Studebaker M5 Pickup into a Street Rod Project

Welcome to my site.  This covers the complete tear down and rebuild of two Studebaker M series pickups to convert them into one street rod.  At present it is not complete, but I am adding pics, and info as I go along.  I hope you enjoy it, and maybe you'll see something that will help you with your project FYI if you load a page, and get a "Red X" where the picture is supposed to be, just refresh the page and it should appear. Be advised; I am making the pictures very large so if you see something you want to duplicate on your vehicle; it is easier to see and know what top do. Feel free to contact me via the "Contact Me" tab.

Well Here she is.  No motor, no transmission, or axles.  We had to bring parts with us just to get it rolling. 
Here she is when we got her home.  We had to borrow some axles and install them in the field.  At least it was on blocks so we could get under it
Here's another shot.  Some rough spots for sure. 
Front shot of the M5 I also bought.  It was a daily driver 
Here's the M5.  Looks good from here, don't get up close and look.  Lots of rust
Side view. running boards rotted, bed where fenders attach were rotted out, fenders all beat up.
Dad likes to tinker; and he was determined to get the old M5 running, and after a short time he did.
She ran great, no knocks, no pings, smmmooooth.
This whole rolling chassis is for sale. 
OK Gotta have a game plan.  First we send the chassis to get sand blasted.  (Right); the chassis is back..  time to get to work.
Well, we stripped out every nut and bolt.  Down to bare bones.  While the chassis was off to the blaster we cleaned up the cabs, fenders, etc to get them ready to get blasted 
 After much work and disassembly of both trucks it was off to the sand blaster
So while the cab, and parts were gone we cleaned up the chassis, and boxed in the frame for additional support
 Pulled this motor out of old Chevy.  Don't look like much
And here is it after she's had a complete and total rebuild.  Just need a finished truck to put it in. 
OK.. cabs are back, and primed.  Time to get to work
Came across this great deal on some suspension items.  Complete Mustang II front end, with power steering, and also the rear end, for a great price, and no shipping charges.  I didn't need it yet, but it was too good to pass up.
Well the cutting has began.  We measured a place on the top of the cab where they could meet and give us a connection that was factory formed.  Then cut down the sides to match up the two cabs. 
As you cab see we did extensive bracing before doing any cutting.  If you can see we braced side-to-side and front-to-back.  We figured when we cut it apart it would spread out and lose it's factory shape.
First thing we did was cut off the front of this cab.  This will be the rear part .  On the right; here you can see the bracing, and how we cut the top and sides.  We also braced the other part of the cab to hold it's shape. Now we just need to marry these two cabs together.
We jump ahead, and you can see we have welded the two cabs together.  We put X-bracing for added strength 
OK.  Parts are coming back.  Here we have primed  many parts we'll need later