¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:newrider3 said:You can't come this far and mexican blanket the seat
This is precisely why you should do the coolest mexican blanket seats the world has ever seen.
I like where this is going, but should be sportier. Like this, but better buckets:
Looking more and more like a real car. These headlight buckets are an odd design. A captive carriage bolt in a slotted ball-socket joint is the angle adjustment. It's a weird size I had to special order - 7/16. Going with sealed beam halogens for now.
The interior has several tapped #10-32 holes, about half of which I had to drill the old screws. I'm able to re-tap most of them, but a few will need to be drilled larger for rivnuts.
All new latches and handles from local supplier and pun aficionado Mike's "A"Ford-Able Parts. This door action feels very good. Driver's side needs a few rivnuts before I can get this far over there.
Front end is mostly together now. I somehow lost the original Ford badge that I was looking forward to re-installing :\ The radiator mounting is sneaky. It looks unstable since it appears be bolted only to the lower mount, but you look into the radiator shell you'll see a black diagonal strut on each side that provides forward-back stiffness, so I don't need a support rod crossing over the engine to the cowl.
That looks amazing. The color combo is perfect.
In reply to maschinenbau (I live here) :
This is so awesome!
Sooo hawt!
This thing is gonna break hearts.
Remind me wht you were thinking of for the dash?
This thread needs more up votes !
In reply to 84FSP :
Not sure yet about dashboard. I have the original dash, but not the trim bezel for it. It's rusty and unpainted. Lack of dash won't stop this car from driving though, so it's kinda back-burner.
More little details. The bed sides and trunk are bolted down finally. No pics, but I cut some plastic stock to make spacers and used rubber washers to install them with carriage bolts. It looks the same, but is actually mounted securely now.
I got the window channels and door glass in. The glass drops in from the top, which is missing a trim piece that I will probably fabricate from scratch. Glass slides nicely. I'm kinda stuck on the regulators. I wanted to use the power Toyota parts, because free, but the offset between mounting face and swing arm is a lot thicker. I confirmed today they won't fit with the glass in the doors. There is no way to install them without cutting a large 6"x8"ish chunk out of the door frame, building some kind of offset plane, and having a non-flat door panel when the time comes. The easy button is order stock replacement manual regulators for another $100 or so hit to the budget. That is the way I am leaning.
Also started mounting the pedals and the "contraption" - the assembly that hides the brake booster, brake MC, and clutch MC under the cowl instead of outside the firewall, using a system of bellcranks and heim joints. I started figuring out seat belts too. All of the directions I've been going lately require another special hardware order. I'm basically bi-weekly with McMaster-Carr.
This is barely worth posting about, but I guess some progress is better than none. Here is a steering column mod. It's an 80's Jeep XJ column from the junkyard. I chose this because it's a very simple, minimalist design with tilt, and it was 30 bucks. Two things though. It's the wrong color, and it has a column ignition tumbler, which needs to be shaved off for vain reasons. I want the ignition in the dashboard, because I plan to retain the original Lexus key and ignition switch, for the LOLz, and also I might have berkeleyed the tumbler real bad by drilling it out when trying to un-lock the column. You can buy a quality tilting street rod column for about $400, or you can do this.
I accidentally disassembled too far, but I re-greased the bearings and tilt u-joint while I was in there, using only the finest Park Tools bicycle bearing grease since I guess that's what I had. Also deleted are the column locking mechanisms associated with the tumbler.
Ah yes, the aesthetically offensive part which must be remedied.
With the tumbler housing shaved, I filled the gap with a few layers of JB weld reinforced with a 1/2" washer.
And more JB weld.
And then less JB weld.
Topped off with some primer and satin black.
If you own a Jeep XJ and want to do an ignition delete, consider this write-up.
While I had the JB weld out, I also fixed a fitment issue with the windshield tilt brackets. At full close, there was still a small gap to the body, so I needed to somehow make the brackets pull the windshield frame closer to the body. I did this by slotting the swage nut hole, and bonding the swage nut to the bracket with JB weld while filling the slot.
Unless the windshield is tilted all the way out, you'll never see this tweak.
great work man, its coming along beautifully. I was on the fence when you were crossroading whether to leave it ratty and get it driving, or finish it properly... and i'm so happy you chose B.
In reply to golfduke :
Thanks, I'm happy with this path too. Technically it's very close to driving, I just have a lot of mental barriers, analysis paralysis to get over before I can make more progress faster.
Door glass was a big PIA! The channels that clamp to the bottom are incredibly tight, and have a sticky rubber cork gasket that doesn't like to slide. I only got them on by wailing on the channels with a mallet and block of wood, with the pane of glass standing vertically on my work bench. I do not know how I didn't crack the glass. I should have cracked that glass. But anyhow.
Window goes down!
Window goes up!
I used the leftover bedding material to glue a gasket to the column's interface with the firewall.
Now let's talk seats. I have a free set from a shuttle bus. "Van life" conversion or whatever. The head rest area covers the back window, and the tall back pushes the seat too far forward for my lanky ass. So I'm cutting the tops off and making them little buckets. Then I'll attach the headrest portion directly to the rear wall of the cab so I don't get a concussion.
