Thanks Sam. I did a lotta patching myself. I don't have a welder (I know...I really need to get a gas unit, a MIG unit and an air compressor...but I haven't) so I did a hell of a lotta pop-riveting. The costs on the patches I did that way are relatively minimal.
I had a friend come over and look at the truck (he hadn't seen it for a coupla months) and he couldn't stop babbling over the improvement with the floorboards and rocker panels. Now it ain't never gonna win no councours...but that wasn't the goal. If I'd had that in mind, my approach would have been completely different.
As far as fabricating manifolds and headers...well, it's been done before. Lotsa folks used to fabricate their own manifolds...and even headers. A lotta the headers you see on flathead powered rat rods are made from old torque tubes with mild steel tubes running to the exhaust ports. I'm not sure that would work for the truck application, but it's an example of homemade headers.
Good luck with it. With a little imagination, you can have the rattiest fence runner in the midwest.
