Continuing on... As I have been going on I have decided to make a few changes. One was the mounting points for the rear end. I also decided to change the firewall, and figured a way to use the original dash without cutting it up to badly. I guess if nothing else the additional time I took off from working on the truck, it has given me time to re-think things and make changes for the better.
We decided we might have a problem with our ride clearance. We originally installed the bars as per instructions
But we measured and only had 5 inches of clearance. We decided we move the bracing arms higher to fix the issue
The two pics above are what it looks like now... The pic above is what it looked like before. We raised it about 3 inches
Here is what we originally did to make room for the new 350 power plant. Nice design, looked ok.
But I decided it was too 'tall' an opening and could look better. Here is what it looked like inside
So I went to work on a new look. Cut the top circled part off and squared it up; making it shorter.
I fabbed up a piece for the bottom, and welded it in.
Then I made a piece across the whole width of the firewall.
Here's another pic after I cut out the top part.
Here's what it looked like welded in You can see the new look
This is the new look from inside. Actually worked out well because it gave better clearance for the A/C unit
Here she is in a coat of primer.
Put on some fiberglass to smooth it up
Now I needed to sand blast it. Put down my tarp, and set up a little booth I could get inside of
Couple more shots in primer
Here's a better pic.
Got it all blasted. Looks pretty good. Now I gotta clean up the mess
Side pic, ready for fiberglass
Ready for sanding - more to come on the firewall later