Would you believe this armrest is held on with solid friggin steel rod? I think they upholsered the seat backs first, then welded the armrest on. I don't know how else they could have done it.
It's a first draft, but this looks promising. Seems very spacious inside right?
Wrong! This was never going to be a comfortable car. But I think I can get another inch or 2 of leg room by cutting more seatback out. Pedals might could scootch forward too. The seat can move upward since there's plenty of head room. Much more so than my ND. This is why you rarely see chopped or channeled pickups. There's no space to lean back.
Brake and clutch lines being made too.
I have this feeling that you're going to do many many tweaks to that seat and the pedals. May want to throw a little tilt into the seat bottom so it's not so flat where you and it meet?
In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :
Yeah I agree. In the pictures it is actually tilted slightly back, with a 2x4 under the front edge. I can go further. Luckily I can retain the seat back angle adjustment of the original seat.
This is just kind of a butthead comment, as I understand the direction you're going here. That said, you can gain a lot of space by using a shell seat with limited/high-density padding (as opposed to the thick-ass sproingy padding in stock seats). If your objective is to gain a little comfort by having a few more inches of space, something like a Kirkey old-school low-back seat, with the cover, can give you some room. They're also surprisingly comfy. I think Jeg's and Speedway sell knockoff versions, too.
Not only do you not have legroom, but adding a third pedal takes away footroom as well.
I get why people love the styling of them, they're gorgeous, but I could never fit in one comfortably and that would ruin it for me.
I've wondered how hard it would be to lengthen the cab 6-8" or so
In reply to rustomatic :
None taken! That's a great option I have considered. I am just tempted to make free junk work before buying anything.
I've seen "extended cab" Model A's before...usually done by shortening a sedan body. I'm not a fan of the proportions. As is evident with many decisions on this build, I am prioritizing aesthetics and style above so much. I can suffer for my art 
A good orthopedic surgeon could remedy the leg room issue
In reply to maschinenbau (I live here) :
Speedway even makes (or used to make) a glass extended cab '34 pickup body. It's....something. I'm not particularly a fan either.
I have been following this build and daydreaming about the hot rod I want to build myself...and what keeps me from pulling the trigger is knowing that I might not fit.
Fantastic job on EVERYTHING, btw.
I re-drilled the pedals for more leg room, bent up some brake and clutch lines, replaced the clutch slave cylinder, plumbed the booster vacuum line, and plumbed the fuel lines to the engine. With all the hydraulics finally complete, I was able to bleed the brakes, fix leaks, and now the wheels stop! I couldn't get the clutch to bleed though. It doesn't seem to be building pressure, so I think it's the master cylinder, and I got a new one on order.
I also tested the fuel system. After 3 years of the sitting, the pump still works! It's a return system, so I cycled gas through the lines for a few minutes to find and fix leaks. It's all good now.
Check out the clearance between steering shaft and frame...
And a peak from below.
From inside. Lots of tube tweaking and bending to make this happen. The two brake lines and clutch line pass through the floor behind the pedals. I had the hardest time finding the right type of grommet. Every grommet with a 3/16" hole I could find required an opening too small to fit a flare nut through. The solution I finally arrived at is from air-cooled VW's! Exactly the grommet I needed.
Seats are undergoing more surgery. Also started to look at coolant hoses and wiring harness...it's getting there.
Oh man! This thing is sooo awesome!
The cooling and wiring are the 10% is the most fustrating and fun.
Seats are sitting. Seat belts are seat belting. I am purposely doing all these menial, laborious tasks before rewarding myself with engine work, because I'm afraid if I get the engine running I'll be tempted to rip it around the block while sitting on the floor.
It's always faster to do something the 2nd time. I had the passenger seat uncovered, chopped down, and re-assembled in under an hour this time. I also figured out the armrest pops out if you rotate it the correct way.
The seats were in and out of the car about a dozen times to make sure all the bracket holes line up. The brackets are just 1x1 tubing with nuts tacked in. Bolts install from under the car.
Which leads us to seat belts. These are 3-point belts from a 1990-ish Volvo wagon from the junkyard. Lap belts would have been much easier, but this car is dangerous enough already and I've been in an accident before. This is also why I went through all that effort of welding steel tube to the structure of the shell a long time ago. Originally it was mostly wood, which is not ideal for withstanding the impact loads of an accident, I assume.
The end of the belt adopts one of the seat mounting bolts. In the lower corner of the B-pillar, there is not enough room for the retractor, so it is mounted higher on the B-pillar. The buckle uses a through-hole in the tunnel with some oversized washers to spread the load. All grade 8 with nylocks.
7/16-20 weld nut for the upper pivot. Fun fact - the Swedes used 7/16-20 threads on all their seat belt hardware. This was challenging to figure out.
This took me all weekend, but I'm glad I did it this way. It all operates like any other modern car. The retractors retract, they lock on sharp tug, and also lock when at any angle except vertical. All that's missing is the head rests, which I am re-shaping from the original shuttle bus seats and velcro onto the rear wall. The metal frame of the rear window is just begging to crack a skull in the event of a rear-ending.
Amazing work as always!
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