I'm more or less done with the floor repairs now, I've got a bit more grinding to do on the welds. I'm not going to try to get it perfect, since it's going to have a layer of POR on it, then a layer of soundproofing, then carpet- so hopefully it'll never be seen!

I tackled the cab mount repair today- There was some rust on the drivers side mount- It started out like this-



I cut the first layer of steel away. It was rusty underneath, but not too bad.



I cleaned it up using a wire wheel, then cut a new piece to fit. I had some heavier sheet around the shop- It's like 10 ga or so, a little heavier than what was there, but I figured a little extra strength wouldn't hurt-



The test fit- Close. The holes even lined up! I rounded the top edge a bit on my anvil to make it conform to the curve of the original mount-



Then, I tacked it, and welded it in-



And ground it down-



You'd be hard pressed to tell that a repair was ever made. I'm happy with it, anyways.

I went through a 1 lb spool of wire and 80 cu ft of Argon/CO2 gas this week! I bought another spool of wire, this time it's Lincoln brand, and it seems to work better than the generic wire that came with the welder, Smoother feeding and it seems to result it a better bead.

-Andrew

 

What kind of welder do you have? I buy my .30 wire in 12lb rolls for about $28.

And great repairs BTW

 

A bit of a break from the cab today, I decided to work on the 'new' drivers side fender I picked up this weekend up in Nashville.





It's in pretty decent shape, a few small rust issues to patch, one of the worst was under the reflector, where water has been trapped by the gasket that was SUPPOSED to keep water out! But- I can't complain, it was a FREE fender



I cut out the bad areas-



Cut a patch for both of them, and welded it in.

There was a bit of rust on the top, too-



I cut that out-



Then made up a patch... This one was a little tougher, since it was curved. Good thing I'm a Blacksmith, My anvil was PERFECT for getting the curve right. After a lot of adjustments, I got a good fit-



Then, Welded it in....

There were some dings, too- This crease was the worst of them-



So, I got out the hammer and dolly and straightened it out a bit... I've done some sheet metal forming before, but not on a fender... I think I did a decent job. It might need a TOUCH of Bond-O to make it perfect-



And, The finished product, ready to prime- I think it turned out pretty decent!



I did the inside, too- I took a wire wheel to it to remove the rust. The areas I couldn't hit with the wheel got hit with the spot blaster. Then, I used a rust converter/sealer on it-



I'm not sure if I'm going to coat the sealer- I've been told it's fine as long as it's not exposed to sunlight... If the inside of my fenders are getting exposed to sunlight, I think rust is the least of my problems

-Andrew

 

I have an Eastwood MIG 135. I can use the larger spools- I just have been using small ones since that's what initially came with the welder, and that's what was handy at lowes! I'll probably get a big spool next time, though- Looks like I can save money since the 2 lb are $11.00...

-Andrew

 

Yes sir. You can save some coin by using the bigger spools, and the larger cylinders as well. If you can, rent a 150 cubic foot tank. For me it seems like about 300 cubic ft per 12lb roll of wire. I think I pay $25 for a full tank, and $6 or $8 per month rent on the tank.

Just keep in mind, that you may not be able to get the thinner wire , .023, in a 12lb spool without ordering it from the internet, which the shipping costs alone will kill any deal you get. Im almost willing to bet that you can run a much finer bead with alot less heat with the thinner wire. And you will need to change your tip to a .030. But with the .030 you can definitely weld on 1/4" pretty easily.

Repairs are coming along nice. You should be ready for paint in a few weeks right?

 

I ended up buying a 80 cu ft tank, in the long run it worked out better because I won't be using it all that much once I get this project done. I am using .025 wire, I was told to go with the thinnest I could find for sheet metal work. I'll have to check with the people I get my gas from to see if they've gOt bigger spools of the wire, although I'm almost through the more major repairs already!

As for paint, I'm not going to hold my breath... I'm going to shoot everything with an epoxy primer, then let it sit for a while. I am a merchant marine officer and it looks like I'll be headed back to work in a few weeks, so I've got to get all my projects wrapped up before then, or at least at a stage where I can leave them for a couple months! I've got some boats to get painted, too...

 

I got a little bit more done today... I worked on the cowl on the passenger side. It started out a little nasty, although better than the drivers side-



I cut away all the rusty stuff-



Then rebuilt it all with new steel-



I realized when I was doing the drivers side that I didn't really have to make it the same as it was, down to every flange, since a lot of this is concealed behind the fender... So I simplified it a bit.

I also played with the tailgate a bit. The previous owner had filled a LOT of rust holes in it with bondo- Thick layers of it. Most of the metal underneath is in pretty good shape, so I cut away the damage, and made a patch panel. This was just a trial to see how close I could match the bend, it came out pretty well!



