I do have a few questions if you don't mind.
No Problem!
1. Do you have pics of how you fab'd the door handles/latches? Without seeing the details, it looks like you have one latch point holding the door closed. Do you see any warping/flexing/vibrating in the door at the bottom or top with single latch point in the middle? I've been looking at some triple point paddle latches and trying to decide if the money is warranted.
I don't have any pics easily accessible at the moment and they are not the best setup in the world to use as a model. I ended up buying two basic u shaped cabinet handles. I welded a stud on one of the u points. That stud goes through the door to the middle of a piece of 1"x1/8" bar stock that I grinded down and smoothed out to a handle. When you turn the outside handle the inside handle either catches the door casing or releases it. Again, it's a bit hacky but it does work reliably.
2. Do you have any feedback on how happy you are having to refuel inside the cab? Do you have to be extra careful not to soak the seat or soundproofing? If you had it to do over again, would it be worth building a notch around fuel fill similar to your top link notch so you could fuel from outside?
That has not been a problem at all. The main reason is if you look at my door setup, the hinged portion is very far back making for a long door. It kicks back beyond where the bottom portion of the door is. I did that for easy fueling and super easy access to climb in/out. Its back so far that when the door is swung open I have no problem filling the tank from the outside as if the cab isn't even there. You can see below, the door cuts back to where the fuel fill is. The bottom crossmember is only a touch higher then the factory handrail is. I fill with your typical 5 gallon can and I rest it on the crossmember while filling. Works out great.
3. How has the resin soaked undelayment held up to weather? Also, did you put any cross bracing on this to minimize its behavior as a vibration amplifier?
As far as how its holding up I'd say not bad but not great either. I will most likely get about 5 years out of it if I had to guess. When I do need to replace it I think I'll go with the cheap stand up shower plastic wall material you can get at home depot. Regarding sound, I do have one 3/4" x 1/2" steel crossmember midway on the roof for support and to eliminate resonance. It works as expected, no noise at all from the roof.
Thanks and hope you don't mind the questions on this old post.
No problem. When I get a chance I'll take some shots of my hinge/latch setup but I'm not that proud of it!
Just curious where you got your heater from and where on the motor you hooked up the coolant lines to. Looks like a nice job!!! Thanks Aaron
I got my heater from Summit Racing, basic three speed. I really just looked for the physically smallest unit I could find. Worked out that this was cheap too (bout $100?) On page two I posted a diagram on the coolant line hookup
and that didn't seem to faze it.
