Some work we did this last week was mocking up the sill plates for the cab. The cab is a wood and sheet metal construction but it all sits on 2 sill plates which get attached to the frame through some spring mounts front and rear. We still have the old and I assume original sill plates however they are in a very rotted condition but they have some clues as to where and what they were bolted to and holes in them are worn but obvious enough we can use for templates. We decided before cutting and fitting any hardwood that we should try and mock up the sill plates using some basic 2x6 to see if we have a good idea of where and how things sit on the frame and if we can do it accurately. The front part of the cab is still in one piece, its essentially the fire wall, the dash board, the outside sheet metal that connect the two and some wood giving it structure, and its part of where the cab mounts to the sill plates. After using those as guides, we drilled, cut and bolted things together and realized they were not quite in the right spot.
To get a more accurate position we decided that attaching the rear spring mount and build the gas tank enclosure/seat. These were mocked together using some scrap wood but its together and sitting in what we believe is the right spot giving us another reference point for the sill plate. We have not re made or re worked the sill plates yet, that will be soon. We know the cab is likely the hardest thing to put back together so our goal is to try and get the sill plates as correct as possible as it will be the foundation to which the other wood and sheet metal is attached. The cab is also taller then our garage door when the truck is on its wheels , so either we will need to move the truck or build the cab elsewhere before we get crazy with it and start building it upwards. The wood the cab is made from we think is ash , not sure, but my dad wants to use some sort of light colored oak
Pictures attached are of the gas tank box that we have put back together, the 2x6 mock sill plate we were using for fitting, and the dash/firewall part of the cab. You can also see the block of the engine in the back ground, just waiting for some tlc.
