Off to my local muffler shop where they fabricated everything except the actual muffler; it turned out to be a bit cheaper than I'd expected, which is good, but they took their time. A week later she came home and after a great drive it was obvious that the original muffler system was quieter than the split system she had. Cool!
The next step (!) was to install the steps. Since the tub on the Old Girl is not original, this meant drilling new holes. So the thing I did was install the lower brace that fits between the frame and the step bottom. In order to sit straight I had to grind off one of the three step bolts that held it onto the bracket. Not sure why the 3 bolts were there, only two would be sufficient and allow a bit more flexibility in mounting. Next I fitted the steps with the vertical hangers and marked my holes. The original would have been mounted to bolts welded into the hat channels, but the existing hat channels were rusted or gone, so I mounted directly to the floor. This pushed the step rearward about an inch and raised it about 1/2 inch.
The passenger side was a breeze...then I realized I had to remove the fuel tank on the driver side, which means also removing the seat. Which also means draining enough gas out of the tank to allow me to remove it. Guess what? YES, the tank was full! So next nice day I take her out and drive around to burn gas. Still not enough so next nice day after that I finally run the tank down to near "E". Meanwhile we've had the 2016 Blizzard ("Snow-Zilla" or was it "Snow-Nino"?) followed by epic cold (-5*F) followed by another snow storm. So 6 weeks later I'm able to finally take that seat and tank out, neither of which are difficult. The driver side step went in just as easy as the passenger side.
She looks more balanced, and looks just a bit more like her old self when young. Next projects: heater, backup lights, body mounts, front differential leak.
Thanks for looking...
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