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Hanger Bearing Cross-member & Exhaust (Con't)

I decided to go ahead and route & fab the exhaust before I installed the cross-member for the hanger bearing since I had everything for the exhaust. I bought a weldable exhaust kit from Speedway Motors as well as some Dynomax mufflers.

After fiddling with the various pieces of the exhaust tubing in multiple positions and cycling the air suspension up and down to check clearances I decided that the exhaust had to go under the rear differential. The largest two obstacles on going over the diff were the tight clearances to the curved bed floor (now I fully understand why some guys just raise the whole bed floor) and the panhard bar. I always set the rear packaging (primarily the fuel tank) so the dual exhaust would exit from one side at the rear of the truck. I thought this would look good and balance out the offset license plate and maintain the feng shui (lol....).

The fwd section of the exhaust was pretty straight-forward back to the mufflers but after that it got interesting. I fabbed the forward two sections with the mufflers and then started the aft portion. Both go under the rear diff but the LH (driver's) side then takes a hard 90 degree turn and shoots over to the RH side and then another 90 degree turn and out the back. The RH (passenger's) side has a slight joggle in it to basically follow along side the other exhaust. It was sorta had to take pics under the truck while it was installed but there is a pic of this section out of the truck basically laid out like the installation (the pic of the rusty tubes).

To bend the exhaust hangers I had an old bushhog blade that I chopped the end off and welded on a piece of pipe (that was pretty close to exhaust pipe OD) to make a bend tool for the hangers. I then hammer formed the hangers to cradle the pipes and tack welded them in place. I also made a few receptacles/mounts for the hangers to tack in place on the frame.

Next, I pulled it all apart and sanded off the surface rust and finish welded all the tack welds. Then I primered and painted the exhaust using Rustoleum High Temp primer and paint. After I completed it I then realized that I forgot to add a hanger before the muffler that will connect to the hanger bearing cross-member (that was not yet installed)...doh!. Oh well, I still have to run the ends of the exhaust out under the bumper using some stainless tips that I bought so I will add these later. My plan is to slightly scallop the lower trim of the bumper so the duel stainless tips will pass good and tight under the bumper. I will also try and re-trim the stainless tip to follow the bumper contour......so mounting the hanger bearing cross-member, adding the hangers at that spot and finishing the exhaust tip & bumper mod will probably be my next project.

Hanger Bearing Cross-member & Exhaust (Finish)

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.

WOW!!!! I'm always amazed at the level of craftsmanship you put into every detail of this build, absolutely beautiful .

Thanks for the compliment. My OCD tendencies force me to think things thru but it sure is heck on adhering to any type of schedule.

And *I* am totally blown away at how clean and neat your "garage" is. Man! Can you give lessons on these OCD tendencies? I think I like it.


And, I really like your attachment there, too. Too clever. Mediocrates. Good enough? It appears there's noting mediocre nor "good enough" to all the work you have let us see in here. Outstanding work. Admittedly, tho, I'm still looking for the grease ... I don't see any grease in those pictures. Show us a spot on the floor somewhere. Before you clean it up, that is.

You know how you see a car for sale and it looks pristine in the pics but when you show up to look it over then you can then see all the issues plain as day. I think that is what is going on here. This is actually in my dirty workroom where I do all the cutting, welding and grinding. It may be clean looking but I come out of there looking like Pigpen from Charlie Brown occasionally.

I've seen plenty of that here. Can tell what John's been up to. From diesel, hydraulic, grease and the occasional cigar that he's working on to finish up on his ride home. Clothes go outside! I like when he's been working outside. He smells more like dirt, clean water and fresh air.

BTW, your Mediocrates image is making the rounds. Got to make a t-shirt with that.

