I got the inner fender panel back today to test fit for clearance. The bubble will work great. Now to repaint and fit the rest of the sheet metal.
Looking great not long now,the h.a.m.b tags on the firewall are nice....Rod. Sent from my iPhone using TJJ
I know you're gonna say no, but CAN I DRIVE IT???? hahaha! Lookin good as always. I can't wait to see it going down the road!
Never know, send pictures of your wife/girlfriend! A machinist friend stopped by yesterday and donated an item for the build. He is making one for the radiator cap to match. BEFORE AFTER He delivered the radiator cap today.
I've been following your progress..it is really turning out nice. Thanks for sharing your project with us, the pics are great.
The last couple weeks have been busy. I haven’t seen much improvements from my side although I have been doing small things. But my painter has been real busy. I brought the painted doors home this week and he has my front fenders painted now but need rubbed out and undercoated. I need to steal a couple hours of his time and get the hood mounted and aligned to the grill. Should be no problem because it was fit to the cowl months ago. He has the rear fenders now and all that will be left is the running boards and bed. By next week it will start to look like something. I had the glass cut but they made them about a quarter inch too tall and wide as well. They delivered them and the door glass had not been sanded and buffed. Hope to have those in by the week end. Now that I have the doors I can put those together with hardware and windows. Next big step is the exhaust system so I can hear this thing run and build up some more energy. At least in my mind. Weather is calling for snow by the weekend. Guess I better move the truck to the front heated garage and kick the wife's car out. Before: After shots coming soon.
Idaho cold weather is setting in and it was time to make a move. I spent the day moving cars and etc. around so I could put the pickup up front in a heated garage. I don't do too well in cold weather and tend to get lazy. I want this one done by spring and excited to be working on it. I have been working on a lot of little issues and lining up the things I will be needing. About all that is left to be painted is the bed and rear fenders. I should have glass in it by the week end. Here is how she looks as of today. Next on the list is to mount and align the hood to the grill. I'm changing the front springs for a little heavier set due to the nailhead's weight. I'm also changing the dropped spindles for stock spindles to raise the front a bit. Once the front end is all done I can then fit the front fenders.
Man, your truck is awesome. I love the color combination, I usually like a brighter yellow but that looks great.
I wanted a soft yellow but it is still bright. With the white and chrome I hope to tone it down some. I have been thinking about pin striping and what colors. So many seem to do a commercial look on trucks and I don't like that. Maybe some on the dash. Defiantly will bring out the Ford script and V8 in the tailgate and maybe some around headlights. Any thought here?
Sheesh it's cold!! Hard to get motivated. My thoughts on striping - keep it simple, highlight what's already there, and maybe let whoever is going to do the striping suggest some colors. I've seen some color combos that would sound terrible in a conversation but really look great once applied. Beautiful truck, keep up the great work!!
Well the stance changed today and I'm not liking it. I know it will settle some but just by putting in 375# springs over the stock 300# ones and changing the spindles from 2” drop to stock it raised the front by 5”. I felt the 300# springs would be too soft for the nailhead. These seem to have good movement. Now I need to decide weather to put the dropped spindles back in or cut a coil off or maybe go to a 350# spring. I love this hobby! From this: To this: Before: After:
I wouldn't worry just yet. It will settle and you still need to add all of your sheetmetal, radiator etc.
I agree. And, it's close to impossible to set finish height until all the pieces are on, including fuel and water Trying to set it now, you will be chasing your tail...er..just like you are now
Hey Dude, I just went throught the very same thing, mine went from too low to looking like a 4X4, I ended up with the dropped spindles still and the 353 springs, and I'm happy now! However my SBF is a little lighter then your nailhead. I was amazed by the difference between the 353 and 375 springs. Good luck.
In the before shots I just had it set up with supports in place of the springs. It was set at ride height with the lower A arms level. I set up my 40 coupe with a SBC and the 300# springs, it settled almost 2" and is too low now, if that is possible. TCI's next size was the 375 springs. If I put the drop spindles back in the pickup, I can use the stock ones to raise the coupe and make it happy. In the pickup the lower A arms will probably level out with the 375's but not expecting it to settle the 2" my coupe did. I would like to have the grill chin about 6" off the pavement and it is at 10" now. Right now I'm going to let it set for awhile and install the sheet metal. There still is a fare amount of weight to add with that, liquids and the interior. My idea of too low is if I can't drive it out of my subdivision and clear the speed bumps. I also have had problems with the gutter dips from parking lots to street level. There is a little paint missing on my coupe now and those grills are just too damn expensive to replace.
I think you need to wait until everything is on to set the ride height like most are saying. I also think you are on the right track with using the dropped spindles on the truck and the heavy springs. the side shot of the raised front almost looks like you have bags or something and dropped the rear raised the front like they do in the ghetto lol both are looking good btw. the coupe's stance is perfect to look at but if you cant drive it around that would be a problem. keep it up
We set the hood on today and started the sheet metal alignment. Looks pretty good and not going to take much to get it in alignment. We did fit the hood in the body work process and doesn't seem that much has changed.