Project Big Red

[IDIoit]

I also continue to have some difficulty maintaining a seal around passenger side door. Air leaks are annoying @ highway speed.

there are 2 ways to cure this!

1) cut the muffler off and run straight pipe, once the sound level gets above a certain point, its almost certain to overpower the air leak...

2) turn the radio up

mine is pretty loud on the freeway, but like the saying goes.... loud pipes saves lives!

 

[laserjock]

Are those aftermarket fenders? Sometimes the upper part is not formed quite right. When manipulating the door shell don't move the shell and skin out too much or it will require quite a lot of filler on the door skin to hide the movement of the door shell.. You might lay a straight edge on the skin from the front edge reward and see if there is any gap about an inch or so from the front edge. It looks ok in the photo but new paint will tell the story. Looking good by the way

They are aftermarket fenders. My dad also commented that he thought the shape was off a little at the top. Could be. It's close enough now that when everything goes the same color, I think it will be dandy. I may massage the top of the fender a hair with some light filler work but it looks pretty darn good. I don't think the pics are doing it justice. It's not quite as good as the passenger side but its not bad.

Like I said to my Dad last night, I set the other door gaps with two paint sticks taped together. Not like I'm going for dime gaps here.

 

[Crankybait]

I should have mentioned this in my earlier post.. You might go ahead and bolt the hood on and square up the front end, that can make a big difference on door to fender alignment. I have run into that issue before with the upper part not aligning because the fender was actually too far out in the front. One way to measure w/o the hood is to measure width of the hood, add 1/2". Tighten the fenders to the rad support to your hood plus 1/2" and then find bolts you can "X" measure from to square up the sheet metal. It will make some difference on door alignment.

 

[laserjock]

Yeah, I'd like to bolt the hood on but I've got another car in the way of getting it out of the rafters at the moment. [emoji849]

I want to get the front clip on and get everything fit then put alignment pin holes in things before I blow it back apart. I have been debating, painting the front clip off the truck. The fenders weren't too bad to man handle on my own. Still trying to decide.

 

[Crankybait]

Back in my prime when line working at a dealership I changed the frame on a GMC 1 ton cab and chassis in 8 hours(bed was already off). Brand new frame, started at 3pm one day and was bolting on the new color jammed sheet metal the at 3pm the next day. Guess I had impressed the manager before when I got paid 28 hours to change the frame under a '93 Suburban in 16 hrs... I was much younger and hungrier then. Did the entire 128 hour job in 2 weeks, the owners needed it for their trip to MI at Christmas. I had hardly driven it around the block. The shop manager handled them a legal pad and told them to write down anything they found. I had 1 page of stuff to look at when they got back and most was interior stuff that was probably not right before the wreck. Insurance spent $12,500 putting it back together, it was a $31K truck at the time. I saw it around the area for years after the repair.. It held up well since it got all new GM parts.

 

[IDIoit]

FYI, do not install that hood alone.
that's how I cracked my windshield, and *****'d my hood

 

[laserjock]

FYI, do not install that hood alone.
that's how I cracked my windshield, and *****'d my hood

That's good advice. I'm hoping my helper works out.

 

[Crankybait]

It can be done by one person... fold 2 towels and place them on the cowl. Set the hood upon the truck, have a good steady prop rod ready, it doesn't have raise the hood high. Making sure the back corners of the hood are on the towels. Gently lift one corner of the hood and thread in 1 bolt, move to the other side and install both bolts. Thread in the second bolt on the other hinge and start adjusting.. Now there are a few out there that definitely takes two people, any Ford truck older than 1980... and 60-66 GM's.....oh.. any old Cadillac.........

 

[laserjock]

Well, major achievement for the night... Winning an auction on a set of speedo gears and saving $3.50 from the purchase price. Ate a bowl of popcorn.

Was there something on tv tonight besides football?

 

[F350camper]

good for you mike! 3.50 will buy you a gallon and a half of diesel!

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

when football is on,there is never anything else on...........yeah ok,i'll admit.i watched the two clowns instead lol.

 

[79jasper]

Forget all that nonsense. I've been watching csi: Miami all day. Lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[Thewespaul]

I started to say something about the two stooges but that became a rant wayy too fast, ughh politics... At least we still have our smokey diesels

 

[laserjock]

Tcase installed.

 

[laserjock]

Well, there's not been a ton of progress this week. It's been mostly cleaning garage. I have got to find a place to put some stuff. I'm drowning in here. I did get the massive pile of bolts dealt with.

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I've got quite a pile of hardware left over. Need to build a rack for the cases to ride in.

Something like this.

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I've been sorting parts and trying to separate the stuff I need from what I don't. That's not been easy.

I'm trying to get to a point where I can get the hood down and check fit. So I put the hood hoist together.

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I am less than impressed. The thing came with no directions. I was ready to cut it up in little pieces and trash it when it finally came to me how it's supposed to attach. It just clamps on the end of the boom....poorly. I mean it feels solid but it's just poorly executed. Weld spatter. Rough edges. Rattle can paint. It's just poorly executed. The one thing that is missing is a way to control the tilt. I'll have to figure something out there. Can't have it flopping around like it can now. I think it will work however. Note the rubber strips are 1/4" hose that's been split with a knife. They are also currently on the wrong pieces. They need to be on the upper parts.