finally, an update! drivers door

finally pieced the drivers side door back together. i actually did this last week and just now got around to updating the build blog. it's coming together slowly but surely. i really need to get my firestone blackwalls before i can go much further. i want to start fabbing up the frame and i have to have my actual tire and rims mated together so i can set my final ride height. that's it for now, mike in k.c.

i have a name for the old girl....

i have been trying to come up with a name for the 39. drum roll please......Mayvelline! i have a cousin in arkansas named mayvelline. i like that name. it has a mid-century ring and feel to it. yea, that's it...Mayvelline it is!!! so, from now on, i will refer to her as such! i love this little truck. i have never felt this way about a car or truck before. i have so much labor into her that i know i will never let her go. i found her on jalopy journals forum, the h.a.m.b. she was in jefferson city, mo. she had been in the woods for many years until i answered the ad and drove down at 5:00am on a saturday morning earlier this year. i fell in love with this little cab on the spot. she was a little rough around the edges, but i knew she could be sweet...real sweet! the rest is chronicled here in this blog. next summer and she'll be at greaserama 2010 wearing new paint, rubber and oh yea, a big block chrysler and a 4 speed!!! hell yea!

passenger door is whole again!

the passenger door went back together quite nicely if i do say so myself! re-aligned perfectly. looks nice in the jamb and is arrow straight. i'll move onto the drivers door this weekend. the old girl is coming together better than expected and at a better pace than expected. hell, i'm almost ready to start framing the floor of the cab! i can't wait to get goin' on the floor. i think once the structural areas are sured up, the frame, bed and suspension will go pretty quik. i'm thinking next summer as a possible "first fire" target date. let's hope so. enjoy! mike in k.c.

the roof is back together finally!!!

finally, the roof is one piece again. now i can move this thing around again without it coming out of alignment. it looks great and i'm totally satisfied with how it turned out. gonna finish welding on it this week, but for now, bask in the glory!!!

on to the drivers side today

i moved from the passenger side, to the drivers side today. i did this side a little differently. i removed the grafted section that i cut out of the rusty red cab because i didn't like how it looked after it had been welded in place. i fabbed up the entire patch. inner bracing and outer skin from some 14 gauge flat sheet. it is thicker, but stronger. i just have to fill in the center gap and final weld the seams. i should finish the roof tomorrow. thats it for today.

stitching up the top...

i started stitching my way across the top of the cab. this part is really frustrating, trying to make the bridge piece even with the front and rear sections. the panels want to move with each strike of the mig. i dont have a bunch of high dollar vise grip long reach clamps, so i have to keep the panels even as i go up. this part is taking a lot of time, but it is going to be done correctly and i feel good about how it has gone so far. i cant wait to get it stitched up all the way across and begin on the doors. then i can move the truck around without fear of the truck coming out of alignment. thats it for tonite, mike in k.c.

more rust repair

the jambs on this cab are pretty bad. turns out the drip rail was the reason for rust in these areas. the tops skin rusted where the water was channeled, separating the top skin from the jamb inner supports. i cut a section of 20 gauge sheel steel, bent it in the shape of the opening, and welded it in place. i did the passenger side saturday, and worked on the drivers side today a little. i patched in a connecting piece today on the drivers side which bridged the gap created when the two halves of the roof were separated. that little step alone, really did a good job of keeping the cab from moving around on the stands. when you cut the top off of a car or truck like this, you really do have to brace everywhere or it will move around like a plate of jell-o!!! thats it for today, mike in k.c.

goodbye 69 dodge monaco, hello 71 adventurer!

