Build threads are a pain in the butt! Soooo, I'm going to do a build thread... This one is going to be a bit different. You get to see the start of the project and the running, driving current rendition of it.

I bought the 49 sheet metal (all the metal except the tail gate) on its original bent up frame. It came with a rolling 93 Dakota 4x4 frame that already had the wheelbase shortened to match the 49 wheel base, and a clear MO State issued title. It was quite a bargain but was a 300 mile one way trip from my house to where it was. I couldn't get both the truck and the frame on one trip, I had to do the 600+ mile round trip twice. It cost more to get everything home then I paid for the truck, around $1300 total.

I bought the truck, then drug it home and parked it alongside my driveway for nearly 2 years. Other priorities were in front of it, including retiring and closing up my welding shop. This truck got built after the shop was closed and I was retired. Once I started, it got nearly total attention, and was licensed 11 months after I actually started cutting up the donor truck. But that is getting ahead of the story.

While the 49 was waiting its turn, I ran into an acquaintance at another guy's shop. During the BS session, he asked me if I knew anyone that might be looking for a low mileage 318. Yea, me! The guy runs a small local auto dealership (think buy here, pay here lot). He told me he bought a 96 Dakota 4x4 with a 318 that only had 44,000 miles on it, at an auction. The truck needed rear brake lines, but the body looked pretty good and it ran great. He bought it thinking he could replace the brake lines and turn the truck for a quick buck. He drove the great running and driving truck the 100+ miles home from the auction, thinking he got a great deal. All was well until he went to put it up on his rack to change the brake lines, and chunks of the frame started falling on the floor. A close inspection reveled the frame was total toast. When I told him what my project was, his eyes lit up. He offered me anything I wanted off the 96 for $400. He would bring it to my place, I could remove anything I wanted, then I could take the remains to the local salvage yard, and he would drop off the title. How can you pass up a deal like that? The 96 arrived at my place the next day. It got parked next to the 49.

OK, so pictures or it didn't happen.
The first 3 pictures are the 49 the day after I brought it home, and before the Dakota 4x4 frame was here. The last picture is about the only pic I have of the 96 complete. Gene

A four picture limit is going to be a pain.

The first two pictures are the "new" Dakota 4x4 frame that came with the 49. The white/gray paint was some sort of rust protection the previous owner put on the frame. The frame has obviously been sitting outside for some time, and that paint job was pretty lax. He sort of covered the top of the frame. Nothing had been cleaned, he painted right over top of the dirt daubers and he didn't bother painting anything on the underside of the frame, nor inside of the frame.

Disassembly required. I started taking the 96 apart on the Monday after the July 4th weekend in 2020. The 3rd pic shows the 96 Dakota 4x4 frame with the sheet metal removed. The blue tarp is covering the 318 and the auto trans. This pic was probably taken around the end of July. You can see the 96 cab sitting on my driveway behind the 96's frame. To the right side you can see the 49 cab on its frame with the Dakota box sitting on the frame behind the cab. The 49's box is laying upside down in the grass to the right, and ahead of it is my winter beater (at the time) 95 Dakota extended cab, you can see that Dakota's bed is full of stuff from the 96.

The little orange truck on the left side of the pic is the reason the 49 is here. That is my 39 Dodge pickup, it was suppose to be my shop truck, but it was too small for this fat old man to drive comfortably. That pic was probably taken a couple days before the 39 got sold. The 39 funded this build. If you look closely, you can also see my 48 Plymouth coupe in front of the 96 cab sitting on the driveway.
The 4th pic is another look at the pile of parts that are present when you have 2 trucks taken apart. The 49's front fenders and hood are at the extreme right side of the picture, Just behind the front sheet metal is my son's Ramcharger. The Ramcharger is on a Hemi Durango frame with a 5.7, its currently running and driving. Gene

Last installment for tonight.
When you build something like this, positioning of the cab on the frame is critical. The goal of this project was to keep and use as much of the original Dakota chassis and drive train mounting as possible. Since the frame I'm using has already been shortened and my measurements tell me it was very close to what I wanted, the next step was to install the drivetrain and modify the cab to fit as need be. New factory replacement motor and transmission mounts were ordered and the motor was bolted into place on those original style brackets.

