As the temperature started rising here in Ontario so too did the frequency of questioning regarding Project ‘Why Wait’. As it turns out a lot of people were eagerly waiting for me to get started over the winter.

However for 2015 I was perfectly fine with the fact that, after a long search, I finally had a base to start from and a pretty awesome chassis to build upon. However that was then, this is now, and there’s no tricks in ’16, its time to build.

However, before we get to the exciting fabrication posts there’s plenty of prep work and tear down that needs to be done, including getting the cab off of the current frame.

This is somewhat easier said than done considering that the truck, in stock form, is actually far too tall to make it into any of the bays at Taylor’d Customs.

A few weeks ago Blair and I came up with a quick summer build plan that involved me taking the truck apart outside the shop. Immediately (I’m talking hours) after we came up with this plan it started to snow leaving me to wait for a second spring thaw.

Yesterday the weather was finally good enough to work outside so I got to work pulling the front sheet metal off. Things started slow as I began carefully bagging nuts and bolts so I’d know where they went after word (this is my first rodeo after all), however about fifteen or so bolts in this kept happening:

Not every bolt broke, but enough of them did for me to toss out the idea of reusing any of the original bolts. When the time comes to put everything back together I’ll likely pick up stainless bolts for the engine bay area and new bolts for everywhere else.

I did however keep enough original bolts hanging around to loosely zing things back together for future mock-ups.

With some help here and there, including a big final push from Blair as my dinner bell was ringing at home, the front end of the truck was successfully separated from the cab and, for the most part, no major surprises were found.

Yes the cab has a few spots outside of the cab corner I knew it need that need to be addressed but that is largely par for the course when dealing with these trucks.

It is still a very solid truck overall, and most of the things that should work, still do, including this pretty neat vent that opened up while I was in the cab looking for something else.

We also noticed that the fuel that was in the system evaporated instead of turning to gunk so we might try to turn this motor over at some point and see what happens. I don’t plan on using the straight six in long run but that doesn’t mean that someone else couldn’t find a use for it.

The next trip back to the shop will be in a couple of weeks, and at that point the goal is to get the cab off the truck and on to the waiting chassis so we can complete the fabrication. From there the chassis and a few components go out for sand blasting and coating before the cab goes back on and assembly can resume.

In the meantime I’ve got a few junk yard runs to make for some later model front end parts, along with a few Performance Improvements orders to make. There’s already one shipment in my garage (the contents of which will be revealed in the next Performance In Motion Magazine) but there are oh so many more to come.

It’s going to be an exciting summer!