Hood

I had a few hours this weekend to do a little work on the truck so I pulled the hood out from the corner to start working on it. It had been blasted and epoxy primered by the previous owner but he did not disassemble it so I needed to get it broken down to treat the unseen rust. I was able to remove the corner braces (rods) in the front by grinding the screw heads off and I was able to get the front cross-brace removed as well using similar methods. The front cross-brace had some “field repairs” on the latch bolt but I was able to cut that out. I will have to repair the base of the cup once I get the new bolt in my possession.

After I got the front cross-braces and such out then I placed it all in a vinegar bath to try and clean up some of the rust prior to starting the repairs. Luckily it fit perfectly into one of my plastic containers.

Next I focused on separating the two halves of the hood. The hood still had a partial section of the trim installed down the middle so I had to remove it. I then used an impact screwdriver to remove the center splice plate so I could drop it in the vinegar bath. Then I took a flapper wheel and ground off the tubular rivet holding the two side together. With the two sides separated I was out of time so I had to stop work but I need to try and get the rear cross-brace removed as well. It looks like the outside is held with rivets but I didn't bother to look at the inside/center fastening on it but I would assume that it was riveted at the factory so I'm hoping it has not been “field repaired” as well.

Driveshaft Finish

The driveshaft assembly that I ordered online came in from Carolina Driveline. I forgot to tell them not to paint it so I stripped all the paint and repainted it. Luckily they painted it without primer so it pretty much wiped off with some lacquer thinner. I then went ahead installed the yoke on the transmission and temp installed the driveshaft in the truck. Everything looked pretty good. I still need to cycle the suspension and double-check all the angles but I'll do that another day.

Hood

After I got the driveshaft temp installed I started back on the hood. Last weekend I had taken the hood parts out of the vinegar bath, cleaned them up, and repaired and painted them. I also wiped them down with Ospho prior to painting to make sure I neutralized all the rust that I may have missed. I also finished disassembling the rear hood supports and soaked them in vinegar as well and then repaired and treated them the same as the other parts.

With all the parts prepped for reassembly I had finally decided to not use the stock side emblems on the hood so I cut out that section of the hood and patched it. I plan on using a script Chevrolet emblem instead in that area so the existing structure would not work. I welded it up very slowly but I still got some warping in that local area. I'll see how it fits installed on the truck before I start correcting the warped area.

I then welded the two halves together and finished assembling the hood. Next up will be to install it.

Hood Installed

After the hood was assembled back together I temp installed it on truck. Not a one man job but I was able to get it on. The front sheetmetal is not all lined up and gapped so the hood fit but obviously not a good fit. The RH fender is still little low and forward and the hood is about 1/8 to 1/4 inch aft of the fenders. I also stuck on the hood emblem. I then took the truck off the stands so I could get a good shot of the truck the most it has been assembled in many a year.

Air Ride System

I ordered an air ride system from Ridetech to control my air bags. It came with the compressor, tank, ECU, and controller. I chose this system because of the bluetooth controller. It has a wired controller that I plan to keep under the seat so I don't have a modern component mixed in with the old stuff and I'll primarily use my phone to operate the system.

The first order of business was to mount the air tank. I decided to mount it between the runningboard on the LH side and the frame and directly the frame. With the fittings all clocked straight up at 12 o'clock I had to drop down the tank such that the bottom fasteners did not land on the frame. I took some 2-1/2 angle that I had and made two brackets to weld on the bottom the frame rail to pick-up the lower bolts. I then tack welded in some threaded bungs at the top. I'll weld them in final when I remove the body from the frame but they should hold for now.

One thing that I noticed missing from the air tank is a drain outlet or bung on the bottom of the tank. I can't believe that it doesn't have one so eventually I'll have one welded into the bottom with a petcock.

After the air tank was mounted then it was on to the compressor. Since the remaining space on the left side was limited and the compressor is wired directly to the battery (and the battery box is on the RH side) then it made sense to mount it is the same spot as the tank but on the right side.

