John in Oz
Well-Known Member
This is a great thread, you would almost think you guys knew what you were doing, Look forward to the next instalment here,
Thanks for the updates.
Thanks for the updates.
1956 Chevy Pickup Project
- Thread starter Woodbutcher
- Start date
Keep the updates coming, I am enjoying this. Thanks
Woodbutcher
Active Member
3304
Last month was a busy month out in the shop and things are finally starting to get done. I love my new welder and helmet and went to town on the frame. I had a few more things to weld up and before I came up for air I ended up boxing the entire front half. I couldn’t just leave it alone. There was plenty of touch up, sanding and grinding to do, but was able at some point to say enough is enough. I then rigged up some 2x6’s and bolted them to the cherry picker to lift the cab off the frame and onto a bench with casters.
I had some really old (like, maybe 10 years old??) cans of DP40 epoxy primer and decided to use it on the frame. The first quart was about half empty and it strained out ok after some serious mixing and it sprayed fine, but when I opened the second can the paint had separated and thickened in the bottom to the consistency of porridge. There was too much to hand mix and I thought I’d lost about $60 of paint. In desperation I went down to Lordco, our local parts store, and had them mix it up on the shaker for about 15 minutes. Like a miracle, it came back to life, strained and sprayed just fine. So don’t be in a hurry to throw out old materials, eh?
I wanted to use a urethane paint on the frame, but wanted to deviate from the traditional semi-gloss black route. I had considered some shade of charcoal instead, but hadn’t decided for sure. On my way back to Lordco to pick out a color, I passed a newer dark metallic grey Charger and thought, hey, that’s it! So, on impulse, when I got there, I found a PPG Omni colour that was really close called Medium Titanium. It has a very fine metallic in it and looks very much like the sheen on cold rolled steel.
I sprayed the frame, control arms, trans cross-member and spindles over the Thanksgiving weekend. While I was in the basement looking for my roll of masking tape, I came across a box of aluminum foil. I remember a long time ago a tech article that suggested this, but had forgotten about it. Since I was feeling lazy and wanted the job done, I decided to mask off the spindles and ball joints that were already installed with the aluminum foil and some electrical tape. The aluminum foil covered easily and molded to the shape I needed and the electrical tape was flexible and fast – and it came off easily when I wanted it to. It didn’t take long at all to mask off the parts and it worked like a charm – much better than masking tape!
The other thing I learned this weekend, is how futile it is to wet the floor down before painting when you have radiant in-floor heat. I love the heated floor in winter, but for painting, it's a bit of a hassle. The water evaporated quickly and my feet still stuck to the floor as I walked around. Once the water was gone, the paint settled on the floor and suck like glue, urethane glue. I was concerned about increased humidity, but it didn’t seem to be a problem. It just took more time.
Here's the final product. It made all the hours and effort worth it.
In the end I have to say that am pleased with the results. No major runs. Good coverage. Color turned out great with just the right amount of metallic. Best of all, I did it myself and it looks a little different from the norm. Now it’s time to start putting it all back together so I have a rolling chassis. I want to get this thing out of the shop for a bit to pull the motor out of a donor 4x4 I received a while ago. It'd be nice to get all that done and get the frame back inside before the $n#W flies (didn't want to use the "S" word, not yet).
Last month was a busy month out in the shop and things are finally starting to get done. I love my new welder and helmet and went to town on the frame. I had a few more things to weld up and before I came up for air I ended up boxing the entire front half. I couldn’t just leave it alone. There was plenty of touch up, sanding and grinding to do, but was able at some point to say enough is enough. I then rigged up some 2x6’s and bolted them to the cherry picker to lift the cab off the frame and onto a bench with casters.
I had some really old (like, maybe 10 years old??) cans of DP40 epoxy primer and decided to use it on the frame. The first quart was about half empty and it strained out ok after some serious mixing and it sprayed fine, but when I opened the second can the paint had separated and thickened in the bottom to the consistency of porridge. There was too much to hand mix and I thought I’d lost about $60 of paint. In desperation I went down to Lordco, our local parts store, and had them mix it up on the shaker for about 15 minutes. Like a miracle, it came back to life, strained and sprayed just fine. So don’t be in a hurry to throw out old materials, eh?
