f_armer Posted November 28, 2018 Author Report Posted November 28, 2018 It has 295/50r15 on the rear Im going to go with the torq thrust d with black centers, https://www.americanracing.com/wheel/6393/vn105d-torq-thrust-d 15x10 with 3.77" backspace Front will be 15x6 with 3.66" backspace (basically oem spec on front) I like the look also, it looks much better proportionally in my mind. When you look down the side of the truck the rear fenders are not sticking out really it just evened everything up. I just wish my rear fenders were a bit better to start with. I had to remake the curved angle iron where it meets the box, Theres alot of work to do on them yet obviously 1 Quote
f_armer Posted December 2, 2018 Author Report Posted December 2, 2018 Got the box floor all welded in. I made a new rear panel, the old one was really bent up. Decided to make room for taillights and license plate. I'm not planning on a rear bumper 1 Quote
Radarsonwheels Posted December 3, 2018 Report Posted December 3, 2018 Filler panels look great. It looks like it’ll be back to work soon Quote
f_armer Posted December 12, 2018 Author Report Posted December 12, 2018 Lots of other work to be done, but I decided I'd make my own steering wheel I'm using a tilt telescopic column so I kinda needed a custom wheel My brother has a cnc router so I'm getting him to cut me wood rings. I'm thinking Baltic birch plywood to give it a laminate look.... we will see. I kinda like the unfinished look Might just give it a clear coat 4 Quote
f_armer Posted December 12, 2018 Author Report Posted December 12, 2018 I also cut my rear fenders apart again and widened them some more They are 14.5" wide now 1 Quote
RNR1957NYer Posted December 12, 2018 Report Posted December 12, 2018 I think my '97 Dak is getting nervous from my interest in both your build and Radarsonwheels'! Looks great - keep the updates coming! 1 Quote
48Dodger Posted December 13, 2018 Report Posted December 13, 2018 (edited) If we get anymore V8 builds on this site, I'm gonna lobby for a "shoot out"!!! Straight line 1/2 mile on the beach, winner gets a hand shake and forum bragging rights.....lol LOVE that steering! "get'er built!" 48D (408 Stroker/soild lifter/500hp/850cfm sq bore, mech secondary, dbl pumper/race prepped 904/3.27 caged rearend/roll cage and 5pt race seat.....no horn.) Edited December 13, 2018 by 48Dodger because i'm aint perfect...yet. Quote
f_armer Posted December 21, 2018 Author Report Posted December 21, 2018 Steering wheel finished. I'll clear coat it yet with automotive clear. Started on firewall 3 Quote
f_armer Posted December 21, 2018 Author Report Posted December 21, 2018 Oh. And the tabs bolted to bellhousing will be cut off after I have everything welded up. Quote
Radarsonwheels Posted December 21, 2018 Report Posted December 21, 2018 very cool! I thought you were going with a mid plate for a minute. Great progress! Quote
wayfarer Posted December 22, 2018 Report Posted December 22, 2018 Great work on the steering wheel. How did we ever get by without a laser...? 2 Quote
Radarsonwheels Posted December 22, 2018 Report Posted December 22, 2018 2 hours ago, wayfarer said: Great work on the steering wheel. How did we ever get by without a laser...? Hand files and determination! Quote
f_armer Posted December 31, 2018 Author Report Posted December 31, 2018 Made a little more progress on firewall/floorboards. The sides by the doors were a bit rusty as well as the front cab mounts. So I sort of rebuilt the cab mounts I cut all the rust I could out, but went over top of some. I know its not right but whatever. 1 Quote
Radarsonwheels Posted January 1, 2019 Report Posted January 1, 2019 So simple and clean and well done very nice work man Quote
f_armer Posted January 1, 2019 Author Report Posted January 1, 2019 1 hour ago, Radarsonwheels said: So simple and clean and well done very nice work man I'm happy with the way its turning out, it looks simple and clean, but definitely not simple haha!. Was alot of measuring! Quote
Dave72dt Posted January 1, 2019 Report Posted January 1, 2019 Looks real good, similar to my floor. Looks like you may have used rectangular tubing between the door pillars. I used 1 x 3 on mine, put a 90 degree brake edge on the front edge of the floor pan and then matched the brake angles for the toe panels and plug welded them in. Quote
