Projects 34 ford pickup

Hey all just picked up a 34 ford. It’s somewhat solid. Have a question about re***embling the cab. The floor brace was cut at a and b pillars, I put that back in place and tack welded it for now. I bolted the roof back up to the cowl and back wall. Put the driver door on only hanging by the top hinge as this door lower hinge was Swiss cheese. So as far as where to start with squaring this up I ***ume I start at the base? I’m gonna make a cheap fixture I can move the can around on and want to use this to get everything lined up. What’s your recommendations on where to start. Thanks in advance

 

Cool. I'd bolt it to a good frame if it were me, preferably the one it is going to be mated with for the rest of time. all correct mounting hardware and spacers, then start at the bottom and work you way up. Like building a house, gotta start at the foundation.

 

Let’s see, vehicle, check, build plan, check, engine of choice, pending, color of choice, pending, nuts, bolts and other incidentals, check, insanity defense in case it all falls apart, check. Carry on.

 

You have a bit of a “bitsa” there. The box is A, the cowl is 34, and the roof top is 32. Do the rivet holes on the cowl feet match the subrail holes? That’s where I’d start the re***embly.

 

So I’ll be building a frame from 2x3. Cab will be sitting like in pictures so channeled over rails. I want to put the cab on something to get it close then build frame so I have somewhat close measurements.

alchemy- as for the cowl feet are you referring to the standoffs that come off from of cowl?

I’ll get some pictures of the inside where I tacked everything back together I figured I’d go off the floor brace/ sub base or whatever that’s called.

 

I meant the flanges pointing inwards from the base of the cowl. They rest on top of the subrails originally.

 

This is obviously from inside (driver side) looking forward. Your referring to the flanges just forward of where that floor structure was cut and I tacked back together.

 

If I ran tubing order the floor structure referenced by the red lines making sure my tubing is level to each other and set the cab over these I’d think this a good starting point for the base

 

I highly recommend getting the body squared and all doors fitting perfectly before doing any mods like chop or channelling. Use all the original bolt and rivet holes to align the panels which came from different sources, and then modify to fine tune the fit.

 

I wanted to get doors fit first before I cut anything just so it’s “nicer”. I don’t want to just throw this together and run it down the road. I have a good knowledge on metal work but no real experience. Mainly just done air suspension and suspension fab so sheetmetal and fitment I really wanna dive deep into. I will get cab fitted then brace it up for chop and eventually place it over frame

 

I have two cabs that look like yours but worse. I hope to make a good one out of the two

 

I believe the cowl and back wall because of how the floor brace was cut out. Driver door is not original to cab and pretty roached at the bottom. P***enger door is somewhat solid but hinges are junk. The back wall is in pretty decent shape, minimal rust as well as dents. The roof is not from original as there were pieces on it that were also on b pillars. Thinking I’ll rebuild driver door by either making or just buying replacement panels. I think making them would be a great learning experience for my English wheel that I have no experience with.

 

Just a suggestion, when I put my roadster body together since they twist and move a lot I built a 2x2 square tube frame that was about a foot longer than the body and perfectly flat and shaped the same as the model a frame. then I drilled the body mount holes to match the frame. It held the body flat and secure, then as I needed added shims to the body mounting wood to adjust the doors. You can get the dimensions for the hole spacing for a 33-34 from wescott. Also I would get rid of the rust before tacking and welding. The best deal I found on the body mounting blocks for the 34 p.u. is from Mack Hills.

 

I made a firm jig from shelving racks bought at the home improvement store for less than $100. Welded the two upright ends together with short lengths of box tube (maybe 4”?) to space them apart. Basically a large ladder grid. Used a pair of 8’ shelf bars cut in half for the four legs. Used EMT for some X braces. I welded large nuts at the bottom of the legs to use bolts as adjustable feet for leveling the whole thing.

I’ve ***embled two 27 T bodies from a million pieces on this. I clamp cross braces on the jig with short box tube chunks as risers up into the subrail channels when needed. Makes sure my body is absolutely flat on the bottom. The body hanging a bit outside the jig allows me to work on the rocker panels easily.

When I’m done I can knock the leg ***emblies off and set the whole thing upright against a wall. Doesn’t weigh a ton but is very rigid.

 

so with my cab sitting on a very simple 1x1 fixture ( had to double up for the channel of floor brace) the cab seems to be leaning backwards. i used a ratchet strap and went from where roof bolts to back of cab down to front body mount hole and can visibly see it straighten up. the back wall is really attached much at all to what is the seat riser i believe. question is if i get this thing where i need it what should i do to keep it there. i was debating on welding sections together at seems. ill look at the wescot page to find those dimensions. make a jig maybe that those cab points will bolt to then start stiffening everything up?

 

I would put spacers of the same heights at all mounting points when you bolt it down. You really need the doors on to set anything up front to back and side to side. Otherwise, you could end up with the doors not fitting in the opening and having the top hit on one side and the bottom on the other. You could use straps and tack in temporary supports that you can adjust as you work all the squaring up out. Then brace it real well. Then weld, chop and whatever.

 

Ill post a couple pictures in the morning. At that horrible thing called work till 630am. Its a very very simple fixture so I can roll in and out of the garage might have to step it up if I don’t want it moving around to much

 

I know it's done all the time here, but it still makes me Grind my Teeth. You talk about getting good fits and making things right but still weld on RUST. This makes a conflicting issue. You can't make a good solid healthy weld when you're pulling porosity up into it not to mention hard starting the weld. Take a lesson from alchemy and at least clean both sides of your cut contact so your welds have a fighting chance of matching the rest of the kind of work you want to do.

 

I added a picture from westcotts, is this correct? A couple of these holes match up but the rear cab mount says 16 3/4 on the image which makes no sense at all. There’s a square hole directly behind the seat riser then there’s a round hole behind that closer to the back of cab wall. Neither of those are even close to that 16 3/4 measurement listed. The others are pretty close so I’ll work with that.

 

I just wanted to get the brace set in place. I may not even use the original due to the fact I’ll be channeling over the rails. Why do people always make the worst of something at the earliest convenience

 

Cause we want to set you on the straight and narrow. Bad habits from the start usually run all the way through the project. Why would we waste our time giving advice if we think you are trying to build a piece of ****?

 

Well now I wanna just use this as a reference/starting point and build full sheetmetal floor. Again something I’ve never done but have the tools to do it and hopefully do it nicely. Vacation starts tomorrow so no updates for 12 ish days. Headed to Japan hoping to see something cool car wise over there

 

I didn't mean that as a Bash. It was more a statement. Seeing work start out questionable I make a mental note weather I'm interested in following or helping on any level (not that I'm so smart). I have however done a fair amount of Tin Bending and always willing to shed some of my experiences be them good or not so good. I caught the comment of Channeling and Sheet Metal floors. Having done more than one project of this kind and no 2 are the same I thought this could be interesting. I have pretty broad shoulders so if you'd rather I just go away I won't take it personal. If some work in progress photos interest you I will stick up a few of a 30 Roadster project with Flat Floors front to back done in sheet metal channeled 6" if I remember right.

 

That was strange. When I hit full Size the post sent but didn't open full size and this photo didn't follow. Must of wiggled my mouse.