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9/08/25: Good news! I finally got some dedicated time to work on the truck, tackling a bunch of loose ends I needed to wrap up before I can even think about spraying the interior. It felt great to make some solid progress.

First up was the battery box cover. After replacing the floor, the vertical lip was just a hair too wide, preventing it from latching properly. An easy fix with the die grinder and a cutoff wheel, and now it snugs down perfectly.

Then I moved on to the transmission cover. Of course, with the new floor in, the hold-down screw holes were completely covered. The passenger side was straightforward – easy enough to run a drill up through the existing holes on the support bracket. But the driver's side was another story. My newly installed power master cylinder was right in the way, meaning I had to try and locate and drill those holes from the top. As you can imagine, lining them up was a real challenge. Two of them were thankfully right on target, but the third was way off. A bit of persuasion with the die grinder and a burr got it aligned.

To top it off, all three front and two back holes that would secure the cover needed to be drilled due to the new floor. I located them using the cover and a drill centering punch and used the screws to cut their own threads.

One unexpected snag I hit was with the gaskets I bought specifically for this cover. They're just thin tar paper and the sealing area on the cover is indented about a quarter inch, so they won't seal a thing. I'll need to swap them out for a proper foam gasket, probably around 5/16” thick. Should be an easy fix with some foam weather stripping.

Next, I got the new battery box bottom welded in place by plug welding, using the old rivet holes in the battery box brackets.

I also managed to get the bottom 8 inches of that windless channel bottom installed – you know, the piece I cut off when I replaced the lower inner cowl. Drilled a few holes and plug welded it onto the inner cowl – feels good to have that back in.

The very last loose end of the day was installing the final screw to keep that access cover closed – the one I fabricated for the brake master cylinder. Another small but satisfying detail.

All in all, a productive two days getting a lot of those fiddly bits sorted. Slowly but surely, it's coming together for paint! I'll keep you updated.