Thread: Shop Truck (True Spirit) Project

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Thanks dave.

Didn’t do a lot today, but figured I’d get the air bags on. It was pretty straight forward for a kit that wasn’t really designed for this truck. The upper brackets actually had 2 of four bolts that lined up and I only had to drill 2 more.

I figured I was already hiding the receiver and plug for the trailer hitch under the license plate so what’s a couple more things.

Very nice build. Everyone needs a shop truck.

[QUOTE=Dave Severson]I gotta get healed up again so I can get back at it!

Dave,
Not feeling good again??
I've been out getting a sun tan the last four days and just got back a little bit ago so haven't been keeping up on the site at all.
Just remember that my coupe and your other projects aren't that important, but YOU ARE!! Take all the time you need to get well.
Tom

[QUOTE=Tom F]

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

I gotta get healed up again so I can get back at it!

Dave,
Not feeling good again??
I've been out getting a sun tan the last four days and just got back a little bit ago so haven't been keeping up on the site at all.
Just remember that my coupe and your other projects aren't that important, but YOU ARE!! Take all the time you need to get well.
Tom

Was out of commission for a bit, but back at again.... Put a couple pics of the coupe up in the "everyone building a car" thread.....

We’ve been having some really warm weather here so I decided to go ahead and spray the bed liner on the cab of the truck. I think having the sheetmetal media blasted was one of the best moves I made on this project.

I as the truck is going to be white that is what I used on the bottom of the cab. I didn’t add the texture to it so it’s a fairly smooth finish.

The seat I’m going to be using has split bucket backs and a fold down arm rest/console, which means you will also see a portion of the in cab tank when it’s down (which will probably be most of the time). I went ahead and also coated the tank. I still haven’t decided I may eventually put carpet over the tank.

I was going to do the top side of the floor in white also but changed my mind on that earlier this week after I happened to see the cab of a truck that had the textured bed liner applied and no carpet or mats installed. I realized it is almost a perfect match for the black rubber OE style floor mat I’m going to install so there won’t be much of a visual transition on where the mat stops and the floor begins. I still have more to do (the inner fenders etc) but at least I’ve got a start on it.

Looks good Mike, sure do like the way that stuff protects!!!! Put some in the box of my nasty old shop truck about 5 years ago and with a quick wash out with the pressure washer it will still look fine!!!!!

Yeah, I'm hoping to have good luck with this too. No more messy than doing regular undercoating and hopefully will last a good deal longer.

Well, it's been on the shop truck for 5 years, and that poor old thing certainly doesn't get a lot of easy use when it's used!!!!! Dang undercoating stuff looks ok for awhile, then falls off. I like the bedliner a lot better.

We also use it on the inside of fiberglass fenders on cars that are going to be drives, prevents a whole lot of star fractures from rocks hitting the inside!!!!!

I'm still plugging away.


I gave up on finding a good used (plastic) frame mount tank for my 76 a couple of weeks ago. No one is reproducing them and any of the ones I’ve found out here have been junk. I guess they hold up better in the NE and mid-west but it’s almost impossible to ship a used tank.

I had been looking at the original tank from my 37 Dodge pickup and although the capacity is a bit less than I’d like (15 Gal) the dimensions looked close. I set it up in the frame a couple weeks ago and it fit (ok with a little rearranging of the straps).

I decided I really didn’t want to trust a 70 year old gas tank. I finally found an aftermarket fuel cell that had the same dimensions and ordered it (it’s actually just a tank as it does not have foam in it).

After I rearranged the supports for the straps I test fit the cab to make sure I wouldn’t have any interference problems (I did this before I sprayed the bedliner so that could be drying while I worked on the tank).

There were a couple of problems that I knew about going into this. It only came with a Chevy/aftermarket sending unit and it was set up for AN fittings. On the bright side the fill neck is exactly the right size for the fill hose from the bed side to slip over.

The sender turned out not to be a huge deal, the sender that was in the tank was quite a bit smaller than the OE dodge sender. It simply required making the hole larger. Unfortunately with the length of the stock arm it would not have even started showing anything other than full until after over ½ a tank had been used. I lengthened the arm. I also had to shorten the pickup tube and eliminate the sock in order to be able to make the unit fit in the hole. Although I would prefer to run the sock, it really doesn’t bother me not to it’s a new clean tank and I will be running an in-line filter after the tank. I also figured while I was at it I would shorten the vent pipe that leads back to the fuel neck. Hopefully this will let it get fuller before it starts kicking gas pump on when I’m filling it.

The AN fittings were pretty simple. They are thick enough to be drilled and tapped for ¼ NPT threads. The fuel pickup was plugged the vent and return line were fitted with 90 degree barb fittings

What’s the first picture you ask?

It’s a coat hanger with masking tape wrapped on it sticky side out. When I was all done with the mods I turned the tank up on end and used it and a flashlight through the sending unit hole to pick out the metal shavings/cuttings that were inside.


So at the end of the day I now have my auxiliary tank installed.

Looks like a great setup Mike! I never was much in favor of using an old tank and wondering what kinds of trash I might wash out of it either!!! Really going to be a nice one! Anxious to get mine finished up after I get Tom's coupe done for him!

The body shop has been plugging away on the sheetmetal and I got a few more pieces back. The passenger door, the hood and the rear fenders. I spent yesterday sandblasting things like the inner fender wells and getting them in primer. As soon as the rest of the pieces get back I’ll spray the rest of the bed liner and get started on the painting.

Looks great Mike, better take the fellas at the body shop a box of donuts on Monday morning!!!!!