I wanted to use a urethane paint on the frame, but wanted to deviate from the traditional semi-gloss black route. I had considered some shade of charcoal instead, but hadn’t decided for sure. On my way back to Lordco to pick out a color, I passed a newer dark metallic grey Charger and thought, hey, that’s it! So, on impulse, when I got there, I found a PPG Omni colour that was really close called Medium Titanium. It has a very fine metallic in it and looks very much like the sheen on cold rolled steel.
I sprayed the frame, control arms, trans cross-member and spindles over the Thanksgiving weekend. While I was in the basement looking for my roll of masking tape, I came across a box of aluminum foil. I remember a long time ago a tech article that suggested this, but had forgotten about it. Since I was feeling lazy and wanted the job done, I decided to mask off the spindles and ball joints that were already installed with the aluminum foil and some electrical tape. The aluminum foil covered easily and molded to the shape I needed and the electrical tape was flexible and fast – and it came off easily when I wanted it to. It didn’t take long at all to mask off the parts and it worked like a charm – much better than masking tape!
The other thing I learned this weekend, is how futile it is to wet the floor down before painting when you have radiant in-floor heat. I love the heated floor in winter, but for painting, it's a bit of a hassle. The water evaporated quickly and my feet still stuck to the floor as I walked around. Once the water was gone, the paint settled on the floor and suck like glue, urethane glue. I was concerned about increased humidity, but it didn’t seem to be a problem. It just took more time.
Here's the final product. It made all the hours and effort worth it.
In the end I have to say that am pleased with the results. No major runs. Good coverage. Color turned out great with just the right amount of metallic. Best of all, I did it myself and it looks a little different from the norm. Now it’s time to start putting it all back together so I have a rolling chassis. I want to get this thing out of the shop for a bit to pull the motor out of a donor 4x4 I received a while ago. It'd be nice to get all that done and get the frame back inside before the $n#W flies (didn't want to use the "S" word, not yet).
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Looks good Woodbutcher, I hadn't thought about using aluminium foil, good idea.
Woodbutcher
Active Member
Last edited:
John in Oz
Well-Known Member
Looking good Wood, things are progressing nicely for you, nothing a bit of work doesn't fix eh.
Woodbutcher
Active Member
Woodbutcher's Crate gets an exhaust
4810
It’s probably time for another update, although not that much has been done since the last installment. It seems like one step forward, two steps back. When I visit a site, any site, I notice that most of the time you always see people’s successes when they post a build thread, but rarely do you see all the trial and error along the way. I figure this build thread is going to be different. They say that some people learn from the mistakes of others, the rest of us are “the others”. Warts and all, I’m going to put it out there so you’ll see all the ups and downs and hopefully learn from my mistakes along the way.
I put the rear suspension together without any troubles, but found that when I began to assemble the front suspension I wasn’t happy with the way the urethane bushings squeaked. After some research, and finding no happy solution, I put it aside and went on to something else. I had a couple of 10 footers of aluminized tubing and Flowmaster Mufflers left over from another project and was going to build my own exhaust. Never done it before but wanted to give it a shot. It would probably be a bit cheaper than having one bent up by a muffler shop, but really I wanted to see if I could do it. A subtle change in direction came back in November when I came across a couple of deals that I couldn’t resist. The first was for some stainless Flowmasters. They were the same size as the aluminized mufflers I had sitting in their boxes on the shelf (2 ½’s), and thought to myself “Self, if aluminized is good, stainless is certainly better – it’ll last forever!” I couldn’t resist. That led me to a second opportunity. The vendor I was originally going to buy some aluminized 2 ½” pre-bent 2 ½” tubing from also offered, periodically, a few boxes of stainless tubing. Each box contained 4 - 90’s and 45’s, a pair of 180’s and a couple of 120/90 combos – ideal for kicking up over the differential. These were not factory rejects, but good stuff, at a really good price (with shipping included). So now I needed to get all the little niggly things that complete the job: brackets courtesy of Welders Series and the flanges off an eBay vendor selling turbo stuff. I know, I know, some of you curse the day eBay was created, but I’ve found that with careful investigation, you can get some pretty good deals (often with the shipping being included within the US) that make you cringe at local prices. I’ll admit, the flanges were a little overkill - they were ½ an inch, thicker than I originally wanted, but the price was about half of anything else I could find, so amazingly they ended up being just right. Lastly, I needed some straight tube. I got a hold of a friend of my son, a young guy down in Golden, who could get me a couple of sticks of 10’ stainless tubing for a price I couldn’t say no to. The deal including getting them shipped up to PG for free as well so I was pretty happy. I sold the original aluminized stuff and just about broke even.
