Truck Gear

Today on trucks. The heavy metal continues as Project Crazy Horse starts looking more like a Bronco again.

And later, we'll take a look at a few of our favorite moments from past shows. That's all today on trucks.

Welcome to trucks and our continuing build up on Project Crazy Horse, our old 66 Ford Bronco. Now

you can see by this old rusty pile of metal, we've done some serious cutting on this body. Matter of fact, last week, we cut the whole front clip off because it was all dented up and rusty and needed to be replaced.

So we're gonna do that, but we also cut out all the nasty metal that was in the front door pillars

and the lower inner panels. I mean, we're right in the middle of showing you how to replace those and we ran out of time.

Now, obviously, this is some of the most severe surgery that you can do to a body.

But if you take your time,

make sure that you're well braced inside, you'll be surprised just how nice the outcome will be. So, we're gonna continue this build up today. But before I break out the welder.

Let me show you just how well all this stuff's fitting together.

Ok. From the rear fenders forward,

the only parts that are still original on this old truck are a couple of the cross members and just part of the firewall, the striker panels, the rocker panels, the floor pans, these are all

placement parts. Matter of fact,

the only part that I had to custom make are these little side pieces

and that's what's nice about the Bronco. All of these parts are available. So literally, we've got a brand new body. Now, this is an original door, check out this fit.

That's what you're after. Now, it doesn't matter if you're working on a Bronco or whatever the tools and the techniques that I've been using

are gonna be pretty much the same no matter what you're working on.

All right, now, we're all up to date.

Now it's time to start reconstructing this whole front clip.

Now, the parts that we're gonna use, we got from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard.

They consist of left and right inner fenders. All your supports are already welded in place.

You have both inner wheel tubs.

We also got a new core support. Now, this holds your radiator

also has all the holes already popped into it.

All your supports are already welded in place.

We also got all the supports that holds this stuff together. Check this out. This is for a body mount.

Now, the best part is, this is all nice, thick, heavy cage metal, just like the originals. And if you put them in. Right.

Well, they're gonna last just as long as the original pieces did, heck even longer if you take care of them.

One of the tricks of doing a project like this

is to pre ft these smaller pieces as much as you can. That way when you go to do the big assembly,

it's a whole lot easier. For example,

using this old clip as a reference.

Well, I can measure and find exactly where I'm gonna have to mount those new body mounts

to the new core support.

Then all you have to do

is weld the new mounts into the proper location.

Now, we're ready for the bigger pieces. So the first thing we'll do is take these inner fenders, slide them into place

and then just clamp them on.

Next comes the core support

and we'll just clamp that on too.

Finally, we're ready to start lining it all up and this is where all these measurements that you took before you disassembled. Everything

become real important.

You did take measurements, didn't you? I told you to. And here's why this is the only reference that you've got to make sure that all this stuff lines up. Remember your fenders, your hood, your grill.

They all depend on this instructure being straight and this little piece of paper has just become a very important ingredient to this whole project. Now using that as a reference,

go ahead and line everything up but make sure you double and triple check it because this has got to be right.

Once everything's right,

punch your holes for your spot welds

and weld it all together

with the outer structure together. It is time for these wheel tubs. Now, once again, using the old clip as a reference, we'll fit the new tubs in, clamp them in place and then just weld them on. Now, there is no need to do a whole weld seam around here. Most vehicles are put together just using spot welds. So

if you space your spot welds about an inch apart, believe me, this will be plenty strong. But when you're welding it in, make sure that you skip around so you don't warp the metal.

All right,

with the new wheel tubs welded in and all the supports, finish it off with the grinder, come in here and knock off the heads of these spot welds

and that'll finish up this inner structure. Now, look at this, this looks awesome. Now, I know there's probably some of you thinking uh there is no way that that

old thin sheet metal is gonna be strong. It's just gonna bend all up. Ha

not the case, not when you got it welded together. Check this out.

This is all a one piece body now, no flexing, no bending.

And I just picked up the front of a Bronco

that takes care of the hard stuff and the heavy stuff. And fortunately it's time to take a break. But after the break, we're gonna get into some of the funnest parts of these kind of projects and that's fitting new components. You gotta see that

when trucks returns, Crazy Horse is taking shape both outside and in

and later, we've got some great moments you may have seen

and some you were never meant to

welcome back to trucks. We're doing some heavy metal work on Project Crazy Horse.