I considered mounting the compressor directly to the frame rail but it mounts thru rubber isolators with three small #10-24 screws so I doubted that I could get that small of threaded bungs welded in place properly. So I had some of the sheet metal that I used for frame boxing left over and fabbed up a small bracket to mount the compressor to that I can mount to the frame. I plan on putting some rubber between the fabbed bracket and the frame as well to help keep down the vibration noise.

I ran out of time. Next up, the air filter, valve assembly, ECU, and controller.

Air Ride Controls

Finally had a few hours to work on the air ride system. While I was busy doing things around the house, I took the aluminum air tank to a local welder to have him weld a bung on the bottom to drain any moisture as well as add one to the side for the pressure switch since the top was bung was a little too close to the floor. I also order a few compression fittings, sstl tubing and some misc brass fittings to make all the connections.

Once I had the layout/assembly of the water trap and valve pack I then had to fab a bracket to mount on the side of the frame. The air compressor is on the RH side of the frame, between the frame and running board and the tank is on the LH side of the frame also between the frame and running board and I decided to mount the trap and valve assembly just aft of the air tank. With this all mounted I ran a sstl hardline from the compressor to the the tank/valve assembly as well as the tank.

Next up was to figure out how I needed to route the wiring for the system. I settled on drilling a large hole (3” dia due to the large connector) behind the drivers seating area to run the wiring to the ECU controller and display... which I plan to mount under the seat on the driver side. I don't plan on using the system display very often since it has bluetooth that can be operated by my phone so I want the display to be hidden under the seat. I will still be able to pull it out from under the seat when needed but it should fit nicely in the recess in the pedestal under the seat.

Script Chevrolet

I had a little time left after routing the air ride wiring so I started laying out the script Chevrolet that I want to try and put on the real tailgate/doors. I've been looking for a way to emboss the script on the back tailgate. Right now I have a decal to represent what I want it to look like to make sure it worked for me but I have yet to address the embossing. I considered several methods and the best method (or easiest and within my ability) is to cutout the embossed script in sheet metal and bonding it in place with panel adhesive. Luckily the back tailgate is fairly flat with the majority of the curvature in the direction of the text and a slight crown top to bottom. Hopefully I can work the top to bottom curvature with some small english wheel work and hammer and dolly. Once the script is bonded to the tailgate then I'll fill in the edge transition with a little filler to feather it in to make it look like it is embossed.

I made a template of the script just a little larger than the painted text. I took a marker to mark the outline so that I could apply blue dykem so I could scribe a sharp line to cut the metal to. I stopped after I got the line scribed. Next up will be cutting it out to the scribed line.

Script Chevrolet Con't

I finally got the script Chevrolet trimmed out of the sheet after a few rounds with the die grinder, angle grinder and hand files. Once I got it cut out I marked a horizontal line on the tailgate/rear doors so I could align the two script halves on the doors. I then figured out where I wanted to fasten the script to the doors to hold them in place while the panel glue dried. Next I drilled a small hole just a little larger than the sheet metal screw in the two scripts and match drilled a starter hole on the doors with the scripts held aligned to the horizontal line.

Then I temp fastened the two script cutouts to the door and marked where I needed to slightly contour/bend the parts to better conform to the door shape. I clamped a dolly in the bench vise and them massaged the areas that I marked. Once I got the script to fit properly I then stripped the primer from the doors local to the bonded area, sanded the door and backs of the script with 80 grit sandpaper and then cleaned the surfaces with some lacquer thinner.

With everything prepped and cleaned the next step was to take the panel adhesive and apply a thin layer on the backside of the script cutouts. I then took the cutouts and attached them to the door panels with the self-tapping screws making sure to get good squeeze-out all around. Then I wiped off the excess along the edges and any stray adhesive.

When it dries I will remove the screws and fill in the screw holes. I plan on putting a thin coat of filler along the edges and then sanding it to blend it to the door and the bonded sheets so it looks like the rear panel was embossed. I'll see how it all works out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, knock on wood and whatnot....