Having never done any stainless welding before, and certainly not being much of a welder myself, I asked around about how to go about doing this. There is a lot of advice out there and not all of it complements each other, but eventually I figured out what I wanted to do. Some guys said use Argon, some said CO2 worked, some tried to sell me on a tri-star mix. Many thanks need to go out to a couple of our CR brethren, Bgbkwndo and Ledco, who listened to my questions and offered some sage advice about welding stainless steel.
Because I already had it I decided to do some test pieces with straight CO2 first. I could borrow an Argon tank, but it is pricey to refill and wanted to try the cheaper route first. I know the purists out there would cry foul, but it’s what I had. On the outside the welds are little smutty and I found that there was considerable splatter.
So here’s what I figured out. I cut the test piece half an inch from the joint and check out what was going on inside to ensure that I was getting adequate penetration. A hotter than normal setting on the welder, along with a faster wire speed and short tack welds gave me thorough penetration when combined with a 3/32 gap cut (made with the zip cut after tacking). I gradually lengthened the duration of the welds until I began to blow through with regularity and then backed off the time a little. The best welds seemed to be about a second long before the heat built up to the point where it blew through.
A lot of the guys on the truck forum I frequent have used CO2 and raved on about their success, so with the success I was having, I decided that I would run with it too. I know the spatter looks like crap, but I figured that I could remove the spatter when I dressed the welds up afterwards. In hindsight, I think the spatter was from too much voltage (a real welder could step in here and correct me if I’m wrong), but my welder didn’t allow for fine adjustment of the voltage.
More to come…
4810
It’s probably time for another update, although not that much has been done since the last installment. It seems like one step forward, two steps back. When I visit a site, any site, I notice that most of the time you always see people’s successes when they post a build thread, but rarely do you see all the trial and error along the way. I figure this build thread is going to be different. They say that some people learn from the mistakes of others, the rest of us are “the others”. Warts and all, I’m going to put it out there so you’ll see all the ups and downs and hopefully learn from my mistakes along the way.
I put the rear suspension together without any troubles, but found that when I began to assemble the front suspension I wasn’t happy with the way the urethane bushings squeaked. After some research, and finding no happy solution, I put it aside and went on to something else. I had a couple of 10 footers of aluminized tubing and Flowmaster Mufflers left over from another project and was going to build my own exhaust. Never done it before but wanted to give it a shot. It would probably be a bit cheaper than having one bent up by a muffler shop, but really I wanted to see if I could do it. A subtle change in direction came back in November when I came across a couple of deals that I couldn’t resist. The first was for some stainless Flowmasters. They were the same size as the aluminized mufflers I had sitting in their boxes on the shelf (2 ½’s), and thought to myself “Self, if aluminized is good, stainless is certainly better – it’ll last forever!” I couldn’t resist. That led me to a second opportunity. The vendor I was originally going to buy some aluminized 2 ½” pre-bent 2 ½” tubing from also offered, periodically, a few boxes of stainless tubing. Each box contained 4 - 90’s and 45’s, a pair of 180’s and a couple of 120/90 combos – ideal for kicking up over the differential. These were not factory rejects, but good stuff, at a really good price (with shipping included). So now I needed to get all the little niggly things that complete the job: brackets courtesy of Welders Series and the flanges off an eBay vendor selling turbo stuff. I know, I know, some of you curse the day eBay was created, but I’ve found that with careful investigation, you can get some pretty good deals (often with the shipping being included within the US) that make you cringe at local prices. I’ll admit, the flanges were a little overkill - they were ½ an inch, thicker than I originally wanted, but the price was about half of anything else I could find, so amazingly they ended up being just right. Lastly, I needed some straight tube. I got a hold of a friend of my son, a young guy down in Golden, who could get me a couple of sticks of 10’ stainless tubing for a price I couldn’t say no to. The deal including getting them shipped up to PG for free as well so I was pretty happy. I sold the original aluminized stuff and just about broke even.
