I took these pics about 10PM MST as I was closing up the shop for the night. Once I got everything mocked-up and working I broke it all back down. Then I stood on the front frame-rails facing rearward (straddling the engine) and flipped the cab up so I could make everything solid and paint what I won’t be able to reach later.

I should’ve clicked some pics before breaking down the mock-up, but:

• New steering column, linkage and shifter all clear
• Original through-the-floor pedals & master cyl replaced with swing style power brake with firewall mounted booster
• Firewall clearanced for V8 & HEI
• Trans tunnel added – cab originally sat high enough that floor could be almost flat
• Firewall Bulkhead fuse-block added from the ‘82 Crewcab since we’re using that harness as well
• Other minor misc, like filling of unused bulkhead holes, etc

The original (hard-as-a-rock) undercoating was doing it’s thing so I
left it on and painted over it, but the frame got a good sanding before
painting.

This time when I put it back down, it’ll get bolted together for good with the new hardward & rubber mounts ala HMMWV.

Click the images in this post to enlarge.

I haven’t been out in the shop since the middle of November last year.
I must be getting old, because I remember shoveling snow out from under
my ‘51 Ford Sedan to work on it. I’d just pile the snow up in a wall
around the bottom to keep the wind out :) now I don’t even go into the shop if it’s too cold. I think this summer’s project is going to be some sort of heat source. Anyway, when I left off with the ‘58 Viking chop, I only had 3 of the posts welded together and the cut on the driver’s side roof for the stretch still needed to be filled in. I’ve been able to spend a couple of hours during each of the last two days on it and I’ve finally got the 4th post welded solid and most of the roof filled.

If all goes well I’ll start on the doors next – but tomorrow I start
a couple of weeks of night-shifts at the plant and that adjustment
usually kills any home projects for at least a week or so.

While
I was out there, I finished the welding cart. It’s only been 15 or more
years that I’ve been lugging that thing and it’s tank around. The paint
is still tacky, so I’ll post a pic in a couple of days when I get
everything on it. Now I’ve got to make something for the Oxy-Acetylene
set-up, but no rush ;)

I spent a few hours on it today getting the back corners in place. You can see how much narrower the top is than the sides… now that it’s 4″ further down.

With just some tack welds in place, you can see how the curve of the “B” pillar needs to be narrowed as well:


Since it’s double-paneled, similar work needs to be done on the inside. As you can see, I’ve still got a lot more to do here:
After the problems I had with the windshield of the ‘56 Ford,
I don’t think I’m going to adjust or weld the “A” pillars in place
until after I cut the glass. (I’ll have a much better chance of getting
them right the first time this way.)

I haven’t started to put it back together yet. All I’ve been doing up
’til this point is taking the roof off, grinding/sanding and then
putting it back on repeatedly until it fits properly and all the
measurements check-out.Although you can’t make out any of the final
adjustments, I’ve added some pics of different angles: