Pre Christmas

Loaded the bed and cab up on a Uhaul truck and small trailer...... don't ask how this old man go it on them. I was fortunate enough to have friends willing to help out with Mig welders and show up to their shop during their days off for the holidays. I forgot how long it really takes to weld something! As I was driving away from the house and had already turned onto the fog filled main street, I remembered I forgot the camera to document the event, oh well.

Growing up I always thought that the older cars and trucks were made of thick steel that could take a hit and show little damage. I learned that the outer skin of the truck had only 20 gage metal and the inner bracing in the bed as well as the wheel wells are 18 gage. If you are not familiar with gage thickness, I can bend and mold the 20 gage (The higher the number the thinner it is) with some effort with my hands.

After feeding everyone home made breakfast burritos, no Lisa did not make them, we spent 3 hours welding on the bed. I didn't want to take more of their time away from their family and opted out of doing any welding on the cab. Thanks Jim and Bill for all your help.

I was given good ideas about the cab and adding a hidden roll bar system that would add strength to the cab while bracing the new add on of the roof. I noticed I had trouble trying to keep it from buckling so by adding the small bracing system will help strengthen the cab and fix the roof issues. I try to add my ideas down here or on paper because I know it is going to be a long process, especially without a Mig Welder (Yet). So I will continue to do what I can, and boy is there a lot to do on replacing bad or rusted metal and even fabricationg peices to last through the winter. I am hoping that the up coming classes and hopfully teaching position still allow me the time to spend on it and continue to be creative.

To all, have a great Holiday season!

Cab Extension Pictures

I should have taken a few before I did some tack welding to the main cab, but what can I say. Funny story how I got the cab from the back yard to the garage, maybe I should have gotten a picture of that because you wouldn't believe a word of it if I said a riding mower, hand truck, tie down straps and a lot of patients!

 I also meet a guy when I was coming out of the auto parts store who was driving a very nice 56 Chevy SWB Step Side. We of course spoke and was excited to show and tell about his truck. I told him what I was doing and he gave me a card for his tiling business and I gave him one of my newly printed cards I plan to use for job hunting. Anyway, he had a friend paint his truck and it looked better than what I seen the other day at a shop in town. However, I will be picky when it comes down to the finish detailing and painting.

 Oh, found a great place to shop for metal for the truck just down the road from me. I have been meaning to go in but always had something else going on. Now that I really needed something, I stopped in. I meet a Guy named Jimmy at Mayo Custom Metal Fabrications yesterday and told him what I was doing and he said he could help with the metal but wasn't really set up for automotive custom work. I rough measured some of the peaces I knew I would need after getting the cab tacked, took the two sizes of metal samples I needed and was just going to have him gage them and put the order in and maybe get it next week. He took me back to the shop where he had one of his employees start chopping the sizes I gave him. He even looked for peaces that were extra and not from a whole sheet to lower the cost. Man I am glad I went there and what a price. Although, I would like to be locked up in there for a weekend with the truck, I would get a lot done.

 This will be the outside top and will finish all the interiors metal work later. I also thought of sliding the foam insulation in between the cab roof and inside metal liner to help with noise reduction, heat and cold on the old bald head....... Any thoughts? I will also cover the side of the cab where I am going to put the window, but cut it out once I have the size of the set that will be going in.

 I think there is enough room below the old window to cut a hole and make an access panel cover, and then mount the electric motor and mechanical arm to make the rear original window go up and down like my Tundra had. Challenging but the two doors will get them as well. Oh, did I mention the gas tank not going back in the same place to make room? Not really decided where it will end up yet. Also priced a Long Block today at Oreillys Auto parts, did you know that a 327 is about $500 more than a 350? Hummmmm

Also got the 20 gage metal for the floor board, its heavier than what is being used on the roof and other parts and I think I can still bend and shape it as needed without to much of an issue. No I dont have all the tools I need, so it will be a lot of shaping using my imagination and the tools I do have. Wish me luck!

The cab

Worked on the back half of the cab today and tack welded the cut outs from the bed to make the bottom half of the extended cab. And again no pictures again, maybe tomorrow or another day this week. I have a friend that has access to several Mig welders and hopefully they have Argon gas. If so, the bed and cab are going to get some major finish welding done on it. Not sure what I will do after this opportunity to use the Mig welders, it will be a long wait to have another opportunity to use them again.
Went to Uhaul today to order the Class III tow hitch for the Wife's (Lisa) Nissan Xterra and it will be capable to start towing these parts around after Christmas. I will need a trailer next and it looks like a full 16 footer this time because I will have to load the frame on it at some time to get the under coating done, as well as the cab, hood, fenders, and bed for finish work. I will also be needing parts from other trucks/cars for finish work in the cab such as leather seats (Driver electric and both heated) center console, and some sort of drop down seats for the back depending on how much room I have left.

