Frame Reconstruction

Have been working on putting the running gear and frame back together the last few weeks. It has been a challenge seem like we go to install something and we are missing a bolt or we forgot to paint something to finish that part of the install. It's like doing a plumbing project no matter how much you think you have all the necessary parts you still have to make at least one trip to the store. 

 Might give up and just make a dragster

Have most of the lines ran. Need to do a little more work on organizing the lines.

 Waiting to do some of the box framing to complete the rest of the line runs. Need to figure out where the best place to install the remote reservoirs for brakes and power steering.

 Cleaned up the wiring harness for the EFI. Next up is to run the fuel and vacuum lines.

 Need to install the gas tank and then we can finish up the rear end.

 First time we have had wheels on in almost a year. Found the trim ring that I've been looking for, but need to be worked on before we install them. They had some road rash from the previous owner so a little straightening and polish is needed. This is the frame laid out at it lowest and ride height is about 4" from this point.

 Finished up the rest of the exhaust.

Shocks and gas tank are out being paint. Once we get them back we can finish up the rest of the running gear 

We actual have some of the box frame started but have no pictures yet. Hope to get some next week. stay tuned in as things are starting to get exciting. 

 We made the pallet to ship the grill to Ogden Chrome in Utah. The top is in the back ground. Hopefully it will make a safe journey. 

I think we might be able to make it into the Guinness Book or records for the heaviest grill ever made. With the grate 240 pounds. I guess no front wheelies in the pizza truck.   

First Update for 2015

 The latest update on the truck is that we finished up the shock mounts, bump stops, and finish up most of the suspension. We have just a little more adjustment to the front suspension to work out on the steering geometry and that should finish up the running gear. Have gone thorough  and replace all of the brakes and suspension with all new parts. We have also been busy getting Chris moved to his new shop. Before we moved we striped down the frame and sent it out to be powder coated. That almost gave Chris enough time to get moved before we got the call to come and pickup the frame. So now we are in the process of final assembly of the frame and running gear. 

The frame all stripped down and getting it ready to be shipped off to be powder coated. We rotated the frame which made it easier for Chris to finish up all the welding.

  Here we are with a newly coated frame in the new shop. I'm not sure which one is nicer. We went with red for the frame and black for the suspension parts. It makes for a great contrast.

Wow who knew that powder coating could be so shinny and 26 feet long.

Some of the suspension parts

The motors back in and working on the placement of spark plug wires and starter wires before we install the headers. Want to make sure we don't have any wire melt downs.

Front center support installed along with the chase that will carry heater, AC, and power steering lines.

We have a lot more wires and cables to run before it looks clean. But wow this is the fun and exciting part of the build when things start coming together. 

 Couple pictures of progress from the body shop. The final body work around the grill. The grill is out and getting ready to be shipped off to be chrome plated.

First coat of black primer and getting ready to be block.

Finishing up the Custom Grill

This is what the front of the grill looked like before we started this project. My goal was to try to replicate the style of the early Ford grills for a custom look.

A lot of planning and work went into finding the look that we wanted. From taking the one piece stock grill and making it into a custom hood and making the grill a separate piece.

 We also went to the trouble of making a wood mock up of the grill to get a visual look.

 This is the wood grill in place. We only made a few adjustments from the wood mock up to make the final grill.

From the wood grill we made another mock up out of steel to fine tune the measurement and make the final fit to the cab. 

After filling in the new sides to the grill we were ready to send off the metal and wood mock up to have plans made up for the final build.

These are the parts that make up the outside perimeter of the grill. The parts were laser cut and then the upper and lower parts were machined for the bars to fit in.  

Here we have all 33 bars that were also laser cut. Each bar is a different length and have to be bull nosed on the front side. 

To achieve the bull nose Chris sprayed  all the parts with a blue primer and then scribe out two 45 degrees angle the length of the bars on both sides. Then sanded to those lines. After that he then scribe out 22 degrees on the two 45 degree angles and sanded to those lines. This will get you almost to a consistent bull nose with just a little more sanding. 

This is Chris working on the bull nose part of the project. Only 32 more to go.

Chris made a jig to hold the bars to do the final sanding of the bull nose. We used 80 grit emery cloth to achieve a nice clean bull nose.

After Chris was done it was my turn to sand the side down to a smooth finish. Started with 80 grit and worked my way down to 800 grit.

Some of the bars that have been sanded.

Took a router and some foam insulation and made a holder to transport the sanded parts to the polisher. We had everything polished before we started to assembled the grill to help out for the chroming process.

We finally have all our parts back from the polisher and have started to assembly the outside perimeter of the grill.

 The bottom of the grill that will hold the bars. The holes are for Chris to plug weld the bars into place

We have BARS!

Chris tig welding the backside of the bars into place

Just when you think you have it, something goes wrong. The height of the center of grill was off making eight of the bars to short. So close:(

After two weeks of redoing eight of the bars we are back in business. We cut wood blocks for spacers to make sure are spacing and bars don't move while Chris does his final welding of the bars. 

The bars tac in and ready for the final welds

Ready for some finish work.

After some sanding.

The hood latch is rough in and is ready to be finished out.

 Now it's in the hands of Bob and his crew at Silver Creek Auto Body to fit and finish up the final body work around the grill and then it can go off to be chrome plated.

Man what a journey. At times I didn't think we were going to be able to make this grill happen, but we kept at it and the out come is what we had envisioned. Chris and I are relieved that this part of the project is complete and we are ready to get back on finishing up the frame and running gear. Then it will be time for the box.