Builds Blender, My LX450/FZJ80 + FJ45esk + GM + Land Rover crazy concoction (1 Viewer)

[Mieser]

Small victories....



The drivers side is pretty much like the other, but there are a few small differences. For some reason Toyota thought extended a rib on the floor right into where I needed to put the A-pillar floor pad. On the passenger side there is no rib in this location. I wanted the parts to match, and I didn't want to have to cut out a section of the floor. I started with the saved template from the other side, I just reversed all the bends and flipped it over. Coming up with a way to press that rib into the bracket was interesting....



Scrap metal press brake tool for the win. It wasn't perfect, but it worked rather well for a one off tool with a minimal time investment. Sometimes it is not the tools you have, but the ones you make along the way....



I also sectioned and relocated the dash corner on the drivers side. This side was a bit easier because I didn't have to work around or inside the glove box. It was much easier to get access with the hammer and dolly when doing the seam work.

Now onto the A-pillar tube and then hopefully the fancy rolled windshield spreader bar this weekend. Once all that it fitted I also have to make all the gussets, weld them in, weld the plates to the floor/dash, etc. Lots to do, but it will feel SO good to have a complete cage! Once that is done I can move onto some different stuff like making the rear sheetmetal. I also need to think about making the tunnel soon. I also have an idea for a new press brake tool that I am thinking about constructing....

 

[Mieser]

Weekend update, 'who's dumb idea was this'.....



This is where I ended up after a few more days of playing with tube. One of my pet peeves with cages is that there is typically a lot of wasted space, specifically over the top of the spreaders. I am trying to combine a lot of different features with my 'cage' and that makes things a more challenging than I want to admit sometimes. I try and stay ahead of the curve and plan ahead....but dang this one tube kicked by butt all day long.

The top of the FJ40 windshield has a gentle curve that I wanted the windshield spreader bar to follow. Since that radius is so large, I needed to roll that section of the tube, but also give myself enough straight at the ends to be able to add a 45 degree drawn bend to each end AFTER the rolling process. In order to facilitate that I had to leave a 4" long straight section between the rolled bend and the start of the drawn bend. That 4" is the minimum distance on my bender from the start of bend to the retaining strap on my Pro-Tools 105, 1.5x4.5CLR die. It also just happens to be just about the exact distance between the rollers on a Harbor Freight tube roller.

I guess I need to take a step back for a minute to explain the setup...



I needed to finish off the A-pillar down tube for the drivers side. That wasn't a big deal. I actually got pretty lucky and it went much quicker than the 1st one on the passenger side.



Once I had both A-pillars done, I could build a 'plane of bend' jig that would allow me to trim the windshield spreader bar without the A-pillar tubes in place in a known reference position. I also wanted the windshield spreader bar bend plane to be leaned back at the same angle as the windshield an A-pillar. There was a lot to keep track of in this, so I figured it was worth the investment in time to make this little jig. When I no longer need it, the wood will be donated to the fire gods in my wood stove....



Here is another quick shot from the side....



Well, lets play with some tubing! I picked up a HF tubing roller a few weeks back on sale with a coupon. It actually worked way better than I thought it would for the money. It does take a decent amount of force on the feed screw, I ended up using a 1/2" breaker bar and going about 1/8-1/4 of a turn per pass. A single wrap of masking take made a good reference point on where to stop and start. I needed to start and stop in the same spot and have a known length of rolled tubing. I believe that the end of the roll has to go to the centerline of the middle roller. The tail of the roll remains straight from that point out I believe.



I rigged up a quick jig so I could check the bend radius. For this bend that was .382" of deflection over a 30" span. My welding table just happen to have a 6" grid pattern, so 5 holes is 30" ( or close enough!). The table is tapped for 3/8" threads too. By inserting a two sections of all thread in the table and using a straight piece of tube, I was able to make a crude radius gauge. It was fairly easy to pull the tube out and test the radius in this device so that I could sneak up on the shallow rolled radius I needed to match the windshield.