Having never done any stainless welding before, and certainly not being much of a welder myself, I asked around about how to go about doing this. There is a lot of advice out there and not all of it complements each other, but eventually I figured out what I wanted to do. Some guys said use Argon, some said CO2 worked, some tried to sell me on a tri-star mix. Many thanks need to go out to a couple of our CR brethren, Bgbkwndo and Ledco, who listened to my questions and offered some sage advice about welding stainless steel.
Because I already had it I decided to do some test pieces with straight CO2 first. I could borrow an Argon tank, but it is pricey to refill and wanted to try the cheaper route first. I know the purists out there would cry foul, but it’s what I had. On the outside the welds are little smutty and I found that there was considerable splatter.
So here’s what I figured out. I cut the test piece half an inch from the joint and check out what was going on inside to ensure that I was getting adequate penetration. A hotter than normal setting on the welder, along with a faster wire speed and short tack welds gave me thorough penetration when combined with a 3/32 gap cut (made with the zip cut after tacking). I gradually lengthened the duration of the welds until I began to blow through with regularity and then backed off the time a little. The best welds seemed to be about a second long before the heat built up to the point where it blew through.
A lot of the guys on the truck forum I frequent have used CO2 and raved on about their success, so with the success I was having, I decided that I would run with it too. I know the spatter looks like crap, but I figured that I could remove the spatter when I dressed the welds up afterwards. In hindsight, I think the spatter was from too much voltage (a real welder could step in here and correct me if I’m wrong), but my welder didn’t allow for fine adjustment of the voltage.
More to come…
Wood I have used a mix and had good luck,, the spatter you are getting.. I found that it is definately reduced with argon or even a mixed gas.. just something to think about..
I have to point out that I am definately not an expert welder by any stretch of my imagination but this is just what I found.. Tig is still the nicest way I have seen but if your like me you don't have one either lol
Bash
I have to point out that I am definately not an expert welder by any stretch of my imagination but this is just what I found.. Tig is still the nicest way I have seen but if your like me you don't have one either lol
Bash
Woodbutcher
Active Member
Exhaust - part 2
I eyeballed everything out and noticed that it’ll be close – I had no extra bends and would need to be careful about how I used them. Starting at the muffler, I worked back over the diff and to the tail pipe. I just used little bits of scrap tacked together to simulate the tailpipe, knowing that at a later date I will put on some nice polished stainless tips. This allowed me to align everything up nice. Clearance between the tank and shock was a bit tricky, but it worked out.
I used a Welders Series hanger bracket to mount it to the frame. The first side was ok, but the second side worked out much gooder. It tucked up a little tighter, so I went back and fixed the first side to match.
Satisfied with that, I then turned my attention to the passenger side from the muffler up to the header, since it was the easier of the two – not quite a straight shot, but pretty open and workable. I started with a flange, so that I could take the system apart in pieces. It was a bit tricky aligning up a couple of dog-legs as the exhaust went around the trans, but it went easier than I had anticipated and I was happy with the way it tacked together. I did find that the ceramic coated Dynao-Flow headers that I am using did not clear the regular starter nose, but I have a mini starter which gave me tons of clearance.
Feeling pleased with myself, I tackled the drivers’ side. This was the one that could end up a mess. The run had to snake between the trans cross member and the brake booster in a sort-of three dimensional twist in order to keep it up as high as I dare. I also had to be careful else it would also hang too low as it went past the booster. It took a few cuts, sometimes re-cutting a couple of times, and three or four bends to get it all right. I found that the diameter of the tubing, even though it is mandrel bent, is reduced somewhat through the bends, so it is a little more difficult making a butt joint out of a straight piece going into a bend. I found that by starting a little longer than needed and sneaking up on the final length kept me in the black and I didn’t waste any of the bends. Once I got it all tacked together I unbolted it all and put it on my makeshift bench and welded it in relative comfort.
As you can see I managed to keep it level with the tranny pan, except for a small dip as it weaved under the booster. The pictures below are from a pretty low angle - the exaust sits above the bottom of the frame for its entire length except a the booster.
