That's just a beauty mark, Joe

 

Always here to stir the pot, I'm not of the understanding that your boot is correct for your truck. The Carpenter catalog lists it as 99A 7242-B yet that number exists nowhere in my three versions of the Chassis Catalog in the 7242 grouping. A boot is listed for the big trucks, but not the small ones.

Josh sent me the below picture of a MH that has a boot. I'd never seen a truck so equipped, so I asked Chuck. To my recall he said they never came that way. Can anybody find a reference that shows use of the boot on a small or medium duty? That might be why you couldn't make it fit, Joe. Stu

 

Looking good Joe!


Like you, I try my hand at bodywork from time to time. I've read stuff on the subject, watched videos and tried my hand. It does take practice and patience. It can be very rewarding when you see the dents start disappearing while you are messing with them.


With the seat out its definitely the time to mess with those cab corner dents and the dash wiring


Have fun
Bobby

 

Sorry for all your troubles Joe....I thought those covers were all the same.
Curious to see how you make the brake boot work.....I need one too.

If I were closer, I'd come over and help you bang out your dents.....

 

Yeah, it adds a little character. But I wanted to practice bumping metal and that looked like a big enough challenge for this rookie.

I started on this 2 years ago, and left it since it still looked terrible, but not as bad as before.

Here's how it looked when I got it.



I started bumping it out using the methods in the book recommended by Chuck (AXracer).

Here's a few pics of my progress.





Once I got it to this point, I sanded it down with some coarse paper to see how it felt.





That showed me it needed more work, so I did.





Then I hit it with a fine sanding disk and some primer.





I'm certainly no body and fender man, but I'm pleased with the results.

And while that primer was drying, I cleaned up my under dash wiring a bit. Since I made my own wiring harness (sort of) it was a spaghetti mess. It still looks somewhat messy, but I can live with it.

 

After trying to install it today, I think you're probably right. I'll decide what to do with it when I get my floor mat.

And you can stir the pot any time on my thread.

 

Thanks Bobby.

I'm happy with the way the body work came out. I actually surprised myself, because I didn't think I could do this.

 

Scott, you're welcome here any time.

No big deal about the cover. I got the hole enlarged and the gas pedal works fine. I haven't gotten the brake boot yet, so it's still a mystery to me too!

This cover I got from you is like new compared to the POS I threw away today. Thanks again!

 

That looks good Joe. So how long did it take you to knock those dents out?

 

I bought one too before asking Chuck. Then I looked at my F-2/F-3 sales brochure which doesn't show it and accepted it wasn't an original piece. Makes sense to have it keep the dirt and fumes out, but not the way it was done.

As I mentioned above, I'm deep into body repairs now too. At present it's welding and structural repairs, but panel bumping/shrinking comes next. I assume that book is on Amazon? Stu

 

Thanks Joe.

Today, I worked on it for about 3 hours. When I first started banging them out 2 years ago, only about an hour or less. That was 2 years ago. I don't remember. And as you can see from the pics, I made some really bad "points" in the metal before I read how to do it right.

What surprised me was how fast it smoothed out and took shape using the methods in the book about bumping metal. These trucks have real steel bodies, and banging on them with a small hammer takes a while to see results.

I confess, I used a rubber mallet to pound out the worst dents before using my "Harbor Freight" junk hammer and dolly set to finish the work. Maybe someone who knows what they're doing should use a $100 hammer, but I won't spend that on a tool I'll use rarely. And Betsy is never going to win a trophy.

 

Yes Stu. It's the 4th edition and available on Amazon.

 

And I slipped right by my 4,000th post without catching it. I like to mark these milestones. Yeah, I know that's weird.

 

Bumping out that dent is a milestone if ever there was one to mark Joe.
I am very impressed. Awesome job for your first real try. Smooth it on
out with a little mud and paint it. Even know one would have to know
where to look to find it if it was painted up.

Great Job.

 

Thanks. I have some bondo but figured I'd just wait til I'm ready to get it painted and just sprayed the primer on it so it won't rust. The paint job may have to wait years...