Since I needed to add 45 degree bends onto each end of tube, I needed to have a 'plane of bend' reference to set it up in the tube bender. I did this by welding on a small 'flag' of bar stock that was parallel to the bend plane. Since the tubing is 1.5" diameter I was able to align this 'flag' by setting it on a section of waste rectangular/square tube that was also 1.5" high. I used two good tack welds and made sure to check the alignment after welding since it will pull a little bit. It was easy to check the alignment with the little scrap section of tubing.



This is how that works when you stick the tubing in the bender. This lets you keep all the bends in alignment. It ended up working out really well overall. I was able to keep all 3 bends....1 rolled large radius, and two 45 bends all in plane while having to move between all 3 different setups.



Last tip. On my vertical style bender, I found it very easy to measure the overall ram extension as a bend angle reference. I did a test bend and was able to use that number on the two final bends. It worked sweet, was very accurate, and gave very repeatable bends. Not that it helps me much, but now I know that a 45 degree bend is 14 13/16" of ram extension on this die with 1.5x0.120 wall DOM tubing including springback. I didn't have a lot of level surfaces on the rolled tube or extra tail on the end to use an angle finder. I used the absolute minimum amount of wasted tail on the bends to keep down tube waste. On my machine that is 6" of straight tube in the following die minimum once you figure in spring back. The end of the tube actually sucks up onto the flat of the following die.

I think that is all for now. I still have a lot of work that needs to be done on the cage but all the big parts are made. The top of the A-pillar tubes need a slight trim to match the windshield spreader. I need to make and fit the gussets. Then I will finally be able to take it apart and weld everything...I think....unless I forgot something.......

 

[Mieser]

Just a little bit tonight....



I was able to get the A-pillar uprights trimmed to fit the windshield spreader bar along with getting the spreader tacked into place tonight. It took a bit of in and out with all the different parts, but it worked out in the end.



This is how the offset A-pillar upright was coped around the door bar and into the windshield spreader. Overall it was kinda a pain, but just takes a little time.



Before I pulled the flag off, I gave it all a final check. The goal was 16 degrees to keep everything in plane with everything else. I can't complain about how it came out.

The uprights are tacked to the floor places also. I will have to pull the windshield off I think and lift up the halo slightly to get them out cleanly. With them pulled I can weld the full joint on the floor plate where he tube is tucked into the corner. Fun Fun. It will be SO nice to get this back together for the final time and fully welded. Then I can pull the temp bracing out and start on filling in the rear portion of the cab!

 

[Mieser]

Small bit of win tonight...



The A-pillar upright, once tack welded to the floor plate, and with the windshield bar tacked in place actually popped out of place! I didn't have to pull the halo off the windshield or anything! Win. I had imagined that it might be possible. but once I had everything tacked in place I had my doubts. Everything is less than about 1/8" clearance to the dash, the dash corner, the door brace, etc. Little wins.



I fully welded the windshield bar to the halo after I pulled the A-pillar uprights out after they where tack welded to the floor plates. Once they where removed from the body I was able to complete the welds at the floor plates. After those welds where finished I had to re-trim the uprights slightly to clear the welds on the windshield spreader. It's like chess....



Here is the most expensive primer ever. You are suppose to be able to weld through it......we will see how that turns out. I wanted a little protection on between mating surfaces that basically have no chance of getting hit with paint later.

Tomorrow I should be able to start welding in the uprights to the body. Yippe. I need to make a few gussets still. The floor plates will get a pretty big gusset to spread out the load from the upright over the entire floor plate instead of just the outside corner. That is probably gonna need at least one dimple for flair points. I am also going to tie the upright into the old dash seam on the cowl. That should provide a little more structure for the upright near the bend.

Once all that is done, it will be time to move onto something new.....so many choices.....so much to do.

 

[Mieser]

Back to making brackets again....and welding.....



