Salan's 1980 Something

[Gary Lewis]

Looking good, Shaun!  

By the way, do your doors have bracing from the mirror mount to the window track?  You'll probably remember what I did, as described here and shown below, but it REALLY made my mirrors solid.  Made a huge difference.

[salans7]

Thanks Gary! The aero mirrors that were on the truck have a long "leg" that attaches to the inner door skin. I planned on replicating that with some steel since I already have the hole there but may use your suggestion for the bottom. I didn't remember you doing that until I read the link.

[salans7]

I managed to finish up the plugs on the passenger side door and finished drilling out the new upper holes for the mirrors. I still need to do the body work this weekend, but I did mockup the mirrors and I'm excited to get these on.

[Gary Lewis]

[salans7]

Haven't really felt like working on the F350 due to things going on in life, but I had the day off today and decided to knock out the driver's side door and get the old mirror holes welded up. Everything went well and pretty quick once I trimmed the plugs to fit the holes.

I still need to do some bodywork and then install the rivnuts for the top mounts on both doors, and once those are done, I can level the mirrors out on both sides and then work on drilling the holes for the lower mounts and installing rivnuts there too.

I need to design some sort of brace for the lower mounts as I don't want the door skin to flex with these larger mirrors, even though in reality it's probably fine since the lower mount is pretty large and these are the 94-96 doors which have extra bracing anyway.

[Gary Lewis]

I understand the feeling, Shaun.  I've not really been interested in working on Big Blue of late, but Janey is feeling better so I spent most of the day in the shop.

So I am glad you are making progress as well.  

[salans7]

Gary Lewis wrote

I understand the feeling, Shaun.  I've not really been interested in working on Big Blue of late, but Janey is feeling better so I spent most of the day in the shop.

So I am glad you are making progress as well.  

We're both unfortunately in a similar situation with people we care deeply about, but I'm glad we're both able to get some things done in the shop amidst all of life's unexpected challenges.

Thanks for the encouragement!

[salans7]

It's been hovering around 95 degrees in the afternoons here for weeks now, so I haven't really been motivated to get out and work on the truck.

But, I am getting ready to have a tree company finally come out and trim down the trees that I have been pretty worried about for years now. So I spent this morning cleaning up the area around the truck so I can get ready to move it to another part of the yard where it is out of the way. It's not much, but it's something.

I also recently painted the timing pointer for my 460 to keep it from rusting in storage.

[Gary Lewis]

Any work is progress, and progress is good!

By the way, your picture pointed out something I've not done - secure that Chevy 235's cradle to the skates.  We aren't going to roll it far, but is sure would be a problem if a skate walked out from under that cradle.  Thanks!

[salans7]

Gary Lewis wrote

Any work is progress, and progress is good!

By the way, your picture pointed out something I've not done - secure that Chevy 235's cradle to the skates.  We aren't going to roll it far, but is sure would be a problem if a skate walked out from under that cradle.  Thanks!

I'm glad my picture reminded you. lol.

I had to ratchet strap that tire because the dolly kept sliding out from under it when it went flat. That tire only holds air for a day or two so I just gave up on trying to keep it full of air. These tires are junk anyway. I do have a jack holding that side of the truck up so that the weight of the truck isn't sitting on the tire as I still do need the tire to air up in order to move the truck on the grass.

[salans7]

"It ain't much, but it's honest work."

I wanted to do something to my F350 today, so I drilled the holes for the battery tray support arms in each fender and then threw in some rivnuts to make it simple. Both battery trays are from 87-91 trucks since I like them more than what came on the Bullnose trucks.

[grumpin]

Nice!

[ArdWrknTrk]

That driver side one looks especially fresh!  

Big or little, it's all got to get done.   🙂

[Gary Lewis]

Looks good!  And I agree, the later battery trays are better.  And rivnuts make them solid.  

[salans7]

Thanks everybody!