Pacific coast Datsun Posted November 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Allright guys i got a bit more done today. The inner parts of the pillars are 80% done & in primer..... & got the Dr. side pillar 50% done & the last door cap made,welded on & a few coats of body filler... Quote Link to comment
Pacific coast Datsun Posted November 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 Today i kicked ass & got the pass. side marker lights & drivers door handle & key shaved!.... All of the cab bodywork is almost done except for final sanding. ...im toying with boxing it the top of the bed sides. Just tacked in a section to get an idea how it'll look... Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted November 29, 2007 Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 Jeeze Pac, you DOMINATE man! Kudos. Quote Link to comment
Steroid Posted November 29, 2007 Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 Mark. VERY NICE!!!!!!! Hey, let Me "advise" You if You plan in any way to do the top of the bed. First off, Rich and I had a bummer of a time doing the dually's bed. The bed rail must be PERFECT before welding any metal to it. My bed was far from that. Also, as You weld it, the heat will warp the bedsides inward and You will have to re-straighten them. I can post a thread later with pictures showing how I did that. What We decided before doing ANYTHING was that the metal had to be one continous strip. That way, as You have showed in Your picture, individual strips will not "walk" downward and such. What worked AWESOME for Us was to use banding strips. These are used to secure loads on many shipped items. Yes, they came (discarded) from a railroad flatcar. There are two widths of banding straps. WE used the thicker 2 1/2" stripping. Mine were used to secure huge cement railroad bridge sections onto a flatcar. Most lumber yards have piles of strips in their scrap area after removing them from lumber loads. But We decided two things. 1, that as the strapping material is tempered, it would stay in a straight line and not move around. 2, that it would be straighter, thicker and stronger than anything a sheetmetal shop could supply. That material worked GREAT and I would strongly suggest it to anyone trying to fill the top of a bed. Now what is going to be tricky, and I don't know if You have enough time before Resolutions, is the tailgate handle area on the back corner of the bed. That definately took Us the most time. I can show You rather than explain here how that was done. Anyway, look at a large lumberyard by the railroad tracks and see if You can locate some strapping. If not, I can bring some to Reso. for You. Quote Link to comment
pope_face Posted November 29, 2007 Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 Pac: Just out of curiosity, what kind of welder are you using? You may have mentioned it before, but I don't remember... Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted November 29, 2007 Report Share Posted November 29, 2007 Looks good as usual. I've been kicking around the idea of using exhaust tubing the same diameter as the existing bullet on the cab to fill the gap. Not sure how well it will work out, but I plan to get some thicker guage tubing as long as the bedside, tack it. trim it and spot weld different areas and sides to keep the heat down to a minimum. If warping is a problem, then maybe 2 or 3 lengths of 1" square tubing tacked across the bed rails would be a real good idea to keep that to a minimum. Steroid, out of curiosity did Rich do continuous welds or did he jump around alot? I'm just trying to picture how much heat you guys experienced and what I can do to minimize the warpage. Did you get any close up pic's of the rear corner? When's the dually out of paint? Can't wait to see it. :D Quote Link to comment
Pacific coast Datsun Posted December 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Pope- i have a Lincoln 3200 weld pack 110 welder. Has a gas hook up but im running flux core wire for now. Steve- if & when i ever do the bedsides i may borrow your idea & use the exhaust tubing although the straps Steroid described may work too. I think the bodywork will be easier if i use the tubing. Getting closer guys, got all the cab bodywork bout 75% done & in primer & also trimmed & installed my air dam! it's about 1 inch off the ground...:cool: also today my wife & kids took 2 vids of me driving the truck down the alley, i was inspired by Fisch & his kool vids. Ill post em up later on. Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 also today my wife & kids took 2 vids of me driving the truck down the alley, i was inspired by Fisch & his kool vids. Ill post em up later on. Can't wait Pac! That'll be something to see! Quote Link to comment
Pacific coast Datsun Posted December 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Wow took 20 minutes to upload to photobucket, heres the 1st vid & pics... Quote Link to comment
datsun dreamer Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Mark, Cool video!!! Air dam looks sweet! What kinda muffler you running? Glasspacks? Quote Link to comment