I was able to put the A-pillar uprights back in, snugged the bolts back up, and started welding the plates to the floor. This cage is designed to be an integral part of the truck and body. Welding to the old floor sheetmetal was fun. I also got the uprights heavily tacked to the halo.

I still have some more welding to do at the front/top of the floor plate, but I was a little burned out on welding....so I started making the 1st of the tie in brackets. These plates will spread the load out from the A-pillar tube down across a larger area of the floor and to more of the body mount. The A-pillar is so far outboard in the corner of the door that I figured it would be a good idea. That brace will be welded in after I finish the pad welding.

I also want to make another tie in plate/gusset/brace at the dash to the outside corner where the original location of the dash flange.

Tip of the day....



If you need to make a mirror of something, sometimes it is easier to make two at once and then cut them down the centerline. With the scallops it was easier to just cut holes 1st, then just slice up the middle to make the twin parts.



I am still digging the magnets for holding down templates. These are strong enough that stuff doesn't move around when using poster board. It is hard to tell, but if you pre-center punch the poster board template for the hole locations, you can use the template either direction to allow you to mirror the part to combine features.

 

[orion]

Excellent work, and cool project.

Thanks for sharing...and keep posting your progress.

- Brian

 

[Mieser]

Excellent work, and cool project.

Thanks for sharing...and keep posting your progress.

- Brian

Thank you. Will do, the thread is now current to my progress. Hopefully tonight I can get the last of the front part of the cage welded up and pull out all the temporary bracing. Then it will be time to sit in it and make vroom-vroom noises for the 1st time with the final cab dimensions defined.

 

[Mieser]

I finally got to sit in it!



The last few days of work consisted of getting the cage welded into place in the body so that I could remove all the temporary bracing finally! All in all it went pretty smooth, welding to old sheetmetal generally still sucks no matter how well you clean things. It did feel amazing to be able to sit in the body for the 1st time really. I had always had a bar here or there in the way. This was the first time I got a good feel for how things are with the 'pinched' body.

Since I took all the taper out of the doors, this body is only about 56" wide now with 52" between the b-pillars. That is basically about 3" narrower than your typical CJ/YJ/TJ tub and even an inch narrower than an old flat fender tub!

Overall it feels like a 'tall' version of a toyota extra-cab truck to me. The seat will be able to be up off the floor a bit more. The top profile is going to be slightly shorter than stock, but the seats should still be up off the floor a bit. I think the seats will be somewhere between a toyota mini=truck and something like a jeep. There seems to be plenty of length in the cab. I only extended the cabin about 3" longer than a stock FJ45. That does seem to be plenty of room for what I want. I have short legs and a long torso so I generally drive with the seat forward a bit more than most. There should be a few extra inches of room for rearward seat travel for those who need it.

I would like to mount the seats on sliders. That should make it a little easier for other people to drive it when needed. If I can come up with a way to make it fairly easy to adjust the vertical seat height and bottom cushion angle I would like to be able to do that also. It doesn't have to be an on the fly thing, but more like change a few bolts thing. My hope is that the b-pillar spreader on the floor will provide the majority of the structure for the seats.

It did feel really good to sit in it!

Now I need to clean up the shop and get into sheetmetal mode....rear floor, rear body panels, the tunnel, etc.

Some misc pics from finishing up the 'cage' stuff....

 

[Mieser]

Time to hit sheetmetal with a hammer a few thousand times...



I need to make the rear floor panels. These panels need to have a flange on the outside where they will join to the rear cabin panels. I elected to make an MDF hammer form for these panels. They needed a 5.25" corner radius to match the belt line spreader bar tube. With 16 gauge cold roll material the MDF won't last long, but it will last for one part per side (edge).



This picture has a lot going on. You want two identical layers of MDF to clamp the panel. On this panel I only needed the flange to be on 'two' sides and wrap around the corner radius. I could have the pins and a few screws off the edge of the panel easy enough. Using a block of material that is the exact flange measurement you need. I used the handle of my 'bendy stick' which was 3/4" square stock. You can use it to mark an outside radius. It is also handy for aligning the straight sections as a measurement tool and a little hammer taping. I had 3 wood screws to clamp things once it was in the right place.



