YES back yard made

 

What a Find!
Only in the Western States. Here in the East, you would never find treasures like that. Humidity is not kind to metal!

Good Luck on your project.
Johnny

 

There is indeed a home made fender with the recess for the spare. I won't use it, except for spare metal.

 

Hi guys, little update on the build for those who are interested in the plight of a noob!

It's raining fairly torrentially here in Utah this weekend, I have the frame soaked in Purple Power and the rain did some rinsing for me. I have a really nice Power Washer on loan and will blast the remaining crud off tomorrow night after work. (sorry for the poor quality photo)



So I wheeled the cab and dolly inside my shop and started work on the cab. After digging around in the rear of the cab, a bit of cleaning, some wire wheel, and wire brush and "crunch!!!" - through the crossmember I went! Dang! As with old cars, the further I cleaned it up, the more it crumbled, so I went ahead and cut the whole dang thing out.



I went ahead and bought some 2" box section that matches what was there before, and I am in the process of cutting the replacement floor section. It should go in this week.

I turned my attention to the drivers side rear cab corner. Remember, I'm new and not very experienced at this, but the only way to learn is to just go for it right??












Now, before you say "eurgh that weld is awful" I must insist it's not finished and that about ten mins before I took this pic, I ran out of dang welding gas!!!!! I took this as a sign, cleaned up and went inside.

I am going to Humphries Welding Supply tomorrow for a new gas cylinder, and I am also going to buy some weld through primer, to give that a try. I've been coating my welds in Cold Galvanizing Compound which seems ok, but I've heard good things about Weld Through Primer.

Thanks for reading! Gary.

 

Evenin' all!

I didn't have much time this evening, but I did manage to pressure wash the frame. All except the front crossmember (where the motor sits) came up real nice. It'll be time for paint at some point this week after I chisel the crossmember clean. Just low-gloss black tractor enamel. I used this on my VW floorpans and it's great, so I'll stick with what I know.

 

Hi Gary,

one advice from my end: before applying the paint, remove all removeable parts such as springs, steering components! That way You don't miss any spots...

 

Thanks Rico56 I will definitely do that!

I had a spare fifteen seconds this evening between returning home, and being the family taxi service. I take every single minute and try and accomplish anything I can, no matter how small - so I started at the front of the frame and made my way across the driver side front corner with a wire wheel. Then the "For Hire" light on my family taxi came back on and I begrudgingly put all my stuff away for the night. Like I said, no matter how small, get something done, right?

 

Looks good Gary!

 

Cool story and road trip! And great pictures too.
I know what you mean by taxi driver

 

Thanks Greg!


Thanks loads! I always try and take pictures of my progress, I've learned that if you have a "build thread" as such, potential buyers trust what you say a lot more, should the dreaded day come that you have to sell your car. But mostly, it's awesome to go back through it all :-)

 

30t Sept update: Today I got down and dirty with the front driver side cab corner. It's a mess.



I made a new piece for the really bad area, cut the old crap out and welded in the new bit...







After wire wheelin' these areas I gave it some support



As usual, I ran out of Saturday pretty quick. I am grateful for my shop that I can do all this inside out of the inevitable snow and rain that's on its way.

 

Nice patch on that corner, you do good work.

 

Thank you so much Greg! I really appreciate that.

Today, I finished the drivers side front cab corner. Well, when I say finished, I mean the metal work part of it. This morning it started off looking like this...



Yeah, kinda grim huh? I'm really not sure if I do things the "correct" way or not but a few hours work...



I made a new front for this little "hatch" in the front corner, which I do not know what it is for yet. But I made one anyway.






A good few hours work today. It rained a lot but I shut the door and got on with it.



I was happy with todays work. Hello!!!!!



Thanks for looking guys! Gary.

 

Good looking work done there Gary!!

I would use a POR-15 type product on the frame to treat right onto the rusty areas. I use the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator as it has some UV protections, which POR doesn't have. It's a very tough coating and will seal off the rust.

On my '53 there is an extra tab welded into the door frame to rocker panel. like a reinforcement. Maybe the '56 is different....

 

Thank you brother! I agree with you regarding POR15, I used it on a couple of my VW resto's, except for one thing - my bum always hurts after I buy POR15, it's so expensive hahaha. Also they say you cannot paint over it, which seems a little redundant to me - is the Eastwood stuff paintable because I will give it a try? Right now, Cold Galvanizing Compound is my fave because it's a little less expensive.