Technical Yeah, Its got a Hemi/41 shop truck

A mood light?

 

A virtue signaling light?

 

I have heard of make out lights. Green would make the girls look like aliens and I would be kinda like Cap'n Kirk.

 

Trucks looking great @Bandit Billy! Really like the connecting rod as a column drop. That's slick.

 

Thanks! I had a cheap ass aluminum thing in there for mockup. It helped get the drop length and angle correct, then I used it to make this one out of an aluminum chevy rod I had left over. Some liberal polishing and viola!

 

Did you notice the show display for his roadster?
Damn cool!

 

@DDDenny I just found it. That's awesome!

 

Not until you haul a greasy, rusty flathead in the bed (unsecured so it scratches the varnish)! Pictures or it didn't happen

 

More like Denny, Denny Crane....

 

Does it have to scratch the varnish? Can't it just drip a bit perhaps? I run a tidy shop, I can't say there is any dirty or rusty engines lying about. Sounds completely unhygienic. I was considering getting a matching black lab to ride around in the back (chrome collar) but I would have to get him some of those doggy booties so he didn't mar the bed. It's a shop truck not Sanford and Son.

 

You could always haul around a couple of "crying kid" dolls..... they won't mar it up!

 

That aint right! It would be cool to have a reversible bed that rotates form the shiny show side to the workin side with the push of a button. James Bond shop truck.

 

Or..... stitch together (talk to Ashley) a few moving blankets to make a drop-in liner. Problem solved. That will be $50 consultant's fee please, and yes, I have applied for a patent. You're welcome.

 

My daughter bought an old OT 4x4 and I have been working with her on getting it ready for winter on Mt Hood where she lives. But I did find some time today to play on my PU. I installed the AC unit under the dash and the defroster vents. I need to get the AC in so I can make my lines. That will wait for tomorrow night after work.
Cowl vent had to have an electric motor since I ran out of room under the dash for the vent handle. It bolts to a new cross brace that fits between the two defroster vent outlets.

I installed the AC switches/controls in the unit I built that bolts under the dash. This will emulate an under dash AC system.

I made an aluminum switch panel but rather than polishing it (blasphemy) I covered it with pick guard. The clips visible below hold the AC hoses behind the chrome Mercury AC vent cover (at the chrome shop). All in it will look like an under dash AC unit from back when. The Vintage Air box is hardly visible at all which is what I wanted.

I also used the pick guard under the "ford" emblem as well on the panel i built to mimic the shape of the 41 dash emblem. I painted the logo letters black.

Brake pedal is installed, and the throttle is hooked up. A journey of a thousand miles, blah, blah, blah.

 

Great idea with the pic guard. Which vintage air unit did you use under dash? I'm getting ready to do AC on my son's 65 valiant so looking for something small

 

I used their Gen II Compact I believe, It is tiny and has heat/cool/defrost. For the little cab it should be sufficient.

 

I caught some nasty ass flu bug that had me off work and out of the garage for over a week. I could have used antibiotics but once in a while it is good to fight it off. Better now and back at it.
I am still hooking up the plumbing for the AC. I found a hose at NAPA that you might want to jot the numbers down on, it is 5/8'' ID and has two 90 degree bends in it.

I ran my water through the firewall down below the left front fender line, so they were pretty much out of the way and invisible. Inside I used a couple of 90 fittings to tuck them up against the cowl. Then they just needed another 90 and a short run into the heater core. The little hose I bought was perfect for my water plumbing under the dash

Next I need to change the engine's water outlets to 5/8" from 3/4" and plumb the engine bay and finish crimping my AC lines.

 

Looks tidy

 

One thing we can find useful from the modern cars are their need for the pre-molded heater hoses..work well for some of our applications also.

 

I tried to make that band with straight house and it was not going to happen. I bought another piece with a 90 in it to go to the intake fitting since space was too limited to use a90 degree fitting.

 

Now, before you call it finished do your Wife a big favor assuming her Feet will be what's just under those hose fittings. Make a Tin deflector shield and mount it under and covering the rubber hosses. Should you ever have a hose failure and full operating temp it could be a disaster for her. If in fact this ends up being Her Truck and you ride on the Passenger side then forget about it and leave it as is. Your tough enough to take a good scalding.

 

Had a line to a direct pressure oil gauge turn loose once.....

 

Yeah, that happened to me recently in my dune buggy. Good news is my shoes don't squeak anymore.

That picture doesn't show the plastic cover that the AC unit comes with covers the hoses from view but would not do anything about a leak. A little upholstered cover would look nice too and you wouldn't see the clamps.

Every now and then Wizz you come with a good idea...that won't set me back 3 years building this thing.

 

Some work time in the garage today after watching the Cowboys finally win on Thanksgiving Day. Not a lot of stuff to report but I installed the dimmer pedal so I could finish the flooring. I already laid sound deadener and then put the jute over that and glued it down. The transmission tunnel cover will be exposed so the jute and rubber had to be cut and fit around it. The jute is cut just short of the tunnel and the rubber extends to the hole in the floor, so it tucks under the cover when installed.

