Heh yeah I would consider some Mercedes if I hadn't just put in some Hyundai ones.
I could have the way it is now leaves me plenty of room for an intercooler. It would have looked funny with such large spacers on the Toyota grill to make it fit.

So the hood is pretty much done for now.


This is the guage cluster with the diesel tach

Picked these up for $10 a piece. Thinking I'll join them together and bolt them in the bed. Leaving me space for my smoke stack.

 

The way you have it now reminds me of the 50s studebaker trucks.

 

that hood looks sweet. great thinking for the design!

 

Amagod.
So awesome.
From the side it looks like one of those jeep fullsize trucks.

 

That turned out good. It's a really good conversation piece.

 

Awesome job, ain't another one like it that's for sure!

 

So Christmas came early and my wife picked one of these up for me.


I am very happy with the way it welds compared to my crappy harbor freight. Still working on hysteer, waggy springs and chevy springs.

 

Okay I'm kinda new to welding and before I go all crazy with my build up I would like some advice/criticism from more experienced welders than I. All these were done on full power at a wire speed of 3.5 with .35 flux core wire.

They are in order of when I did them. 5/16th to 5/16th

3/16 to 5/16

3/16 to 5/16

5/16th to 5/16th

This last one is a butt joint

 

WOW!! Great build! Subscribed for sure.
Are you left handed or right handed?? Typically you are suppose to weld "frowny faces" and not "happy faces" according to an old timer I worked for. So as you go along you are pulling back and fourth making an upside down smile, a frown. I have worked with a few people who do it backwards and they were self taught. Any instructor I have ever talked too suggests the frown. Those welds look good. That is pretty thick steel. They will certainly hold IMO. The last one is a bit deep. For finish grinding and smoothing out the lap I would make sure your weld is raised enough so you don't have to come back and spot weld any gaps. I would back off on the wire speed just a touch. I seem to have better results, seems a bit more fluid with 0.30 on my Miller 180.
Looks good!
Eventually with practice and control and fluid hand movement handling the molten steel you get to this point....
These are from a site my friend found...





and one of my welds..I was proud of that one so I hope you don't mind me posting it up..

 

Wow those are some beautiful welds you posted up. Thanks for the quick reply, I'm right handed, I think I get what your saying about the "frowny faces" I just need to go reverse of what I'm doing. I still need to get gas for my welder so I can see what it really can do. I hope I can get that good to be able to do work like what you posted. Still need an auto-darkening helmet to help me with my rough starts.

Soon I'll be able to put on all the parts I have been accumulating.

 

welding is adictive. nice welds. i like how it looks using the lincoln

 

Yes welding is very addictive, I can't wait till I find a cheap bottle and can start running solid wire.

 

got any pics of the back of the welds? (esp. the butt-joint?)

 

ha! i just noticed this:
the notorious seatbelt in the door!

 

I don't really, the metal I was using had some pretty heavy surface rust on it and I didn't bother cleaning the backside.

I know, it sucks every vehicle I have no has this problem, even my BMW. I think it must be a curse that spread from my Toyotas.

 

ok. i was just curious about how far the weld penetrated using that lincoln

a curse...or a disease...

 

subscribed, nice looking truck you got there. that hood looks cool.

 

the pro-mig 180 is the same welder i use at work. it does a nice job for almost everything i've used it for.

 

Okay, so I love having a truck but I would like a bit more room in the cab, so I was thinking of cutting the bed back 16-24" to make more room for storage or maybe passenger seats. I was thinking something like this pic I badly edited in paint.

I might be able to put a window in it as well not sure yet though. What do you guys think?

 

I think it would look good, kind of flow with the hood profile. You have good fabrication and mechanical abilities so it would turn out really well.

Ironicaly I just bought that same lincoln welder as you, must have it up the same sale going on. Mine is still in the box because it is so cold out and I need to get a bottle of argon/co2 mix.