pope_face Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 That airdam does look pretty sweet... As for the body work, it looks like you're getting pretty close to being done. You still have to sort out the window seal, correct? Anything else you're missing? BTW, cute kid... :D Quote Link to comment
irsa76 Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 I didn't realise this was still a driver. Looks way cool. I reckon it would look really cool if the bed was the same height as the cab with the bullet side relife. For a REALLY cool look, unibody it. Although I would hate to imagine how much bracing that would need. Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Just F'n awesome Pac! You look like you were born to be in that seat. And the commentary by your wife and child was great. How cool it must feel to have worked on something that custom, that much sweat and time, and actually take it for a spin. And if it feels that cool now, imagine when it is all done! Quote Link to comment
Pacific coast Datsun Posted December 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Jason- running a Flowmaster 40 series that dumps out before the axle. Pope- gonna use the stock window felt for now,ill have to roll the window down a bit to open the door which is fine. Irsa- i thought about cutting it level w/ the bed & then angling the door upwards but it seeemed like way too much work & would've ruined the "bullet" body line. Unibody, no...i still have 1 mod i may try to do :D Fisch- Both my girls were watching me..my 3 year old is the one you guys hear. She likes to come out & "help" me work on the truck sometimes. Yeah felt good to drive it again, she had been sitting for a few months. Quote Link to comment
dat620 Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 lookin good bro...RESO, RESO, RESO...:lol: Quote Link to comment
Pacific coast Datsun Posted December 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Ok heres the 2nd vid & yeah i know im driving the wrong way..:D Ill be rollin to reso topless !! Quote Link to comment
]2eDeYe Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Looks good :D Wish I could take mine for a spin :eek: Quote Link to comment
fisch Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 That is a sweet airdam. Looks like it was born to be there. Too bad I can't put wings on my 521 and join everyone at RESO. Quote Link to comment
Pacific coast Datsun Posted December 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 More baby steps taken. All of the cab body work is pretty much done & primed. Also trimmed the roof ends a bit & started the last bit of bodywork on the bottom edge... oh so low...:D I also cleaned up a few pounds of body filler dust from the cab :o Quote Link to comment
Steroid Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Very cool ! ! ! Hey Mark, is this what Your truck will look like next year????? This truck was built in Florida about 11 years ago. I never was much on the "rim wider than the truck" look (unless there were fender flares) but this truck looks so much like what Mark is building that I had to share!! Quote Link to comment
Steroid Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 I was just re-reading this page. Here is a photo of how We did the corner, ALL in metal. Quite a process. Rich "moved around a bit" during the welding but We DIDN'T use the "wet rag" tatic to cool down welds immediately. Re-streightening the bedsides is a B*^@#!!! to do so We really should've taken a lot longer time to do the welding. Quote Link to comment
Steroid Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 In comparing the green truck photo with Yours, I VERY MUCH like the extra effort You did to remove the door window track and weld onto Your windshield upright frame!!! It just looks "goofy" in the green truck's photo sticking up like that. The time was well worth it, Mark!! By the way folks, He NEVER even REMOVED any of the glass doing all of this!!! Incredible!!!! Quote Link to comment
tnip Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 just had to drop by and add to the praise. you're doing an awesome job mark. keep it up man. Quote Link to comment
Pacific coast Datsun Posted December 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2007 Mike,Ill prob. wait till next year to do the bedsides. Its been raining here the last few days so not much progress. I did weld the valance to the fender & shave the DR side marker lights[didnt work]..... Quote Link to comment
Steroid Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Hi Mark. Cool! I usually suggest more bolts/screws as when You hit, AND YOU WILL, the airdam someday, the more attached it is to the truck, the less likely it will break or be pulled off. Trust Me on this. I would suggest another bolt in the area (in this photo) that is in the inward side of the turnsignal lens. That area that comes up to the top of the valance. Just a suggestion. Looks good though. The corners seem to line up better on the wheel area than Lawrence's do for some reason. Nick did a very good job for Us all!!! Quote Link to comment
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