Getting started on the choptop truck...

[FORDification]

OK, Day 1 of the Week of Bodywork is over....and man, was it LONG! I literally spent the entire day doing nothing but sanding. My right arm feels like it's about ready to fall off....and I'm hoping my fingerprints will grow back eventually! I'm about 1/3 done with the outside. The front fenders are ready to paint, as is the rear of the cab and the cowl. The roof and doors still need a little work, so that's what I'll be doing tomorrow.

errr....well, not tomorrow, I guess. I decided that I'd really like to get the seats I'm going to use before painting the cab floor, so I'll have an idea of what kind of drilling I'll need to do first. So I'm going to spend the day junkyarding tomorrow, and see what kind of cool bucket seats I can pick up. Then it's back to work on Wednesday.

Tentatively speaking, I should be able to finish the bodywork on Thursday and get the truck painted on Friday.

[caraber]

it sounds like your coming along nicely but it would be a lot easier to visualize with some pictures

[FORDification]

No problem...I just didn't post any 'cause I didn't figure anyone would be interested in the sanding pics, but since you asked, here you go.

Here's a shot of the finished cowl panel. By far this took the longest amount of time, due partly to the extra-thick layer of grey primer the previous owner applied, and which had runs and imperfections that needed sanded out...but the cowl vents are what killed my fingertips. About halfway through I dug out my Dremel and a small flapper-type sanding attachment, which did help a bit.



...and here's a shot of the finished cab back. The driver's door is about 98% done, just have a few imperfections that appeared as I was sanding.

[69bumptruck]

Lookin' good! Of course we want pics, even sanding pics. I know I personally pick up alot of info just from seeing everyone else's progress stuff.

[layedout72]

don't you just love sanding haha. who am I kidding. I have who knows how many hours in just my firewall alone.

[71 LONG BED]

Your progress looks great.
What are your plans for a wind sheild? I remember seeing a dentside chop top in a mag years ago and the write up said it took quite a few trys before he successfully cut the wind sheild down to fit.

[layedout72]

you know if you sectioned the body to pull the rockers up a couple inches, and channeled the body it would look REALLY bad ass.

[FORDification]

Your progress looks great.
What are your plans for a wind sheild? I remember seeing a dentside chop top in a mag years ago and the write up said it took quite a few trys before he successfully cut the wind sheild down to fit.

I'll be using a water-cooled tile saw to trim down a stock windshield. (CLICK HERE for a picture.) And you can read this thread in which I was discussing it, and also includes links to threads at the HAMB messageboard where I learned about this neat little trick.

[FORDification]

Well, I just got back into town from spending the day at the U-Pull-It. The goal for the day was to find a good pair of bucket seats to use. And I think I done good.

The yard I was at (one of two in Omaha) had roughly 400-500 cars, so I spent several hours just roaming the yard looking at everything. If I'd have wanted seats in maroon, tan or blue, I'd have had lots to choose from. However, I really wanted black, though I decided I'd also settle for grey. I could only find a few pairs that were black, and while they looked great, they'd still have needed reupholstered. I finally narrowed it down to three cars, each with grey buckets: a Plymouth Lazer, a Toyota Celica and a Ford Probe. After going back and comparing the three, I finally decided on the Probe seats. Of course, the fact that they're Ford parts probably had a tiny bit to help with the decision.

Here's a shot of the donor car:





...and here's a shot after getting them removed.



They'll need a slight shampooing, but otherwise they're in fantastic shape. They're tweed, so the upholstery is sturdy, they're firm, they sit only a few inches off the floorpan (which was mandatory) and the driver's seat even has electric lumbar and bolster supports.

I then decided I needed a center console to go with the buckets, but everything in the yard which had a console was set up for a floor-shift automatic, and I'm going with a column-shift tilt column. Plus all those consoles were broken to hell anyway. The only two exceptions I could find of a free-standing console was on an Isuzu Trooper (though it was kinda small) and what I ended up getting: the console from a full-size Ford Bronco. (Another plus in keeping it all-Ford!)



This console was actually put together from three different trucks. I got the main console body from one truck, the lid from another and the lid latch from a third. It'll clean up nicely, I think.

I'm going to be spending most of the day tomorrow continuing with the bodywork, but I'll definitely be spending some time setting these seats and console in the truck to get an idea of how to get them mounted and what kind of bracketry needs to be fabricated. I'll have more pics tomorrow night.

[Heavenlyfire]

Nice score on the seats, they look great.

[71 LONG BED]

Your progress looks great.
What are your plans for a wind sheild? I remember seeing a dentside chop top in a mag years ago and the write up said it took quite a few trys before he successfully cut the wind sheild down to fit.

I'll be using a water-cooled tile saw to trim down a stock windshield. (CLICK HERE for a picture.) And you can read this thread in which I was discussing it, and also includes links to threads at the HAMB messageboard where I learned about this neat little trick.

Interesting stuff. That saw sounds to easy to be true.
I still can't wait to see the chop top finished and ready to go down the road. Maybe you can post some video of it when it's up and running.

[FORDification]

Well, today was just about a wasted day. I was kinda anxious to get the buckets set into the truck just to get an idea of what kind of work would be needed to get them mounted, and how low I could get them to set. I pretty much figured on completely removing the tracks, and just bolting the seat frame itself directly to the floor. It turns out that the inside mount on each side will be easy...no mount fabrication necessary, just bolt it to the floor. However, the outside mount on each side will require a full custom mount.