With the welds dressed and hit with a wire wheel, the joint looks pretty good. I didn’t want to sand it flush so that there was a little more meat for strength. I have to keep reminding myself that this is just going to be a daily driver and not to get too carried away with things like trying to polish the exhaust… so this is as good as it’s going to get.
Your thoughts? Too many pictures? Too much of the inner workings of my mind??
I eyeballed everything out and noticed that it’ll be close – I had no extra bends and would need to be careful about how I used them. Starting at the muffler, I worked back over the diff and to the tail pipe. I just used little bits of scrap tacked together to simulate the tailpipe, knowing that at a later date I will put on some nice polished stainless tips. This allowed me to align everything up nice. Clearance between the tank and shock was a bit tricky, but it worked out.
I used a Welders Series hanger bracket to mount it to the frame. The first side was ok, but the second side worked out much gooder. It tucked up a little tighter, so I went back and fixed the first side to match.
Satisfied with that, I then turned my attention to the passenger side from the muffler up to the header, since it was the easier of the two – not quite a straight shot, but pretty open and workable. I started with a flange, so that I could take the system apart in pieces. It was a bit tricky aligning up a couple of dog-legs as the exhaust went around the trans, but it went easier than I had anticipated and I was happy with the way it tacked together. I did find that the ceramic coated Dynao-Flow headers that I am using did not clear the regular starter nose, but I have a mini starter which gave me tons of clearance.
Feeling pleased with myself, I tackled the drivers’ side. This was the one that could end up a mess. The run had to snake between the trans cross member and the brake booster in a sort-of three dimensional twist in order to keep it up as high as I dare. I also had to be careful else it would also hang too low as it went past the booster. It took a few cuts, sometimes re-cutting a couple of times, and three or four bends to get it all right. I found that the diameter of the tubing, even though it is mandrel bent, is reduced somewhat through the bends, so it is a little more difficult making a butt joint out of a straight piece going into a bend. I found that by starting a little longer than needed and sneaking up on the final length kept me in the black and I didn’t waste any of the bends. Once I got it all tacked together I unbolted it all and put it on my makeshift bench and welded it in relative comfort.
As you can see I managed to keep it level with the tranny pan, except for a small dip as it weaved under the booster. The pictures below are from a pretty low angle - the exaust sits above the bottom of the frame for its entire length except a the booster.
With the welds dressed and hit with a wire wheel, the joint looks pretty good. I didn’t want to sand it flush so that there was a little more meat for strength. I have to keep reminding myself that this is just going to be a daily driver and not to get too carried away with things like trying to polish the exhaust… so this is as good as it’s going to get.
Your thoughts? Too many pictures? Too much of the inner workings of my mind??
Woodbutcher
Active Member
Exhaust - conclusion, warts and all.
I came back to it after a break and welded the flanges on at work, using a better welder that had infinitely adjustable voltage, and CO2/Argon mix. I did sacrifice a pair of extra flanges for practice and the effort looked satisfactory: the welds were definitely cleaner and the penetration was good. You can see that from the side by side pictures. I will admit that I was in a bit of a hurry and the results were not as good as the practice welds (they weren’t the prettiest) but they are serviceable.
The final step was to grind the flange welds for bolt clearance where I got a little heavy with the MIG. Once it was all done we bolted the things back under the chassis for a final look. I didn’t put gaskets in yet, knowing that it would be coming in and out a few more times, but at least I got to see what the final product looks like:
The brackets that hold it all together are quite solid, and I am having some second thoughts about the exhaust expanding and causing problems. I'm not sure how much an exhaust expands when it gets hot, so I may hav eto revisit this at some point. Any feedback or advice on this topic would be readily accpeted.
Thanks for putting up with my rambling.
I came back to it after a break and welded the flanges on at work, using a better welder that had infinitely adjustable voltage, and CO2/Argon mix. I did sacrifice a pair of extra flanges for practice and the effort looked satisfactory: the welds were definitely cleaner and the penetration was good. You can see that from the side by side pictures. I will admit that I was in a bit of a hurry and the results were not as good as the practice welds (they weren’t the prettiest) but they are serviceable.
