Help, I just got done digging enough fiberglass and cloth out of and under the rain gutter on my 55 to build a Vette. Above the windshield is pretty bad. I have seen effies with the gutter removed. What do you all think? I had thought about removing the front part and leaving on over the doors. Any feed back is welcome.

 

Been there,I feel for you.Just buck-up and pull yourself out of it! LOL

Welcome to FTE.

 

The entire passenger side gutter is filled with silicone or body filler. So I take a look inside and find a ton of cloth type fabric. Left it alone for some other lifetime.

Here's the thing though, my dad never did work, and the previous owner never did any work...

...so that means all of that rust damage was done by at least the early 80's.....how can all of that happen in only 2X years? That's insane. Espcially since it appears to not have changed since it was "fixed".
Ehh, here in CA it'll last my lifetime so I'm leaving it alone.


Good luck getting yours back to new(or better!).

 

Is that one of those bad ocean things? Up here the bottoms rust out so badly that it is refreshing to see a little rust on the top to even out the look!

 

Steve, that is the most dramatic Buzzard yet!

 

I don't know, rust up there frustrates and confuses me. Rust has to start from sustained moisture.

1) It never rains here. Ever.
2) I have no clue how a substantial amount of dust/dirt can accumulate there since nothing is up there now and I DD the darn truck!
3) The truck was built in Long Beach, CA, and had CA plates from '63 with tags on that plate to the early 80's--this truck has spent a good amount if not it's entire life in dry as heck CA......where would snow come from to rust it?


Rust on this truck has got me boggled.

As for guys like bob55 trying to fix these drip moldings, man what a heartache.

 

Here is an excellent thread on drip rail removal.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...l-removal.html

Fortunately I don't have to worry about that problem.
If you post some pictures, the experts here might be able to give some better advice.

Welcome to FTE.

 

dust/dirt will find every nook and cranny. add to that the condensation, which will have salt content from the beach, and there it is. rust! snow, (basically frozen rain) alone won't rust through the steel, unless truck is sitting in it knee deep for a very long time.

 

Agreed! However, what comes along with snow climates is tempurature swings. It can be below zero at night and warm up in the 50's for a few days with the direct sun feeling warmer than that. That really causes things to sweat and shorten their life unless you have them in a heated area. The best I can do is to have them up stairs in the barn on a wood floor with plenty of hay bales setting around.

 

I am not a metallurgist, but is it possible that the wrong filler rod was used during assembly (may be no rod was used, only spot welds,not real fimilar with the initial manufacturing process)or some other sort of dissimilar metal interaction?

 

I would venture to guess it spent a fair amount of it's early life on the coast. That moist, salty air will destroy most anything in a hurry. Maybe it was owned by surfer beatnicks and the truck was parked right on the beach all day, everyday for years. Dude.

 

Some of my closest friends are surfer beatnicks.Gnarly!

 

You gotta love beatnicks even if they can't surf!

 

Oh, by the way all 4 corners shared the same"repair". The only difference is the corners were fill with spray foam before the cloth and resin was put on and molded to look like a 55 F-100.