saturday i recieved a parts donor truck for the 39. it's a 71 dodge 1/2 ton adventurer. 383, 4 speed. everything is still there. the motor, tranny, pedals, bellhousing, driveshaft(s). the rear leafs are still under it too. the entire front suspension with the 5 on 4.5 bolt pattern drums is there as well...score!!!!!!!! the body is toast and sunday i started removing the unwanted body panels to get to the good stuff! i kept the hood and the hinges. i scrapped the fenders, passenger door, the bed and tomorrow the rest of the cab is going away too. i am going to use the frame in some way, either in whole form or sections for the 39. i think i can use the entire frame if i do my math correctly. this truck also has 5, 16" steely rims in very good shape that are definately going on the 39. this truck brings me so much closer to gathering everything i need for the project. i have a 383 big block, a 4 speed with granny first, an 8-3/4" rearend from a 66 plymouth, the front suspension, and wheels. i still need the rear suspension parts though, such as either a 4 link and coil-overs, or the single leaf/track bars setup. i'm pretty sure that one of the 58 dodge 3/4 ton leafs from the straight axle parts i bought last weekend, will work in the rear and the other will work in the front for the "suicide" frontend i'm going for. here is the hack and trash pics from over the weekend and tonite. NOTE: the sheetmetal parts i trashed are too far gone to have done anyone any good, so you hardcore mopar guys out there like me, dont fret, i didn't trash anything usable. a previous owner must have hauled salt in the bed, the whole bottom all the way across was rusted away and the bed sides were wasted as well. plus there are a couple of small sheets of plywood in the floor of the cab where the metal floors used to be, nothing usable in their fellas. thats it for tonite folks, not much glamour goin' down tonite! later, mike in k.c.

re-assembly begins...

i began to put the chopped sections of the cab back together tonite. the cab corners lined up near perfectly. i just tacked the rear corners but the a-pillars are where they are going to be permanently. the outer skin is perfect all the way around. just a little tack here and there, a little filler, and this is gonna be spot-on!!! the doors are going to be a little tougher i think. i set the door frames in place and it looks like i have a lot of grinding and fitting to do, but no problem overall. thats it for now.

score dude!

my latest craigslist score! man, i love craigslist! this is a 1958 dodge d200 straight axle. to look at it one might think it's off of a 1 ton, but i'll check into it that little later. either way, this is my front suspension. almost certain now that this will be a fenderless truck. that was my original goal anyway. gonna check to see if the leafspring center mount has equal length from to each eye. if so, i'll just use one stack and mount it transversely and build a "ford" type single stack leaf and hairpin unit. this gets me a lot closer to having a rolling chassis. i'm reassembling the cab sections and doors this week so i can at least get it on my dolly and move it around when needed. man, i am stoaked! the wheels on this frontend i'm not sure about. they are cool, but they are massive and the tires are monsters! the rims are 17.5". not exactly the size most folks have laying around the garage. i have to look into tire availability, and also will look into rearends with the same bolt pattern. my to-do list just got a little bigger! that's it for now, mike in k.c.

not much on the truck front today!

all i did today was split the top sections of the door frames in half today. this step allows the two sections to rest on the lower door posts, just as the roof was sectioned to eventually rejoin with the lower posts. i also prepped all areas for welding. just some basic grinding to give the weld surfaces a clean, uncomtaminated metal to penetrate. that's all folks!

did a little work today afterall!

i felt the truck calling me today after i decided to take today off and i guess i just broke down, went down stairs and cut the top across the top. this step was necessary to allow the upper front pillars to realign with the lower posts. pretty straight forward, i put my tape down where i wanted to cut, put the top on my saw horses, ran a couple of bungees from front to back on both sides to keep the halves from falling on the ground after the two halves were separated. that's all i did today. tip of the day: use 1/32" cut-off wheels instead of 1/16". 1/16" wheels take a lot longer to make the same cut if you were using 1/32" wheels. the 1/32" do not last as long, but it's worth it. also, the 1/32" does not get the metal as hot as the 1/16" wheels. just an fyi. i will cut the upper door window frames this week sometime. that's it for today! gonna go workout, do my daily walk, then watch, "the next food network star" on food network. it's the finale tonite. later, mike in k.c.

cut the doors down today

i cut the doors down today and i removed the windshield frame from the hinges. the door cut down was pretty straight forward. go slow, always be aware of the angle that your blade is it thru the whole piece you are cutting. the blade tends to jam up during the process. they turned out very good and i'm happy with all but one cut, but i can make it work. really it's just slightly off, no biggie! the windshield frame was a bitch! there are 3 small flathead screws on each side of the outside of the frame that hold the frame to the hinges. i used a center punch in the center of each screw to locate a point to drill a starter hole. then i used a 1/4" drill to get the rest of the head out of the hole. i did not drill any deeper than i had to for the head to just fall out and then the frame falls away from the hinges. i could not do this while the top was still lying on the pillars, so i pulled the whole top off and laid it upside down in the grass to drill them out. i also cut the doors down while the top was in the grass or it would have surely fallen from all the shaking created by the saw. i'm done for the weekend kids. have a great saturday and sunday. i'll update this week. mike in k.c.