Air Ride Controls (Con't)

The last thing I did before knocking off on the air ride controls was to drill a large hole behind the seat so the controller connector could pass thru and the controller could be mounted under the seat. To close up the hole I designed and 3D printed a closeout assembly so that the cable would be secured and protected thru the hole. The assembly allowed the cable to lay pretty flat thru the hole yet kept it secure and away from the edge.

I then fabbed a flat mounting plate that screwed to the recess in the floor/seat tower to hold the air bag controller under the seat. Eventually I will route the handheld controller from there and pretty much leave it sitting under the seat and only use it if the bluetooth fails.

Script Chevrolet Con't

After the bonded on script dried I then removed the screws that held it on while the glue cured then applied some glue to fill the screw holes. Once that dried then I roughed up all the surfaces local to the script with 80 grit sandpaper and sprayed it with some epoxy primer and let that dry. Next, I carefully spread some evercoat filler around the periphery and let it dry.

Then it was a matter of blending in the lip around the bonded panel back into the tailgate skin to make it appear like the script was stamped into the skin. I got it roughed in to where it looks good enough to be dialed in with some high-build primer and some block sanding on down the road during the bodywork and I went ahead and sealed it with some epoxy primer. I think it turned out fairy well so on to the next project.

Nice Job. That looks very nice.

Awesome! Looks great.

Parking Brake Installation

Saturday I focused on installing the parking brake in the cab. I had bought a universal Lokar underdash hand brake and I knew that “universal” is a code word for “some fabrication required”. The unit looked to be built nicely but the design posed a few problems. The unit fit good between the under dash and firewall but with separate bolts to hold the bracket to the firewall then that meant a two person install or I needed 10 ft long arms to reach from the engine side of the firewall to the cab side of the firewall. Neither option was available at the time so I decided to weld studs on the parking brake bracket so it would be a one-sided installation.

With the firewall drilled and the unit mounted then I had to figure out the dash end mounting. The two brackets that were provided did not fit inside of the u-channel that runs under the backside of the dash so I removed those brackets and had to fab two new brackets that fit the dash better. I was able to utilize an existing open hole on one bracket but I needed to drill a new hole under the dash for the other one.

The unit seems to be very sturdy and next I have top figure out the routing of the cables to the metric GM calipers on the rear differential. I ordered some cables the other day so hopefully they come in before my Xmas break ends so I can get them installed.

Wheel Clearance — Turn Radius

While I'm waiting on the parking brake cable to get in, I focused on checking the front wheel/tire clearance on the front fenders and making sure the turn radius was not impeded. I went to the Dollar Tree and bought 4 cheap small pizza pans. I placed 2 of them together and put some grease between them and then put them under the front wheels to act as sort of a turn plate.

I also put a notch in the top one and angular markings on the bottom one so I could see what angular movement that I was getting when I turned the steering wheel. That didn't work perfectly since it was difficult to get the pans centered exactly on the tire rotation point but it did give some limited visual feedback.

After a few left/right turns with the truck at ride height it was very obvious that the wheels were gonna hit the front fenders with a very small turn of the steering wheel. If I remember correctly, to get the front suspension to the drop that I wanted I had to raise the whole IFS about 1-3/4” on the frame so it made sense that I have to raise the wheel arches approx the same amount to get the proper clearance.

I took some measurements and laid-out the necessary changes on the left wheel arch area so I could check and see what the final trims might look like. After tweaking it a few times I then copied it and transferred the trim to the right side fender. Then I had to remove the fender and start cutting away.

I cut out the wheel arch area about a 1/4” above the lip all the way around until each end converged on the arch and then I pie-cut the two ends to hammer them into the new curvature. I then cut out the bulk of the fender clearance needed and re-formed the lip area to match this contour. Then I tacked it all into place and did a quick test fit. It all looked good so I then worked around welding it all in making sure to not overheat it.

