I'm not 100 % positive ....but I don't think I should be able to see light and the floor of the shop when I look down at where the floor of the cab meets up with the back wall of said cab....HHmmmmmmm?!

 

Don, that is a heavenly light you see.

On my cab I could see not only light, but every detail of the flooor underneath the truck. I could pass a loaf of bread up into the cab.

Not sure what your plans are next, but there is always the option of prepping first then getting a can of POR-15 and brushing it all over the floor. Next step afterward to get a can of seam sealer and neatly putting a thick bead along that area.

That gap you see is much better than most of our cab floors.
Or you can reach for the grinder and cutting wheel and report back to us in two years when the full restoration and bank account depletion is complete.

Tom

 

The first two sound good....that last suggestion.......not so much!
Thanks for the tips!

 

That reminds me of the time I took my '56 which has it's rust issues too, to a pretty well respected body shop I know. I was trying to get a feel for what I was getting into and whether I should farm out the work since I'm a pretty fair mechanic, but have no body work experience. I showed him the rust, and then he took me over to a '70 GMC van he was working on that also had rust.

He explained that without virtual complete disassembly, it was impossible to eliminate the rust entirely, and that unless I was willing to invest a year or two doing it myself or about $20K for him to do it, I might consider to continue to drive it and not worry so much.

That said, I did address the cab roof, and will replace the floor pan and one door skin this year, but for me, its more important to drive the truck regularly with little worry if it gets a scratch or two at the dump...

 

Here's my position on two of my vehicles. The '48/51 F-4. The '48 cab I have on the truck in in pretty solid condition but the floor is peppered with pin holes in a few spots, other than that it's in very good condition. I blasted the floor and applied a layer of masking tape on the bottom of the cab. I coated the top side with POR-15 and left it dry. I flipped the cab on it's back, removed the tap, which prevented the POR-15 from leaking through the pin holes and sealing them. I then applied POR-15 to the bottom side of the floor.

On my '37 Buick I was in the same situation and did the same thing except this time I epoxy primed the floor, top and bottom, and then coated the floor top and bottom with truck bed liner.

I could have cut out the few bad spots but they were pretty solid with no flexing. If I had cut the bad spots out It would have took a week, or more, of work and then I'd have a patched up floor, an area no one will ever see.

Neither vehicle is going to be judged show car, I just want to get them on the road ASAP, which seems like never, and drive them before I croak. I figure both are going to be here for long time after I'm gone. After that I don't really care what happens to them.

 

Ford designed it that way. It's so when the windows leak the water doesn't accumulate in the cab.

 

I was going to say, if you seal it all up, there's nowhere for water to drain!

Seriously, if that is the seam weld along the bottom of the cab, I'd at least pop-rivet it every 6 inches or so.

 

Well I am relieved to know that is something that can be dealt with in a way that ISN'T going to cost an arm and a leg.. I'm ok on MOST mechanical stuff but not so much on body work...I'm to the age where I don't have a lot of patience!
Thanks everybody for the input..all is welcome as always