There are two more spots like that, otherwise it's in good shape.

No more work this weekend- We've got an antique boat show in Florida to go to!

-Andrew

 

I little more progress today. I've been working on my boat restoration project, too- And also went to Florida for the weekend, so I've been slacking a bit!

Also took the morning off to clean up the workshop a bit- I have to do that every so often, when I start spending more time looking for tools than I do using them!

I did some work on the tailgate, finishing up the patch I cut before-



I've gotten pretty used to bending sheet metal now, and can get fairly close to whatever shape I need now. I use a home made 'brake' in my leg vise, and do the fine tuning on the edge & horn of my anvil. I can get some pretty complicated shapes that way. I cut this part out of the top of the tailgate-



some previous owner had filled it with bondo- which had cracked. One good drop of the tailgate, and it probably would have popped right out! So, I made a patch and welded it in-



I'm happy with it- It's not perfect, but you have to look VERY close to tell, and it's got to be better than the Bondo.

I will be heading off to pick up a Core support on Saturday- It took me a while to track one down, but I think I finally found one for a '66 in decent shape! It's got to be better than the swiss cheese I've got under my hood now.

-Andrew

 

welding is looking good im sure that finished it'll look great, make do tools are great when you have time!
at boat show look for a 14' torpedo aristo craft

 

A little bit more done today, despite the rain. I finished up the work on the tailgate- There were a few more chunks to cut out and replace-





It looks a lot better now- not perfect, but close enough for me-





All that's really left on the tailgate is some final paint removal from corners, a little sanding, and then epoxy primer.

I also finished up welding on the cab roof-



I had a small area that had rusted through. It's amazing how spotty the rust is up there- MOST of it is fairly solid, but there are some areas here and there that are (or WERE) bad...



Whenever I cut a big hole like that, especially like the ones in the tailgate, I dig around a bit to see how bad the rust is inside. I also coat everything that I can get to with rust reformer- Hopefully it'll stop the corrosion from continuing on the insides, or at least slow it a bit!

Going to get the radiator support in the morning... I can't wait

-Andrew

 

We made a trip down to the beautiful N. Georgia mountains today, and were rewarded with a good Radiator support... I've been looking for a while, and FINALLY located a decent one-





There is only a tiny bit of rust damage on it, down on the bottom, but it should be an easy fix-



I had a hell of a time explaining to the wife why I needed to drive close to 3 hours each way to pick up a dirty, rusty piece of metal... But, Oh well.

I also scored a NICE '66 radio, too- Something else I've been looking for. I got it working after tinkering with it a little tonight.


Since my wife is home for spring break this week, I don't know how much actual work I'll get done...

-Andrew

 

Not a whole lot of work today, but I did clean up the core support a bit... A little aircraft remover brought it right down to bare metal in no time-



I'm going to weld a few patches on the bottom, Then seal it all off, prime and paint.

I think I'm going to use POR, although I plan to remove a lot off the rust and there won't be a lot of "R" to "PO", it should bond well with the clean metal, and be pretty tough, so it resists future rusting...

 

Like watching this forum...

 

A bit more work complete... I'm trying to balance out the work on my boat restoration and this project. I've got a lot to get done this month- I'll be starting a new job and won't have as much time! I got the bottom of the cab done- All the welding work is finished, it's primed, and I put a coat of undercoating on it-



I used an industrial self etching primer on the bottom- I do a LOT of boat trailers, and have used it on most of them. It really stands up to abuse! I'll use an epoxy primer on anything that will be 'seen', but on the bottom I wanted toughness over looks. It's also a little easier than the epoxy is to work with.

Then, I cut the damaged areas out of the core support, made up some repair pieces, and welded them in place-





The damage was pretty limited, really only in two small spots. Then, I gave it all a good coat of POR-



It's the first time I've used that stuff- I like it. It went on pretty easily, covered well. I'll probably overcoat it with some black paint, though I suppose that I don't really HAVE to.

It hid the repairs pretty well-



If I'd have ground the weld bead down, you would be hard pressed to tell that there was a repair. But- You'd really have to be digging deep to see that area anyway, and I'm not building a show piece here, just a driver.

I also flipped the cab back up, and started to repair the corners. I was going to cut them out completely and use 'donor' corners from my other cab, but once I got looking at them, they weren't as bad as I had thought, so I made a patch panel... The passenger side is a little worse, So I might replace that-



-Andrew

 

Keep the good work coming!

Now I know what the bottom of mine should have looked like...

What are the oblong holes in your front cab mounts on the bottom outside?