Once the welding was complete, I ground down the weld, also making sure to keep it cool, and then put a little primer on the area. After it dried then I loosely re-fit the fender and checked the wheel/tire clearance. It all looked good. I might have to be careful on a hard turn while hitting a bump but such is the life of driving a lowered truck.

Next up on this part of the project, I need to do the right fender and then figure out what modifications need to be made to the forward inner brace that ties into the the fender lip. I left it blank for now. I will probably need to get the front sheet metal gaps all dialed in before making those mods so that may be a ways off.

What is that unit attached below the dual res master cylinder?

A very subtle modification, most people would not realize the fender had been radiused. The addition of the rolled lip is a very nice detail. Some outstanding work, I really hope I actually get to see this Truck at some point.

It's a proportioning valve.

Parking Brake Installation (Con't)

The weather has been pretty bad so I haven't had much of a chance to work on the truck of late but I did get the other front fender wheel arch raised before the sub-zero temps and snow hit. It went much like the left side.

Today I worked on routing the parking brake cable. During the snowstorm I modeled and 3D printed a small transition piece for the cable to go thru the firewall and help protect it and to seal around it. I made a small cardboard template of the base and then used the template to mark the floorboard so I could cut the slot, After drilling , grinding and filing the floorboard I finally got the slot to match the lip on the piece. I then went ahead and mounted the cable and transition piece in place to see where the cable needed to be routed under the truck.

After looking at the cable and all the bracketry that came with the brake cables, I determined that I just needed to fab a custom box for the 1 to 2 cable split. I took some square tubing that I had around and welded up a small box to house the cable splice. I ran out of time today so I took the box and put it in a vinegar bath to strip the rust and mill scale.

Next, I'll fab a sheet metal cover for it and mount it on the truck chassis. Then I need to figure out the routing of the two cables coming out of the box to the rear calipers.

Is there a reason that you are putting the 1 to 2 cable split in a box? I think typically the end of the 1 cable is anchored and the two cable connection and related cable’s are floating in space.

Nice work! Are you going to use a pulley under the floorboard to turn the direction of the cable?

It’s amazing what you can print on a 3d printer especially if you know how to use a modeling program. I use fusion360 and it’s free for hobbyist . I got my printer a couple of years ago and it comes in handy allot.

WICruiser: I believe that the center your talking about is floating and not anchored.

I just decided to put cover over it a basically make a box instead of leaving it all exposed under the truck. It will be mounted (bolted) on the underside the frame (next to the air tank) so instead of trying to mount separate brackets on the frame it looked easier and cleaner to just make a box. The brackets provided with the kit were too wide so the box ends replace the two brackets and the cover on the box is just my idea to keep things from getting caught in the busy-ness of the mechanism. It may be hard to tell from the pics but the center section is floating and basically follows the pic below from Lokar instructions

The cable bends and follows along the gap between the inner fenderwell and the firewall. I'll shoot some pics of it when I mount the rest of it. I have it routed to the place where I'm putting the split box and it fits nicely. The 3D part I modeled has a 6 inch radius molded into it so the cable bend could start before it exited the firewall so it would clear the inner fender.

I have some work software (CATIA) that I use for the modeling effort. That is pretty much what I do for a living so that portion is easy for me since I have been doing it since 1992. Now the rigging of the part on the printer with supports and slicing it is all new to me but we had some 3D printed parts at work that needed to be designed so I got a crash course on it (meaning I was handed a bunch of documents to read)... but that was for super expensive machines printing metallic parts that were way more capable than my little $400 unit. The interesting thing is that somewhere around 1993 we had some parts made at work for a mock-up but back then the process was stereolithography. We went down to tour the workshop that did the laser stereolithography and the guy told us that the 55 gallon drum of resin that they used for the printing cost $100k.... and a part that would now take my machine hrs to print would take 2 days. The parts were also uber brittle. Amazing the advancements in 3 decades.