Before the drive train was moved from the 96 frame to the "new" frame, that frame did get cleaned up and painted. It wasn't a pretty job, but much better then what the white paint job was. There was still welding that would need to be done with the frame. My concern was to get covered what would be hard to get at once the drivetrain and cab were mounted. Pic 1,2 & 3 show the 318 bolted in place on the Dakota frame. Notice how close to the radiator support mounting holes the front frame rails are cut to? It really is that close.

Pic 4 is just fun. Everyone wants to know how I move cabs and truck beds around here, this is how! The old engine hoist with a 4" x 6" wood beam perched on top of the hoist with a 3/4" bolt welded to the hoist that passes through a hole in the 4" x 6" wood beam. This was the 1st test fit of the cab. Notice that the cab is a good 12" above the frame, and also notice the hoist is lifted pretty high. For the cab to clear the transmission, the hoist had to go to max lift, and the cab is pretty tilted. Things are pretty dicey with the cab lifted that high. That much weight lifted that high makes the hoist pretty light on the wheels at the hoist end. Moving the hoist with the cab that high is pretty nerve racking. If things go astray, all you can do is get out of the way and watch everything crash, then, after everything stops moving, you look to see what got messed up.

I had to pull the cab off the frame (by myself) several times before I got enough metal trimmed out of the way it would sit on the frame. This process took about 3 days, every night the cab sat on cement blocks on the driveway, and the frame was rolled into the garage. Gene

Great story and fun build I will be waiting for the next chapter.

poorboy/Gene is the expert on old truck to dak frame swap !
it pays to listen, as he has done a few, and knows what works and what doesn't !

Thanks guys.

How much did you really cut out of the floor and firewall? I'm so glad you asked.
Pic 1, This is what the floor looked like. Under the big U shaped piece that was the radiator support that was thrown into the truck cab, and the square tube laying on top of the floor from side to side, and the running board brackets laying near the drivers door, the floor was pretty flat. The bottom of the firewall kicked up at a 45 degree angle, and there is a 1" raised section of the floor at the seat riser that reaches to the back of the cab.
Pic 2, I cut this much out first. You can't see the 6" back and 12" wide area that was also cut out of the floor behind the seat riser.
Pic 3, The reason for the floor cut out. At this point, the cab is still a good 4" above the frame!
Pic 4, To sit down lower, the front 6" of the Dakota fuel tank protruded into the cab. I had to cut a notch out of the back of the cab the width of the frame to drop the cab another inch, then cut this section out of the back of the cab to clear the gas tank. Each time I had to cut more out of the floor, I had to lift the cab, and pull it away from the frame.

Probably about this point you are wondering why I want the cab so low. Well its not really too low. Should I just mount the cab at the current height, that would make the top of the roof over 7' high, and the top of the fenders around 5' high. I'm getting old, the thought of climbing up into the truck is not so appealing anymore. I'm looking to have the truck about Dakota 4x4 height, maybe slightly lower.
I can't post any more pictures, so on to the next segment. Gene

What does that floor look like from inside? The following 4 pictures are with the cab sitting on blocks one inch above the frame, the intended finished height.
Pics 1 & 2 are the trans through the floor. The shifter on the trans is for the 4x4 transfer case. I should probably note that the flat part of the floor was patched at one time. Someone hacked in a 1/8" piece of steel from one side of the truck to the other. That plate is fit between the bottom of the firewall angle and goes back to the front edge of the seat riser. The hole for the trans to stick through took the center right out of that piece. I had to reinforce that entire area before I could put the new trans tunnel in the cab.

