Hey guys and gals Here is a project that im closing in on completing. I'd love some input and opinions on it. I have the interior, bed and finishing work to complete. Things I could add, change or do differently. I appreciate new ideas and opinions. I purchased the truck end of 24 with the hopes of putting around for a year and selling it. Boy did it take a turn. On the drive home I hit some train tracks and heard a concerning noise. I brought it to my shop and found that the volare front clip had been welded in by a couple buddies and a case of schlitz back in the 80s. The welds looked like Ray Charles on his worst day, and I certainly couldn't turn around and sell it in with a clear conscience. To make matters worse the subframe was tearing. I couldn't drive it like that obviously so I started pricing out front clips. Then rear, then custom ch***is. I settled on a tci 4 link with ifs. I kept the ch***is raw as I wanted to go away from the norm of powder coating. I cleared it with a product called nyalic. It was created for space shuttles. I chose polished for the arms, coils and calipers. I went with a GM Connect and Cruise Lsx495 with a 6l80. I had mattisons make me a polished radiator. I wanted stacks as the factory LS intake is not the prettiest. But being drive by wire my choices were limited. I found a company out of Australia that adapts the throttle body to actuate the linkage on the tb's. I'm going to polish the runners as well. I got a set of Boyd Wheels by his son. My mother's future husband, Greg was a fabricator for SoCal speed shop a****st others. He has helped me tremendously through the process. I was having issues with finding headers that cleared and didnt hang below the ch***is. So he hand fabricated me full headers and exhaust. This is my first full build. Harvs dyno tune in santa fe springs has been a huge help. Wes from Whittier Speed Shop, Lance from BDS. I've met so many very kind people through this process. I'm in the business but on the general repair side. It has been a humbling process. Being a working man that wants to daily drive the truck, my goal was to make everything that you can't see just about the best, no excuses. The paint is pretty good, say an 8. I didn't want the truck to be so nice I wouldn't want to drive it. Kind of a regular guys custom truck. The photos of the interior I posted is going to be the style im going for, but with a baseball glove tan leather.
I'm not into the LS engine swaps, but nowdays with the garbage ethonal gas, it certainly makes sense. When it's finished you will have a nice driver that you can drive as often and as far as you want. Even clear accross the country. One of my friends has a friend in Montana who specializes in these swaps. His shop stays busy year round doing LS engine swaps in all brands of vintage trucks. My interest has always ben and always will be 32,33, and 34 Ford cars and trucks. But vintage trucks seems to be where the money is right now. CKH
That's my plan. After I give it a good shake down, the wife and I are going to hop in it and drive east. I've been talking about getting a 33-34 coupe thats got a modern ch***is. I need to find one I can sit in and drive to make sure I fit and like the way it drives as I push my vehicle's hard.
It appears that that the snowball effect really took a hold of this one! It looks like a really nice driver, could be a bit nicer then I would want, but that probably would not stop me from putting a bunch of miles on it. Be aware that bugs can chip paint, and you can't control what weather you may run into on the road. I would be sure to add things like heat/defrost, and wipers if you really intend to drive it. You also want to be sure it can be secured and is properly insured, including unlimited towing insurance, there are simply places along the road where you don't want to be stranded very long.
I think tan leather would definitely be better than the red, but the style of the red is consistent with the other modifications. Clear oak for bed? Or stained to closer match interior leather color or interior carpet color?
The snowball is m***ive now, thank god my wife doesn't ask questions or i'd be due for a trip to the Jewler. It has a vintage air/heat setup. Good point on the wipers. I have a raingear kit that hides everything. I'll run caps on the stubs for the wipers and keep them behind the seat if I hit some weather. Care to share your opinion on interior color or anything else?
This is the interior color i'm leaning towards. The carpeting will be a German style square weave. The bed "wood" will be from smokey road rod shop. It's aluminum with vinyl on top.
I haven't decided on the bed color yet, i'm terrible at coordinating colors. Gotcha, so coordinate the either the carpet or interior color to the bed wood?
Not much of a interior color guy, I think gray, dark gray, or black are the perfect interior colors, and I don't much care for leather seats, too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. My 49 has a body color matching steel bed floor with a black soft cover on it. This is a picture of my 49 Dodge, we put between 6,000 and 8,000 miles a year on it. In this picture, its around 800 miles from home.
I have the same bed on my 70 but my exterior color is a little lighter. I chose a gray stain for the wood floor. I thought it complemented the blue better than brown would.
It has a late 1990s Dodge Dakota 4x4 ch***is. I built the truck to drive all year, up here in the north west corner of IL. I am 69 yo and have outlived all the males on both sides of my family trees except one, if the truck lasts another 10 years, I probably won't care what shape its in. The truck has a 5.2 port fuel injected Dodge Magnum motor with the 46RE OD auto trans, and 3:55 gears, all mounted on factory replacement mounts. The full drive train came out of a 96 truck that had 44,000 miles on it. Currently that drive train has around 72,000 miles on it. The truck was plated in June of 2022.
The obvious/popular choice for the interior is tan/brown. Since you've asked, I always thought gray goes well with blue, a tie in with your wheel choice, continued on to the bed wood stain. This is going to be a nice truck.
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