Parking Brake Installation (Con't)

I had a few hours Saturday to try and finish up the parking brake cabling. I had the single cable routed and the split box fabbed but I needed to route the two cables back to the rear calipers and mount the box. I pulled the box out of the vinegar bath that was stripping off the mill scale from the metal and cleaned it up and drilled two mounting holes and shot it with some black primer.

While the primer was drying I set about routing the two cables from the calipers forward. So I pulled the wheels off and rigged the cables in the GM metric calipers and it was apparent that I would eventually need to further cut the inner rear wheelwells to clear the cables. I had cut them earlier to clear the calipers and now I need to cut them even more. Luckily I had only rough-cut them before with a plan to pretty them up once the body was back off the frame so at least it wasn't an additional step backward.

With the cables routed forward, I settled on mounting the split box right behind (actually next to) the air tank on the bottom of the frame. I marked the two mounting holes on the frame and welded in two 1/4-20 bungs on the frame to mount the box to. Once the box was in place then I had to cut the cables and sleeves to the correct length and install the split fitting. I thought I had some aluminum sheet around to make the cover but I must have used it elsewhere so I'll have to make the cover on down the road....so this is where I will leave it for the short term.

Next us, routing the hard lines for the brakes front & rear. I bought some nickel-copper line to use. That should be a ton easier than the stainless line I used on a previous project.

But stainless is fun and shiny!

MNSmith, Nice! My old boss used to say that a design needs to be "pleasing to the eye and easy on the azz". Stainless meets half of that criteria.

Panel Step & Gaps

I went ahead and routed the hard brake lines but I didn't take any pictures since it was pretty straightforward. Then I decided to start the long dreaded panel alignment task and tightening up all the gaps and steps.

The front sheet-metal was hung but the steps and gaps were not too good. So I pulled the front sheet-metal off and then started the process of realigning it all per the guidelines on this site and several other sources. I fiddled with it on one Saturday and still didn't like it. Then I tried again the next weekend and got the hood so-so and the left fender pretty good to the hood but the right fender wasn't acceptable. Then the next weekend I tackled the RH fender again. I pulled it off and had to plug some of the holes in the cowl and re-drill them. The RH fender looked better but there is more work to do but I decided to step away from it for a bit. I think I will need to do a little cutting and welding to get it to an acceptable level.

In the meantime I had ordered a stud gun so to change things up I worked on the LH panel behind the door and in front of the rear fender. When I welded in the repair panel the welding caused it to shrink along the weld. The deepest spot looked to be about ¼” deep. I went as slow as I could and jumped around while welding it but the long relatively flat area shrunk on me anyway and has bugged me since.

I cleaned off the primer in the area and welded on the studs and started pulling from the outside toward to the center of the recess. I got it pulled out to within about 1/32 of an inch of being flat and with the contour of the panel shouldn't require more than about 1/8” of filler in a small local area. I still need to massage the area next to the door jamb but I think I will need to slit it and re-weld it to get it to pull properly. I'm gonna wait until the door is all aligned and rigged before I address that area. I started working the LH door (that has aftermarket hinges...oh joy) so that will be my next task.

Doors

The doors have been hung for a while but the fit was terrible. After doing some pulling and tugging on the door with ratchet straps and other persuading methods I was able to get the left door to fit fairly flush but the hinges were not allowing me to dial it in any further. I also had to slice a few areas on the door surround to tap the edges back so the door would clear. I'll weld them all up when I start dialing in the door gaps but I just needed to get them out of the way for now.

To get the door to fit better I determined that I needed to bend the hinges as well as to cut one of them and weld it back together. It took a few attempts at bending the hinges and then after cutting the top hinge and welding it back together I had the the LH door fitting pretty good in the surround but the it was obvious that the lower edge of the door was not gonna line up with the forward and aft edge of the cab. When I got the truck the lower portion of the door (actually both doors) was totally rusted out so I had to replace the entire lower portion so apparently I had gotten the lower section a bit too low.