The final step was to grind the flange welds for bolt clearance where I got a little heavy with the MIG. Once it was all done we bolted the things back under the chassis for a final look. I didn’t put gaskets in yet, knowing that it would be coming in and out a few more times, but at least I got to see what the final product looks like:
The brackets that hold it all together are quite solid, and I am having some second thoughts about the exhaust expanding and causing problems. I'm not sure how much an exhaust expands when it gets hot, so I may hav eto revisit this at some point. Any feedback or advice on this topic would be readily accpeted.
Thanks for putting up with my rambling.
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Scott993cc
Well-Known Member
Grab a can of anti-spatter spray, you can pick it up at princess auto or welding shops. Makes clean up so much easier, most of the spatter will wipe right off and a wire brush will take care of the rest. You can use it on your welding tip and nozzle too then a couple taps on the bench will knock the crusties out.
Great colour choice on the frame too, I like it.
Scott
Great colour choice on the frame too, I like it.
Scott
Woodbutcher
Active Member
I'll be back!
Haven't been on the forum for a while and when poking around realized that it has been waaay to long since I posted something about my project.
I've been on hiatus for too long, with too many distractions and interruptions. Life has been getting in the way. Time to get back at it. I'll organize some updates and get back on it.
Haven't been on the forum for a while and when poking around realized that it has been waaay to long since I posted something about my project.
I've been on hiatus for too long, with too many distractions and interruptions. Life has been getting in the way. Time to get back at it. I'll organize some updates and get back on it.
Woodbutcher
Active Member
Date: Christmas 2013 8766
After a long break, I got motivated to get back at it. Since working on the frame, the only substantial thing I did was sandblast the cab last summer. It revealed all the truck’s little secrets, and no surprise, it wasn’t as good as I’d first thought. Still it is what it is and it won’t get on the road by lamenting about what it isn’t.
Christmas holidays rolled around and I was determined to get back out in the shop. I decided to spend as much of my two weeks off as possible out there.
Not having done much at all with sheet metal I began this part of the project with trepidation. I needed to replace both cab corners (inners and outers), and both lower hinge pocket areas. I decided to tackle the cab corners first and came up with the brilliant idea to do the passengers’ side first, since that is the side that I would always see. Good stinking, eh?
I mounted the cab on the body so that things would stay square and where they should be before hacking into it. First on the list was the passenger outer cab corner. Once I cut the outer off off I saw that I had to fix some of the inner cab corner as well, so I fabbed up my own from some 18 ga. It took quite a lot of work to get the shape pretty close, but eventually it welded it in. It was OK but it took way too much time diddling around and in the end I wasn’t completely satisfied. In other words, it sucked.
I just couldn't live with it. So I did a quick inventory and figured out what replacement sheet metal parts I needed and went to Lordco to order them. To make a long story short, they couldn’t get them in less than a couple of months. So instead I ordered it from LMC Truck parts in Oklahoma, USA. Love their catalog, hate their shipping. I needed 8 pieces and had them shipped to my door. Cost as much for the shipping and brokerage as it did for the parts! When I was quoted the shipping I figured it must be coming in multiple boxes, but it arrived in one medium size box the size of a microwave oven. $300 to ship to Canada really hurts! Next time I’ll use Ship Happens in Sumas, Wa.
When they arrived I got straight on to the outer cab corner. This went on much easier, the welding went well, but the fit between the inner and outer at the bottom was not very good. I seam sealed what I had accomplished and moved to the other side.
I did learn a bunch while doing the passenger side and chewed on the process for a while before coming up with a better alternative for doing corners. The problem lay with cutting the inner corner off too low and then trying to make my own piece with such a compound curve and getting it all to match. I’m no good on the English wheel so decided with the driver’s side to split the replacement panel at a factory seam at the top where that panel meets the floor and weld it in there with a few plug welds.
What an epiphany! It worked like a charm and the driver’s side went together easier, faster and it fit much better! I think I might have to go back and revisit the other side now.
They say “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, so armed with a little more knowledge and greatly bolstered confidence I was ready to tackle the passenger side hinge pocket. Stay tuned…
After a long break, I got motivated to get back at it. Since working on the frame, the only substantial thing I did was sandblast the cab last summer. It revealed all the truck’s little secrets, and no surprise, it wasn’t as good as I’d first thought. Still it is what it is and it won’t get on the road by lamenting about what it isn’t.
