out in the garage today and got back to working on the Sled. I had previously put the rear subframe up on an engine stand so I could start getting it read for the air ride. I stripped all the brake stuff for rebuild and in preparation for doing a trailing arm swap. I wanted to do the swap to prevent excessive camber when I lower it all the way down.

So I tackled the swap today. Started out pulling the trailing arms off. Since I plan to still run shocks with the air ride, I had to cut the lower shock mounts off and swap them bottom to top AND left to right.

I also cut the bumpstop mounts off the trailing arms. Didn't bother to reattach them....who needs freakin' bump stops? We don't need need no freakin' bump stops!





While I had it apart I also swap the spring plates from left to right. This let me still use all 4 bolts between the spring plate and the trailing arm. This was a super easy swap since Brian Fye and I had previously removed the torsion bars.



As you can see, I still need to swap the brake backing plates so the adjusters are back at the bottom and the wheel cylinder is on top. Will have to probably wait until it is back in the car and on the ground in order to get the rear axle nut loose.

I also picked up a variable speed polisher/sander to use with my shrinking disk. It has a bit higher RPM than my old one so the disk should work a bit faster. Going to be working on smoothing out the rear fenders this week.

Felt good to be out making sparks and welding stuff again.

[jaransonT3]

Since I am now just waiting for the production hood ornaments, I figured I better get back out in the garage and work on the Sled. Spent a few hours Friday and Saturday working on the rear air ride stuff.

I started out welding a couple of old pieces of the rear load floor I had saved back together so I could have a better sense of the space available for the air ride system. I then bolted this to the rear subframe and flipped the whole thing upside down.



I then started out fitting a rectangular tube I had fabricated from two pieces of angle iron between the shock towers.



and then cutting and fitting the upper bag mounts....





Plan to get out there tomorrow and get some of this welded up and the lower mounts built.

At that point I can put the rear subframe back in the car. I plan to fabricate a couple of solid spacers to use instead of the bags for the remainder of the build. When it is ready for its first drive I will swap in the bags and pumps and tanks and stuff.

[jaransonT3]

Spent most of the day yesterday working on the rear air ride of the Sled. Started out making a cardboard template for the lower bracket that gets welded to the diagonal arm.



Then I cut one from some 3mm sheet metal and started bending it up on my brake...



All three steps in the process including adding the bottom cap that boxes it all in....



Trial fit with the bags...



After lots of grinding, welding, and grinding, I ended up with this. Couple of different views of the bags at Full Down, Ride Height, and Full Up...







Next, I threw the wheels on and set it on the ground and let it settle down to Full Down height. I really like the lack of camber since I flipped the diagonal arms.



I even threw in the transmission to make sure it cleared everything. So far so good...



I am going to add a couple of diagonal braces after I make sure they don't interfere with any of the fuel lines, cables, etc that exit the rear of the pan...







I am pretty happy with it so far. I bit more welding to do and some clean-up. Getting close to getting the Sled back on its own rear wheels and tires....

[jaransonT3]

Got the rest of the rear air ride reinforcements welded in and the entire unit cleaned up, blasted, and painted.







I even cut up part of an old pan to make sure the reinforcements don't interfere with any of the cables and lines coming out of the rear of the tunnel/floorpan.



This is why the reinforcements are not symmetric.




I also cut some blocks of wood to act as placeholders for the airbags until I get them installed properly. Now I just need to find all the hardware to bolt the rear subframe back in and the Sled will be on its own rear tires for the first time in years.