Here is the inside of the truck. Nothing in it right now but I have some huge plans for it in the works.
The original dashboard will be removed, a new dashboard will be fabricated out of fiberglass to house the many new components that will be used for the new stereo system.
Removing the original dashboard.
The original inside walls & ceiling will be getting re-enforced with thicker 3/16" steel plate & all new insulation will be getting installed. The original framework will be getting re-enforced as well. The outside skins will be getting multiple layers of Second Skin Audio sound control products.
Stripping the interior skins.
The rear most floor support cross-members need to be replaced due to severe corrosion. I have decided to replace all the cross-members for the body while the body is off the frame to fix the floor.
The new cross-members will be made from 3" x 3" x 1/4" strucural tubing.
The original money bag storage trays had to go. They were going to be in the way of the new amp wall that will be built for the 16 Soundstream Tarantula amplifiers. These were really heavy & had to weigh around 250 lbs. each. They were welded to the floor & walls & needed to be cut out. They had to be cut into smaller sections to remove them from the truck because they were just to heavy to take out in one piece.
Plasma cutting the money bag storage trays out of the truck.
Everything is gone from the inside of the truck. Now it's on to repairing the floor & cross-members.
Floor Re-build
This is the original floor of the truck in the drivers area. Looks really scary right now but the entire floor is flat and can be replaced fairly easy. Water from a leaky roof air vent got trapped under the original floor mat & caused all this damaged over the years.
The original floor was made out of 3/16" diamond plate and this is all that's left. The new floor will be getting replaced 3/16" steel plate.
This is the beginning of the floor replacement. The floor was just as poorly built as the rest of the truck. The new floor will be getting replaced and done correctly.
Cutting out the floor.
The front floor area was a single layer of 3/16" diamond plate but the rear section was a double layer with insulation foam in between them. The bottom layer is 1/16" steel plate & had to be cut out to get to the foam. All the foam has to be removed before the top layer can be cut out with the plasma cutter because of the obvious fire hazard.
In these pictures you can see that the steel plate has been cut away and the foam is now exposed & can be removed.
Replacing the floor has become more of a project than origanally planned because of the insulation foam. The foam is rock hard & can't easily be removed. The floor has to be cut into smaller sections & then pushed through from the top. Cutting the floor into sections with a circular saw & 7 1/4" metal cutting wheels is proving to be the best solution.
Cutting the floor into sections.
Now that the front section of the floor has been removed, the new cross-members can now be installed. All the mounting locations need to be cleaned & prepped to allow for good welds. All the joints will be coated with Bloxide weld through primer to prevent any future corrosion.
Prepping the mounting locations.
Welding in the new front cross-members.
Now that the front section of the floor cross-members have been replaced, the middle section of the floor can now be removed.
Cutting out the middle section of the floor.
Here is what's left of one of the original body mount bolts. Not much strength left on this one, the rest of the original body mount bolts were about the same.
Here is a sample of how bad the original 3" c-channel cross-members are rotted out. I guess this is what happens when things are not done correctly the first time.
Section of the original cross-member.
Here is the rest of it!
Before the new cross-members could be installed, the top of the frame was sandblasted & coated with POR-15 rust preventative paint because it was badly rusted. The rest of the frame & undercarraige will be getting the same treatment in the future.
Sandblasted & POR-15 painted.
Installing the middle cross-members.
Before the rear section of the original floor can be removed, the original rear fenderwells needed to be cut out & the new fenderwells installed.
More information on the fenderwell replacement can be found on page 5.
Now that the old fenderwells have been removed, the new ones can be mocked up & welded in place.
Installing the new passengers side fenderwell.
Installing the new drivers side fenderwell.
The rear section of the original floor can now be removed.
Removing the original rear section of floor.
Before the new cross-members could be installed, the top of the frame was sandblasted & coated with POR-15 rust preventative paint because it was badly rusted. The rest of the frame & undercarraige will be getting the same treatment in the future.
Sandblasted & POR-15 painted.
Installing the rear cross-members.
