very inspirational build. I just picked up an m416 two days ago. Its in pretty good shape. I would love to make the interior water tight as it does has numerous perforations. i was curious... the floor is normally connected to the frame via thin angle iron that is welded to the underside of the floor and bolted to the frame. Did you do the same for your floor or did you do something else to attach it to your subframe?
also, how did you manage to fill in the little holes in the tub walls? I have to do this part. Is is possible to use bondo? The few holes that i have are either bolt holes for something or actual perforations from rust that existed previously.
I am on the fence about fabricating my own lid vs. buying one... (if you think your welds aren't pretty, you obviously have never seen mine!) What would you say is the best way to check squareness of the tub? Plumb line and protractor?
Also, have you check out jcwhitney for weatherstripping? Only problem is, i don't know if they give size dimensions. I think they ask for car models and apply a size.
On my trailer, the floor just sat on the frame and was connected by straps that were welded to the sides of the tub and then bolted through the sides of the frame. the angle iron was just welded to the floor to make it more rigid. When I replaced the floor and had to put in the sub frame, I drilled down through the floor, sub frame and frame and bolted it down. I'm still going to replace the side straps though. Hopefully you won't have to go through all that. Do as much work as you possibly can with the tub on the frame. I learned that the hard way.
I just welded up all the small holes and welded patches in the larger ones. Pick up a good copper spoon to lay behind the holes when you are welding. You can get one from harbor freight for about $10. Welding up the rust holes can be frustrating because you just burn the hole bigger until you get to some solid metal. Take your time and get on and off the trigger quite often.
As for checking for square, a tape measure from corner to corner will tell you if you are square, but a long straight edge or string line will tell you how much your upper rails are bend. You might as well plan on using angle iron to square out the top edge of your tub. It will make building your lid go much smoother and it just looks so much better. If I were to start over with a perfectly straight tub, I'd still go that route. I like The Joshes idea of using C channel if you can find it. But if you go that route, your rails ave to be straight enough to fit the C channel over it.
My welds have gotten much better as I've gone along. Still frustrating because I can lay down a few really good welds in a row, then immediately lay down a really horrible one.
Thanks, I will check out jcwhitney.
While you are at it, you might as well start a build thread. The advice you get from others is very valuable. Plus, we all like to see pictures:sombrero:
