The four corner panels were all bent and sunk in so I started straightening those this morning. This was the driver side rear panel.







I started with the flange, then used a socket and hammer to shrink the panel back flat. The socket "traps" the metal and lets the hammer push the metal into itself, shrinking the panel. The socket has to be bigger than the hammer head and you have to keep the hammer in the dead center of the socket or else you'll hit against the edge of the socket and stretch the metal. MP&C has info on the "donut dolly" technique in his '55 Wagon thread, post #973. 55 Wagon Progress - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

 

Driver side front panel.








After:









I also made and fitted both front corners that were rusted.






Blasted and shot SPI epoxy on the two floor braces.

 

You do amazing work! Thanks for sharing and offering tips. I'm taking notes.

 

I will follow closely. I'm doing my 62 and am having great difficulty with the body work on the top of the cab and the hood. I can't figure out how to get the "fine" waviness out of the metal. Used dollies and body hammers, tried a thin coat of filler but nothing seems to work. My first body work and have done the rest of the truck so far but these two areas are killing me.

 

Amazing for sure. I urge everyone interested in metalwork to see more amazing "metal bumping" in the '55 Wagon thread you added in post #16. Thanks for that.

 

Thanks!


What are you using to block sand with? And what grit paper are you using when blocking? The wrong type of blocks or the wrong technique or the wrong grip paper will have you endlessly chasing ripples. I've switched to homemade plexiglass blocks in varying thicknesses, lengths, and widths to fit the exact need of each panel. You can adjust the flexibility of the block by choosing thicker or thinner plexiglass, from 1/16" to 3/8", and narrower widths are more flexible as well. The hard surface forces the paper to cut much faster than a softer block (like Durablocks) and if you get the right thickness for the panel you're working it'll flex in a natural curve to correctly shape the panel without dipping into the low spots so you're only bringing down the high spots. Using a guide coat will show the high and low spots and allows you visualize how flat the panel is while blocking. Don't block just to remove the guide coat; block down the high spots until they blend in with the low spots unless the low spots are too low. If you hit metal on the high spots before they're flattened enough then you need to get the metal straighter before going to the bodywork stage, and the same is true with low spots- bring them up in the metal work stage before trying to fill them with filler or high build primer. I should be starting the bodywork on the bed in the next couple of weeks and I'll point out how to do all of this step by step.

You need to start with rough paper to shape the filler or high build primer. Worry about the shape first (making the panel straight and ripple free) then go back and smooth the panel with finer paper once it's shaped. Smooth paper (around 120/150 and higher) doesn't cut aggresively enougth to shape a panel properly, you're mostly just smoothing at that point.

The True Blox website has a lot of good info on block sanding and it'll help even if you're not using plexiglass blocks.

https://www.trueblox.com/pages/true-tips


Jeff Lilly's website has some info on blocks and techniques too, but I'm not a fan of how they add foam to the surface of the block.

https://www.jefflilly.com/build-tips/block-sanding/



Robert does exceptional work and I've learned a ton from his posts. Definitely check out his thread if you're into this type of work!

 

The inside of all the panels were shot with undercoating so I scraped all of it off to prep for blasting.








After:








The two center floor braces were bent so I used our tubing roller to straighten them.






They were also dented around the mounting bolt holes.




The truck was stripped and repainted at some time. The paint strips easily and quickly with a razor blade leaving a thin coat of primer and some spots of filler. I'll strip the primer/filler with a DA sander to avoid blasting and warping the bed sides.





I test fit the front header and cross brace, the filler panels I made, and the center braces.













Also cut out the rust that was on the flange that the bed floor spot welds to and welded in new metal.

 

Lookin good

 

I think you should change your user name to sheet-metal-magician

 

I have straightened a lot of metal and had to shrink a lot of stretched metal over the years and I've never seen the socket and hammer technique. I am definitely going to have to give that a try!

Great work as always, I have adopted several of your techniques, thanks for sharing here!

 

Been 6 days. Surely you must have done more. More please.

 

Thanks guys!!



It works best with a softer round dolly, like delrin, but I like the added mass of the socket. But if you miss then you end up stretching the metal due to the metal getting pinched. A soft-faced dolly prevents that. I'll buy or make a better dolly eventually, but for now I used what I had.


Been working, just not posting.


I've been working on blasting the bed, inside and out and underneath, that's about 95% done. I'll work on straightening and repairing as much as I can while it's in bare metal before going back over the areas I missed with the blaster and then shooting epoxy.

The seam between the upper and lower passenger side bedsides was pretty rough so I spent extra time cleaning it out with the blaster.






The new F250 bed floor has stamping for a fifth wheel ball, and the owner wants to add a fuel tank under the bed with the filler cap in the bed floor. I'll cut out two sections and swap them to make the center smooth and have a stamped area around the filler cap.




The rear corners had back up lights added, so I straightened the area and welded up the holes.








The bedside is wavy and sunk in over the front of the wheelwell so I've started stretching the area by hammer-on dolly plannishing the area to raise the low spots.




The bottom driver side behind the wheel opening had a couple creases, dents, and a torn spot on the edge of the flange.

 

Nice work. I have sent you a PM

 

I've seen people use Bronco wheel tubs to widen the factory tubs, and to use for trucks with raised bed floors but not for stock tub replacement so I wasn't sure that they'd work. They were only $70 shipped each so we bought one to try out and the stamping ended up being identical with only a couple details that needed attention.


The stock tubs were pretty rough so I cut them out with the plasma to get to the inner flange.






For Bronco applications they had a notch cut out for the shock mount. I welded that up since the bed floor will be welded to that area of the flange.



Test fit.





Trimming the bottom edge to match the original shape.






Couple of pinholes welded up.









There were dimples in the flange area from the original spot welds so I straightened those so the new tubs would fit flush.

 

The driver side bed corner fit pretty well at the bottom but stuck out past the bedside towards the top.






I was able to reach the spot welds through the taillight opening with an extended nose grinder and carbide burr. You can see how much I moved the panel inward to make the two flanges flush.





We decided to shave the stake pockets, so I cut out the flanged lip and made a filler panel that keeps and extends the seam so it looks like a factory panel.









I drilled a couple holes to plug weld the filler panel's flange in place like the rest of the corner's flange.




Coated the inside of the corner with epoxy before welding it shut.




Finished.