f_armer Posted January 1, 2019 Author Report Posted January 1, 2019 (edited) The door sills I cut a flat piece of 16ga and bent it into a c channel that slipped over the old sill. I notched the front to go around the door pillar. That was the one fix that I covered up some rust. The floor pans I used 14ga and broke the front edge of them for stiffness. The angle pieces in front of the flat floor pan is 14ga cut to fit and welded, same as the hump. The firewall is 16ga. I used 10ga to make the front cab support brackets. Its plenty solid I had to make a bump out in the firewall for the passenger side head, I forgot it was farther back than the other when I was ciphering out the firewall. I fitted the front part of hump today also. Edited January 1, 2019 by f_armer 1 Quote
Radarsonwheels Posted January 1, 2019 Report Posted January 1, 2019 I’m a little jealous of your floor and firewall progress and also of how clean you made it. I have been busy working on the back of my truck- partly because it needed doing and partly because all that welding up front is going to be a pain in the butt and I’m procrastinating! I went back and took a closer look at your work looking for inspiration to get mine looking half as clean. Your gaps were obviously trimmed perfectly before welding and you run super regular clean beads with no evidence of burn throughs or blobs- a testament to your skill and experience. The shaping on the rear of the trans hump is very smooth too- round mallet/shot bag/english wheel? Or did you make a buck? Other than my lack of skill I see a couple decisions that make our floor/tunnels very different. First is my rediculous engine setback. I always wanted to do one. I’m still into it and will be proud when it’s done but ‘be careful what you wish for’. Kind of like building a barhopper motorcycle part of the pride of ownership is accepting compromises in comfort that other people wouldn’t. Q: “That thing looks cool but doesn’t it hurt to ride with no suspension and those crazy handlebars?!” A: “If you are cool/tough like me it is super comfy” hahaha The second thing is the toe angle on the floor. When I installed my swinging brake pedal/ firewall mount m/c on my truck a year or two ago with the original driveline & firewall one of the problems I had was pedal travel. I ended up installing a bigger bore master to lessen the travel. I am tall so that figures in but I had to bring my knee to my chest to get off the gas and onto the brake and it would hit the floor before locking the wheels. The bigger master (1 1/8? 1 1/4? Dont recall) gave less travel but less braking power it would slow quickly but was almost impossible to lock. My solution was to lose the toe angle on my floor and punch out the front corner of my footwell all the way up to the firewall. Now my pedal has an extra three or four inches to swing. If you end up needing more room it’d be easy to make a pocket to increase the pedal’s downward travel- the opposite of your passenger head pocket. I’m also curious about how your firewall intersects with the stock firewall and especially in the cowl vent area if you have pics. anyway- sorry for writing a novel on your thread and congrats on your solid progress. radar Quote
pflaming Posted January 1, 2019 Report Posted January 1, 2019 Incredible. I am studying your new floor panels. My Suburban needs a new floor. I'm very thankful for my new shop, but sure do like the space you have and the lift. I'm too old to do another vehicle, but if I did, I would have a lift, then remove it if in the way for future use of the shop. TKS for all the incredible pictures. PS I want to know when you and 48 Dodger line up! The road in the front of Tims property would do fine. Great BBQ event! 1 Quote
f_armer Posted January 2, 2019 Author Report Posted January 2, 2019 9 hours ago, Radarsonwheels said: I’m a little jealous of your floor and firewall progress and also of how clean you made it. I have been busy working on the back of my truck- partly because it needed doing and partly because all that welding up front is going to be a pain in the butt and I’m procrastinating! I went back and took a closer look at your work looking for inspiration to get mine looking half as clean. Your gaps were obviously trimmed perfectly before welding and you run super regular clean beads with no evidence of burn throughs or blobs- a testament to your skill and experience. The shaping on the rear of the trans hump is very smooth too- round mallet/shot