First steps in breaking down the engine for a tune-up. Previous owners had swapped in a small block 350. Looks to be a relatively new crate motor, should be fine for me.
Decided to fill in the firewall while things are out of the way. Lots of welding and grinding. In hindsight I should have bought those patch panels that cover the whole thing.
Wasn't happy with the gap to the new radiator. Fired up the CNC machine and fabricated a small patch panel to close it off. No need for a radiator shroud this way.
Parking brake removed and fabricated a new electric one. Used a 225lb linear actuator. One end is bolted to the frame and the other pulls the cable. An electrical switch inside turns it on/off.
Back to interior. Fabricated a mount to hold some small speakers. These Micca COVO-S are the perfect size and have coaxial tweeters. For their size, they produce a very full sound. Much better response than typical car audio open baffle speakers.
The tank was in very good shape. Decided to keep it in the cab for now but will prob move it under the bed later. Stripped and painted with truck bed liner for now. Hides the imperfections nicely and will disappear with the carpet.
Prepped and shot the cab rear. Using a satin medium grey metallic. It's a bit cooler of a tone than the original but will give the truck a slightly updated look.
Restored an old bermuda bell that grandpa used to have in his shop. Will be nice to have something from him on the truck, I'm sure he would have loved fixing this thing up.
Previous owner had shaved the dash where the old radio was located. Reworked the area to get the contours right knowing the new metallic paint will show lots of flake there.
Tried to do the windshield last night and couldn't get the gasket to lip up over the cab. Anyone tried it recently? Where did you order your gasket from? I'm curious if some suppliers may be slightly different size or softer rubber?
The electric parking brake makes me laugh! I wonder if you could set it up for hill start assist, or auto turn off when you press the gas? I have that same makita drill, soo awesome. Where'd you get the baby CNC?
