Radarsonwheels

I think they’re missing? From Plymouthy’s pic it looks like I need a slider to go thru the slot from inside my door and there isn’t one there. I figured it’d be cheaper and easier to throw a set in there that are strap style so I won’t have to worry about the doors swinging into the fender edge any more.

Anything is possible. It just depends on whether you want to shrink or enlarge the frame or the body to fit or move the rear suspension forward or back. I shortened my dakota frame 2 feet, completely re-‘engineered’ the rear suspension, channeled the body, and sectioned my bed 12” and it still kinda looks like a lowered 1/2 ton with fancy wheels. I do know that the jeep zj rear is 4”ish too narrow.

What do you mean? $13 doesn’t get top of the line equipment these days? Haha yeah they won’t hold the door open on a detent but hopefully I won’t have to get out the slide hammer and mud every time it’s gusty out.

Boy it’s hot out. I made two puddles in the footwells of the truck installing them but with the help of some play-doh to find the clearances I installed plunger style ground switches in the door jams and hooked them up to the open terminal on my three way interior light switch. Now I can turn it on, off to save battery, or leave it to be triggered by either door opening. This is pretty slick from the truck’s more recent humble beginnings. For years the only interior light was a single 12v bulb I hacked into the stock speedo so you could tell when the ignition was on. Now the dash switches are (left to right) -Pull park & headlights -door/off/on interior -high/off/low heater fan -momentary crank switch fed by key -keyswitch And I still have two stock holes left open for the oil slick and ejector seat! I also ordered a set of strap style door checks (thanks plymouthy) like people put in jeeps. They should be unobtrusive and keep the doors out of the fenders which will be more important when I try to straighten out the body a little.

Aah. “Door check” thanks

Happy 4th fellas Can anybody tell me more about how these door limiters are supposed to work? Search didn’t turn anything up. “Door limiters” gave a million posts- putting the AND inbetween gave zero. Maybe my nomenclature is wrong? Thanks! Radar

Nice trucks!

I threw a chrome strip on the flange below the headliner. I wasn’t sure if it would look cheesy- it’s just 3/4” rounded plastic chrome with 3m double sided tape. It wasn’t much money so I gave it a shot. I think it actually gives a more finished look and matches well with the stainless brightwork. It also covers the spots where the edge was a little rusted and still uneven after cleanup and paint. I also got a pic of the new interior lights in action. I still have to mount and wire the doorjam plunger ground switches and hook them up to my 3 position switch but even having just an on off switch is a big upgrade and will be nice when I get home from work with stuff in the passenger seat and footwell.

A-pillars done

Here’s a first shot at it- plain vinyl around the back window and door with diamond panels around the sides.

Ok so I can’t leave well enough alone but I’m not sure what to do next. I think the A-pillars and wrap around panels behind and above the seat need to be upholstered for it to look finished in there. The pillar covers will be plain vinyl wrap to match the over door pieces. The rear surround I’m not sure about? It would look pretty plush with the diamond pleats and maybe even soak up some more sound but would that be too much of a good thing? And what about kick panels? They look OK with the spray insulation now but if I do the diamond surround I would maybe want to do the kick panels too for the full on 60s dragster meets padded cell treatment? Anybody got suggestions? I’m all ears

At least I know I got the diamonds glued up there straight not crooked! I’ll probably never look in the corners again but if the main panel was crooked that would kill me.

Yeah they’re stainless #14 phillips head screws. Probably couldn’t find them in the 50s so I’d be disqualified from the concourse d’elegance anyway. But if you can’t make it out in the pic I’m gonna go ahead and say they are all perfectly oriented north south east west. Perfectly.

And a shot where you can see the door card with it too

I extended the side panels a little by taping then stapling some extra thick cardboard pieces to fill the gaps I wasn’t happy with. I wanted to put a thin layer of foam on first but I couldn’t find any in my stash so I laid it down right over the wood. The dome light is wired up along with a courtesy light in the passenger footwell. The A-pillar is indeed hollow and I don’t mind the little bit of exposed harness. Maybe I’ll make pillar covers later, maybe not. Right now the lights are wired constant hot with switched ground. I put a 3 position switch in the dash. Right now it’s off/off/on but after I get the plunger switches installed in the doorjams it’ll be doors/off/on. I tried to match the spacing somewhat from the door cards and used the same fasteners with finish washers.

Thanks Ken! It's 1/8' ABS. It has a textured side that's leather-ish but I figured scuffing the smooth side to hold glue would be easier. A 4x8 sheet was like $65. I was thinking about doing satin black to match the rest of the interior paint. I'm trying to keep the stock faded red dash but the A pillars might end up black too. Not sure if I'm making covers for them- probably not.

I didn’t even think of leaving them wood. Not a bad idea! Maybe the penofin would match them to the armrests? I don’t want to clutter it up with too many textures but luon is cheap and easy to work if I change my mind and the hard part was making the patterns for them. I am hoping the wires will be able to go down through the A pillar but I dunno if they’re hollow and connect to the opening above the kick panel. Anybody know?

Top panel is all done and installed. I’m considering painting the wood side pieces black and letting the diamond stitch be an accent and not everywhere you look.

A big step!

Making progress on the headliner

Well when my door latch was broken I sure felt like I could check out any time I liked but I could never leave!

You gotta be a pretty petite couple to get busy in a pilothouse but shaving your face in the passenger footwell would be quite a feat of contortion! I got the side pieces mocked up trimmed and installed in raw wood. The bottom edges still need a little tuning but they tame the ABS curve pretty well and fill the ugly gaps. The access thru the dome lite hole should help with getting the bracket correct to hold up the middle- gonna rivet a U bracket to the remnants of the old dome light bracket then drill it in place so I won’t need calculus to line up the holes.

Also- it might be way cheaper and easier to sink the rad a little further forward to make room?

From what I’ve seen all the aftermarket serpentine setups are maximum bling with billet brackets, chrome, and clearcoated polished aluminum. And you pay out the nose for all that bling. If you just want it for the space why not get a complete setup at the boneyard off a magnum v8? Even if it needs a trip to the machine shop for re-drilling or some home modifications you’d come out thousands ahead.

Yeah I figured it’d be easier to scuff the smooth side than the textured side so the contact cement can bite. Exhaust is tight again on both sides. Started making the over door panels and fitting the dome light