String 'er up

Last night I got the floor stringers sized up and lined up. The rear stringer was much too short, so I have to make a creative bend in the inner leg to span the gap. It'll work. Too bad I didn't remember the old addage measuer twice, cut once, 'cuz I cut one of the intermediate stringers too short. It fits, but had to unbend the tabs on one end and will have to butt weld it on that side. Oh well, it'll work just fine.

Now all I need is some gas for the Mig, so I can weld the buggers in.

Mount up!

Progress at last... Yesterday I got the wedge and front mount welded in (see previous post about welding skills). Today, I ground down the weld a bit to see how bad I did and it looks solid if not pretty. But... dummy me forgot to close off the gas when I was done and, you guessed it, my whole bottle of gas leaked down. Doh! I needed to put a few tack welds to bind the inner to the outer a bit better, so just did it without the gas. Spit, spat, sputter, but it worked for the little bit I needed. I'll have to put the flux core back in until I get the gas refilled.

Its getting close! and it's now sitting on four wheels with no jack stands under the body.

Not this one, that one

So I haven't done squat on the Scout since Pinelands. I did manage to put in a new pinion seal in the 200 last weekend. Good thing too. It was leaking progressively worse and marking the street like an incontinent dog. Anyway, the whole deal took about an hour. The old seal popped out with a screw driver lickety split and the new one went in no problemo. The oil in the diff is a milky sand color. eeeeeewwwwwww. Gonna have to open up the cover and thoroughly drain and flush that bad boy. Gotta remember to do that before I try driving in 4 again.

On the previous weekend I took a load of brush to the dump with it and just for kicks stopped on the scale on my way out. The lady's response when I asked was "That thing'll cost you a fortune, it's a damned International." I think that she was referring to cost if I was commercial. Anyway, she checks it... 6360#! That's with about 400# of sand bags in the back, but still. Hooooaaaaah. That's one heavy truck. 'Heavy D' is a very appropriate name!

Have I Told You...

That my welding skills suck? Yeah, well they do. My grinder is my friend. If at first you don't succeed, grind it off and try again.

I did makes progress this weekend, but not enough to have Hanky done for Pinelands. Oh well. Heavy D will make the trip. I still need to replace a tire and check the oil in the diffs, but I should be able to accomplish that this week.

But, back to Hanky. Imade some finish welds on the front dogleg. Trimmed the floor at the step up. Welded a new piece of metal at thfe bottom of the kick panel (one of the aforementioned sucky welds). Had to notch the front mount wedge for the body lift puck. Cut and ground out the last bit of the old mount and fit in the new one, then fit the floor over it. Damned good fit for a project that has not seen a tape measure.

If I only had one more weekend to work on it. Oh well. It's only been 9 months since I started this floor project. What's another missed deadline.

Rock(er)-n-Roll

Progress at last! Mind you it is very likely that I will have to go back over a few of my welds, but I'm a pretty happy camper now that I've made some headway this weekend. On Saturday, I fit and welded in a few pieces around the B-pillar/center mount and got the outer rocker all lined up. Today, I welded on the rear extension and then welded it to the inner. My plug welding skills definitely need some work, but it held up to the stand-on-it test. I also got the rest of the sheet metal cleaned, prepped and painted with POR-15.

I'm not working out at the climbing gym this week, so that should give me three nights to do little bits and Saturday to try to get close to finished.

Still, with the stringers, front mount and floor to go in, plus installing the Borgeson, it's gonna be tought to get it ready for Pinelands in two weeks. Keep your fingers crossed.

Cut and a trim

Little by little... I did get a little work done on the Scout on Sunday, I decided to put the fender back on so I could make sure the rocker is lining up. If you've ever tried to remove or install a fender, you know you can't without taking off the door because of the tabs that wrap under the door and bolt to the A-pillar. So, I decided to cut them off. They are just in the way anyhow. I have an idea for alternate attachment points, we'll see if it works (more on that when I get to it). So, with that done, I put the fender back on and, of course, the bottom bolt holes don't line up. Everything else does, so I'm thinking that the replacement rocker stub didn't line up quite the same. So, I think that I'll just elongate the holes and all will be good. Putting the fender on also confirmed that the door isn't quite right and needs a little adjustment as well.

Lining stuff up is a pain, but better to do it now...

Bit and Pieces

Slowly, very slowly. I need to spend more time on this truck. I feel like I've said that before. :-) Two weekends ago, I spent the good part of a morning with it, cutting metal pieces to weld into the B pillar. Got them all cut. Now need to do some fine tuning to fit them just so. Also got the drill press out to dril the lip on the outer rocker, so I can plug-weld it. Once I get these bits and pieces welded in, the rest should go fairly quickly.

I'm getting antsy to drive it with a solid floor and the new lift. I've been getting my fix driving Heavy D, which isn't a step down at all. Boy does that built 345 run great. If Glancy really does put on a truck pull at Nats this year, I might have to bring it out. :-)