Well , it's been a while since I posted about this so I thought I'd drop a note here.
The truck is coming along nicely, the bodywork was mocked up on the chassis for the first time a couple of days ago, and it's uncanny how well it fits on there. The biggest issue we've got is that the wheels are about 3/4 on both sides too narrow to fit between the bed side. To fix this for now I am going to buy some wheels spacers (which I don't like) and I'll eventually get some wheels with more front spacing to fix it properly. I was always planning on getting some wheel vintiques 12 series smoothies eventually so it's not a big deal.
Aside from that, it looks like the explorer chassis was made for the job, one of the chassis mount almost perfectly lines up with the body mounts on the 51 cab !
An added bonus is that I won't have to go to a four link and bags just yet, because the bed sits so nicely I'll be able to keep the leaf springs and still have a ride height of around 6 inches. And thats with still having the cab set low enough to lay the running boards once I do go with bags.
We aren't even going to have to channel the cab onto the frame because there isn't any need, a new firewall and trans hump and it'll be good.
I don't have any more pictures as yet, it was dark when I was up there, but I'll grab some soon. I hope to have the truck back at home by the middle of June (when I get back from a 2 week vacation in Australia) to start getting it operational again, fitting brakes, wiring harness, one piece window kit etc.
It's getting exciting !