Then I clamped the entire assembly to the table corner with lots of big C-clamps. You have to move the clamps around to have access to the entire flange. You want to work the flange down as evenly as possible. You DO NOT want to work it all the way down at once. Go slow. Use a body hammer with light hits. You can also use a large crescent wrench to get the bend started.



After LOTS of hammer hitting you will end up with this. Note how the straight sections ended up nice and smooth but the outside corner bunches. This is because outside corners need to shrink. Inside corners stretch. If you planning out flanges, make sure to give yourself a little extra flange on inside corners and don't worry about it too much on outside corners. The flange will grow in length if the curve requires shrinking. Clear as mud?



Here is a close up of what the panel looks like after the hammer form. With a larger radius and/or a strong enough hammer form material, you can continue to hit the high spots and the metal will start to shrink. MDF is not strong enough for this, so we have to clean it up after it is removed. As long as the radius is well defined it isn't a huge deal.



This is what you end up with if you hit the high spots enough times on a somewhat matching radius die. The die doesn't have to match exactly, but closer is better. You basically just tap the high spots over and over till they shrink and lay flat. The flange will grow in length as you do this.



If you want to tune it up even more you can do a few passes through a shrinker. This is the HF unit. I picked up their shrinker/stretcher set on sale a bit back. This radius is a little tight and not exactly what these are intended to do. It did help tune up the flange and make the panel level on top again.

I will make the mirror tomorrow in the same form, but the opposite direction. I cut both blanks already so it should go pretty quick. Once that is done I will trim them to make an assembly and weld the centerline seam. I am also thinking about trying to make a quick press tool to replicate the 'bumps' in the front floor panels to keep the panel quiet...and make the parts look more oem.

 

[chappohj47]

Great work mate awesome build

 

[White Stripe]

Are you going to run doors? I don't think standard hard doors will close with the cage that close to the A pillar.

 

[Mieser]

Are you going to run doors? I don't think standard hard doors will close with the cage that close to the A pillar.

I will be making custom aluminum doors. I changed the door opening size slightly also so it has to happen. They are going to be a 2pc design where the upper part will lift off similar to a 'Jeep' half door. I want the upper part of the door to be 'hard' with a glass window however. I am going to have the window slide front to back similar to a Land Rover Series window/door.

One big goal with this vehicle was to have a modular lockable hard top. I wanted as many of the panels on the top to be replaceable/repairable as possible. With how I use my vehicles, trail damage is likely. I tried to keep the body as small as practical, but I suspect I will tag the windshield, top panel, or doors eventually. The side bonus is that this allows me to pull off certain panels to give the cabin a more open air feeling and better visibility in nice weather. I really want the upper part of the doors and the entire rear window panels to pull off the vehicle to open it up. This should greatly improve visibility overall, but specifically over the shoulder and to the rear.

One other detail. I didn't want to have to leave the 'top' at home. The panels that I plan on removing often ( rear 'windows' and upper part of the doors ) have 'homes' planned into the body design. The rear window panels will be able to store inside the bottom part of the tub/cab. I raised the belt line of the body slightly and dropped the floor to allow this to happen. I hope the upper part of the doors will store in a thin false floor in the bed. That way I can 'convert' the top while on longer trips without having the panels get in the way.

....at least that is the plan....

 

[Mieser]

Still working on the rear floor panel....



Side B (D?) went the same as side one. I was able to use the same hammer form for the opposite side, just bending in the opposite direction. This gave me a fresh corner also which gave a very similar bend to the 1st, without having it be any softer. The process was done the same...crescent to start, lots of hammering in the form, then more hammering over a round dolly to eliminate the tucks, a few passes on the shrinker, and then some light hammer/dolly work to clean it all up...

