Steve's 64 Short-bed Project

[Mr. Jones]

Steve,
Congratulations on a job well done, the look of it reminds me of two things.It's either looking for a Friday night fight or dinner on the Plaza...
Dan

[Truckrat]

Steve, Am really liking your treatment on the tailgate with the
red letters outlined in black. Looks very sharp. You have a cool truck.
I am building one just like yours with the short bed. Hope it turns out
as straight as yours. TR

[SteveCanup]

Thanks TR...good luck on your build. It's really never finished. I still have some 'tweaks' that I want to do to mine. I still need to detail the engine compartment.

[SteveCanup]

Installed new KYB Slammer Gas charged shock absorbers on the front. That tightened things up and made a world of difference in handling. Now to get some for the rear. I wish it would stop raining...

["Whitey Ford"]

Very good looking truck. congrats.

[shipwrecked]

whats next?> there is always something to be done

[SteveCanup]

Yeah...I'm just driving it right now and enjoying it. I've been getting "house" and "property" projects caught up (boring)....More to come...I promise.

[SteveCanup]

Well I have put it off long enough. My headers are hard against the transmission crossmember and I get 'reverberation' really bad in the cab because of it. My wife and I drove it an hour and a half a few days ago to visit my daughter. Rode well, drove well, but was noisy. Anyway, with rain finally gone I am going to pull the headers off and either shorten and re-weld them or cut a chunk out of the crossmember. I am leaning more toward cutting and reworking the headers.

Work to proceed...

[SteveCanup]

Ended up cutting a small section out of my crossmember to clear the headers and I ended up putting an up-sweep on my exhaust pipe to get the exhaust up under the truck a little better. Started cleaning, sanding, and painting under the hood...it's about time. Pics to come...

[Alan Mclennan]

I like it Steve!

[SteveCanup]

Thanks Alan!

[SteveCanup]

Still driving and enjoying....

[The Big M]

Great build!

I may have missed it somewhere, but what's the chrome-looking plug where the column shifter would normally go?

[SteveCanup]

Big M...it is the chrome plug from a putty knife that I had in my toolbox. It was screwed into the end of the handle and it just happened to fit the column shift hole perfectly. Just one of those 'lucky' things...

[SteveCanup]

Just ordered and paid for new Leather Bucket seats for my truck. Excited. I will pick them up Monday evening and probably install them on Tuesday...LMS Seats out of Concord N.C. He is on Facebook...great to deal with.



Pics to follow...
Steve-

[SteveCanup]

Picked the seats up on Monday and had time to get out under my carport and try to begin the installation process. Yes, it is a process. Because the seats are made to sit on a flat surface and the floors of the truck slope from the middle to the outside I have some fabricating to do. I was expecting that anyway...Like everywhere else, it's been raining for days now (or so it seems) but I want to block out some time to get out there and work on it today. They are sitting in the truck and I have some C-channel under them to get them to sit level. I want the drivers seat to sit a few inches lower but with the motors and the sliders that will be impossible unless I cut the floor and get into some major fabrication (which is not outside the realm of possibility.) Anyway, the seats look great sitting in there and they are more comfortable than the original bench seat. More to come....and pics too!
Steve-

[SteveCanup]

We're visual people...aren't we? Here's some pics that I ran out and took...


Now to get out there and get them leveled up and bolted down...I also ordered a set of black 3-point shoulder seat belts last night. I will build a combination arm-rest/jump seat between the seats. Stay tuned....

[shipwrecked]

looks good.

[viper driver]

Great colors! The white/ red is soo nice.

[SteveCanup]

Thanks folks....it will always be a 'work in progress' so to speak. I want to upgrade the steering wheel or shorten the steering column. I did that in the '55 Dodge truck that I had because the steering wheel was all in your face, so I cut 6 inches out of it and reinstalled it with a Grant steering wheel. The Ford trucks essentially have the same steering box, column, etc set up. I'm still looking for either a new bed in better condition or a drivers side bed side that I can weld into place. LMC is now making "repop" fleetside bed sides for the mid 60's Chevys. I am going out this a.m. and get the seats fastened down and build a center arm rest/console/jumpseat. Pics to come....
Steve-