I finished up the rust repair on the front corners, cleaned up the bottom and firewall, sprayed them with Rust Reformer paint and then covered them with Duplicolor Rubberized Undercoating. I decided to coat the firewall too by accident. Some overspray hit it and looked really cool, soooo…It's a paintable surface so I will either go stock Seaspray Green or satin black. The bottom and lower part of the firewall will get 1 or 2 more coats of undercoating tomorrow (Especially on some of the welds…..). Here are some pics. Didn’t take too many during pics as it was high 90’s and I wanted to keep moving and get it done.



I didn't take any "during" photos but here is what I started with on the right side.


Turned out ok. Thank God for undercoating and carpet.


Some of the welds got a little think chasing burnouts. I coulda ground them down some more but they are pretty hidden and I planned on covering them with undercoat.


What I started with on the left side.


Big hole in the floor.


First piece bent and tacked in.


Side piece....


Riser/floor corner where it was rusted out.


All sealed up.


Better than the other side.


I'll clean up the inside welds and floor once it if back on the truck.


Cleaned up, painted, and undercoated.


Floor and lower section will get at least 1 more layer of undercoating, maybe more. Firewall will be painted.



This was the before picture. Soooo glad it is done.....

 

 

Wire 'em up, fire 'em up...they're good to go!

 

Looking Great! Keep going

 

I wouldn't get too crazy with grinding the welds either under there, just weld it seal it and coat it. Most important part is the structural integrity of the truck and you've achieved that, you are doing a great job.

I don't enjoy chasing burn outs either but it happens sometimes, I think my 57 is my last build as I am so done with rust. Love the old style but there is so much time and work involved in getting them back to road worthy condition.

Anyway keep the great progress coming, love your build!

D

 

Any updates??

 

 

Hi all, thought I would give this one more try but it still won't resie the photos. I basically moved over to a club page on Facebook after they made the changes here making it difficult to post pictures. I no longer have the option in settings to have my photos automatically resized even though the post at the top says there is added software to do this. Does anyone else know if it now works? I have way too many to resize myself and uploading them full size sucks. So does having huge pictures in a post.

Last pics I uploaded were right after I finished the cab rust repair and was ready to set it on the frame. It was on the road as of August and I am just buttoning up the little details. Turned out really nice. I'll post a final pic here. So it seems when I try to add photos, they don't resize and on occasion it freezes up (like it did a few minutes ago). Too frustrating for me so you can reach me here. http://www.facebook.com/groups/57to6...?ref=bookmarks I will also post a link here to my Facebook photo once I get them uploaded there. There won't be text of what I did or how I did it, just photos. If you want specifics, you can find me at the above Facebook page. Really good group of people and every bit as helpful and knowledgeable as you all. I have to say it is a lot more user friendly and you get answers almost immediately 24 hours a day.

Again, thank you all for the encouragement and help you have given. I am now hooked. Already have a 59 F250 project ready to start once Ruby's truck is buttoned up. I am also picking up a 61 C600 tilt up next weekend. Good luck all.



So here goes.

 

 

Marty....I am not sure what is going on with your pictures. I resize the images I want to post to 1024 x 768, or thereabouts, using the standard Windows software. I have not had any problems whatsoever.

I am winding down my involvement with Facebook. I have heard too many bad things about their security and their politics.

The truck looks great. I have to get mine back on the road.

 

Actually I have all the photos groups in folders and I found a way to get Windows to resize all at once. Once I get that done I'll get back to updating......

 

So I am no quitter (well there is the whiskey thing....) so I found a way to trick windows into resizing multiple photos at the same time so here we go.

Now where was I? Oh ya, last you saw I finished the cab rust repair and it was sitting on its back. Not sure when that was but I set a deadline to get the truck to a ratrod show here in Woodland at the beginning of august. that meant working all day on tractors and then wrenching til anywhere from 11 pm to 2 am on the truck on weekdays and about 16 hours a day on the weekends. Show was on Saturday, took it for it's first test drive on Thursday evening, got it weighed and registered on Friday, and washed and to the show on Saturday morning. It still had no door glass or interior goodies like seatbelts, wipers, heater, or floor covering but it got there and got a lot of attention. Runs pretty good too.... Since then I have been knocking out the rest of the work so Ruby can start driving it. I have a ton of pictures and descriptions so I'll need to update in several posts over a few days. So here goes (posts to follow....)

 

First things I had to knock out was get the chassis ready. I needed to make sure the engine and trans were operating correctly, the rearend had fluid and brakes, and the new shock mounts were fabricated and mounted to hold the airshocks. Bought HD shocks that hold pressure up to 150 psi. They work great and ride great, even under pressure. Here are some pics.....


Built a dash with the gauges I will be using to run the motor.




First made sure it would fire then mounted the radiator.



Had to seal up the top cover.



note. When you put a 63 Galaxie rearend in a 58 housing, there is no fill plug. Had to fill it through the vent.



Using some of the hardware from the 63 Galaxie along with new stuff. All mine was toast.



Rear brakes complete.



Had to bend new brake line for the rearend.




New Ebrake cables.



Building new (stronger) shock mounts for the airshocks.





Shocks mounted.



Rear view of shock mounts, brake line, and fuel sender wire.



Gas tank back in.Gas tank back in and ready to mount the cab and bed.

 

Cab dropped right on and everything fit.

 

Once the cab was on I needed to have the 1976 F250 radiator gone through and repair the core support. It was rusted through but salvageable. I cut the rusted metal out, cut new metal and welded it in, coated the entire piece in rust killer (Kleen Strip), then painted it with Rust Reformer and flat black. Had to cut a little here and there to get the radiator in place them made 4 mounting tabs and welded them on. Was worried I was going to have to use an electric fan but it all fit perfect. Mounted the inner fenders and core support and am pleased.