Don't mind that extra TIG weld seam either. I TOTALLY meant to do that. I didn't make the panels a bit shorter than I needed. I needed the sheetmetal TIG practice anyways....



As a small side bonus, it will center the twin seams since that is the only panel I trimmed.

This is how I set up the panels to get a rough measurement for where to trim. I gave it about 1/8" extra and trimmed everything to fit carefully. That will leave me with a nice flush butt seam to tig weld.



Here it is all trimmed to fit. I used a long straight section of bar stock to align the rear flanges. I was careful to trim the length down carefully to set the overall panel width.

I will weld it up tomorrow.

Then I might need to figure out how to press something into the panel to stiffen it up a bit. Something like the bumps in the OE sections of the floor perhaps.....

 

[Mieser]

Just a little bit last night...



The rear floor panel is just about done I think. I am still on the fence about trying to press in some 'bumps' that would match the OEM front floor section. I might have to try a test piece tonight and see how it will effect the panel. I would hate to ruin that panel at this point.



It didn't show up as well as I would like, but since the chassis is still level, I made a few simple plumb bobs to help align the rear of the panel. I just used a little string ( inner strands out of some parachute cord ), a few washers, and some tape. I didn't care about the end of the string, just the reference plane it created, so a washer was just fine. Since the panel is trapped between the body mount sandwich, I was able to tap it around with a hammer until I was happy with the position....front to back, square to the chassis, and side to side also.

Since I had that small incident where one door opening is slightly longer than the other ( from TOYOTA, not me messing with things ), I used the new reference plane at the rear of the belt line tube to set the position. The panel 'tapers' slightly in depth from one side to the other a bit because of all this. It is hidden enough not to be annoying.



Trick for the day. When you need to hold a panel upright on a table to do a little hammer and dolly work, a few small sections of angle iron make a great right angle clamp. These where handy leftovers from holding the square parts of the cage together. I will be keeping a hand full in my clamp drawer....

 

[Mieser]

Back to making brackets for a little bit....



This is the C-pillar 5th body mount that will be on the upright that splits the rear window. It is the same size bushing as all the other body mounts so they can share a common part. This body mount will tie into some of the structure that will be the base of the bed ( which also will be providing the fuel tank mount, mount for the bed tube work, battery mount, light mounts, some bumper structure, and a few things I am probably forgetting ).

Yes, The floor plate is going to have counter sunk hardware. I need the extra clearance in the corner for the modular hard top rear window storage plan. I will likely be welding those fasteners into the bracket to help prevent pull through.

I was even a good boy and tig'd them. I need the practice. I should probably box them in in tonight, but I don't need to do that right now. I just needed to design the floor plate really, but I wanted to weld up the actual mount when bolted to the actual plate so I know it would all fit together.



Mocking it up all bracket to bracket lets me make sure it will fit after I pull it apart.



Fab tip of the day. Drill all your holes before the brackets have been cut apart if you can. It sure makes it easier to hold smaller parts. I have a love/hate relationship with those Blair Holcutters. They cut a GREAT hole compared to a hole saw, but I will no longer use them with a hand drill. They are too grabby, aggressive, and fragile for that in my opinion. I am cutting 10 gauge which is at the upper limit. Perhaps on something thinner they would be better with a hand drill.

 

[Mieser]

Experiment time!



I think I have a way to make a satisfactory flange bend for the rear cabin panels. This is basically a very easy way to make a tight bend in sheetmetal. This is 16 gauge cold roll and it moved like butter. I knew I needed a sharper inside radius so I dug through the scrap bin looking. Angle iron seems to have the sharpest radius in the right place while being the most common to find. This angle iron almost had a sharp corner. There is going to be some material spring back so I don't think the sharper corner is a huge deal.

