Stude M5 build

I agree with everyone that speaker grill looks really good!

“…..This was way too much work but it was something challenging to do……”

I know the feeling. For me one of the nice things about building a “keeper” for yourself is that if you have the skills you can trade your time and do those things that would be cost prohibitive if you had to pay someone to do it (or in your case buy one and refurbish it).

I’ve been spending some time looking over your AC pictures, nice work. I like the layout of your vents and switches. I’ve been gathering the pieces to put the system in my Valiant lately and will probably start installing the under-dash portion I the next few weeks.


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Thanks Mike. The Vintage air is a nice system. It was fun having the Mastercool tool to make my own lines. I have Yogi's catalog and there are tons of choices of aftermarket vents and controls. Of coarse some of them are crazy expensive.

Oh Darn it v8nutz! You just had to go and make me look up Mastercool tools. :eek:

One of the things that's been in the back of my mind was where I'd have the AC lines made up at now that the place I used to use has closed. The local NAPA store still does them but they're usually slow and depending who does it they don't necessarily have a 100% success rate.

The crimpers I looked at are about what it would cost to have the hoses made up. I'd probably do, but am a little hesitant as this will be the last build for me. Oh well something else to think about.


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Originally Posted by Mike P

The crimpers I looked at are about what it would cost to have the hoses made up. I'd probably do it, but am a little hesitant as this will be the last build for me. Oh well something else to think about.

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Cade'll use them on HIS next build, Mike, and the one after that and the one after that...... ;):cool:;)

Yeeaaah Roger the thought crossed my mind too. If I do pull the trigger on the crimper, I'll make sure he get some practice with them before he inherits them. :LOL:



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Another fun little aluminum project. I had gotten rid of the ugly plastic multi tool turn signal stalk but it left just a plain steel rod. I made my own billet knob for it. Shaped it by turning it against my 12 inch sanding wheel.

That is very clever regarding the tools you used.
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Sweet! And that's how you make it your own! More than one way to skin that cat.

Continuing the billet theme, I made a pull knob for the glove box.

Nicely Done!

Hey. I think you're getting carried away now! Hee Hee Hee.. jk, good job.

I know, I was kind of looking for things I could do inside my little garage where the swamp cooler makes it kind of doable. The truck is in another area that the swamper doesn't help much so it's pretty much unbearable in there right now...110 today.
I've had the truck out a couple times in the heat and was impressed that the cooling system seems to handle it with the AC going, so that's plus. My v8 Miata can't handle it over 100 with AC going.

Not real exciting stuff but I have been tinkering on it. I used some Casweld PM to solder a crack in my pot metal hood ornament, it worked OK for that. I tried to fill all the pock holes that are everywhere but I just couldn't get it to work so gave up on that. I repaired the hood trim strip, it had an ugly hole it, it was longer than I needed with the ornament so I cut off a good section and welded it where the hole used to be. It turned out all right, you would have to be looking for the weld joint to find it.

My hood rod mount was long gone so I made a stainless mount for that, so I don't have to use my piece of wood to hold the hood up anymore LOL.

Nice work and giving me Ideas!!!

I'm thinking about getting my wheels and tires but not sure what overall diameter tire I should get. The Explorer tires I have on there now are 16x7.5 and 28.5 inches tall, they look way to tall to me especially in the front. Anyone have recommendation on overall tire size?
I got a cheap tool for checking clearance and backspacing from Amazon a while back, its actually pretty decent for 35 bucks
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z4Z9MDT...fed_asin_title

This is always more of a personal viewpoint. I think what is on there now is fine. Not a big fan of the wheels but, I think the tire height is good. It's a tall cab - it's gonna look odd with rubber band tires imho! 8-)

I definitely don't want a rubber band look. It's hard to tell in my pick but they look big, in fact the rear has been lightly rubbing the front edge of the fender and the front just looks too big. I want to go with steel wheels, been looking at 16x8 front and 17x9 back with a 26 inch wheel. I need a positive offset so that limits choices quite a bit. Looking at 255 45 or 50 for the back and 225 50 for the front. US wheel has a 19mm offset that I think will work.

".........This is always more of a personal viewpoint. I think what is on there now is fine......."

I couldn't agree more, especially about it being a personal view point. Tires and wheels are an expensive especially if you get them on and then decide they don"t look quite right. To me at a glance I think tire size looks good, if I were to change anything it would probably be to to with a shorter front tire, but then I'd want to raise the front end a bit to keep the current ride height (of course then you run into the re-aligning it etc).