bag/english wheel? Or did you make a buck? Other than my lack of skill I see a couple decisions that make our floor/tunnels very different. First is my rediculous engine setback. I always wanted to do one. I’m still into it and will be proud when it’s done but ‘be careful what you wish for’. Kind of like building a barhopper motorcycle part of the pride of ownership is accepting compromises in comfort that other people wouldn’t. Q: “That thing looks cool but doesn’t it hurt to ride with no suspension and those crazy handlebars?!” A: “If you are cool/tough like me it is super comfy” hahaha The second thing is the toe angle on the floor. When I installed my swinging brake pedal/ firewall mount m/c on my truck a year or two ago with the original driveline & firewall one of the problems I had was pedal travel. I ended up installing a bigger bore master to lessen the travel. I am tall so that figures in but I had to bring my knee to my chest to get off the gas and onto the brake and it would hit the floor before locking the wheels. The bigger master (1 1/8? 1 1/4? Dont recall) gave less travel but less braking power it would slow quickly but was almost impossible to lock. My solution was to lose the toe angle on my floor and punch out the front corner of my footwell all the way up to the firewall. Now my pedal has an extra three or four inches to swing. If you end up needing more room it’d be easy to make a pocket to increase the pedal’s downward travel- the opposite of your passenger head pocket. I’m also curious about how your firewall intersects with the stock firewall and especially in the cowl vent area if you have pics. anyway- sorry for writing a novel on your thread and congrats on your solid progress. radar Ok ill do my best here. As you can see the rise in the floor where the seat mounts is straight and square, so i cut the old floor out on that straight line. I think the secret is to start out square, its like building a house, if your first wall starts off out of square, the whole house ends up crooked. So all my measurements were from that cut line, there was a lot of measuring, so i drew my panels in cad and cut them on my plasma table. There is an advantage to that because if its drawn square its cut square. What it came down to was if i measured right and drew it right, it fit right. And, by luck mostly, everything fit really well. I did do some trimming with a cutoff disc, but really not much. Welding 16 and 14 ga is really forgiving, i just did series of spots, keep in one spot until puddle forms and both edges melt together well, and stop,let cool for a sec move ahead repeat, a thousand times. The rear hump, i rolled in my homebuilt roller, then squished the back end flat in the brake, thats it thats all, it took about 5-10 min. Luck mostly. The toe angle is roughly stock angle, mainly to keep it simple, and also there could be clearance issues with front tire, when turning left, if i pushed it too far ahead. My brake pedal is the dakota master cylinder and pedal. The pedal sticks out more than id like, but would be drivable, right now i can push pedal full stroke and not hit floor, with room to spare, so i might have some room to play with pedal arm and get pedal a bit farther forward. As far as the cowl part of the firewall, there is a factory recess that angles in towards the cab, i went straight down from that, but wider. The firewall basically is in same location, but boxed out wider in the center. If you want I'll post some better pics of that area. I'll also post a pic of my roller and brake if you want. Nothing fancy, really simple. This is the time I've ever attempted anything like this, and there are days when ive thought id bitten off way more than i should've, it seems easy in my head, but in actuality , its a very difficult puzzle, with some pieces missing!! Oh and the vintage race on the beach......give me more time, i need a bigger cam and a better intake for starters 1 Quote
ggdad1951 Posted January 2, 2019 Report Posted January 2, 2019 well if you get bored you can come "down south" and help me with TODD's floor this spring! Looks great bud! Quote
f_armer Posted January 2, 2019 Author Report Posted January 2, 2019 The tools I used The roller I made from 3 chunks of 2 7/8 drillstem with a 1" shaft down the center Works well. Plasma table with my floor pieces cut out. 2 Quote
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