Firewall Tubing

I think several of them installed a welding blanket on the inside, cleared all the wiring in the kick panel. Lots of critical wiring around those kick panels. I just remember one person mentioning having his wife on fire watch, fire extinguishers on standby.

 

Pull back the carpet, unbolt any wiring harnesses in the way and bungee cord them out of the way, and then put a welding blanket in there to protect everything from sparks. As far as the welder, gonna be tough with flux.

 

good deal, thank you. Side note- Has anyone completely removed their carpet permanently? Not sure how ugly it is under there, but like the idea of something lower maintenance.

I’m going to weld some test pieces to see what I’m up against. Depending on the amount cut out, I’m curious how structural this area is. I’m wondering if a lot of tack welds then sealing is enough or if it really needs a full bead all around...

 

I did and coated the floor in bedliner. After a year I added carpet again. Too damn noisy without it.

As far as welds, just get it the best you can and seal the rest. It doesn’t need to be perfect but you want to get as much welded as you reasonably can.

 

good point, I didn’t think about the noise...

 

They make (maybe past tense made..) vinal floors for these trucks. A few threads on here of guys making the swap. Not sure if Ive ever seen anyone with nothing though.

As far as welding, you may consider this product if the application is correct (sandwiching two pieces of metal together, not filling gaps):

$54 3M Panel Bonding Adhesive 08115, OEM Recommended Two-Part Epoxy, 200 mL Cartridge, Bonds Metal & Composites for Auto Body Panel Repair (1 Cartridge)

https://smile.amazon.com/3M-08115-P...ords=08115&qid=1603475988&s=automotive&sr=1-2

It seems to have worked well for me when I had to do some repairs to my floorpan after an unfortunate incident in the woods.

 

Nice! Thank you for that. I didn’t know about the vinyl. I think I’m going to get a lot of burn through trying to weld, so I may tack what I can and fill the rest with that panel bonding or something similar. Will see how it goes.

 

Finally got tired of rubbing. Baby Tubbing and Cab Mount Relocate.

 

Cab mount is relocated. Trying to decide if I'm going to weld a plate over the 2.5 inch hole. This hole is left in the frame after removing the orginal cab mount. What are most people doing? Hell maybe it's fine. I know the rear is only channel, but the front has all the weight. Guess if I'm questioning it, I should go ahead and weld some plate on there.

 

I would just leave it personally. I don’t know how much strength it would really add and it would it would introduce a lot more unnecessary heat into that area of the frame.

 

you also have the option of the toyota all weather floor. I just pulled my carpet and swapped along with some sound deadening to keep noise down.

 

I plated it. Frame was full of mud and junk from that hole and was rusting through. Had a hole rusted through on each side just below that circle hole that I could fit my hand through.

I'm currently also in the process of tubbing, but quite a lot more cutting than you

 

Thanks. I am still cutting a little and hammering the rest. Going to weld some thicker plates in first, cover them with some 16 ga sheets, then 3M seam sealer to cover up my welds. I am more nervous about cutting the fenders and flares. Really want the flares secure and not just being held on with plastic clips. I may remove the clips and epoxy carriage bolts in their place. At least this would be fastened securely. Open to ideas on this. Again thanks

For anyone interested, here are a few more pictures.

 

you’re going to want to cut a bit more while you’re already doing this. The amount of body deflection will cause you to rub if you actually plan on wheeling.

 

I agree. I sure do not want to do it twice.

 

At full bump what additional clearance did you leave? A half inch, an inch?

 

I pulled the coilovers and bump stops out, then jacked up the tire as far as it would go until it was resting on the upper ball joint, then went about .5" further.

 

Wow. That's sweet. You rebuilt the inner fender completely. My coilover is out. I think im going to go about one inch at full bump and call it good. Are you running fiberglass fenders or did you cut the factory fenders? What gauge sheet metal did you use? That looks really good.

 

the more the merrier. Shoot for an inch if you can fit it. A 1/2” at the least.

 

Im just going to cut more out of my fenders. I kind of want to try rolling them, Like how the bagged out tuner car guys do it. We'll see. Glass would get smashed off so fast where I live, even though I do really want it.

I used 16g sheet. Pretty thick, but it's working!