I know figuring out the tire sizing on the 37 Dodge I built was a real PIA. I keep a pile of rollers in the back shed and for that build I ended up mounting 3 different pairs (I only needed to see how they looked on one side) before I finally ended up with something I was happy with. Even then I ended up not being real happy with the rears.....fortunately I was able to trade the rear tires from the 57 Plymouth and 37 Dodge around and ended being happy with both vehicles but what a PIA.


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I personally agree that those tires look too tall. I think you should go a little shorter in the back, and make the fronts a little shorter than the back.

Personally, for an old car I like to try to find tires with a high aspect ratio, like a 70 or 80 series. That looks more period correct to me.

I find this online tire size calculator helpful, to help visualize what size tire difference I want to see from front to rear.



https://tiresize.com/calculator/

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Originally Posted by Driver50x

I personally agree that those tires look too tall. I think you should go a little shorter in the back, and make the fronts a little shorter than the back.

Personally, for an old car I like to try to find tires with a high aspect ratio, like a 70 or 80 series. That looks more period correct to me.

I find this online tire size calculator helpful, to help visualize what size tire difference I want to see from front to rear.



https://tiresize.com/calculator/

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Thanks, I like the calculator!

Been using that calculator all day, that is really a handy visualizer. I've leaning towards 15x8, would like a 9 but they don't make them in 15, Wheelsmith does a custom backspace. Or can save some money and do 16x8, backspace is a 1/4 inch less than I wanted and tire sizes are limited to a 235 vs 255 in a 15. Decisions... the ever present battle with my cheap side.

The selection of 15" tires seems to be shrinking fast, other than specialty shops like Coker, Mickey Thompson, Hoosier and big meats for Jeeps and off roading; and the selection of 16's isn't a lot better! One thing to think about is how you would deal with a tire problem on the road. Having to buy two wheels & tires to get home would suck, but the alternative might be sitting in a hotel room for a few days waiting for an order from Speedway, Summit, Coker or Amazon.
I think I'd be looking at 16's minimum, and maybe 17's. Just my $0.02.

I decided a 27 inch diameter tire is good for the back and bit smaller size for the front. Also considering a 5 spoke mag, the early 2000's Mustang has the right backspace so they are available. I would have to narrow my rear to get the dish that I'd really like, but that is a bunch of work and money. I can't do the simple use two short axle 8.8 solution because I need it to stay off center.

It’s been a while since I’ve had custom wheels made, when I did I used Stockton Wheel. I don’t know what there prices are like now but they used to be pretty reasonable and their quality was always good. You might take a look at their web site.



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Stockton wheel was my first thought but I read a lot of bad reviews about them so kind of scared me away. I know they've been around a long time.

It's been a while since I dealt with them and things may have changed. When the new wheels I ordered came in I always mounted the wheel (before the tire was installed) to a front spindle and checked for run out with a dial indicator. They always checked out, but like I said it's been a while and I've seen a lot of companies go down hill over time.



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This is my current project. Making a inner structure out of aluminum to attach headliner and upholstery to. Took about 4 days to get this far. This is jus the top portion made in two halves and welded together. The plan is to cover everything on the back of the cab and roof so still a ways to go but this was the trickiest part.


Attachment 76054

Any suggestions on hidden fasteners? Seems like some of them would show under the upholstery. I'm looking at these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...3NK9WU6R&psc=1.
Some have used 3m dual fastener, kind of like velcro, not sure how well it would stick to the truck body primer.

I've never even seen that style before. Not sure how it works, need to do some research before I could offer an opinion.
But if they fit into a recessed area then I'd think they'd be invisible..

You drill a hole in your door card and clip them on. Just the little flat top tab would on top of the board, so shouldn't show through the upholstery.

Sounds good. If you add a layer of foam (thinking 1/8" or thinner) between the card stock and the outer upholstery covering. it would help hide any "tips" or bumps

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Originally Posted by 34_40

Sounds good. If you add a layer of foam (thinking 1/8" or thinner) between the card stock and the outer upholstery covering. it would help hide any "tips" or bumps

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Like Mike says, if you add a layer of foam it tends to hine the slight bump, and you can even sand the foam surface slightly to really smooth it out.

Getting closer on this project. What a lot of work!

WOW.. it's gonna look great. You're certainly putting in the work.

Thanks! It's the most metal forming I've done. I was wishing I had an English wheel and a planishing hammer.

That's Great metal work !!!