pics of the cab chop

ok, here they are. got these this morning. it really looks badazzz! gonna cut the doors this weekend. enjoy!

the cab has been chopped!

i chopped the cab today, but it was too dark by the time i made the last cut to get good enough pics to post tonite. i will get better pics tomorrow and post them right away. this really should have been a two person job, but i only realized that when i saw shit starting to move around! i was so far in by then, that i just trudged forward by myself. man, when that last cut on the cab went thru, it took a bit of adjustment then it just dropped in place and the rear cab corners lined up near perfectly. of course, the a-pillars fell short because they are angled to begin with, but later, i will make a cut from door to door across the top which will allow the a-pillars to move forward and realign with the bottom posts. i did not cut on the doors tonite. it was just too dark and i was just too tired! hey, the weekends coming up, right? i am very happy with my progress so far. later!

no pics today, but i made some cuts

hey kids, mike in k.c. here. make sure you start off with enough cut-off wheels to get that part of the job done. i ran out of cut-off wheels with about 15 inches left to cut. the jambs, the the pillars, and the doors can be done with my reciprocating saw. just my luck. i'll post pics tonite if i can round up a few more cut-off wheels. stay tuned kids! this chop turned out to be a 5 incher. it's more than i originally planned, but i thought that 3 or 4 might not be enough, so throwing caution to the wind, 5 inches came out of the cab. sure, it's gonna be tight, uncomfortable, but isn't that the goal anyway? these things aren't supposed to be luxury vehicles! i sat in it prior to cutting and determined that if i make the bomber seats risers just a bit lower, that i could live with a 5 inch chop. will post pics soon....

measure twice, cut once!

here im laying out the masking tape where i will be making my cuts. i will use a combination of die grinder with a cut-off wheel, and my reciprocating saw to get thru the areas that have multiple layers of sheetmetal. i am keeping the back window frame the original size. it looks better to me, plus, i'll be able to see the road behind me better too. i still have to layout the window frame. that's gonna be the scary part i believe. i'll layout that area tomorrow evening. more to come....

bracing the interior for the chop

here i welded in some 1"x1" square tubing to keep the cab from moving around once i start cutting on the top. this should be enough, but i may throw in some diagonal bracing in the door openings to keep them square.

i can feel the rain drops.....for K.M.R.

more pics of the inspiration truck

this is a thing of beauty!

reference photo

this is the what i mean by the awkward angle behind where the back of the front fenders mount.

my inspiration for my build

i know, i know, this is a ford, but the overall look and feel of this truck is driving me along. still not sure if i want to do fendered or fenderless. i know what is involved either way. i like the tall tires in the rear and the short fronts. bed proportion is dead-on to what i want. height, chop and channel is perfect as well. my cowl is a bit different, but i plan on doing some modification to the cowl if i go fenderless....more of a 36-38 cowl look. if i do go fenderless, i want to continue the hood flange area all the way down to the bottom of the cab also in an attempt to make it look more 36-38ish, and eliminate that awkward angle where the back of the front fenders mount.

the drivers side door

same as the passenger side, only without the heat.

time to start thinking....chop!

i want to chop the top on this cab either 3 or 4 inches. but before that, i have to get the doors on and in proper alignment. i ordered new hinge pins from roberts truck parts. theses were $2.50 a piece, but with shipping came to an even $20.00. i get the doors on and the pins in and i have alignment issues. not much provision for adjustment on these cabs, so i bought a cheap oxygen/mapp torch from the home depot. it burns hotter than propane but goes thru oxygen quickly. i worked on the passenger side first. i hung the door, noticed which way the hinges had to go, and pulled the door off to keep it from taking any of the heat. i had to bend both the upper and lower hinges and again, trial fit the doors a few times before i got it adjusted just right. here is the passenger door with proper alignment. onto the drivers door.