Rebuild progress all in one thread

[k8icu]

Wow typical engineer....changes design mid stream...

I'm so disapointed now that you've taking the beast down a notch....sigh....

Just funning with ya Josh. Looks good! I wish I had your fabrication skills!

[Josh]

yeah, the issue was the blower drive bracket. I would rather put something on hold than rush a bad solution. I've seen way too many things go wrong because of poor implementation, so, for now, they're in a holding pattern. If I had had an issue with the water pump, it would have been an absolute nightmare to get to it. I need to make an adjustment to my intake manifolds as well. Tightening the inside bolts to the heads is difficult at best. One thing I thought of doing was making snout extensions for the blowers and direct drving them to get away from the jackshaft, but, now I have plenty of time to noodle it all around over winter and still get to enjoy the beast. besides, she still won't be short on power... hehe!

[paul]

carry on the nice work!

[Josh]

not dead, busy sandblasting the body. metal is in pretty good shape, just a little bit of work needed when I get done. Will take about 42 hours of sandblasting to strip it.

Oh, and Lifer, you're not going to like the paint color I picked. Sorry.

[m-37Bruce]

Josh, you are a supreme fab'er! 42 hours of media blasting.....................

[Josh]

Finally done blasting after FIFTY SIX hours. God, I never want to see another grain of sand for as long as I live.

Metal is in pretty good shape, a few little rust pin holes here and there, and some dents, but overall, probably one of the nicest M37 bodies I have seen. will take me a few days to hammer it and weld it, then, put up another plastic tent, and start laying paint.

[jeepdud]

What after all the time just standing there you could not take a few pics. Just kidding. Take a break and give us pics tomorrow. I am always amazed at the progress you make. Keep up the good work.

[Josh]

took some pics, as requested. Not too exciting, just a big pile of bare sheetmetal, but:

Look Ma, no rust!!







my big pile of clean, straight, rust free metal:









Rust in this piece from one fingertip to the other. Cut it out, welded in new:



HAd to modify the passenger's inner splash shield to clear the turbo header. Somewhere I made a boo-boo and it ended up hitting the header collector by about 1/2", so rather than bending the crap out of it to try and get it to clear, I made a bump out:











Also had to trim both front fenders to get the down pipes to fit, so, I welded in a lip where the trimmed it to prevent the fenders from flexing and cracking:

Passenger's side









Driver's side:

[Master Yota]

Looks good man! I'm rather jealous of the "rust free" body panels.

[Josh]

http://www.g741.org/PHPBB/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3184

[jeepdud]

Sucks you have to sell your rig. Hope everything works out for the best no matter what is going on in your life.
If there is anything we can do just ask and we will try are best to help.

[Josh]

fear not Gents, the rig is safe.

I had a, uh, momentary lapse of sanity.

I actually am somewhat embarassed about it now, but, here it goes...

As you all know, I've been eyeball deep in bodywork for the past month, and, anyone that lives in the midwest knows that it has been less than ideal weather for all this, but, since the body is bare steel, I don't really have a whole lot of choice in the matter...

So, I had epoxy primed a whole bunch of underside panels and brackets, like, the front fender mounts, the splash pans, etc, and then went and topcoated them with POR-15. Well, with the crazy weather we have been having, the POR 15 laid out like CRAP. They look terrible. Like, bad enough I will probbaly sandblast them bare again and start over kinda bad...

At that point, I was half way between throwing something, and dropping in despare right there and bawling.

Shoulda went inside.

Nope.

Instead, I decided to try and salvage the situation since the weather was FINALLY nice out. Was carrying the hood out of the paint booth and with it being so large and heavy, managed to not see where I was going and ran right into the side of the garage door frame. Knocked me over, banged my head on the hood, hood hit the pavement and got dented...

at that point I came unglued.

But, with a bit of time, I have realized that that probably happens to everyone at some point in time or another with a project of this size, and just left it alone for a few days. Sooner or later, the right chain of events comes along where you just, hit a wall (no pun intended ).

Came back out, straightened the hood back out, and, as you can see, I think she's straighter than the day she left the factory:











Almost have everything in primer, just the doors and tailgate are bare steel yet. Cab is in full epoxy, laid the POR on the bottom of it tonight, as well as on the bottom of the bed floor. Will flip it tomorrow, sand out the high build on the exterior side, and then start working on the dents and creases. you cna see a few in the rear corners in the pics... they looks worse than they are, a bit of filler and they will disappear. I worked at a body shop, so, no fear, I WON't be caking it in 3/8" thick... I went through with a stud puller and pulled most if them out, but left them on the low side so I could put a skin coat on and get them perfectly flat.









and, got one bed side flat and straight:

[Lifer]

Man, am I glad to hear that the situation turned around! You're right...we all have days like that. Maybe not quite so many in a row, but we have 'em. When the excrement hits the fan, it is almost never evenly distributed. All you can do then is just walk away from it for a few days. Things always look better after recovering from a 3-day drunk, or so I've heard.

[m-37Bruce]

Hey Josh, That is some good news, glad to hear it too!

[k8icu]

Man Josh you had me worried there. I thought oh no the wife told him it's me or the truck...or worse she was leaving for a midget with a motorcycle.... Glad to hear it was just the typical hit that low point of the project and now your back on the upswing. Beside nobody could finish what you've started so might as well see it to the end. BTW How's the noggen after hitting the floor?