Pics 3 & 4 show the back wall and the section of the floor that needed to be cut out to clear the gas tank. The yellow strap is the strap attached to the Dakota tank that was used to hold the tank in place on the assembly line until the tank straps were bolted on. You can also see I also had to cut off the bottom of the cab support bracket. Originally the bottom of that support strap was spot welded to the joint of the rear cab panel and the floor pan. Originally it sat back against the back of the cab. You can also see the 1/8" x 2" wide steel flat stock I used to reinforce the back of the cab (in this picture the piece is just sitting in place). There is a 1" deep step down in the cab floor that originally ended at the front cut on the floor pan, you can see both ends of that step line still present. The oblong hole in the floor pan, just towards the front of the Dakota tank cutout was where the original gas fill tube passed through the cab floor. The original fuel tank on this truck was located inside of the frame rail, just forward (1/2 under the cab, 1/2 under the truck bed) of where the Dakota tank presently sits. There is a fill tube hole in the body, just behind the driver's door as well (you can see that fill hole in the cab side in the pic from the left side of the truck). The gas fill tube was filled just behind the door, and the tube passed through a rubber grommet, went through the cab behind the seat, and then passed through a rubber grommet and entered the tank on the front top of the tank.

Out of picture space. Next segment please.

With the floors cut, and the cab sat down on the frame, it was time to match everything up. I want to note that the original firewall cleared everything on the motor at this time. Unfortunately, that original firewall had been modified before my time with it. Someone hacked in a steering column and added a firewall mounted booster and master cylinder. There were many large holes where I didn't want them, and flat steel where I needed holes. I was going to have to offset the steering column and the master cylinder/booster location. At this point, the desire to use as much original Dakota equipment took over. Measurements told me that if I used the firewall out of my donor truck, I would be able to use the factory steering column mounting, the original gas pedal assembly, the original HVAC box, and most of the original wire harness opening through the firewall, and then there were not many holes I didn't need.
When I cut the firewall out of the donor Dakota, I cut it extra big. While I was cutting, I also cut the donor's trans tunnel.
Pic 1, This is the best pic I have of the original firewall. The plan was to remove all the firewall between the ribs on each side, and under the rib across the top, and at the bottom of the angle.
Pic 2, Out with the old.
Pic 3, A little closer look at the destruction. A plasma cutter and a few hours later.
Pic 4, In with the new. The top and sides ae welded together. Notice the long shadows? That was a very long day!
Next installment.

Brackets are welded to the frame for the cab mounts, and with the new cab mounts and bolts, the cab is bolted to the frame. Once the cab is bolted in place, the floor and the bottom of the firewall can be welded together, and all the floor bracing and the back of the cab bracing can be added.
Pic 1, The cab is bolted to the frame.
Pic 2, The bottom of the firewall gets welded to the floor pan.
Pic 3, The support for the back of the cab at the gas tank cut out in position.
Pic 4, Cardboard is your friend! When you need to make something out of steel, but your not quite sure how to do it, its a lot cheaper to cut up cardboard (think beverage container box) its about the same thickness as the steel, and ridged enough to bend and sort of hold form. You can tape it together to make shapes, or to add more material. then if you really screw it up, you toss it and try again. its cheaper then steel to cut up and throw away.

One more for tonight.

Once that cardboard pattern looks like you want it to look, you transfer it to the steel, cut it and bend it, then weld as needed.
Pic 1, The cardboard pattern in place.
Pic 2, The cab reinforcing piece welded in place.
Pic 3, The formed sheet metal cover made from the cardboard pattern.
Pic 4, The cover welded in place.

That was short, one more.