I was talking to my wife tonight at dinner about taking the rear window out due to replacing it with some sort of old stile slider. That is when I thought of the Tundra Crew Max I just traded in that had an electric drop down sliding rear window. How hard could it be? I will be Researching these a lot to find the best and most inexpensive way to get it in on this truck (It doesn't have AC, and I really do not plan to have it..... yet) So the more windows the better I would say!

Still finishing school and making minor maintenance adjustments to the Audi..... This is not a cheap car to buy things for. So more will follow and I hope someone is getting a good read or laugh out of this blog.... promise.... pic this weekend or sooner!

Its been a minute or two

However, there has been progress and I'll post the pics later this week due to having priorities higher than Jack the Truck! I did manage to tape the line I wanted to cut on the back of the cab and after 4 to 5 cut off wheels and 3 metal saw zaw blades later, off came the back of the cab.

The things I would do different: I'm not sure yet, I will let you know when I start having to fabricate the pieces of metal to fit in the extension... ha ha

I did manage to crack the windshield when I was taking it out. I didn't see where someone had put silicone, wood glue, super glue, and whatever else when I was breaking the seal on the inside and the next thing I seen was..... well you know the rest of the story. Now that sucks and will cost more money going back, but I need it because I do not like eating bugs going down the road, unless I'm really hungry!

So the back half of the cab is in the garage, I pounded the extension pieces from the bed so that it has the same contour of the cab and brought them in as well. I will not go into the story about trying to get the cab off the frame and into the back of my Toyota Tundra for over 1 1/2 hours. My best friend Matt was given the utility trailer after coming back from Germany so he could get things moved around. It’s not like I can go over to his house in New York to use it. So my Wife’s Nissan Xterra is going to get a hitch and I will find something to use to move this stuff around.

Well it is finals week, Holidays are upon us, and I promise myself to write of list of priorities and ensure the updated pics show up before Christmas.

Saturday the 4th Dec

I did a little more sanding and grinding on the bed and it is now standing up on its end in the garage. As for the days tasks, I think they may have changed as soon as I woke up this morning. I so wanted to just cut the back of the cab off and figure out how much metal I was going to need to fill in the gaps. However, it turned out that my day would entail removing the seat and gas tank from the cab. I was then able to pull up the thin glued down carpet and get a look at the floor pan. Not real happy, but I will not have to buy the replacement pans.... I'm thinking. Rocker panels are in good shape but will need some attention as well. I pulled the rubber seal off the bottom and up the sides of both doors to get a look at the rust there as well, repairable I'm sure.
Well that wasn't enough, had to do more to disassemble: The fenders, doors and disconnecting anything else connected to the fire wall seemed to go pretty smoothly. The steering wheel gave me a little issue due to having to find a 12 point 7/16 socket, had one but it took forever finding it. Now getting it out without taking off the steering wheel was a little frustrating and was ready to get the hammer. As you will be able to see from the pictures, it is no longer there. The cab bolts were easier than I thought they would be.
If I was not in the back yard in the grass and had a shop to work out of I would not be complaining. But the weather every time I had the chance to work on it has been good or tolerable. The last thing I did was push up on the cab and felt it lift off. I did it on both sides and moved it back a little. It is ready to mark the cab and figure out where is the best place to mark and cut the cab.
This will be the challenging part to fabricate all the needed parts, braces, and plates with what I have available. I don't have the bottles for the oxygen or acetylene and know I will have to get O rings for the cutting torch, so that will take money and will make due with what I have right now.
I have to get the bed loaded in the truck and put in the back yard and get the cab in the garage before I trade in the truck next week. I also need to get a hitch for Lisa's Nissan so I can haul a trailer to get these pieces around to have things done, mostly the use of a Mig Welder, the metal is to thin for the welders I have.

