After I took the pup to the vet for her yearly shots this morning I had a few hours to work on the truck so I wanted to finish up the exhaust installation. With the exhaust painted and dry and out of the way it was the time to go ahead and mount the hanger bearing before I continued on the exhaust. It took some time to get it located correctly and cut to fit between the frame rails but after crawling under the car multiple times, measure multiple times and checking the angles over and over I was able to tack it in place. I sure have a lot of final welding to do once I remove the body again but at least it will be easier to get to compared to welding with the truck jacked up.
With the hanger bearing and cross-member tacked down I then re-installed the newly painted exhaust assemblies. They went in pretty easily so once they were installed then I needed to do some work on the finishing the exhaust tips. I slipped the polished stainless tips I had bought on the ends of the tube assemblies so I could see where I needed to trim the lower portion of the rear bumper to clear. I had a piece of 3 inch dia exhaust tubing that I used to line up on the outside of the bumper to mark it so I could trim it. I started to use the plasma to cut it but then just opted to use a cut-off wheel instead. I then trimmed the bumper to the marks and pulled the tips thru the bumper. I think it looks pretty good with both exiting on one side. I still need to do a little more trimming to the bumper to even out the gaps but I'll do that when I remove the bumper.
On deck, get the driveshaft finished and installed. I went ahead and cut the fwd driveshaft tube to length so now I just need to get it welded and balanced and then measure the rear driveshaft and have it fabbed.
1949 Chevy Panel Truck A Project Journal I'm old but I make up for it by being immature.