Christmas holidays rolled around and I was determined to get back out in the shop. I decided to spend as much of my two weeks off as possible out there.
Not having done much at all with sheet metal I began this part of the project with trepidation. I needed to replace both cab corners (inners and outers), and both lower hinge pocket areas. I decided to tackle the cab corners first and came up with the brilliant idea to do the passengers’ side first, since that is the side that I would always see. Good stinking, eh?
I mounted the cab on the body so that things would stay square and where they should be before hacking into it. First on the list was the passenger outer cab corner. Once I cut the outer off off I saw that I had to fix some of the inner cab corner as well, so I fabbed up my own from some 18 ga. It took quite a lot of work to get the shape pretty close, but eventually it welded it in. It was OK but it took way too much time diddling around and in the end I wasn’t completely satisfied. In other words, it sucked.
I just couldn't live with it. So I did a quick inventory and figured out what replacement sheet metal parts I needed and went to Lordco to order them. To make a long story short, they couldn’t get them in less than a couple of months. So instead I ordered it from LMC Truck parts in Oklahoma, USA. Love their catalog, hate their shipping. I needed 8 pieces and had them shipped to my door. Cost as much for the shipping and brokerage as it did for the parts! When I was quoted the shipping I figured it must be coming in multiple boxes, but it arrived in one medium size box the size of a microwave oven. $300 to ship to Canada really hurts! Next time I’ll use Ship Happens in Sumas, Wa.
When they arrived I got straight on to the outer cab corner. This went on much easier, the welding went well, but the fit between the inner and outer at the bottom was not very good. I seam sealed what I had accomplished and moved to the other side.
I did learn a bunch while doing the passenger side and chewed on the process for a while before coming up with a better alternative for doing corners. The problem lay with cutting the inner corner off too low and then trying to make my own piece with such a compound curve and getting it all to match. I’m no good on the English wheel so decided with the driver’s side to split the replacement panel at a factory seam at the top where that panel meets the floor and weld it in there with a few plug welds.
What an epiphany! It worked like a charm and the driver’s side went together easier, faster and it fit much better! I think I might have to go back and revisit the other side now.
They say “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, so armed with a little more knowledge and greatly bolstered confidence I was ready to tackle the passenger side hinge pocket. Stay tuned…
Woodbutcher
Active Member
Passenger Hinge Pocket
Jan –Feb 2014
8974
Now back at work I could no longer afford to spend most of my time out in the shop. I put off working on the “project-that-never –ends” called our house but instead focused on the truck. I dedicated a couple of weekday evenings and Saturdays almost exclusively on the truck. I had momentum. Sunday was for the family.
Sandblasting revealed that the rust repair needed in the lower hinge pocket area extended much further than I had anticipated. It was all pretty much Swiss cheese all over. The step was intact, tho, that was the good news. I had ordered the three pieces from LMC that I thought were needed to complete the task, but quickly discovered that I would have to make a couple of areas myself. Since these areas are hidden when the fender is bolted on, the intimidation factor is lower because in the end these areas won’t even be seen, so if you make a mistake or two, or the part is a little rough, no worries. It’s a good place to learn.
I figured that I would start from the outside and work in as far as I needed to remove all the rust and build what I needed as I disassembled. The lower outer cowl area was first.
After cutting the corroded area off, I took it to work and had Tinmann look at it. He suggested that I make a pattern and showed where to pie cut, where to hammer form and wished me luck. From then on I was on my own. After a few hours of careful shaping, trimming and folding, here’s the end product beside the original. I think it turned out pretty good.
With the cowl section out of the way I saw that more material needed removing in the lower toe kick area – something I had not counted on when ordering parts. Since the cowl area looked pretty good, I tackled the lower toe kick and after a couple of tries managed to have a respectable facsimile that actually fit pretty good, too.
At this point I enlisted the help of my sand blaster and cleaned up the exposed areas that were corroded. Then I was able to weld in the toe kick panel to good metal. End result was pleasing.
Cutting deeper, I removed the hinge pocket in three pieces. These pieces matched the replacement parts, or at least they were supposed to. One of the three was generally the same shape, but must have moved in the die when being stamped ‘cause it was way off. You could say it needed a little massaging: a nip here, a tuck there, before it would fit.
