I love a good unsearchable thread title. 
To clarify , that there is an arrow pointing left, because I'm sick to death of sitting on the right hand side of the 61 to drive it.
Took this pic almost exactly 6 years ago , driving away from the a****** of the universe as fast as the 61's unbalanced yokohama snow tires and blown steering stabilizer would allow.
Didn't think I'd own it this long in it's current state.
At the time, I'd mostly bought the truck with an engine swap into a green 40 series project I was starting to think about in mind, but I don't like killing cruisers, and this is still too good a truck to murder.
The blue 60 was another matter. I used tongs and a hazmat suit to remove all the fabric parts because you could have cloned an army of Bradfords with the dna in that thing.
So yesterday, I dug the blue 60's firewall out, and had a go with a spot weld cutter. I went for the Blair branded one. Supposedly better? Who knows.
The moment the first cutter noticeably lost a bit of it's edge was when it actually had to cut weld and not just the tin around it because the center punch wasn't all that centered.
Removing the one in the truck should be easier, because I'll be able to properly lean into the cutter. With a loose firewall I had to do it one handed for the most part and hang onto the tin with the other hand. Blair kit came with 3 cutters and I'm still on the first one, so I don't think it'll be an issue. Didn't even have to use a zip cut at any point yet.
Had one side off in about 1.5 hours, did the other side this morning in a bit less time.
Worst part is that curved bit that extends down from the corners of the windshield where you have to drill through double thickness.
Still wasn't that big a deal, went pretty quickly.
I read through @PeeZed 's old thread, photobucket ate most of his pictures, and it actually seems like that might have been the only thread on 60 firewall swaps on the internet.
I tried to pick his brain, but I think he's blocked out the memories.
No biggee, now that I have my head around which spotwelds to cut I can wing it from here. Kinda how I roll anyways.
Current plan is to do the spotwelds down the sides, and then cut horizontally at the base of the vertical section, possibly flange it.
This plan is subject to change without notice.
Reason being I can avoid getting into body mount bs that way, and I'm not greatly concerned about it all being factory at the end. ICBC ****ed this trucks resale value the day it landed by putting a BC applied vin on it, so the big money douchebag sale to the states has never really been an option. Any new seam will be under carpets anyways, so who really cares.
So rather than spend another 6 years bitching about it, ****it.
Lots of spare vehicles around right now with Mel working from home.
So tomorrow morning when I get home from work, I'll affix the caffeine I.V. and start banging the fenders off the old girl.
See what kindof a mess I can make.
To clarify , that there is an arrow pointing left, because I'm sick to death of sitting on the right hand side of the 61 to drive it.
Took this pic almost exactly 6 years ago , driving away from the a****** of the universe as fast as the 61's unbalanced yokohama snow tires and blown steering stabilizer would allow.
Didn't think I'd own it this long in it's current state.
At the time, I'd mostly bought the truck with an engine swap into a green 40 series project I was starting to think about in mind, but I don't like killing cruisers, and this is still too good a truck to murder.
The blue 60 was another matter. I used tongs and a hazmat suit to remove all the fabric parts because you could have cloned an army of Bradfords with the dna in that thing.
So yesterday, I dug the blue 60's firewall out, and had a go with a spot weld cutter. I went for the Blair branded one. Supposedly better? Who knows.
The moment the first cutter noticeably lost a bit of it's edge was when it actually had to cut weld and not just the tin around it because the center punch wasn't all that centered.
Removing the one in the truck should be easier, because I'll be able to properly lean into the cutter. With a loose firewall I had to do it one handed for the most part and hang onto the tin with the other hand. Blair kit came with 3 cutters and I'm still on the first one, so I don't think it'll be an issue. Didn't even have to use a zip cut at any point yet.
Had one side off in about 1.5 hours, did the other side this morning in a bit less time.
Worst part is that curved bit that extends down from the corners of the windshield where you have to drill through double thickness.
Still wasn't that big a deal, went pretty quickly.
I read through @PeeZed 's old thread, photobucket ate most of his pictures, and it actually seems like that might have been the only thread on 60 firewall swaps on the internet.
I tried to pick his brain, but I think he's blocked out the memories.
No biggee, now that I have my head around which spotwelds to cut I can wing it from here. Kinda how I roll anyways.
Current plan is to do the spotwelds down the sides, and then cut horizontally at the base of the vertical section, possibly flange it.
This plan is subject to change without notice.
Reason being I can avoid getting into body mount bs that way, and I'm not greatly concerned about it all being factory at the end. ICBC ****ed this trucks resale value the day it landed by putting a BC applied vin on it, so the big money douchebag sale to the states has never really been an option. Any new seam will be under carpets anyways, so who really cares.
So rather than spend another 6 years bitching about it, ****it.
Lots of spare vehicles around right now with Mel working from home.
So tomorrow morning when I get home from work, I'll affix the caffeine I.V. and start banging the fenders off the old girl.
See what kindof a mess I can make.
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