One of the stumbles with doing this type of bend is that it takes a LOT of hammer work. Typically that hammer work leaves the edge slightly bumpy. You need to hit the material thousands of times to eliminate any high or low spots...or planish it...or run it through a wheel. I decided to 'automate' the process slightly by using an air chisel. It is a hammer that hits with a decent amount of force at a fairly high rate much higher than my little arm can swing a body hammer.

The last piece of the puzzle was the hammer. With a steel hammer form edge, if the hammer is also steel, you run the risk of shearing the material off during the working process. It also leaves those pesky marks. I had played around with this in the past and found some references to a process called 'flow forming' basically this typically uses a 'soft' hammer to form sheet metal into a female mold. The biggest bonus about the slightly 'soft' hammer is that since the crown shape is very low it doesn't leave marks in the working material. This left no visible marks on the material.



Here is how the test bend looks hanging on the tube. You can see how tight the inside radius is by the air gap because of the different radii. I can't believe that a sheet metal brake would be able to do a bend much tighter than that?

There are also no hammer marks on the material and the panel is nice and smooth. I think I will mess it up more when I have to shrink the flange to create the corner radius. I need to play around with that on a test part. I wonder what I will have to do to clean up those jaw marks?



Here is what the test bend looks like from a little further away. I think that will look like once it it done? The flange will be trimmed down a little bit. I need to order up my bulb seal and see where the mounting lip will have to go to flush the rear window panel to the rear of the body. I was thinking that perhaps a touch of inset might look good too? 1/4"? The rear panel will be tack welded to the rear belt line tube and the mounting lip for the seal. With the edge mount bulb mount seal on that lip it should cover up all the welding. I think I should find something to bond the panel to the tube on the vertical surface? Anyone have any ideas for that?

I'm pretty happy I found a solution. Yippee!

 

[Mieser]

Not much this weekend, but at least something! ( I got roped into helping some friends and honey-do stuff )



The C-pillar that splits the rear window is now welded in the tub. I TIG'd on the foot and MIG welded the rest. This was basically designed to provide some additional strength to the rear of the cage because of the somewhat unconventional design. This will mount to some of the bed frame structure and to the frame. I still have one more part to add eventually which will be an A to C-pillar spreader. I will make that to fit the top panel.

I am also going to basically make it more of a thinner overhead center console for the dome light, some map lights, and maybe a switch or two. In order to route all the wiring up into that I made sure to drill a few access holes. I failed to get a picture of the holes through the belt line spreader, but basically I just drilled a 3/4" hole through the top and bottom. Then matching 3/4" holes in the top and bottom of the C-pillar tubes. The bottom one will be hidden down between the seats, and the upper one will likely be covered by the tail of the overhead console.



You can see the upper an lower holes if you look close. I should be able to pass a decent amount of wiring through those if needed. I might also stick a backup light and/or 3rd brakelight on the upright.

Hopefully this week I will be able to make the rear body panels! That should be a decent challenge....

 

[Mieser]

I am pretty much in experimentation phase....



A few things going on...

The rear floor panel is drilled and bolted in place so it doesn't move around anymore. It is not welded though. I may pull it out again for a few things...

I bent up a double flange test part that was left over when I cut the blanks for the rear cab panels. The air hammer technique is working pretty well but I need more air compressor for sure. I have been using a manual nylon face hammer to help the process along.

The flange bending seems to work pretty well. I need to adjust the bend locations slightly to account for the bending....that is why you do a test part!

I also started playing around with the shrinker to form the rear cab bends, that hasn't been going THAT well.

Functionally it will work, but I have found that you need to be able to 'help' the material in the middle of the panel into the bent shape. I didn't have anything in the shop that was a large enough radius to help. I believe I found some pipe in the scrap bend at work that should do the job. If you don't help bend the middle of the panel it starts to pull into a funny shape. On the test panel I didn't really have enough 'extra' past the bend to leverage it to do what I wanted.

I also learned that I need a foot operated stand for my shrinker. Holding the panel up while trying to operate the handle just isn't going to work. There will be a short commercial break while I fab up something for that....

