'55 Chevy 3800 Cummins

[Sir Sam]

If the leather is in overall good shape consider talking to shop who refurbs leather seats, they can basically redye the leather a whole new color and make them look like new. Common practice when restoring leather seats on higher end vehicles.

[Sir Sam]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdBl...WheelerDealers

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by Sir Sam

If the leather is in overall good shape consider talking to shop who refurbs leather seats, they can basically redye the leather a whole new color and make them look like new. Common practice when restoring leather seats on higher end vehicles.

interesting thought!

i did get the seat, $60, and is actually a white-tan that goes reasonably well with the truck. I'm happy enough for now to not bother with it, so that's a win. the seat is also 1/2" shy of the door on each, and tucks perfectly into the rear cab corners, it's literally MADE for this truck!! though, you'll notice i cut the head rest posts off. they still need some love eventually.

mounting brackets on the other hand will be the trick. i've convinced myself that the tubes under the seat are only there for a GM factory assembly aid, and serve no structural purpose once bolted to the floor. will require that i take the time to align everything well, and the auto-release seat back latch won't work because the cable mount will go away, but that's fine. fwd hinge bracket will get bolted to the floor directly in front of the rib, while the back will get bolted directly to the rear rib that is under the boards. same angle mounting as pictured, just lower.

passenger seat folds just like the drivers side. great access for putting tools n junk back there. maybe even a weekend duffle bag so it's not in the bed on a trip.

[6DoF]

man ... if you were only 57" tall that might make a nice camping bed

[6DoF]

BOOM! Time to play

[Cobound]

Damn, all that and you don't already have your own plasma cutter

That HAD to be a heavy box

[6DoF]

Originally Posted by Cobound

Damn, all that and you don't already have your own plasma cutter

That HAD to be a heavy box

it was quite heavy!

i've looked into getting my own plasma table before, but with access to Colin's it's just not worth it yet. eventually i'd love to have my own for sure!

[6DoF]

started knocking out fitting the plate on. ended up spending 1.5h trying to find what was off when i measured the wheelbase and it was off. turns out the frame and crossmember and true n square (<1/8" over the whole thing), i better placed the rear axle, and the front suspension that i never did an alignment on ... needs an alignment

tonight i hope to get the WATTs link in place, and maybe even the first set of bag mounts. once it can support it's own weight, then i'll drop on the body mounts. I'm pretty sure i want to get all the fish plates at least hard tacked in place before i drop the body on too. but my goal is still to have the body n front clip on the rolling chassis before the end of the Jan.

[6DoF]

so i was in my gun safe today, the new one with the "antique clear" finish ... and i think i'm going to just clear coat this frame when it's done. see all the welds, finished area, etc.

thoughts?

yes Sam, i know, galvanized ... but the clear chassis should look pretty sweet against the patina body.

[Cobound]

Bare industrial metal guy here. Bare it, see it, share it.

[6DoF]

got the Watt's back in place, feels good to have the rear axle fully constrained again.
started to assemble the bag mounts, and did a test fit of the fish plates. for a size comparison, i do NOT have small hands

[Sir Sam]

Galvanized industrial finish would look pretty sweet against the patina body.

[6DoF]

[Cobound]

[6DoF]

after a minor adjustment to the watt's brace that i put in the wrong spot, she'll lay out. full drop, full lock-to-lock steering is still good. lots of frame clearance, but touch the steering box by THAT much ride height has 1/2" clearance, and the sheet metal won't let me steer that far at drop anyways.

i'm also reasonably impressed by the steering angle i'm getting out of the stock parts. this 35deg+ will be 1000x better than the old Ram chassis.

[6DoF]

Im freaking out, I'm so excited!! It freaking sits peeeerrrfect.

[nblehm]

Dude!

[6DoF]

i hope to dry-fit the front clip here today. ran out of energy and wife-patience-assistance last night.

i'm afraid that i'm quickly getting to the end of the big milestones that are exciting and picture worthy. now comes that part where you have to actually make it work.

[Hoofmann]

Freaking sweet!

[Cobound]

This and Damon's builds are so incredibly bad ass!

Yeah, now all the tedious small stuff and finishing details come in...yowza!! For something that sat for so long, you made some pretty quick work out of things!