We are still in New England. Wife is in WFH mode at this time and she has been too busy for us to leave.
So I have been doing what I can. I ordered steel for the bottom and aluminum for the sides and interior. They were to deliver last Thursday but do to reduced work staff they have not been able to get it to me. Hopefully it will come the 1st part of this week.
I did decide to use steel for the floor. I ordered 16ga cold rolled mild steel. I will stitch weld the edges and was wondering about the cross tubes in the frame. I was thinking about riveting the steel to the cross tubes to keep it from oil canning and making the chassis a bit more rigid. there are only a couple of cross tubes.
I flipped the frame on my build table to get ready for the bottom attachment. Touched up the welds on the bottom and ground the areas that would interfere with the steel plate.
Attachment:
Frame flipped (2).JPG
I am going to use POR-15 silver for the frame. I think I will paint the bottom of the frame wherever the bottom will prohibit getting paint access. I will keep it off the areas that will be welded of course. Went to HF, Autozone & Lowe's looking for weldable primer and they do not carry it. Will order from Grainger's. Would like to at least have primer over the tubes that will be welded to prevent rust in those areas.
Also painted the head rests (they were dk blue) with vinyl paint. And I repainted the spare mount.
Attachment:
Head rests.JPG
MV8, I thought about your comment on covering the nice wheel the frame builder selected with a spare license plate mount. I decided to weld a bracket onto the rear of the frame to mount the rear plate. I have seen some lic frames that incorporate both back up lites and plate lites.
Attachment:
Lic plate mount (2).JPG
It is at the bottom of the frame which kicks up. I mounted the spare and made sure the plate was not blocked by the spare.
I called the machine shop to see how progress is on the engine. They have the block & head cleaned, bored, crank turned and will deck the block this week and get the head done. I may get it back by the end of the week!
Will continue to chip at little tasks until I get more material.
As far as the days go by, we stay at home except to go to the store or take long walks. Wishing you all stay well!
Thom