The rubber flooring that I cut upside down the first time made an excellent template for the new one I had to buy. Measure twice, buy twice, cut twice as I like to say.

Here it is installed with the door sill plates I customized. These are for a 40 coupe so quite a bit had to be cut away and a lot of shaping done to make them fit, but they look like they belong there. I finished them in a brushed aluminum look. I may polish them, but I thought I would take a look first and I like them. Easier to take care of too as they are scuff plates.

They don't have much metal left at the back, basically a trim piece but the front covers the mat and jute perfectly.

I counter sunk some #6 SS sheet metal screws in them, probably too many but I had to work with the existing holes in the pieces.

I also installed the column/floor swivel so tomorrow I can slip the column back in. I punched the holes for the trans cover screws, I welded nuts to the bottom of the cab floor to make it easier to R&R the tunnel cover.

Yes, I am aware most people would put steering swivel support that under the mat and just cut a hole and a slit in the flooring, but I like this look and it helps locate the flooring, so it doesn't shift about.

Elsewhere, I took the fuel filter off as well as the coil and painted them both black, easier to do now without fenders in my way and the red was an eyesore. My AC and heater hoses are run, and I used a couple of polished SS fender brackets I had left over from a Camaro or eight to secure them to the fender nice and tidy.


I am thinking that smooth, black intake manifold needs some Wimbledon white pinstriping. hmmmm

 

I'm thinking it does not. You've got enough going on.

Just a thought: a sheet of something thin and rigid under the rubber on the floor. So it's less squishy. Rubber didn't originally go over jute etc. Yeah, I know it's all screwed down nice and neat.

 

Looking good Bandit......The wife must be excited...I know you are...Glad you're on the mend...plenty going around these days...

 

Looking great Billy !
I can’t believe you didn’t polish those sill plates,,,,,,you must be getting close to the goal line and want to finish.
You can always change them out later,,,,LoL .
Speaking of goal lines,,,,,yes Dallas finally did it again,,,,it used to be a tradition on Thanksgiving,,,,winning !

Tommy

 

Nice!
Those door sill plates look right at home there..no doubt in my mind you'll polish them before this is all over.
That cut down floor mat turned out great.
White pinstriping?..Yes!

 

I just figured that the jute was used since it was included in the box with the flooring. It ought to be quiet this way.
I need to get in there and see what it feels like under foot. It also looks like I need to add a bit more travel to my throttle pedal, when installed originally there was a lot less floor down there. I can't get WOT now. It is multi adjustable, so it is an easy fix.

yeah, that was almost 2 weeks of battling that crap. I had the Rona and it was a lot easier than this stuff. Feels good to be back on the job (s).

I inherited the Cowboys from my father, he was a fan I grew up cheering for them. One hell of a cold streak! Every time they lose (far too often) I go to the garage so I can get my "feel better" back on. I get a lot more done than a Tom Brady fan.

I think you are probably correct on those plates. I had to put them on and see what I had done. Those things weren't cheap, cutting them up took some grit but it worked out cool, I think. When done, it should be nice inside but still a PU. I am trying not to lose focus on that, that is why I didn't carpet it. What I have planned for the seat and doors should look cool with that floor.

 

Another day off work and more crap done in the garage. I put the steering column back in, I can definitely say it came out a lot easier! Lining up the D shaft and the U joint on the column while simultaneously sliding it together was not fun...but done. I kinda like the smell of red loctite. Is that weird? Note, this is an original, untouched firewall with that Desoto 330 parked in there. Tight but right.

What I am trying to accomplish next is the electrical, or at least the major components. I would like to hear it run again and see it move under its own power as I am tired of pushing it around. Fusebox installed in it's cubby hole beneath the seat.

Plenty of room to wire it up. You can see I recessed the fuse panel to take advantage of the drop in the floor to make it easy to pass wires under the panel for all of the accessories and over the panel for the hot circuits. The panel is from Coach Controls again, like my roadster. All of the relays and fuses anyone could ask for. I plan to use a fine tip white pen to diagram and label the circuits on the back side of the access door.

I bought this groovy switch panel off the classifieds a couple years back. Yeah, it's got seat heaters. I also have a few left-over switches that I am sure will come in handy as I progress. One of them will power up and down the stereo.

That got installed in the seat riser along with a 4 pole kill switch and a charging port.

Just for tickles and grins I installed the trans cover that was rhinolined to get a look at the completed floor. Different but I like it.
Yeah, that's a crown bag, it had hardware in it, honest!

Gun safe installed

I mean, why wouldn't you? All that dead space and this thing isn't going to have much of a glove box.
It looks like it was supposed to be there. The fact that the seat overhangs the riser slightly makes all of this stuff disappear once that seat is upholstered.

And I had to slip the wheel on to check it out. Yes, I put a tilt column in it. The seat doesn't adjust but my wife fits in there nice with the wheel dropped down. I like it higher. The seat needs the wheel to be fully tilted up to clear the seat when it is hinged forward.

I really like the Wimbledon white firewall and the color of the steering wheel that I had hydrodipped. Looks really nice together. I need to find a nice off-white vinyl that works with it for the seat/doors and headliner.

Thanks for stopping by.