The trans tunnel reinforcement. The steel flat stock used here is 1/8" x 2". When they patched the floor with the 1/8" sheet steel, they just put the patch over the top of the existing floor, and that patch went from the angle at the bottom of the firewall to the front edge of the raised floor under the seat riser. They put a few short welds along the edges of the seat riser and the 1/8" sheet steel. My problem was I cut the center out of the 1/8" sheet steel, and I cut the center out of the 1" rise in the floor pan and the seat riser support. At that point I wasn't sure the actual seat riser support was going to be able to stay in the truck at all, and cutting the big hole at the center left everything a bit more flexible then I liked. I felt a need to add some reinforcing to the center of the floor. The new trans tunnel was going to be about 4" higher then the original flat floor. I decided that I could stand up aa 1/8" x 2" flat bar upright and run it all around the edges of the cut hole. That would give me very solid floors plus eliminate 2" of height for the trans tunnel. I figured the most important support would need to be in the area cut out near the seat riser in the center. The 1st piece I made was the shape around the cut floor inside of the seat riser area.
Pic 1, The floor reinforcing inside of the seat riser area.
Pic 2, Once the floor inside of the seat riser was reinforced, I added this 1/8" x 2" piece across the top to give myself an area weld the new tunnel to.
Pic 3, The "new" tunnel is the trans tunnel from the 96 Dakota donor. The Dakota tunnel was much deeper then this one needs to be, so I flattened it out and repositioned it for a better fit. I did have to add a little sheet metal between the tunnel and the the firewall, even though they were welded together in the Dakota,
Pic 4, This shows the pieces added at the firewall. The tunnel on the Dakota was shifted about 2" more towards the passenger side then it is in this truck. It was more important for the shifter to be located in a good position in this truck then it was for the sheet metal to line up.
Also, the top cover for hole in the floor inside of the seat riser was addressed after the seating was decided.

The radiator and radiator support are the next challenge. Gene

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

Does the city give you crap for all rigs on your lawn?

This little piece of paradise I live at just happens to be at the end of the street, right next to business properties. The guy that owned this place also owned one of those business properties, and at one time, be built a warehouse on the lower corner of this property for that business. As a result, this location is zoned as a business property. I purchased it for that reason. This is the only property on the entire street that is zoned business, and I ran my welding shop from here for 20 years. Anything parked on that side lot was a "customer's vehicle". End of discussion.

Every time our city gets a new zoning person (about every 5 years), they come by to see me, and I have to tell them about the business zoning for this property. Some are cool about it, but do check it out, some are jerks and threaten me, but come back and apologize after they check.

I may have a problem when we get the next new zoning person though, I've retired, closed the shop, and have cleaned the place up. That side yard actually has nothing sitting on it right now, the 1st time in 22 years for that! When I ran the shop here, it was established before all the current business laws were enacted so it was grandfathered in. The property zoning still stands, but a new business that starts here will have a lot more crap to deal with then I ever had.

The draw back to the business zoning is if the house should get more then 60% damaged, I probably couldn't put living quarters here again (the replacement insurance covering the house is enough to build a new slightly smaller home elsewhere, this house is an 1800+ sq ft ranch style). The property is large enough (.6 acre) and zoned (B3) so that I could put any business short of a manufacturing facility here. It is one block off the intersection of 2 State highways, has street access on 2 sides, and is accessible by semi. Gene

Just took some pics of my place.
Pic 1, House, looking towards the north west.
Pic 2, From the corner of the two street access, looking north east.
Pic 3, From the back porch, looking north. The building on the left is the side of my garage, the ground drops off about 8' right past where the pic was taken from, the higher part of the garage is what you see from the street, the lower garage has a 6' high door that enters from the north side of the building. Behind the back fence, the ground drops another 8', there are railroad tracks there, past the tracks is a river, then country. The two little sheds along the back fence are mine, and the pine tree on the right side is also on my property. The yellowish shed is the neighbor's to my east, his shed is on the edge of his property line. That back fence is about 80' from the back of the house.
Pic 4, This is what that side yard that had all the stuff sitting on it looks like this morning. Gene