The gap looked to be about 1/4” on both side (ignore the dimensions I marked on the door) so I basically re-cut the outer door skin where the original splice was and cut the inner door panel a little lower than the original splice and transitioned the two cuts on the door ends. Once the section was re-welded back onto the door (I forgot to take pics) the contour aligned with the surround but now the forward section of the lower lip scrubs on the door threshold.....crap. I'll address that at a later date. I will also need to rebuild the hinges since they have a little play in them and the springs are broken on the top hinge.

Door Latches

Next up was the bear claw/Altman latches that I decided to use on the doors. The instructions were pretty good although the pictures tended to be so close up that the context or orientation of the door was a little difficult to determine. I watched several Youtube vids to get a better understanding of the task. I used the template to cut out the latch area on the door. It was basically straight forward. The only change I made was that I only drilled a ¾ inch dia hole instead of a 1 inch hole at the bottom of the bracket. That seemed to be sufficient to put the screw in the link during assembly.

With the cutout(s) complete then I mounted the inner door handle mechanism and the link provided. The link went on top of the handle and that is the way it was designed to be but I really didn't like it so I swapped out the LH & RH handle mechanism, flipped it upside-down and cut and welded the link so that it would attach to the bottom of the mechanism and be located in the existing trough in the door. I also trimmed up the link so it could be put behind the tab on the handle mechanism. This all looked way better to me.

When it was assembled the door then I tested it and it worked just fine. The only two issues that I plan on addressing are that the handle seems to have a hair trigger and it is designed to rotate both directions (one way to open door, one way to lock the door). I think I need to slot the link a little bit so the handle has to travel a bit before it trips the latch release and I need to add a positive stop on the handle mechanism so the handle can only rotate one way. I also need to figure out an internal lock for both doors. I'll add these to my ever growing to-do list.

I was on the fence as to whether or not I was going to use the stock cab portion of the latch (latch bolt and plate) but after breaking off a tap in the cab threads trying to chase them then my mind was made up for me....so cutting out that section of the cab and building a integral latch bolt assembly is being added to the agenda.

Great work!

I was considering a simlar approach to installation of the Altman latches but have not pursued the modifications you have made to change the link. I know that with the link running up to the top it will create clearance concerns with the cover but I also saw someone here had made there own covers that were formed to provide clearance for the link.

The clearance issue with the cover was what made me consider changing it. The mod on the link was fairly easy. I just made a pie cut right where the link kicked to go thru the square hole I cut in the inner door panel (which was on one of the existing small holes in the link) and I closed the cut up by bending it. Then I welded up the joint and smoothed it out.

Door Latches (Con't)

After rebuilding the hinges and rehanging the doors I needed to fab the latch bolt area on the cab. I cutout the area local to the latch bolt and took the opportunity to go ahead a shoot some cavity rust treatment in the inner panel. I then used some tape to make pattern for the new cover plate out of 1/8 thick hot rolled steel. The plate ended up being a large flat plate with a smaller contoured edge welded to it to close it out properly.

I shot the back of the plate assembly with some weld thru primer and tacked it into place. I was able to close the door and reach inside it to mark the center of the latch bolt onto the plate assembly with the door correctly positioned. I then made some marks around the perimeter of the plate assembly so I could realign it to the cab once I had it completed. With it removed, I drilled a hole that matched the boss diameter on floating cage nut and welded the cage nut into place on the backside of the plate assembly and sprayed the cage nut with primer.

Then I realigned the completed plate assembly using the marks I had made earlier and welded it into place. Next the welds were ground down a little bit and the area was sprayed with some primer and the latch bolt was installed. The door latched worked properly but the RH door is dragging a bit against the washer on the latch bolt so I will need to address that issue. Next up will be to start getting the door gaps dialed in and it looks like I will need to install the drip rail after all.