I just knew this was going to happen!
The pictures on this computer have been added to several times from a couple different cameras. The last batch of pictures I added were from an old camera disc that I needed to hook up an old printer to my computer to transfer them here. The process of adding pictures from so many sources means the pictures are not in order. Then to make things worse, the pictures cover parts of my last 3 builds. Only being able to post 4 pictures at a time doesn't help either.
Pic1, This picture should have been in the 2nd installment. Shortly after I brought the 4x4 frame home, I just had to see what the truck was going to look like. This picture is that 1st mock up. The 49 sheet metal is sitting on top of the Dakota 4x4 chassis. There is no drive train under the hood and the front sheet metal only has a couple bolts holding it together and onto the cab. The cab was ratchet strapped to the frame, and the bed sides are held there with two pieces of threaded rod and a couple tacked in place pieces of tubing. The truck sat in my side yard looking like this for most of a year.
Pic 2, This is after the cab floor had been modified, and after the 318 was bolted to the frame, and maybe even before the cab was bolted onto the chassis. I'm probably attaching the front clip to make sure it was still all going to fit, and look right.
Pic 3, Notice the blocking under the front fender? Notice on the driver side there is a little horizontal plate attached to the firewall, just above the tire. There is a piece welded to the inside of the fender that sits on that little ledge, and two bolts thread into the captured nuts on that piece on the fender. That is what holds the fender to the firewall. The passenger side fender probably has one of those two bolts tight, and I'm using the gap between the fender and the door to determine how high the front of the fender needs to be. Once I have the door gap right, I can stand back and see if the cab is sitting correctly on the frame. I tend to check stuff like this every time something is added to removed from the frame. You still miss stuff, but its easier to catch stuff in the build process and correct a wrong then it is to fix something later after a lot of other stuff has been done.
I feel better. I'm done for tonight. Gene