I took the truck to work today to test its reliability. While I'm there I'll haul some lumber back home. I put on the rear beauty rings and will work on a cup holder today if I get some time. Heres some pics
Also pondering putting a front bumper on. My father in law has a 38 chevy sedan with a couple of extra bumpers, I took one home to see if it'd be a good fit, I used a couple of different heights to get the right look. Whatcha' think fellas?
good call treb11, I'm gonna start fabbing up some bumper brackets and trim down some of the pesky front sheet metal.
I found a great deal on 1932-42 ford pickup and panel taillights at The GCC swap meet so I CNC'd some custom brackets from brass. I figured since Im making my own I'd give them a custom look. I made them .125 thick to be strong but not too heavy and designed them to be flipped if the desired look was to be higher than stock instead of lower. I mocked them up on the light before going home for the day. Heres how they look! I thought they looked pretty good for my first shot, I might tweak the shape a little and maybe put a recess in the center next time around.
Heres the second go around for my tail light brackets and license plate holder, I made more precise drill holes and made it a little thicker with a 2 level recess. A few shots of them mounted on the truck tail light trim is next up for a machined brass cap instead of the stainless
With the 42-47 1/2 ton club being small, it is always nice to have another see pavement! Keep up the good work! This is mine:
Thanks a bunch! Looks like you have the heavier truck front fenders and running boards too. Looks clean man!
I was cruising home yesterday and decided to take a break around a few empty buidings. It seemed like a nice place to take a few picture...
I agree with putting the front bumper on it. It definitely gives the truck a more finished appearance. I think it would look really good with the running boards back on it as well. And I love the taillight and license plate brackets! I'm a machinist as well and I really like seeing what other machinists come up with.
Thanks. I got tired of hunting for a good set of running boards. Since one goal was to make the truck as light as possible, the short boards fit the bill. Didnt realize the DS front fender was from a big truck until I had it finished and mounted . The correct one is on hand, but probably wont get around to putting it on. Too many things to do.
----------------------------------------------- Super nice truck! But I got some bad news for ya'..... I think yer' springs are plum wore out!!!! Mart3406 ===========
Mine is a static drop, gators old truck had bags. I bought it with most of the chevy parts in tow, i'm not opposed to ford running gear, I just didn't have any.
Thanks for the motivation! I intend on making some running boards down the line, just havent come up with a solid design yet.
I made some tail light bezels to match the brackets, and put on some brass hardware. I plan on acid etching some details into the face, maybe a subtle pinstripe...
I originally had the intentions of fixing all the bodywork and painting my truck brown or the original minty color. Every time I photoshop paint the thing, it starts to lose some of its appeal to me. I tried two tones in all different fashions but nothing seemed right. I started to really like the front end of my truck and matching cab (but the cab needs work). I liked the way the colors fade into each other, the red oxide and orange hue mixed into the brown color of the rust, the way the cream oxidization looked over the original henry ford slate blue/minty paint. I decided to fake it and see if it worked for me. The photo editing looked clutch enough for me to make a real go at it. So it's not done yet, but the start looks good to me, and after I make a few mods to my cab (chop and possible section) and repair the damage I will swap it back and at least the paint will be authentic. Now on to the bumper...
I ended up working on the paint some more, redoing the drivers door and adding some more details to the cab and passenger door. The doors are my primary focus since i do not have the original paint still on them. Hopefully I'll have some time to get the bumper attached this weekend...
I did a little more work a couple weeks back. I came up with a method to applying faux rust. I should be able to keep it relatively smooth enough to put a satin protective coat or even... if I wanted to... shiny clear. I've been pondering what it'd look like, some would probably think it'd be kinda like polished turd, I was thinking it'd be kinda neat! I started on the passenger side cause the arizona sun f's up the process. I needed a quick changing finite mask to simulate all the different colors real surface rust possess. I came up with water from my hose and three colors of spray paint to blend and cover the dark leather brown: light mustard yellow, a copper non metallic orange and red oxide. First I spray on some water, wait a few seconds, spray double fisted red and orange then the yellow, wait again so it bonds slightly, then spray water on again to knock some of it off. I'm gonna hit these areas with some steel wool to smooth them out and feather the edges a little and repeat where necessary.
Looks great! A real nice project. I agree with the others, the front bummper adds to the overall look of the truck. The tail lamp brakets are way cool. I dont need the faux rust on mine, I have plenty of the real thing on mine. I know there's a great differece of opinions on "fenders", not to offend but here my junk. '46 pick-up.
I found Mallory super tach with a built in rev limiter and shift light at the GCC Auto swap meet for $5, the guy said it worked even though it had been fire damaged around the plastic trim ring. I plugged it in and besides a little melting of the wires the functions were right on. Here it is with the over engineered bracket I made on the cnc: here it is before I made the bezel to cover up the crispy part. after
thanks man, lucky for you one can get into one of these jailbars relatively cheap compared to some of the other body styles.
Since my project truck is off for wiring/pedals/steering, our son and I got to work on the easy stuff and cut off the "farmer" fixed grill bars. Lowriders Art Gallery here on the HAMB rounded up a spare grill and after sorting thru the spares she's still one bar short..... hmmm
I've been working on a custom brass and copper dash. I'm still tinkering with the glovebox latch, gonna replace the nylon hardware with some brass pieces when I make them, and clean off the extra flashing. I have started working on a custom housing and handle for the cowl vent to match what I've done so far.
Thanks Ben! I am digging the black and white paint. Your bed and rear fenders look different, is that a fabricated bed and modified stock rear fenders? It makes a great looking tow for that flatty dragster!