I live on the West coast and would never misrepresent anything I sold. My stuff is pretty funky and that's just how I happen to roll. Many of the 'next guys ' got a lot of fun from a project I was through with and moved on to other things..... We're talking about 1500.00 trucks here, not the Mecum Auto auction.......

 

Hey Guys,
I'm good with whatever approach you guys take. Getting these old trucks back on the road is what's important. Charlie I think your floor looks great! I've also seen some of our members use body panel adhesive to glue the new & old floor together - no welding at all. I was truly amazed at how strong that stuff holds.

My truck has fiberglass fenders all around & the doors are 80% fiberglass for the bottom 10 inches. I don't feel any less love for the truck - I'm actually happy to have "saved" the original doors.

Good luck on your floors whatever approach you take! (We took about 8 layers of mobile home siding out of our floors so I've seen it all - I was happy the previous owners did it instead of just junking the truck).

Ben in Austin

 

Thanks, Ben. I love all old trucks, ok, all old FORD trucks. Like you said.... So much better than junking them! Oh, and Dano, I didn't 'five finger' them. I got them as obsolete signs from the county road department. Nice heavy gauge aluminum!

 

Sorry to upset you Dano but like GB I always tell anyone that I sell my vehicle to about the fiberglass and bondo. With my poor welding skills it might look like a cobbled mess even with new panels. I have some weld mess on the truck I just bought. It is easy enough to tell a fiberglass floor with a magnet or a paint thickness gauge. As for getting it off, like CB notes you are usually cutting further back to a seam. Any resin left come loose with a heat gun. If you do the job right the fiberglass is very strong and looks great not a "cobbled mess". And it doesn't rust and prevents further "decay" in that area.

Yes, I would prefer a more professional job. But if you don't have the money, skill or time this is a great expedient.

 

Fiberglass definitely has its place but for this application I would not recommend its use. I have a State of California certification in Fiberglass Reinforced Technology (FRP) so I do know a little bit about the subject. Here are a few things about fiberglass that some may not know: virtually all strength in fiberglass comes from the glass strands, the resin only serves to bond the strands together and offer little strength, just weight. Much care must be given to laying up a panel to ensure that the resin is kept at a minimum and that there are no bubbles in the mat. A fiberglass layup consists of multiple layers of resin impregnated mat. Each layer bonds to one another through a chemical bond between each application of resin/mat. Polyester resin has little in the way of a mechanical bond...either with cured resin or with other materials, including sheetmetal. Laminating resin may look like expoxy adhesive but it does not have the near bonding ability.
If I were to suggest an inexpensive alternative to welding in proper patch panels, I would suggest that an old traffic sign and sheetmetal screws would be preferrable to fiberglass.

 

Fixing the floor on my fridge is next on my list. I already have the epoxy resin, mat and cloth. Even with epoxy, I'm not too sure how it will bond to the floor. I expect at least 4 laminations and like I said, perhaps some mechanical fasteners. I welded in new floors in my '65 landcruiser pickup and it went fine. New metal, road signs or fiberglass, for me it depends on the truck and the situation.

 

Sorry Charlie,
I guess we just disagree. My experience and that of others more experienced than I has show it to be quite effective. The resin bonds pretty well to pitted sheet metal after the rust has been cleaned off. I try to follow what the boat builders do which is to use a couple layers of fiberglass mat then finish the top with a layer of woven fiberglass cloth. Sanding between layers improves the final finish. You are certainly correct about the bubbles.

There is one caveat and that is if you have re-powered your truck and are running a catalytic converter I wouldn't use this expedient repair.

 

While I don't know anything about these 'catalytic converters', I was hoping my special muffler design might diffuse enough heat under the cab to get the epoxy cured in this 38 degree weather. Just need to loosen the clamp and rotate it 180.......and yes, it was REALLY loud in the cab when that thing blew!

 

Ha! Ha! Ha! I'l bet that it was loud when it blew. What was wrong with your truck? I've heard of this happening but never saw it.

In Korea I saw a multi-fuel diesel 5-ton dump run backwards. It clogged up the air filter but good. I had heard but never seen that one before either.

 

Truck wouldn't start, so I popped the hood and ignition was all wet from an antifreeze shower which occured during a heater replacement the day before. I had cranked it quite a bit and when I dried the wires and cap I had good ignition. First crank------ BANG!!! Raw gas and fumes in the muffler. I mean really, really LOUD.

 

I'll bet that woke you up! Guess it could have been worse . . . you could have put some ether down the carb.

Wish I had a heater to replace the core. Maybe Santa is bringing it?

 

Sorry I went on a little holiday hiatus. Things got a little crazy around here. Anyways-

GB- no man, wasn't implying that you swiped any signs, I was just being sarcastic. If you know someone who works for a road crew, that's a great place to get those signs. They go through them like water. And I understand we're dealing with $1500 trucks. Its the clowns that have a $1500 truck trying to pass it off as a $5500 truck (fresh coat of paint on a turd) and look you in the eye and 'claim' it to be correctly restored. (Ebay is GREAT for this)

petemcl- No you didn't upset me, I may have vented a bit because there are individuals out there that have no problem mis-representing their vehicles. How they can sleep at night, is beyond me. Annnnd there are some out there that just plain don't know any better, that I understand.

Bottom line really is, it's your rig, do to it as you wish, but i just like to preach that it usually takes just as much time, labor and money to to it wrong (or temporary in some cases) as it does to do it right. And it's understandable that not all of us have acess to the tools and may or my not have the skills. Neither did I, i just made it happen.


Oh btw, GB... That's an AWESOME muffler blowout! Man, haven't seen a 'newer' muffler blow out like that ever! Old rusty ones, sure but that muffler looked to be realitivley new! That HAD to have been LOUD!

 

Ok, so I'm still procrastinating on my floor. Might just weld in some heavy industrial steel shelving I found at the dump. The new road signs are aluminum and I;ve used up all my old steel ones. Still might go fiberglass, but for me the worst part is the grinding afterwards as I itch and burn for a week......as for the muffler, it had about 10 miles on it. I thought I'd take it back to my napa guy for a refund........

 

I just finished coating the underside of my cab floor with Truck Guard Pro bedliner. The truck is going to be orange so I will soon be painting the floor to match. This is the same cab pictured in previous post, welding in replacement panels that match the stock floor is not really that difficult once you get started and the results are much more satisfactory...

 

Wow! That looks great. I have and would like to keep 4 vintage trucks. Running a small business in this poor construction market has me pretty strapped, and with the purchase of this 600.00 truck last fall I told myself I'd do it on the cheap. In previous years I sought out trucks from dry western desert climates and paid the shipping price because it was so much cheaper and easier than body work. The restoration was mostly a mechanical one with this type of truck. I plan on the floors being a 'stop gap' measure. I really love the configuration of this 59 flareside. It's been the culmination of owning at least six one ton pickups over the years. My gf and I love to take road trips into Eastern Wa., Idaho, Montana and other Western states in our 92 f350 service truck and my favorite part (don't tell her) is looking for truck parts. That's how I found the 9' bed which inspired the rest of this project. What I'm getting at( in my usual long winded way) is I hope to find a really solid rust free cab , seal it all up like yours and finish it off that way. The bed is from the desert and is positively like new including the wood. The running gear has now all been re-done and this truck is a keeper. Unfortunately the cab has rust issues beyond the floors. Mounts look real solid, so I think I'll do my patches for now and keep taking those road trips. A guy has to have something to look for on that next road trip......