My Duster Adventures
Got some more holes in the floor welded up this evening. I’m getting a little better at welding but it’s still been quite the ordeal to get the patches welded in the where there’s zero pin holes when I’m finished grinding the welds down. I have a brass hammer in storage that I’m gonna dig out tomorrow and use that to back my welds, maybe that’ll help some.
Here you can see a few of the patches I welded in (circled). The reason I took this pic though was to show the hump that the arrow is pointed at, I had to cut that hump off flat with the floor in order to get the passenger seat in the spot that I wanted it.
Here’s what you can see how I cut it off, then just tack welded a flat piece of steel in and drilled a hole in it just to position the seat where I wanted it. I’ll be remaking this piece and fully welding it on in the next few days.
I put a set the seats the same, then set a broom handle across the tops of the headrests and got the seats to the same height, and even side to side, by using a level and also by measuring off the ceiling on both sides. I’m hoping to get mounts fab’d up tomorrow.
And here’s how the finished product should look!
I was researching how to modify my shifter to fit my console, and I found a super trick way that I should be able to do it. Wether I’ll be able to pull it off or not, my be another story. Lol
Another good thing, I bought a completely set of front and rear door panels, kick panels and armrests from @clin10 the other day and those came today! They’re green so I’m going to dye it all black but they’re in very nice shape and I’m stoked that I found them for sale! I’m super excited to finally have door panels in the car!
One bad thing for today though... I went out to cut out the rear floor pan from the valiant, and the passenger side isn’t as solid as I’d thought. I’m still going to cut it out and clean it up well to see if I can use it. If not, I guess I’ll be posting a wanted ad.
Oh, one other thing, there’s a chance I’ll be making the drive back home from Colorado by myself, and my wife wasn’t real thrilled about me traveling that long by myself with no one to keep me awake. Well, I don’t think that’ll be much of an issue. When I slide the passenger seat way back, and lay it down, I can stretch out VERY comfortably! And I’m 6’4”! These seats are going to be WELL worth the work needed to install them!
Got some more holes in the floor welded up this evening. I’m getting a little better at welding but it’s still been quite the ordeal to get the patches welded in the where there’s zero pin holes when I’m finished grinding the welds down. I have a brass hammer in storage that I’m gonna dig out tomorrow and use that to back my welds, maybe that’ll help some.
Here you can see a few of the patches I welded in (circled). The reason I took this pic though was to show the hump that the arrow is pointed at, I had to cut that hump off flat with the floor in order to get the passenger seat in the spot that I wanted it.
Here’s what you can see how I cut it off, then just tack welded a flat piece of steel in and drilled a hole in it just to position the seat where I wanted it. I’ll be remaking this piece and fully welding it on in the next few days.
I put a set the seats the same, then set a broom handle across the tops of the headrests and got the seats to the same height, and even side to side, by using a level and also by measuring off the ceiling on both sides. I’m hoping to get mounts fab’d up tomorrow.
And here’s how the finished product should look!
I was researching how to modify my shifter to fit my console, and I found a super trick way that I should be able to do it. Wether I’ll be able to pull it off or not, my be another story. Lol
Another good thing, I bought a completely set of front and rear door panels, kick panels and armrests from @clin10 the other day and those came today! They’re green so I’m going to dye it all black but they’re in very nice shape and I’m stoked that I found them for sale! I’m super excited to finally have door panels in the car!
One bad thing for today though... I went out to cut out the rear floor pan from the valiant, and the passenger side isn’t as solid as I’d thought. I’m still going to cut it out and clean it up well to see if I can use it. If not, I guess I’ll be posting a wanted ad.
Oh, one other thing, there’s a chance I’ll be making the drive back home from Colorado by myself, and my wife wasn’t real thrilled about me traveling that long by myself with no one to keep me awake. Well, I don’t think that’ll be much of an issue. When I slide the passenger seat way back, and lay it down, I can stretch out VERY comfortably! And I’m 6’4”! These seats are going to be WELL worth the work needed to install them!