I hit the shop a little before 9AM...and spent the ENTIRE day getting the driver's-side mount fabricated. It definitely took a lot longer than I thought, due to a number of factors. I tried several different things before deciding on a course of action. Once I made the decision constructing the mount, I had to redo my own work twice, due to some warping during the welding process. Oh well...the other side should go a lot faster, now that I know what I'm doing (more or less).

Anyway...this first picture shows the factory mounting on the Probe seats. (Incidentally, what I thought was electric lumbar sumpport adjustment is actually vacuum...the small canister up under the seat is the vacuum pump.)



A while back I bought a pair of seat brackets that was advertised as for mounting a bench seat. I decided to try using these first...and if the floorpan was completely flat, these would've worked great. Here's a shot of them bolted up to the seat frame, after removing the plastic cover and grinding out the factory rivets and spotwelds holding the tracks to the frame:



Because the outer edge of each seat sticks out past the flat section of the floorpan, these wouldn't work. I toyed around with several ideas to modify them to make them work, but in the end I had to just scrap the idea about using them altogether, and come up with something different.

Since I just cleaned out my shop a few weeks ago of most of my scrap iron, I didn't have a lot to choose from for steel stock. I was walking around the 4x4 outside trying to get some ideas, when I suddenly noticed that the grille guard on the front of the truck had exactly what I needed. Since I wasn't really attached to it anyway, it donated the 1/4" steel to make these brackets. (Yeah, I know...overkill, right? But at least I'll never have to worry about them bending or breaking!)

The outside headlight loop on each side of the grille guard will be the main section for the seat mounts, so I got started cutting those off:





Here's a shot taken about halfway through the fabrication of the driver's-side mount. I'm getting things just tack-welded into place until I'm sure it's all gonna fit and work right:



I made the mistake of thinking that the tack welds would hold things in place when the mount was removed so it could be fully welded up. I ended up with some warpage between several of the pieces, and while they'd have still worked, I just wasn't happy with the results, so I ended up cutting several welds and redoing them...only to have the same thing happen again. I again removed the welds, but then had to built a clamping device to hold everything in place and keep it square, and the third time it worked great. Here's the semi-finished mount in place:



All that's left to do is actually drill the mounting holes and bolt it into place, and to drill one more hole for another bolt from the seat frame to the bracket, so there will be three bolts there, and then drill three more to bolt the bracket to the cab floor. I figure maybe an hour's worth of work to finish up this side, then I simply have to re-create this for the passenger side. Here's a shot of the bracket with the seat cover reinstalled:



I'm not going to worry about cleaning it up and painting it, because I'm going to be mounting a 1/8" steel panel (that's even louvered) over the mount as a cover...that will be painted the carpet color (either gray or black).

Anyway, since I wasted a whole day working on this, I'm a little behind in my bodywork plan. This just means I need to hit the ground running tomorrow, and get as much done as possible. I might still be able to have the truck ready to paint on Friday...but if not, then hopefully this weekend.

[Heavenlyfire]

Wow Keith, great work. Those are gonna look great in there. Looks like they are gonna be pretty low too.

[mjhaltom]

Looks great. Opens up your eyes to more seat options, too

[FORDification]

Well, it's almost 11PM here...I just walked in the door from a LONG day at the shop, most of it just sanding. The good news is, I should finish with the bodywork tomorrow (Friday), and depending on how much time is left, I might get it painted. I have to be home by 6PM to watch the kids, so whether or not the truck gets painted tomorrow depends on how quickly I can finish up the last-minute details on the body.

However, the painting HAS begun! As most of you know, the truck will be flat black, rattlecanned over a coat of POR-15. Since I kinda wanted to test out my painting process on a semi-hidden area of the truck first, I decided to paint the outside rear of the cab, since it will mostly hidden by the bed. I used a small foam roller to apply the coat of POR-15, then let it set up to where it was almost dry (very tacky) and then rattlecanned on several coats of Krylon Ultra-Flat. However, I was kinda disappointed in the result. When painting everything else this way (the engine bay, inner fenders, etc), you couldn't see any streaks caused from using a spray can. I always figured it was due to the POR-15 undercoat that helped absorb the Krylong. However, this time you can definitely see streaks...it's very obvious it's been rattlecanned on.



I'm not sure if the streaks this time were caused by the properties of the flat black paint or if maybe I waited too long before applying it. I'm kinda thinking it's the paint...however, when I go to actually to the exterior body panels, I'm going to try spraying the paint a little earlier and see if that makes a difference. I'm not holding my breath though. After giving it much thought today, I've decided that I really don't want streaks in the paint, so even though this IS supposed to be a low-buck approach, if the exterior panels streak the second time around, then I'm going to bite the bullet and get a gallon of either Hot Rod Flatz or John Deere Blitz Black and spray it on with a gun. I'll make that decision for sure tomorrow (hopefully) once I start doing the rest of the body panels.

Anyway, I did get the cab ceiling painted...I had a half-quart of Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator left over, so I finished it off on the roof:



I just used a brush to apply that, since I wasn't too worried about brush strokes showing there...it'll eventually get covered up. I also wanted to use a regular bristle-type brush (as opposed to a foam brush) in order to get the paint into the nooks and crannies of the back side of the roof seams.

Then I got the inner rear cab wall and the front kickpanel areas painted, and I was finally ready for the inner floorpans. However, I had to get the tunnel cover mounted first:



...and then I could finally get the floorpans painted:



I've got a few more pics to post, as well as some more details about what I'm doing, and I'll get those posted to a project update page tomorrow evening after the kids go to bed.