Also since the only gasifier that I have, that I know will work, is the new diagonal draft. I bought a 1.25"-1" reducer bushing so I can make a Matt style nozzle with a 3/4" pipe as the consumable.
Beat and straighten the A posts out find a window for it and put in. My roll over 1965 scout was bent worst that and it was straighten out. It is going to be a Rat Rod any ways. It looks like you can beat the roof back up too.
As they say, anything can be accomplished with stupidity and a Bigger Hammer. Now I am not saying you are stupid.
But I have done it and it works…Lol
Bob
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If the hammer and 2x4 doesn’t work, the highlift Jack does wonders
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Only issue of the roof is the moon roof thing. We’ve already tried to jack the roof back up with the porta power and it was hard to find a flat spot to brace against. Driver B pillar is also pretty mangled up so there’s no point in saving the roof if it’s really cockeyed.
I’m going to leave a little bit of the roof to have something to weld to my roll cage, that way the A pillar stays stiff.
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I’m honestly amazed the moon roof didn’t shatter. It was directly on the pavement. I might just save it for when I get a Sedan and want it inside the trunk. Would give me a fun looking inspection door and hatch.
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I am going to cut the back about here. That way I have less open body that I need to cap off from the rain.
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I think it’s also high time I rebuild the air intake system as well.
I am going to use the Weber bolt pattern to flange the air cleaner to the carburetor. I’ll need to find a way to replace the center stud that the Mazda carb had and make it work for the Weber. Not like I’ll have the original paper filter but I guess I could kludge my way through it. I’d like to have a spring loaded lid as my backfire release.
Then I’ll need to seal every single stupid vacuum hole, and cut some sheet metal to cover up the old EGR air injection mess. I’ll also need to remove the original air tube, it’s thin and doesn’t seal up well it was just spot welded together.
Lots of surgery on this but I want the engine compartment to look CLEAN so to speak. No crackhead tomfoolery of duct tape and PVC. Just sophisticated planned appearing duct tape and PVC.
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Wondering if I want to remove the whole truck bed, or just cut away some of it. Need to get it back on some flat ground so I can crawl under and see if it would really even help to cut away the bed. I think the floor of the bed is just about right on top of the frame with no perches or anything. I might try to figure out a sort of sidesaddle WW2 mount using bed mounting holes. The grease drum body isn’t as wide as a 55 gallon drum so it might work. Would let me mount it lower.
Edit: the sidesaddle option would be if I went for a wooden flatbed.
When I had to shimmy the old girl closer to my shop air, I could tell it’s almost ready to go blast some cobwebs out of it. I should go ahead and put the grille back in and wire up my light bar on the bumper since the headlights are so cross-eyed they’re worthless at night.
The reason why I want to bumper mount it is so it won’t be as obnoxious or blinding to others on the road. Can’t count how many times I’ve been blinded by someone’s roof mounted spotlights and lightbars.
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Cut that roof just behind the window frame, jack the A pillar back to it’s original position. I’ve seen way worse that that. You can weld a strip into the gap where the window frame moved forward and practice your dolly and hammer skills on the rest of the roof. I watched a you tube with a guy spot welding sheet metal with the carbon core out of a double A battery with a stick welder. I’m going to have to try that.
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Got the top chopped. Now for the much more annoying chore of taking out the carpet.
Dad is pretty sure we can fix the bed with a come along winch for the big stuff and his stud puller for the smaller dents.
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Since I’m going doorless, I welded the old mirror perches to the cab body. Had to order a replacement for this one, got crushed in the wreck.
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That’s interesting. You can drive without doors but you must have windshield wipers? Probably some dumb rule about brakes as well. I’m not familiar with that truck Cody. Is it on a frame? I think I’d add some door bars when you get that roll cage back in. Stiff backs are NFG. Stiff chassis are bueno.
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Oh yeah she’s Body on Frame. I’m going to weld in a tube guardrail for my leg, and a diagonal to brace my hip from sliding off the bench seat.
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Also going to need to mount the seatbelt anchor on the roll cage. I got some El cheapo classic Collar Bone Breaker 9000s from Jegs for my Sierra and they’ve held up pretty good so I’ll probably buy another set for the Mazda.
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I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, being from the South and all but don’t forget that hillbilly air bag. The one where you have a deflated air mattress across the dashboard hooked up to an air tank. When you think you are going to crash you quickly turn a ball valve to inflate the bag for both you and your passenger. I tried to get a patient but apparently it was too far ahead of it’s time.
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I’m honestly amazed at how well the Mazda seatbelts did. I was hanging upside down, head didn’t even hit the roof or anything. Just a regular 3 point shoulder and lap belt.
Truck was made before Airbags.
I need to get the seatbelts put in before anything else. I can get away with every other DOT trick but can’t evade not wearing a safety belt.
Also got all the lights put back on. I have a helmet I can wear if I’m having a hard time getting good plexiglass. I need to see if I can get some 1/4" stuff instead of the 1/8" stuff at Lowes/Home Depot. Might be cheaper online. I should maybe give Gaston Auto Glass a call if they can source an actual windshield.
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Roll bar main hoop is a fair bit wider than the actual frame of the truck. I think I’ll have to either bolt it down to the floor pan, or just weld it directly. It’s in impeccable shape, zero rust on the inside. Amazing for a Japanese truck from the 80s.
Right now as the cage is laid out, there will be 4 points of contact with the floor pan. I can always add diagonals and trusses that further anchor it.
Removed all the nasty ancient carpet as well, it’ll just wick and hold in moisture from the rain. Didn’t have time to drill any drain holes but at least if some rain slips past the tarp I’ll see where to drill some.
Edit: I’m going to use some of my 1/4 plate stock and weld the cage to that, then weld the plate to the floor pan. Give it a wider distribution. This section of the pan is very close to the frame so it shouldn’t buckle by much. The feet wouldn’t be the only load bearing places anyways, in the event of a crash there’s a horizontal bar near the feet of the main hoop that will be resting on the driveshaft tunnel.
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I looked one up that was neat. What would happen if you modified a mig tip to hold the carbon rod? would the shielding gas allow it to form a puddle and weld kind of like a tig?
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I have a 4x5 foot sheet of 1/4 inch steel plate Cody. I keep looking lustfully at it thinking of all the stuff it could make but it’s probably the last one I’ll ever have and I just can’t bring myself to cut into it. I guess they can put it over my grave to keep the critters from digging me up.
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It would be done cut up if I had a sheet of that stuff. But a grave covering? Hope that doesn’t happen for many, many, years from now.
Bob
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