All right, before the break, I took you in showed you how to reconstruct this instructure using new metal. Now

it is time for some new sheet metal like these fenders

and this grill that we got from Jeff's Bronco Graveyard.

Now these things should just drop in fairly easily. But, and this is a big, but

let me tell you the reality of reproduction parts do not expect these just to drop in and be perfect. It's not gonna happen,

be prepared to spend some time tweaking and bending and opening up some holes and working with it until you get it just right now. That doesn't mean these are bad parts.

That's just the reality of it.

This is starting to look like a Bronco.

Oh Man. Look at that scene.

All right. This takes care of the front clip of Project Crazy Horse and it should also show you that if you take your time

man, you can make reproduction parts fit just like the originals. Now, we're gonna turn our attention to how we're gonna lay out the interior

and that means steering column and seats.

Of course, you probably remember from last week the chrome tilt column and the

Laar steering wheel that we're gonna use on this project got both of those from wild horses.

But what you haven't seen are these seats.

Now, we got these from wild horses too

and they are the pro car rally seat

and they feature nice deep side and thigh bolsters to hold you in place, but they're not too big to where you can't look out the side and keep an eye on the terrain.

It's really important when you're four wheeling.

Now they've got the adjustable backrest,

adjustable headrest

and of course,

the adjustable seat track. Now, guys and girls,

hopefully this is where you're gonna be spending a lot of time and a bad set of seats can really beat the crap out of you, especially if you're gonna be doing any kind of jumping.

So, investing in a good set of seats is definitely worth the money.

The first thing we'll do,

slide in that new column

and then lightly bolted into place.

Follow that

with that new steering wheel.

Now, we are ready for these seats

and this is where a lot of people make some mistake.

Now, it doesn't matter if you're setting up a street truck or a four wheel drive like this.

If your seats are not specifically made for your application, well, it is up to you to make them fit. This is how you do it.

First thing you wanna do is center up the wheel

with the center of the seat,

then

you are ready to set the height.

Now, if you're using a tilt column like this,

it's much better to set it with it straight that way

you got all kinds of adjustment up or down.

Now, as you can see, we're setting just a little too high. Actually, we're gonna look through the top of the windshield

so we could drop a couple inches.

So look at this,

you notice that the seat is sitting up a couple inches off of the floor pan.

We'll just come back here, cut a couple slots

that will drop the whole seat down to where it sits flat on the floor pan

and that should be perfect. Now,

big tip here

do not bolt right to the floor pan.

You need to build some sort of a structure that the seat actually bolts to,

that will keep the seat from pulling out in case you wreck or roll the vehicle bolt right to the floor pan is not strong enough. Now, I'm gonna go ahead and finish this up. We'll see you after the break.

After the break, this rare horse gets a shiny replacement for its factory ha cab.

That's next.

Welcome back. To the truck shop where we are reconstructing

the body of project Crazy horse.

Now, all the structural metal is welded in, got new fenders on grill

hood is on, got a new steering column in seats.

This thing's starting to look like a truck again. Come on, admit it, you never thought I'd get it back together. Did you?

Well, we're gonna turn our attention to the dash and the pedals, both of which we're gonna reuse.

But we made a call to a place called auto crafters to help us get some of the parts that we're gonna need to restore this stuff. Now, we got new rubber pedal pads,

bushings for the pedals, all new knobs.

But we also got things like tail lights and tail light doors. Some of this small stuff that's kind of hard to find.

Now, we also need a new hard top because our original top

and it's got rust in it.

It looks like somebody planted their buttocks right here in the center creased it all the way out here to the end. So we need a new top.

Well, we made another call to auto crafters

and we got this all original metal

half cab. Now, this thing looks like it's been sitting in a garage since 1969.

Now, obviously, there's not a lot of these laying around even at a place like auto crafters. But

if you've got your heart set on a half cab,

well, they've got brand new fiberglass reproductions that look and fit just like these. So

can't find an original,

you know where to get a fiberglass one. Now, obviously, I'm not gonna bolt this on right now, but I am gonna set it in place so you can see what this thing is gonna look like.

All right, with the top in place. It is time to think about some protection. Now, you probably remember what this thing came with. Originally,

the legendary PV C roll bar. I think this company went out of business. Hey, look out.

That's right. A PV C roll bar.

