Some questions about sheet metal install

[House Money]

If going by sequence of the build manual the wire harnesses get installed prior to the interior sheet metal. Is there a reason for this? At the very least I was thinking it would be best to locate and drill all the holes for the install of the sheet metal to reduce the chances of metal chips getting in the wiring.

Next, the manual states to install the rear panel, the block off plate for the hood release location and the drive shaft cover, then with the install of the side panels it states to include silicone as part of those panel installations. Is there a reason silicone does not get used on the other panels? I guess I could see not using it on the drive shaft cover to aid in future removal if needed.

And finally, since my floors are already installed I'm seeing many cases where the floor rivets interfere with the interior panel installations. What have others done in this situation? I guess I see two possible solutions: drill out the rivets that are in the way, install the panels and drill new holes through the interior panel, the floor and the frame tubes - I think the possibility of picking up the same holes where the floor rivets were installed is next to impossible.

Another thought was to strike the interior panels with a dead-blow hammer to leave a witness mark of the rivets on the panels and then drill holes large enough for the rivet heads to protrude and allow the panel to sit flush.

Here are few pics to show the problem: 131394131395

[sperger72]

Nice TA in the background. I used seam sealer behind my panels it worked great. I did place the interior panels in place and drill through all but do not pop rivet the floor at that time. I waited on most of my interior panels till after my wiring was done. Just in case we needed to add a hole or something came up. We still had to drill out several pop rivets too. We are putting the finishing touches on the truck this week or next. We go for the State of Texas safety check tomorrow and alignment.

Zach

[House Money]

Thanks, and good luck with the safety check!! Here is a pic of our TA.

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