Lipstick on the Pig

In efforts to clean up the garage, I have stacked and stashed parts everywhere.  Unfortunately, I haven't found a safe place to store the new front grille where it won't get crushed or otherwise cosmetically damaged.  So, I figured that I should waste a small amount of time and put it on the truck to get it up off the floor, similar to the approach with the rear fenders.  The entire front end of the truck is going into the recycle bin eventually, so this is a comprimise between efficiency and practicality.

Before:

 

After removing the old grille:

 The paint on the front end is coming off in sheets.

 The old grille is almost competely worthless due to the extensive corrosion.

I found more pecan shells trapped in the light fixtures amongst the rust flakes.  Nuts!

I removed this baby from the old grille before recycling and will save it for later.

After test fitting the new grille on the truck, it turns out that the bolt holes do not match the air deflector panels on the truck.  Fortunately, I have a matching set that came with the new grille and will have to wait and put them all on later once I disassemble the currently installed tilt-forward front end.  No lipstick for this pig today!

&#@%!

Well, it was a rough night in the garage.  I broke a socket, cut my knuckles, and the new tools I bought to help remove the exhaust header bolts proved to be ineffective.  In the end, I was only able to remove one additional bolt after ~10 days of soaking them in penetrating oil.  That was accomplished with a Stillson pipe wrench after removing additional primary header pipe material with the saws-all.  I'm thinking that the engine might need to come out at this point...

Cool tool, didn't work.

 Cool tool, didn't work.

 Broken socket with blood stain in the background.

 Ouch!

 Success.

Seat Fit-Up

The new bench seat was really dirty, so I spent a few minutes cleaning it with the shop vac.  It looks pretty good now and should get us down the road until something better comes along.

 

Since the seat is out of a newer vehicle, the mounts don't exactly match up.  I had to remove the factory Ford floor brackets so the new seat would fit.  Don't worry, six of the eight bolts sheared off while I attempted to remove them, so there will be a whole new set purchased if the brackets ever need to be reinstalled.

Overall, the seat fits in the cab very well and the driver ergonomics are acceptable.  It is the wrong color, but future me will decide on whether to get a cheap seat cover or replace it with a different seat after all of the paint and body work are complete.

Garage Clean-up and Body Test Fit

So the excitement of getting the other truck with all the parts, sorting the parts into piles, then selling the unwanted items the next day is over.  Now it is time to work.  The longevity of my marriage is directly correlated to how clean the garage is kept, so I knew what needed to be done.  The first step was to get as many parts and boxes up off of the floor as possible.  Since the new body parts needed to be test fit sooner or later, it seemed like a good time to hang some sheet metal and kill two birds with one stone.

Bed mounts bolted down with temporary fasteners:

Bed sides and front panel installed:

Houston, we have a problem.  The holes in the aftermarket frame do not line up with the holes in the rear cross sill.  I'm not sure how the one that came with the truck were ever installed because they were not attached when I purchased the truck.  Fixing this will involve lots of measuring and some drill bits...

Here it is with the fenders mounted hand tight and the running boards laying up on the brackets loose.  Lookin' good!

I cut some plywood to fit in the bed to make use of the space back there while working on the mechanicals under the hood.

Most of the rest of the truck is now neatly piled up in the back.  :o)

The garage and the truck now look and feel much better!

Sold!

When you absolutely need to sell a junk car within 24 hours, its hard to beat Craigslist.

Christmas in September

Twas the night before labor day weekend and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for 56Mechanic who got up at 2:45 in the morning to drive and pick up the presents for all the little boys and girls so he could return the rented trailer before they closed on Saturday and not pay for an extra day.  I hope the kids like fenders, bench seats, and boxes of bolts!

The Craigslist guy that had all of these parts needed to sell them urgently to pay some bills, so I got a smokin' deal.  The haul includes:

New hood

Used fenders

New bed panels

New bed support brackets

New roll pan

New looking valence w/ additional used valence

New looking grille

New looking tailgate (dirty)

New wiring harness

Used bench seat, looks like it came out of a mid-eighties GM truck.  It will work for now...

New bed wood kit

New running boards

New firewall dress-up cover plate

Interior fenders for the front end

Box-o-parts, qty. 3

The only problem was that in order to get all of those parts, I had to also buy a 1955 F100 chassis, engine, and other miscellaneous parts.  It is setup with a Dodge front and rear end and came with a Mopar 318 V8.  The HOA is going to love that!  LOL.  I hope to sell the unwanted truck chassis soon on the internet and get some cash back from the deal.  Also, the garage looks like it was hit by a tornado, so that will need some attention to keep the Mrs. happy.