April 26th, 2009

Looks like I haven't mentioned in any of my posts that earlier this year, I took a weekend and pulled out the old sheet aluminum that some of us had installed on the floor ten years or so ago, when the truck was in operation. It was the remains of an old sign, cut up, banged into rough shape, and affixed over the worst areas of the floor with screws and pop-rivets. Hundreds of pop-rivets. At any rate, I took it all out, mostly with an angle grinder, to assess the damage. Have a look.





Left- This was taken looking in the passenger side window. Yes, that's daylight. Looks like the bottom of the door post is gone, as well as the top of the rocker panel. Well, I guess because it is.

Below- This is between the drivers side seat and the door. The seat mounts are further inboard, resting on more solid metal.

....Mostly.

 

Before I installed the aluminum, people were actually afraid to ride in my truck, for some reason. The plan is to get a MIG welder (since the fine Craftsman stick welder my roommate scavenged from his dad's garage tends to blow holes in thinner metals) and buy some replacement floorboards from my LMC Truck catalog. This is an excellent source of parts (I have used them before). Plus, the exploded diagrams have offered a few clues as to how the truck was put together, though it's no substitute for a real factory or shop manual. I intend to get one, they tend to run around $30 online.

March 1, 2009

March 1, 2009

Well, as birthdays go, this was a memorable one. I drove over to my parents house in Citrus County with my girlfriend to spend the weekend there. I was excited that she had agreed to come with us to the Webster Auto Swap, which was being held that Sunday. My roommate, who rarely gets to come to one of these events, drove over and met us Sunday morning, and after breakfast we piled into his big red Silverado and headed toward Webster. The forcast was that there was to be a cold front passing through the area that morning, and wouldn't you know it, the forecasters were right. We got there in the middle of it. The rain wasn't really that bad- we had been provided warm clothes and umbrellas by my parents- it was the stiff and gusty wind that drove the rain into our allegedly waterproof jackets that made the cold. They still charged us admission. The show itself was in the pasture north of its usual location, due to the concurrent Sumter County Fair. It was also half the size of the Winter Extravaganza two weeks prior, or at least it would have been had the weather not been driving off all but the most hard-core of vendors. The three of us walked around the show, looking at the stuff that vendors had not packed away or thrown tarps over, usually not lingering too long at any one spot. We did stop at a hot dog stand under a canopy for a few minutes, though. I knocked on a few windows and walked into a few trailers to ask some questions, but I didn't find any truck or Camaro parts. I figured, though, that if these guys were committed enough to be out there in that infernal cold, I would at least look at what they had to offer. Toward the end of our time there, it had pretty much stopped raining, but the wind was still howling at a good clip. By that point, however my girlfriend decided that she's rather wait in the Silverado out of the weather. And, as she has little interest in old car parts, I don't blame her.