Sunday Sanding and Bed Welding

Made the trip to Lowes yesterday and found out that the welder I bought should be run off a 50 amp breaker verses a 30 amp (Dryer) but could use it at low voltage with little to now issues. So I got the dryer plug and welder receptor, put it together this morning and hooked it up. I had all of the bed parts just outside the back garage door so I brought them to set up.
This was the fun part! When I measured and cut the bed, well it was not as straight as a ruler but, close to being square... ha ha Using the welder to spot or tack weld with the thin metal was wearing thin on my mind due to blowouts. I get the head board tacked on to both fenders and pull out the 110 welder I had in the attic thinking it would be an even lower amp for this metal, Nope! However, it was using less electricity and Lisa needed the dryer for washing clothes.
I had some more measuring and cutting to even up the edges so they would match up closer. I removed the tail gate due to weight and used WD40 on the wheel well nuts to remove them later to take more weight off. Found a huge wire wheel cup and started removing over 40 years of layers. Noticed a couple braces that need to be tack welded and when grinding with the wheel I seen a rust spot that will need cut out and replaced.
Have a friend that is going to assist in December with welding up the bed with a Mig welder. This will help considerably with the blow outs and create a smooth weld. These will be ground down so that only a small amount of filler has to be used. Until then, more grinding and sanding will be done to the bed parts as well as cut away parts that will be used to extend the cab.
I will start looking for paint and body shops around here that can do a great job of doing the small details of finish work and smoothing out the things I didn't do and then give the whole truck the paint job from top to bottom that will be eye popping. What color or colors are they, Not sold on one or two yet. I will also have to find an upholstery shop to do the seats, headers, and whatever.
Getting a little ahead of myself, This was enough for one day!

After Thanksgiving

Had a frost and freeze over night, should have taken the parts I cut from the bed in from outside so they would be dry to work on in the garage. Have to prep a space and get the new Ark welder set up for plugging in, that’s another project. I know I will do something this weekend and mark a few tasks off my list to make me feel like I am getting something done. However, I am also working on research, papers and assignments for school as well so I must prioritize. Not to mention I cannot forget to stop, live, and love life with my wife.
Until then.......

Cutting the bed and removing rust

 Well the obvious question you would have, why am I cutting the bed into pieces? Well my idea is to convert the long bed into a short bed in order to extend the cab.

 Here comes the Boss, I have to look busy! I don't think she likes what I am doing to her truck.

 Removing the rust and it would be nice to have some young person doing this for me while I supervise. Any suggestions on brand names for under coating?

Inside length of the bed will be six feet and a total of eight feet with the tail gait down. I am not a rich man so I will be watching every dollar going out and trying to reuse pieces cut out of the bed to extend the cab due to it already having the same shape. The top half of the cab, the underneath flooring and brace supporting system will all have to be fabricated with what I have available. I have looked on line and have found nothing to reference for what I am about to do. I do not have a blue print to follow, even if I did I do not think I would want someone elses idea on Jack. The cab will be cut at the back edge (1 to 1 1/2 ") and at an angel to the top cap, across cab and back down. The back support brace under the cab will be the dividing cutting line so it can be used for the new plate and bracing to attach to.

Is this going to happen before Christmas.... Ha Ha Maybe next Christmas

My Wife did ensure I got early gifts in the way of tools to start the project, I Love my wife! 

Oh, My Son sent me a msg on Facebook saying he got excited for a moment when he thought I was building a low rider. Sorry, I need the nice ride without feeling each pebble on the road.

Off came the bed and more

 My wife and dog were out with me when we were trying to do the right thing of using the air ratchets and hand tools to remove the 5/8" roting plywood someone had put in. But after 2 1/2 hours of fighting the rusted bolts, we gave up and I cam up with a plan for the next day. There I was the next day with a skill saw, crow bars and a nice size hammer that made short work of getting it out. 

I could have cut the plywood up and burned it in the fire pit outside, but who knows what was in the back of that truck. So, I got my monies worth out of the city who hauled it off on the regular trash day.

Jack and the family

As you can see the older lady (11-12 yrs old) in the photo, we are her Humans. Her name is Raz and a great specimen of a Jack Russell Terrier. This is the only vehicle she has ever willingly jumped into and claimed it for her own. So the name for the truck is after her heritage. 66 Chevy "Jack" Russell. Just Jack for short....

This is how it sits after the wife and I rolled it off the U-haul rental in the back yard early October 2010.

Yes, these are huge flood lights that the seller wanted to get rid of with the truck. Haven't plugged them in yet, have to change the plug type first just in case if I have to work in the dark... ha ha