68 Mini Pickup Project

[94touring]

Ok they made it in this afternoon, tomorrow I'll get to work again.  

Nic, Magnum is who makes the panels according to the sticker on the back.  Knockoff, so so quality, fit good and will get the job done.  I say so so quality because the edges will need trimmed as there is excess lip, but more is better I guess.    







Got a camera finally, a new shot of the orange.

[94touring]

Todays work...





Painted as well as sprayed with grease on both cill and door frame.









No job would be complete without gashing your fingers on the edge of sheet metal.

:-\

[MiniGene]

Nice work, Dan.  Glad to see the progress again.  I like the middle orange paint the best.

BTW, how are you going to hold the yoke with that hand now?  Haha

[94touring]

Middle orange is what I like too.

Autopilot!  Nah, nothing some bandaids and neosporin couldn't fix.  Flew all week with no problems.

Won't be back to keep working on the truck for at least two weeks.  I'm having withdrawels already.

[94touring]

Today I finally finished welding the perimeter of what was left on the left floor and ground down the welds.  Then finished fabbing up what I had to cut out in the rear wheel well.  Tomorrow I'm not sure if I'm diving into the other floor or working on the bed.   

[Nicholasupton]

Why are the pickups always so far gone? Was the rust added by the factory.

[94touring]

Why are the pickups always so far gone? Was the rust added by the factory.

Yeah no joke, must park them in 3 feet of water. 

[94touring]

Tinkered around with the bed and wheel well.  Got most of the undercoat off of the wheel well and patched a few spots that were rusted out.  I think I'm going to break down and just buy a whole new bed.  Didn't want to but its going to be a patch job otherwise and I'd like to get that bed floor to another truck out of there.     

[94touring]

Pics of the prodding around.

[Nicholasupton]

7ent has a source for a complete pickup floor that is stamped in one piece and not 2 sides welded together like the m-machine one.  Last quote I got on one was about $700.

[94touring]

Gbcarparts can get me the two piece for under $400.   For $300 I can weld a line and grind it down, though I hear ya, one piece would be conveniant.

[Nicholasupton]

Just be aware that the mini machine load bay does not have the channels in the bay stop for the rear subframe panel, and cause other fitting issues. I have found that the time saved outweighed the additional cost. I also prefer to make my own Load floor support with grommet holes only, so I can spray 3M Rust Fighter inside the box sections and then seal off from outside weather. They can also be popped out later if water does find it's way in.

So save the money on the support brace and splurge on the load floor.  4.gif

[94touring]

I like your idea about the cross member load support.  Easy to make with my metal brake.  However I already placed an order on a handful of pieces I've decided to replace.  The cross member being one of them.  I had to fight and drill out the tailgate hinges and tore the one bracket up, so ordered all new there and figured I'll replace the closing panel in the process since it has seen better days, although could probabaly be salvaged.  I'd rather just replace it if I go tearing back into it.  The actual bed floor will have to wait another paycheck or two, but that will certainly replace essentially all the metal back there.  Between the front end, floors, and bed/rear end, only metal left to replace is the roof lol. 

[Nicholasupton]

At least you have a good roof as that is the only panel you can not get for a pickup.

[94touring]

Ha, yeah even the gutters are solid.  The one part that wasn't parked in water!

[94touring]

Cut out the other floor and tacked in the new.  Need to get some more cutting wheels to continue on.  Hopefully tomorrow I get a lot done.

There was a pile of debri and rust in here. 

[94touring]

Got lots done today.  Subframe panel in place, floor tacked, cross member in place, sill in place, and door frame in place.  Everything is ready to be welded up.

[94touring]

Wow talk about quick shipping, I ordered these a few days ago from somerfordmini. 

[MiniGene]

Ha, yeah even the gutters are solid.  The one part that wasn't parked in water!

LOL!!

Nice progress Dan.

[AcesLow]

Not replacing the inner stiffener panels? Damn I wanted to see how you were going to tackle that.

[94touring]

Nah, it looks like crap on the bottom but still functional.  It would be easy to pop off with an air chisel with the side panel cut off like I have. 

[94touring]

Ok finally home after a few weeks... 

Door frame and cill welded up



Closing plate and brackets for tailgate assembled and attached









Tomorrow I may continue cutting on the bed to get ready for the bed floor replacement and will continue welding the main floor. 

[batman1usa]

My observation:  You should have just bought all the pieces and built a truck from scratch.   8.gif

However, you are very good at fixing this stuff I say.  4.gif

[94touring]

Ok today I cut out most of the bed and one wheel arch assembly, welded up more on the floors and got in the bed load x-member. 

[94touring]

My observation:  You should have just bought all the pieces and built a truck from scratch.   8.gif

However, you are very good at fixing this stuff I say.  4.gif

Thats what its starting to feel like!