Getting back to it

[ironminer]

like the truck! good luck and keep up the great work!

[HiBoy63]

First Id like to thank the Iceman for supplying the parts for this part of the project

Getting the floor of the 63 ready to change from a 2wd cab to a 4wd cab. The only difference that I can see is the 2wd has the battery tray and battery under the hood. The 4wd has the battery under the passanger floor with a lift off cover.

The current floor panel.


DSCN5027 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

Getting the parts I bought from Ice ready for insall


DSCN5022 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5024 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5023 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

I now have 4 of the 16" nonsplit innie 8 lug wheels for the 63 curtousy of the local p&s. We did about 3 hours of digging around in the valley yard Sunday and came up with the one I was missing. I found 3 of them there a week ago. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Found the 4th one in the back of an 85 Ford van that was full of junk.


DSCN5029 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr
The 17.5 innie nonsplit 8 lugs that were on there will now be for sale. If you have an interest pm me. As soon as I get the old tires off of them they will be on CL or maybe ebay.

[HiBoy63]

The step minus floor with the needed battery box opening to convert a 2wd cab into a 4wd cab.


DSCN5043 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr
I dont know if this interestes anyone but just thought Id show whats under the floor boards of the 61-64 bigger truck it has and extra guset between the step back and the front cab mount frame. My F100 cabs dont have that.

Next the opening in the floor where I cut out using a pattern made from the floor opening in the big truck floor board. Screwed it down to the exsisting floor so I could get a pretty tight fit cut around it for a good tight butt weld.

DSCN5047 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

This is the piece of the floor off of the big truck with the needed battery box opening. It is what I used for the pattern to cut out the floor in the 63. It is now held in place and ready to be tack welded in. I didnt show any pics of tac welds as most people have seen those before.


DSCN5050 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

Next the finished floor with the new opening for the battery to go under the floor thus turning a 2wd cab into a 4wd cab.


DSCN5056 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5054 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

[F7BIGJOB]

Nice work, Vic

[HiBoy63]

Thanks Steve..... I had a funny thought come to me. Most truck owners are trying to patch holes on their trucks floor pans. I went the other direction and put a hole in my trucks floor pan.

[thenephilm]

I love the look of the battery tray in the floor. If I had room in my truck, I would love to put one in.

[ICEMAN6166]

glad to see you finally got to use those parts,looks real good on your truck.
btw the passenger side step with the battery hole came off a 66 T-850

[HiBoy63]

Thanks Ice. Yeah once I started cutting things loose and saw that extra gusset panel under the floor pan going between the cab mount frame and the step back I figured it must have come off something a little bigger than our slicks. Thats about the only difference I could see. I wonder if that is because they had that extra outside step in place. Im not sure where that step attaches so I wondered if that played a part in the extra bracing????

[ICEMAN6166]

the entire cab mounting piece is a bit different

heres the pics before cutting


notice the flat hump

[HiBoy63]

I see that flat floor where the trans humps are in our smaller slicks. Is that out of a large truck with an automatic trans? Interesting.

[HiBoy63]

I did a little more rust probing and found that while I left the truck sitting for a few years the tin worms had been busy in the roof line along the drip rail. That means Ive got a little more rust to repair.


DSCN5080 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5081 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5079 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

I started filling in the dash radio butcher of one of the previous owners.

DSCN5068 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5078 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

[Husker]

Keep up the good work!

[HiBoy63]

I did a little more work on the FUBAR radio hole someone made int the dash.


DSCN5086 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5088 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

[rickairmedic]

The dash is looking great . The drip rails have me wondering Would shaved drip rails look good on a 4X4 ?




Rick

[HiBoy63]

The dash is looking great . The drip rails have me wondering Would shaved drip rails look good on a 4X4 ?




Rick

Thanks I have a little more welding and pounding on that hole to get her smoothed out. I use my drop light behind the weld to see all the pin holes that the stitch welding has left behind once the weld is ground down. It suprised me how many there are. They are hard to see with the naked eye. Im not sure if I want to do away with the drip rails. Im trying to keep the truck as stock as possible. I am rolling it around in the back of my mind though. It depends on how bad that rust is up there once I start cutting into it. If its too bad the rails might just disappear. If the rails disappear Ill fill all the seems on the truck too.

[ken462]

Hey Hiboy,
I was thinking about your drip rail rust a little this morning and that sure seems like an ugly place to have to try and weld up. I sure have done a lot of rust repair on my '64, but luckily none on the roof. Front of my bed was probably the closest type of seam to a drip rail and man was it a pain....if it wasn't be hidden down in the front of the bed like it is, I'd have to get the cutting wheel out and start again to make it presentable. Might be better off getting another roof? I don't know. Either way, good luck. I reckon if you're not in a hurray, you'll get it done with time and patience.

[HiBoy63]

Hey Ken well Im going to find out next on that roofline. Before I go any further with this cab. Im a novice welder so it should be interesting to hack into it and see where it goes. Ive seen others on this site and other sites get into it so we will see. Ill keep everyone posted with pics so if Im able to do it others should be too. You can bet Ill take my time I have more of that than I have money. As soon as the weather breaks Ill be back off of this truck and onto my 65 again. I have to work on it outside of the garage or pulled just inside of it so it limits the room to work on 2 at the same time. The roof comes next though and we will see.

Edit: Ken I looked at the pics on your profile page. Man you were really up against it with the rust. I dont have near as much to contend with. If you have all of that damage repaired my hats off to you. Good work.

[HiBoy63]

FUBAR radio hole finished up for the most part. Might need a little filler to get it complete when the truck is getting ready for paint.


DSCN5093 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5092 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5098 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

DSCN5094 by HiBoy63-65, on Flickr

Next I will tackle the cab top at the drip edges.

[MadMaxetc]

Dash looks good.

Mine has a hole in the center for the radio light.

[HiBoy63]

Thanks Dan yeah I didnt show it. It was getting late so I got in a hurry and didnt show it but if you have the mounting bracket for the radio you can use it to locate and drill the holes for the radio. Yes there is a center hole for the dial lite and the two control shafts that come thru the dash that have the threads to go thru the bracket. I had to drill 3 more holes thru the dash. Ill be pulling the radio back out and Ill snap a shot then. Glad I had the cab off doing this repair as the sheet metal is so thin here that what I found is the butt welds pull or pucker in and it needs alot of hammer and some dollie work. I was able to kind of get on my knees inside of the trans tunnel and work above my head with the hammer not easy but doable.