 

[Mieser]

....and then I made a corner panel



Well, I am actually very surprised that worked as well as it did.

This is the basic door to C-pillar cab corner panel I made. The 1st step was cutting be blank. That was pretty easy. Then I had to form a flange on two sides. That took a decent amount of time, some angle iron, various hammers, and I should have probably used ear protection. Once the flanges where formed on the top and bottom of the panel I marked out where the shrinking would have to happen on each flange to form the corner. Before I could shrink the flanges I needed to finish my shrinker stand. It would be almost impossible to shrink a flange on a panel this size without it....or perhaps a spare hand or ten.

Overall I am happy with the panel, but I still need to make another for the opposite side. I also need to trim each panel to fit.

Some details....



Here was my super exotic setup for making the flanges on each side. Basically I just clamped the panel between two pieces of angle iron and hammered the flange over carefully. I ended up using a combination of the air hammer, a nylon face hammer, and finally a steel body hammer to get the corner sharpness I wanted. Since the flanges where far enough apart, I could just clamp the 2nd flange with a slight bow in the panel instead of needing to come up with a more exotic jig. The blanket on top helps quiet down the rattle from the hammering.



I used a little math to figure out where the shrinking needed to happen for the corner. I used some sharpie to make notes and mark everything. The end lines need to be redone a few times as your hands and the shrinker wear the marks off. You don't want to be shrinking outside the area you need for the corner or else the corner radius will not match up.



This was the buck I knocked up to help me form the corner. I didn't end up using it as much as I thought I would. The flange shrinking did most of the work I think with forming the corner radius. I did end up draping a towel over this and using it to help 'bump' the corner a few times by laying on top of the panel. I don't think it did that much, but if you are too aggressive with it, you will warp the flanges past the bending area. I think it helped a little but I don't know if you need it for sure.



I made some legs for the shrinker stand contraption. It ended up working pretty well. It did take time to get the 16 gauge material to shrink. I lost count of how many passes I did. I would guess it was dozens. You are not trying to do all the work at once. My hands and arms where sore after I got done for sure. This panel isn't a light weight piece!



Here is the panel on the bench after forming. You can see a slight crown in the ends of the panel. I think this is mostly from the overall height of the panel. It is big enough it isn't rigid. Once hung on the body and clamped I believe all that will go away. Overall I am pretty happy with it for my 1st try at this size and complexity of panel!



Here is a detail of one of the shrunk flanges. If you look careful you can see a slight 'bead' starting to form on the outside edge. This is the area where the shrinker dies do not reach because it is an inside corner. The panel isn't trimmed to fit just yet, and is just hanging on the rear framework....

Now I need to make a twin and trim them both to fit...

 

[Mieser]

One corner 'done'



I was able to trim and fit the corner panel last night to the final fit. Overall for a garage made panel I am pretty happy. I took my time and trimmed slowly. I had to fit each corner around different tubes, flanges, body mounts, and welds. Trimming down the front to match up to the old door opening took the longest for sure.

I haven't attached it yet. I am still on the fence about adding some factory looking 'bumps' on the cab wall and rear floor. Once I get the other side done and fitted I guess I have to make up my mind. I am also thinking that some of the tunnel fabrication might be easier without the rear wall in place.

Some details, but nothing special....



This is the seam where I will have to weld to the factory body. Yuck. It isn't bad, but welding 3-parts together with a common seam will take some time. I may also glue the panel to the B-pillar upright to prevent rattles.



This is me being critical of my own work. The gap under the ruler is the total amount of belly in the rear corner from the forming process. The bottom of the ruler is against the bottom flange. The belly is in the middle of panel pretty much. Overall I wish there wasn't any, but having about 1/16 of belly in a panel that is 22" tall or so isn't THAT bad in my opinion. Some of that might go away as I clamp, weld, and glue the panel in place also.

Now it's time to do it all again for the other side. I suspect that will burn up the rest of my week-evenings.