Thread: I couldn't build it for $3 K either!

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That dimmer is trick also, you have some great ideas. The tranny hump turned out very smooth, is the box with the slot on it for the E brake?

Brickman

Thanks. You're right, the box is to trim out the hole for the E brake. I can't glue it in until after the interior piece goes in though.

Mike

I reached something of a milestone this week. I finally got the interior insert glued in! This was one of those make or break things, since if it went wrong the body was pretty much trash.

The marine epoxy I used had a long work time and everything went well thanks to help from my dad and son. I'm just glad it's done. I still have a lot to do, but after this I feel like I'm on the downhill side of the fab work.

After the fiberglass body work, I was glad to get back to metal fab.

The gas tank was next up on the agenda. I tried to find a plastic fuel cell, but had no luck. All the race cells were either to big or too tiny. I even looked at under deck marine tanks. Same story.

Nothing left to do but make one. I looked into aluminum sheet, but it was pretty expensive. Since I already had a good size piece of 14 guage steel, I decided to use that.

The dimensions are 31" long, 6 1/2" tall and 15" wide at the bottom. The back side slopes in to 13" at the top. This let it fit the contour of the seat insert better. The capacity should be right at 12 gallons, which should be more than enough. I added a baffle to help keep sloshing down. I don't have a picture, but I put in a small compartment around the fuel pickup to hold gas during braking and cornering.

The local machine shop sheared and broke the pieces. This eliminated the long seams on the bottom. The end seams were welded inside and out.

I wish I could say it all went together with no problems, but I had some warpage on the top when I welded the fittings in. In the pics, you can see the tourch marks where I had to shrink it. It's a lot better, but not perfect. I pressure tested it and was surprised to have no leaks! Believe me that's luck.

It's getting pretty crowded in the bed! I have just enough room to squeeze in the air compressor and valves.

Your tank really, really looks good. Bet you got some welding time in on that one, huh? Some very long welds there. You would have had trouble finding a tank that fits as well as that one does.

Don

You're right about the long welds! I had a pretty stiff back and neck from staying bent over in one spot for so long. Guess I'm not as limber as I used to be!

Mike

Not very much to report this week. I have a lot of small stuff to take care of and most of it just isn't "newsworthy". The biggest project I worked on was the cover for the bed.

It's made of 3/4" plywood and banded in solid wood. I wanted to round the edges over and plywood just doesn't work very well for that. In the picture, I haven't sanded or rounded the corners yet.

The gas filler is a sealed(no vent) aluminum marine unit and the hinges are chromed brass, also marine items. The LED third brake light is off of a Mitsubishi pickup. Sorry, I don't know the year.

This brings up a point about "traditional styling" and safety. I'll be the first to admit that I don't like the looks of third brake lights, but I also try to be practical. Our hot rodding forefathers didn't have to share the road with today's crop of hyper-distracted drivers. They lived in a time when you could get by with hand signals. Try that for very long today and you'll probably loose an arm! Also, the current generation of drivers grew up looking at these cyclops eyes and have come to expect them. Nope, I don't like 'em, but I guess they're a good idea in the 21st century.

I still don't know how I'm going to finish the cover. I'm kicking around covering it in fiberglass and painting it to match the body instead of having it upholstered. I also need to pick up and install a latch.