Now that all the new cross-members have been installed, all the 3/16" steel plate for the floor in be installed. The cross-members & all the steel plate will be cleaned and sprayed with Bloxide wed through primer to prevent corrosion between them.
Prepping the rear most cross-members.
Do to the odd shape of the rear most area, it was easier to do this section of the floor with 3/16" x 8" steel strips than with a full sheet of steel plate.
Installing the rear strips.
Extra floor supports needed to be added so the steel plate will have full support under them where the seperate plates will butt together.
The rest of the main floor will be made from 4' x 8' x 3/16" sheets of steel plate.
Cutting out the plate for the rear passengers side.
Test fitting the passengers side...looks pretty good.
Everything was sprayed with POR-15 Metal Ready to remove any surface rust & to leave behind a zink-phosphate coating.
Everything was then sprayed with a coat of Bloxide weld through primer to prevent future corrosion.
Prepping the bottom of the passengers side floor plate.
The plate can now be welded in place.
Cutting out the floor plate for the driver side.
The same process will be done here as it was on the passengers side.
Test fitting the drivers side...fits great.
Prepping the cross-members.
Prepping the bottom of the drivers side floor plate
Both floor plates are fully welded in place. The fenderwells need to be capped off & then the front floor plate can be installed.
Fenderwells capped off & completely finished.
The same process will be done with the rest of the cross-members & floor plates.
Prepping the front cross-members.
Cutting out the front floor plates.
Prepping the passengers side front floor plate.
Prepping the drivers side front floor plate.
Welding the passengers side front floor plate in place.
Passengers side fully welded.
Welding the drivers side front floor plate in place.
Now that the main floor area is complete, all that's left to do to complete the floor is the foot rest areas & the tranny hump.
Starting the tranny hump mock-up.
Now that the tranny hump location has been established, the extra floor plate can be cut away.
Final mock-up complete.
The tranny hump mock-up is now complete. It can be removed for final welding & prepping. The rest of the surfaces can also be prepped at the same time.
Welding & prepping the tranny hump.
Floor plate cleaned & prepped.
The tranny hump can now be re-installed & fully welded in place.
The fabrication of the foot rest areas can now begin. The original "square" shaped foot rest area will be re-shaped into more of a "ramped" shape.
Drivers side foot rest area.
The "squared" corner has been angled back & it has also been cleaned & prepped.
This look comfortable!
Drivers side foot rest area complete.
Passengers side foot rest area.
That does it...the floor is finally complete!
Page 1...Overview
Page 2...You Are Here
Page 3...Roof Raising & Rebuild & Wall Rebuild
Page 4...Bumper Rebuild
Page 5...Rear Fenderwell Rebuild
Page 6...Door Rebuild
Page 7...Exhaust & Fuel Tank Rebuild
Page 8...Engine & Air Conditioning System Rebuild
Page 9...Stereo System Equipment
Page 10...Stereo System Install: Ring/Plug Fabrication
Page 11...Stereo System Install: Subwoofer Enclosures
Page 12...Stereo System Install: Fiberglass SST4.0 Window Speaker Enclosure
Page 13...Stereo System Install: Fiberglass Dashboard
Page 14...Stereo System Install: Fiberglass 2nd Row Center Console
Page 15...Stereo System Install: Fiberglass Front Door Panels/SST6.9 Speaker Enclosures
Page 16...Stereo System Install: Fiberglass Front Row Center Console
Page 17...Stereo System Install: Capacitor & Distrubution Racks
Page 18...Stereo System Install: Amp Racks
Page 19...Stereo System Install: Alternator Installation
Page 20...Stereo System Install: Coming Soon
Page 21...Stereo System Install: Coming Soon
Page 22...Stereo System Install: Coming Soon
Page 23...Stereo System Install: Coming Soon
Page 24...Stereo System Install: Coming Soon
Page 25...Front Seat Bracket Fabrication
Page 26...Truck Parts
Page 27...Other Installations
Page 28...My Sponsors & Favorite Online Stores
Page 29...Funny Pictures
Page 30...Sponsor & Build Videos
