Cab Sheet

 

I got the second half of the dash hood made up on Saturday. I need to tweak the fit just a bit and then I can trim the pieces where they overlap and weld up the seam.

I made the first half of the back of the cab yesterday. That was pretty straight forward since I had the pattern made up already. I'll see about making the other half today. I'm planning on fastening the back cab to the dash hood using Dzus fasteners - three on a side should do it. I'll put a joggle in the cab sheet so the outer surface is smooth. I'm planning on joining the cab halves with rivets. I've got "real" aluminum rivets rather than pop rivets to use. 

The plan then is to roll a bead along the outer edge of the cab and part way up the side of the dash hood. I'll then bend up a piece of aluminum round bar to fit inside the bead and then hammer over a bit of the side sheets to hold the bar in place. That will stiffen up the edge of the sheets and give me a nice round edge rather than one that's likely to slice me open in the event of an accident. Fitting the bar to the sheet is going to be rather time consuming but I've done tougher. The biggest problem is the bender is in the back half of the shop that isn't heated but if I get the two halves of the cab riveted together, I can set the cab on some horses and work on it a little while I'm waiting on the front part of the shop to warm up after I turn on the heater for my daily jitney session.

I can't go any farther back on the car since I've run out of frame. I've got plenty of work left up front yet, so it's not like I'll have to stop work. I can get started hanging the front suspension or get some more tubing and start making the rear frame. I'm thinking get a little closer to having the cab and dash hood finished and then decide what I want to tackle next.