More pics.
Pic 1, Back at the intersection of the two streets, this one looking more directly north. The building on the left side is the business property that the original owner of my place owned that caused him to build the warehouse, which is the white building on the right side of the street. That warehouse is not on my property. This street dead ends about 20' past the north end of both of those buildings, the ground level drops about 8' and the railroad tracks run on that lower ground.
Pic 2, This is looking east from the side of the warehouse building. You can see the ground drop off from the front of my garage to the back of my garage. You can see the north facing garage door for the lower level of my garage. The yellowish building visible between the warehouse and my garage is my neighbor's house on the east side. From the telephone pole to the west side of my garage is around 95'.
Pic 3, This is another view of the back yard. The building on the left is the back end of the warehouse, the building on the right is the north west corner of my garage. The beautiful screwed up gate is the compliment of the electric company, last winter they needed access to service the phone post you see behind the warehouse, since the gate was snowed shut, they just bent it out of the way.
Pic 4, This is another view of the back yard, this time looking north west from the east side of my house. The steps on the extreme left go up into my enclosed back porch, and just right of that is the east side of my garage with the walk in door on the lower level of the garage and the main floor window. The building with the phone pole at its center is the warehouse (it is not mine). That warehouse is 100' x 40' by the way, this is the 40' width. The property you see beyond the back fence is a cement operation. Between the fence and the cement company is 2 sets of railroad (used to be 4 sets) and a river. The cement company is not within the city limits. State highway 26 north is to the left side of the cement company and appears to end about the center of the warehouse's roof on the north side. The chain link fence running north on the right side of the picture is mine, but it is about 20' west of my property line. There are 3 large pine trees running north to south on the east side of that chain link fence. The people we bought the place from had big dogs, and rather then include the trees into the back yard, they ran the dog fence on the west side of the trees. The guy that used to live on the east of us used to take care of the yard on that side of the fence. The new guy that has only been there a couple of years let the weeds grow up under the trees last summer. If I have to take care of that area, the trees will probably go away, and the fence might move to the property line. If I do that, he won't have much access to his back yard, his house is about 5' from my property line.

I didn't go down into the back yard to get pictures of the back of the house, but its not much to look at. Gene

[s][/s] All this sharing of info is much appreciated! I'm currently trying to gather help to set the trusses on the addition to my garage. Soon as the addition is done, I'm back on the 55!

Thanks Gene!

Kevin

The front sheet metal... Where do I start?
I guess the place to start is how the front sheet metal was originally bolted together, and then how it was attached to the frame and the cab. Then, maybe the modifications, and the radiator issues might be more clear.
Pic 1, Lets just start off with THE RAMCHARGER IS NOT MINE AND IS NOT AVAILABLE! What lays in front of the Ramcharger is the original front sheet metal off the 49, the original hood and center support is laying on top of the frame clip. The front panel bolts to each fender across the top and down along the sides. At either side of the center are the vertical and lower sheet metal filler panels that the radiator bolted to. Those filler panels bolt to the front panel and also bolt to the radiator support that was bolted to the frame (the radiator support that bolts to the frame piece is not pictured there). On each side there is a brace that attaches to the radiator support and extend out to the bolts that attach the fender to the front panel. Lots of bolting going on, are you confused yet?
Pic 2, This is what the last mentioned piece looks like. There is a left and a right side version. The part I'm holding up is the passenger side bracket (right side). The 3 holes on the right side bolt to the fender and the front panel. The two bolt holes on the lower left attach to the radiator support bracket that bolts to the frame. The wing I'm holding has been cut off, it would have extended to the top edge of the radiator support piece.
Pic 3, This is what the inside of the fender where it bolts to the front panel looks like. This is the driver side fender. Those bottom 3 bolt holes would be where the 3 bolt holes on # 2 brackets bolted to. All 7 holes had 5/16" bolts in them, the bolts screwed into nut inserts in the front panel.
Pic 4, The U shaped piece laying on the floor is the radiator support that bolted to the frame and to the front panel through the filler panels. The U part would be the bottom and was bolted to the frame. The channel pieces that would have been standing straight up has sets of bolts on each side of the flanges. The 3 holes on the front bolted to the sheet metal, and the 3 holes at the rear side was what the radiator bolted to. The curve on those upright channels faced the front. If that piece was sitting vertical in its current position, that would have been how it was mounted in the truck. That was a heavy duty piece of steel that was bolted solid to the frame. Gene