Jan –Feb 2014
8974
Now back at work I could no longer afford to spend most of my time out in the shop. I put off working on the “project-that-never –ends” called our house but instead focused on the truck. I dedicated a couple of weekday evenings and Saturdays almost exclusively on the truck. I had momentum. Sunday was for the family.
Sandblasting revealed that the rust repair needed in the lower hinge pocket area extended much further than I had anticipated. It was all pretty much Swiss cheese all over. The step was intact, tho, that was the good news. I had ordered the three pieces from LMC that I thought were needed to complete the task, but quickly discovered that I would have to make a couple of areas myself. Since these areas are hidden when the fender is bolted on, the intimidation factor is lower because in the end these areas won’t even be seen, so if you make a mistake or two, or the part is a little rough, no worries. It’s a good place to learn.
I figured that I would start from the outside and work in as far as I needed to remove all the rust and build what I needed as I disassembled. The lower outer cowl area was first.
After cutting the corroded area off, I took it to work and had Tinmann look at it. He suggested that I make a pattern and showed where to pie cut, where to hammer form and wished me luck. From then on I was on my own. After a few hours of careful shaping, trimming and folding, here’s the end product beside the original. I think it turned out pretty good.
With the cowl section out of the way I saw that more material needed removing in the lower toe kick area – something I had not counted on when ordering parts. Since the cowl area looked pretty good, I tackled the lower toe kick and after a couple of tries managed to have a respectable facsimile that actually fit pretty good, too.
At this point I enlisted the help of my sand blaster and cleaned up the exposed areas that were corroded. Then I was able to weld in the toe kick panel to good metal. End result was pleasing.
Cutting deeper, I removed the hinge pocket in three pieces. These pieces matched the replacement parts, or at least they were supposed to. One of the three was generally the same shape, but must have moved in the die when being stamped ‘cause it was way off. You could say it needed a little massaging: a nip here, a tuck there, before it would fit.
Last edited:
Woodbutcher
Active Member
Passenger Hinge Pocket - part 2
You’ll notice that the cab mount brace was in good shape so it didn’t need replacing. Every step of the way I took pictures and measurements, like bread crumbs, to find my way back out. Now the whole corner was wide open – a little intimidating (this would be a good time to insert a grimacing face emoticon ).
To reconstruct I began with the door jam area. The part fit well and was able to match up with my measurements easily.
This was followed by the fender mount area. This took a little more work to massage into shape. Mounting the door hinge ensured that it would fit after it was welded in place. That’s the bolt head that you see. I had the parts on and off many times – thank goodness for cleeco’s and vice grips. It would’ve been a much harder job without them. If you don’t have any cleeco’s - get some! They are worth it. I only have 10, but keep forgetting to get a few more. Most of what I have used them for, are small panels, so I’ve made do.
I then took the time to cut out a few rust holes in the floor and replace them. Used the bead roller to copy the ridges in the floor. Weld, weld, grind, grind. You know the drill. In the end thing s turned out pretty good. Floor and passenger side hinge pocket on this side are now 100% solid. Happy, happy, happy.
You’ll notice that the cab mount brace was in good shape so it didn’t need replacing. Every step of the way I took pictures and measurements, like bread crumbs, to find my way back out. Now the whole corner was wide open – a little intimidating (this would be a good time to insert a grimacing face emoticon ).
To reconstruct I began with the door jam area. The part fit well and was able to match up with my measurements easily.
This was followed by the fender mount area. This took a little more work to massage into shape. Mounting the door hinge ensured that it would fit after it was welded in place. That’s the bolt head that you see. I had the parts on and off many times – thank goodness for cleeco’s and vice grips. It would’ve been a much harder job without them. If you don’t have any cleeco’s - get some! They are worth it. I only have 10, but keep forgetting to get a few more. Most of what I have used them for, are small panels, so I’ve made do.
I then took the time to cut out a few rust holes in the floor and replace them. Used the bead roller to copy the ridges in the floor. Weld, weld, grind, grind. You know the drill. In the end thing s turned out pretty good. Floor and passenger side hinge pocket on this side are now 100% solid. Happy, happy, happy.
