I woke up feeling happy that the frame cutting went smoothly after lots of measuring yesterday. I am looking forward to dialing it in some more today.

 

frame pix

 

Charlotte helped me cut out a few fish plates for the inside of the frame to go over the cuts.
I helped her use a tape measure and speed square to mark them out with a paint pen from the left over 1/2 ton frame. We then got out the Saw-Z-All and grinder to make them. She then ground down all the edges to help with welding them in.
I will do a final grind on the frame cuts shortly before we go to a birthday party this evening.
If I am still on fire tonight we can get it clamped / squared back up to be ready for welding it this week.

 

It was all squared up and clamped down last night.
I polished all the paint and oil off the weld area with a wire wheel on my cordless drill so the weld area is nice and clean.
We measured off many points on the frame and I am happy with the the results.
It will get welded up tomorrow.

 

Woo hoo ! Let the sparks fly !

 

It was a late night in the shop yesterday. The frame is all welded up and looks awesome. I even hit it with a little primer and paint where I had ground it down to fresh metal for a good weld. One of the front cab mount brackets was also swapped out for one that was not all hogged out off the old RC frame.
I will test fit the tub back on it tonight after work with Walter to see how well it lines up.

I also had sometime yesterday to start prepping the '94 motor. I got the clutch fan off so I can access the KDP and front seal. I will also install a bigger harmonic balancer off a later 12V. I removed the A/C compressor and swapped out the motor mounts for the 1st gen style.

 

The RC tub got test fit back on the new frame tonight.
I am very happy with how it all lines back up on the frame mounts.
The tub will get pulled back off the frame for the final re assembly of the project, but I just needed to see how it fit back up first.

I rolled the RC off to the corner of the shop for now as I get some other work done on the black crew cab and Poncho next.

 

Nice work, Ollie. A new venture is under way

 

Photos from the mid point of the frame work

 

Thanks for posting pictures T-man!

She was a little tentative at using the Saw-Z-all to cut the plates out of the old frame, but I held the saw steady while she operated it to make sure it was safe. As you can see in the picture she had boots on along with ear / eye / hand protection and a dust mask.
She had fun while we made those fish plates.

It gives her some ground to stand on when she asks to drive it in a year or two..
I just picked her learners permit up at DMV with her last Monday....

 

My personal favorite is the shop supervisor, reviewing how the project is progressing.

 

Wrench Week was spent on getting the crew cabs and Poncho ready for the summer.
The 2wd RC build will go back on the back burner till further notice...
Summers get busy around here. It might be winter before I have much extra free time.

 

Well as I predicted summer has not allowed any extra time to work on the 2wd RC project.

Tonight I did get to practice with my new DHC-2000 OXY/Act. torch that I picked up in Carlisle at the car show. I have seen them for a few years, but never dropped the cash for it until this year. I got it thinking it would really help with cutting out and welding in the new floor patches I will need to do for this build.

I had a little free time before dinner to practice welding up the thin torch cuts I put in an old rusty fender a few weeks ago. With a little more practice I can see really liking the way it welds things up with minimal heat and distortion of the metal. It also leaves very little extra weld material to grind / sand down after.

I plan to roll the RC out of the shop in the next few weeks and clean it up. I will then weld up the cowl cracks and cut out / weld in the floor pans while it is nice to do that outside.

 

Waiting to see the results....

 

Glad the DHC-2000 is working out for you. Like Tman I'm interested to see the welds that you do with it. One negative to a plasma cutter is that you can't weld with it.