That was how the front sheet metal was bolted together. Now we should cover how the sheet metal was attached to the cab.
Pic 1, The little horizontal "L" shaped plate bolted to the side of the firewall at the center of this pic is the primary mounting bracket for the fender. Those plates have a little movement up and down or forward and backward. The adjusting bolts are inside of the cab and the bolt threads into these brackets. There is a bracket on the fender that sits on top of this bracket. Two bolts come up from the bottom, pass through the two bolt holes and thread into the brackets on the fender. The only other mounting point for the fenders is the hole in the cab mount bracket that is welded to the frame. You can see that hole just forward of the lower part of the door, just below the inverted V shaped indentation on the side of the firewall with the black paint blob. That great rust repair was from whom ever the guy was (not me) that welded the plate on the cab floor. Its not pretty, but its not going anywhere.
Pic 2, This is the inside of the fender, back by the door. The top of the fender is at the top of the pic. This is the driver side fender. The block looking thing at the top of the fender is the part that sits on the horizontal "L" bracket on the side of the firewall. The two holes visible at the bottom of that bracket are the holes you screw the bolts into. That bracket is riveted to the fender, and the fenders often rust through at the contact point of the bracket to the fender. The long bracket bolted to the door end of the fender is the other fender support. This piece bolts onto the fender flange that is between the fender and the door. This bracket can be bolted to either side of the truck, to two holes on the side of the bracket would bolt to the other fender and are not used on this fender. There are two holes on the bottom flange of this bracket. The hole farthest from the outer fender face is the hole that the bolt would pass through for the cab mount bracket. The other bottom hole would be used if this bracket was mounted to the other fender and is not used on this fender. That indentation in the side of the firewall is there so the bracket clears the firewall. Just to the right of the upper fender mount you can see a pair of holes in the fender flange. There are 6 holes, evenly spaced across that flange that extends all the way to the front panel. The two holes at the back of the flange are used to bolt the hood latches to, as are the front two holes. All 6 holes are used to bolt the inner fender to the outer fender. I've not ever seen a pair of those inner fenders bolted in place that were not damaged or missing completely. The smaller holes in the flange from the larger holes going rearward towards the door end of the fender are to hold a rubber lip seal. That seal bridges about a 3/8" to a 1/2" gap between the cab and the fender. I've not seen any of those intact either. You can buy replacement pieces, but they don't fit very well.

Just so you get the correct picture, the primary fender mounting bracket is attached to the side of the firewall on a rubber mounted cab, but the bottom bracket is bolted to a frame mounted bracket. One can move, the other can't. Up in the front, the fender is bolted to the front panel, and it is bolted to the radiator support, which is bolted solidly to the frame. Both ends of these fenders, and around the riveted fender to body mounting point tend to crack and tear. Any one else wonder why? For the record, all the fender mounting bolts are a pain in the butt to thread in.

Pic 3, Moving on. Its should be pretty obvious I can not use the original radiator support. The crossmember it would have bolted to on the original frame is not present on the Dakota frame. The Dakota radiator support was rubber mounted, and used the large hole at the end of each frame rail. There is a rubber bushing in each of those two holes in this pic, those holes are just forward of the piece of tubing laying across the the ends of the frame rails. The radiator has to be positioned directly above where the tubing is sitting. The ends of those frame rails were cut off to in order to set the fenders and front panel on the truck for the mock up, Yep. its that close!

Well, you have to start someplace. I had two options. I could use the original radiator and radiator support from the donor Dakota. the radiator was pretty wide, and pretty tall, and it had plastic tanks with an aluminum core, the radiator looked OK, but those type of radiators don't have a good track record for long life. Option 2: When I built my 39 Dodge, I found a radiator that fit a 54 Chevy worked well for it. It was tall, narrow on the width, and about 2" thick. A new completely aluminum radiator sounded much better then the aluminum core with plastic tanks, so I ordered a new radiator. I decided to make a new radiator support from angle iron to mount my radiator and hang the front sheet metal from, and use the rubber mounting from the Dakota.
Pic 1, Making the radiator support bracket.
Pic 2 & 3, The bracket bolted in place.
Pic 4, The radiator support bolted in place with the sheet metal bolted together and positioned in the proper position. Things were looking good!