Rust, rust and more rust...

Well the old girl is a little rusty, in fact the doors and front fenders are beyond repair in my mind. So I started working on the cab corners and other areas that people won't see. The pictures below show the rusted corners in the firewall area. I also have some small repairs in the floor of cab as well, not much really considering how old she is. I'm actually enjoying the metalwork and welding though my welding skills are still pretty awful. As my son-in-law Richard said "are you a good welder or a good grinder"? Right now I'm a good grinder!

Jeep differential

I found a 1990 Jeep Cherokee rear end in a small town near Edmonton so I drove out and bought the diff for my project. The rear gearing is now 3.73 and when I mate that diff with the A833 Dodge manual transmission I'm supposed to have the best possible package for my truck. My project really needed some items knocked off the checklist. Installing the the diff really makes a difference to the stance of the truck as well as my state of mind.

Distractions

Well it's easy enough to become overwhelmed by the scale of a project in it's early stages and that happened to me. Making things worse I made the mistake of going to a car auction and damn near bought a 1961 Buick Invicta. That purchase would have derailed the Fargo project for sure. I managed to fight off the urge, but for days I suffered remorse for not bidding. Then to make things even more confusing I found a 1952 Fargo body in better shape than mine. The price was right, but I just can't sacrifice a nice truck to complete mine. I'll keep looking for doors and front fenders off a truck someone else has scrapped. If I had the space I'd buy the damn thing and store it but I don't.