'89 R3500 Crew Cab 2wd to 4wd conversion & beyond

[rderosier]

I used the plastic JB Weld

Meeeee too

 

[mrk5]

Looks great, gonna turn out awesome.

Thanks. Yours inspired me.

I used the plastic JB Weld

Meeeee too

I just got a tube also!

 

[rderosier]

Thanks. Yours inspired me.



I just got a tube also!

View attachment 483177

This stuff will be all you need to hold the grill together, it'll feel like it's one solid unit. When I mixed the two I let it sit for a couple minutes to be a little more like puddy so it wasn't too thin.

 

[mrk5]

We have a ton of 2 to 3 inch long aluminum 10-24 studs I'm thinking about setting in the glue for extra reinforcement.

 

[kennyw]

We have a ton of 2 to 3 inch long aluminum 10-24 studs I'm thinking about setting in the glue for extra reinforcement.

Plastic fish plates may work better.

 

[folkenheath]

Yeah be careful, aluminum has a high thermal expansion coefficient. Which means it grows quite a bit with temperature rise. It may cause more problems that helps, hard to tell, especially not knowing the coefficient for the plastic you are using.

 

[rderosier]

I used no reinforcement and it's solid

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Zip ties and duct tape. Only the best!

 

[Wes Harden]

Zip ties and duct tape. Only the best!

What ? No bailing wire, or bubble gum ?

 

[kgblazerfive]

I used the epoxy putty stuff

 

[AJMBLAZER]

What ? No bailing wire, or bubble gum ?

Baling wire rusts and bubble gum doesn’t adhere as well long term.

 

[mrk5]

I decided to give the studs a shot and I also used some aluminum flat straps. The studs really helped hold the pieces in better alignment.



Be interesting to see how it holds up.



Some things to note for anyone narrowing the front like this. First, it's more complicated than I expected, but that's normal for me at this point.

I bolted the front of the fenders to the core support with the factory holes. This put the core support all the way as far back as the body mounts would allow. I still ended up with 1/2" of stick out where the grille mounts. Meaning the grill was 1/2" out from the front of the fenders.



I cut that overhang off and lapped it over the top to weld it back on flush with the fenders. I also had to cut the bottom support in the center back 1/2" but then the bottom cross piece would bolt to the fenders like factory.

So in the end the grill sits back 1/2" from factory. Everything behind the grille still clears. The only allowance I had to make was the top center mounting tab for the grille had to be notched for the center support on the core support. And that tab couldn't fit an anchor anymore. Luckily being notched into the support holds it pretty securely.

This all helps illustrate that tapering the fenders in shortens up the distance from firewall to core support. That resulted in having to cut 1-1/4" off the back of the hood. That's where things really went off the rails with the hood work this past weekend. I don't remember if I mentioned it, but for now the hood is going to have to be held on with 4 hood pins. Hopefully only for a couple months. I do have an idea how I can get the hinges to work. It will involve starting with a "new" hood so I can start out by cutting a little more strategically.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Have you seen my attempt at hood hinges ?

Ugly but they work

 

[rderosier]

I decided to give the studs a shot and I also used some aluminum flat straps. The studs really helped hold the pieces in better alignment.

View attachment 483254

Be interesting to see how it holds up.

View attachment 483253

Some things to note for anyone narrowing the front like this. First, it's more complicated than I expected, but that's normal for me at this point.

I bolted the front of the fenders to the core support with the factory holes. This put the core support all the way as far back as the body mounts would allow. I still ended up with 1/2" of stick out where the grille mounts. Meaning the grill was 1/2" out from the front of the fenders.

View attachment 483255

I cut that overhang off and lapped it over the top to weld it back on flush with the fenders. I also had to cut the bottom support in the center back 1/2" but then the bottom cross piece would bolt to the fenders like factory.

So in the end the grill sits back 1/2" from factory. Everything behind the grille still clears. The only allowance I had to make was the top center mounting tab for the grille had to be notched for the center support on the core support. And that tab couldn't fit an anchor anymore. Luckily being notched into the support holds it pretty securely.

This all helps illustrate that tapering the fenders in shortens up the distance from firewall to core support. That resulted in having to cut 1-1/4" off the back of the hood. That's where things really went off the rails with the hood work this past weekend. I don't remember if I mentioned it, but for now the hood is going to have to be held on with 4 hood pins. Hopefully only for a couple months. I do have an idea how I can get the hinges to work. It will involve starting with a "new" hood so I can start out by cutting a little more strategically.

Much harder than you would think. I bet we could compare notes and come up with a "best case" we did the core support quite different. Still looks awesome.

 

[Truckman4life]

I really like the look of a narrowed front with a grille and everything to make it look as stock as possible and not just chopped up.

 

[Chickntrk]

That front end looks great! Definitely one of those projects that seems simple until reassembly starts.

 

[Tnsejed]

Good work Scott. You'll love the dovenose.

 

[mrk5]

Have you seen my attempt at hood hinges ?

Ugly but they work

I was thinking about your rig, but I couldn't remember what you did. I figured yours was just a skin for 4 hood pins. Heck speaking of ugly, I thought about putting jeep hinges between the hood and cowl.

Much harder than you would think. I bet we could compare notes and come up with a "best case" we did the core support quite different. Still looks awesome.

On both the fenders and hood it's hard to know what to cut until you start cutting. And then it's easy to cut too much.

I really like the look of a narrowed front with a grille and everything to make it look as stock as possible and not just chopped up.

Me too. That was one of the most important things for me on this. I hope people don't even notice it right away. After looking at it for a little bit, then be like "hey, is there something different about the front of your truck?"

That front end looks great! Definitely one of those projects that seems simple until reassembly starts.

Thanks! It was real easy in my head!

Good work Scott. You'll love the dovenose.

Thanks! I already like just looking at it. I'm hoping now when I'm driving by braille it'll be with the tires instead of the body.

 

[kgblazerfive]

Mine is four pieces of angle iron I cut and then bolted together after welding them to the hood and basically built the angle iron into a set of hinges.

I can take a picture of it when I get off work today

 

[mrk5]

I got the Terminator mounted behind the dash. Ended up being simpler than I expected. There's a perfect amount of room between the dash and the air box. Would have been better if I had the original TBI ecm out of the way but it still worked.



I mounted the Terminator to an aluminum panel that's bolted to the bottom lip of the dash and at the top through the back of the glove box.