Uh

Well, we decided to go a lot stronger than that with this double roll bar that we got from wild horses. Now, this thing is specifically designed for the half cab. Check out how nice it fits

and installation is as simple as just putting it in, drilling some holes and bolting it on. You gotta love it when it's that easy

last, but not at least are the doors. Now, I know you're drooling over my cherry doors. Unfortunately, I can't tell you where to find some of those you're just gonna have to hunt,

but I can tell you where to get the parts to restore them.

Tom's Bronco parts

and we got brand new stainless steel door panels, arm rests, new window glass

emblems for the fenders. We have the inner and outer door handles.

We have the window tracks that go down in the doors. We have all the weather stripping for the doors. Look at this, this is for the vent wings.

Matter of fact, Tom's has got so much stuff that we went ahead and got a complete carpet kit

and weather stripping for the whole vehicle. Now, the best part is this stuff just pops into the original location,

but you do need to make sure that your doors are painted before you put this stuff on,

which brings me to the next step of this project, taking it all apart

and stripping it and painting it. But before I do that,

I'm gonna sit here and imagine that body on that chassis.

When we come back, Stacy has some very special memories to share with you

and now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

What would happen if somebody invented a spark plug had more than one electrode

like uh well, like this one right here, it's got six.

Well, according to the claims, it would be pretty amazing. Unfortunately,

these were built back in 1959 and they never quite took off with the buying public,

but the idea was a good one. Just needed a little bit of refining.

That is what the Bosch company did with these platinum plus four spark plugs. Now notice

these have got four ground electrodes that go around a center platinum electrode and this actually gives you more spark. And since the spark is not covered with an electrode like a conventional plug.

Well, this is more efficient. This actually gives you more power and more economy all at the same time.

The best part is you don't have to build a time machine and go back to 1959 to get these. Just go to your local parts store

in the world of performance mufflers. There are two schools of thought. Number one,

you've got the guy that wants to put a performance muffler on his daily driver. Number two,

you've got the guy that wants to put a performance muffler on his show truck. So it's got to look good.

And that is where these Edelbrock 304 polish stainless steel mufflers come in.

Now, these are not only a great sound and great flowing muffler,

but they also have different offsets available, different inlet sizes

and the best part is the whole thing is polished stainless steel. So it's always gonna look good.

Now, the prices of these, well, they start at about 100 bucks a piece.

You can get them from jigs

for those of you into the great outdoors. You know that the worst sound that you can possibly hear

other than a grizzly bear slobbering outside your tent

is the sound of a tree branch, scraping down the side of your truck, peeling the paint off. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to protect your truck? Well, the guys at the truck glove company thought that exact same thing. So they invented

the truck glove. Now, this thing is made out of heavy duty canvas type material

that completely protects your truck from the windows down.

However, all the lights and door handles are still functional, so you can drive the truck up to 35 miles an hour. And for you hunters, the exterior is a mossy

oak camouflage. Finally,

installation just takes a few minutes as this thing just clips into place with velcro and straps.

The truck glove goes for about 500 bucks and that's just about what a body shop would charge you to repair. One scratched fender.

As we check out the latest little package from the Euro scene. It's tiny. It's cute. It's,

and one of the best things about doing a show like trucks

is all the crazy stuff that happens when we're putting the shows together.

Unfortunately, we can't always share that stuff with you. So

we've decided to show you some of our favorite moments on trucks.

Now, some of this stuff you've probably already seen

some of it. I promise you, you haven't,

but either way

you're gonna enjoy this.

Yeah.

You probably guess that putting these trucks through their pieces like this can be a little dangerous.

And it is.

I,

I,

especially if you're a photographer.

Who,

who

that?

Yeah.

All right. I guess it doesn't work so good. How's Stacey,

by the way, there's no seat belt back there.

Oh.

Oh,

we had all four in the

year.

We had all four in

the,

oh, so

real funky out to my camera too.

Sometimes it can be a little tough on the trucks too.

Is it all gonna fall apart and leave us stranded on the side of the road?

Well, we're gonna find out.

Well,

I guess this answers this question.

Bang it,

but

we never forget to have.

You might want to hold on to something.

So keep watching. We'll keep building them and driving them for you.

That's great.

Next week, Stacy goes to check out a stripper, an automotive stripper that is all to show you what's involved in powering away. Some 30 odd years of rust and crud on Project Crazy Horse.

Then we'll take a look at a 99 dodge four by four sitting on air bags and 44 inch tall tires.

That's all. Next week on trucks.

Trucks is an RTM production.