One of my cab mounts (the floor pan part, under the passenger foot section) side was rusted to poo on my 92 project Dakota. I got around to ripping the old one off a few days ago, and i finally finished welding the pieces of the new one on yesterday. Looks nice, except for the turkey poo welds holding it together. I used 10 or 12 gauge steel for the new one, which was very hard (for me) to weld to the thinner floor pan metal without burning through. I never had any instruction on welding in my life, other than an old guy telling me if you can't weld well, throw a lot of hot splatter on there and cross your fingers. I'm of the school of thought that it's an extended cab, it's got 6 mounts, if the welds break on my creation, it's still got 5 mounts holding the cab LOL.

The weather here in the Northeast has been seriously sucking, rain rain rain with a clear day here or there. Not good for my productivity. My lungs might survive the China flu, but my liver probably won't.

 

Shaderabbit, Keep the heat focused on the larger metal. Stop and let it cool often.
One of my welding instructors used to show off showing us this technique by soldering a gum wrapper to a piece of sheet metal without catching it on fire using oxy acetylene torch.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that out if (or maybe when) my custom cab mount creation separates from the floor pan after some on-road use haha.

 

I don't want it to look TOO nice. I've found an old beater pickup doesn't get cut off in traffic like a nice new vehicle. After a couple of years it gets a nice aged look to it. I've got a 4 year old Mazda CX-5 that still looks new. It gets cut off in traffic all the time. A truck missing most of the paint, doesn't.




I don't like white or silver anyway. Southern Indiana thunderstorms sometimes have the sun under the edge. White and Silver cars disappear in the glare.

 

Heh.

You CAN buy "patina in a can" (I googled, HotRod Magazine had an article on it on the web, but alas, connection dropped during posting ... )

RwP

 

Nah, I don care for people who clear coat rust or paint rust on the surface. A couple of years and Rust-O-Leum weathers just right. My old '84 was just right but tended to disappear at night. Especially when I used the wrong roller once and painted brown blobs on it to cover the worst part up.



I usually had to look for the tool box at night. I'm going red this time, just because. I don't want a perfect paint job, I WANT people to worry that I'm an old curmudgeon or possibly maniac.

 

I'm sure blasting Led Zepplin or Conway Twitty at max volume will convince them of that anyway

RwP

 

Hhhhmmmmm... Is THAT the secret??? I think I turned on the radio once when I was looking at it, but, after I bought it, I don't think I have ever turned it on again. (and I have had it for around 3 years now...... )

 

I'm shocked! Shocked and surprised!

Filled up tonight.

19.02MPG ...

In a 1988 Dakota, 3.9, 3 speed auto, with a load, blowing down Louisiana roads between 40 and 80 MPH (Hell NO I'm not taking those curves on LA 117 at 80MPH!!!!)

Today I got a job - upgrading the server and terminals at a Huddle House on a military base, while they're closed.

RwP

 

While I've listened to Twitty Bird and the Zep at times in the past, I'm more into orchestral music now. Like Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I'm fairly hard of hearing so I do have to crank it up a bit. As for running with the radio off, the drone of the highway gets me sleepy so while I really can't hear the words very well, music breaks the drone up.