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What is the best way to to "Remove/Cover Up" the side louvers on a 53-56 F100? I assume one would cut it out and patch it?
Cut and patch would be the best way to go. If you don't want to fabricate your own patch panel, Mid Fifty and the others make a cab corner that goes up that high, with no louvers: https://midfifty.com/item.php?INV_ID...ger-no-louvers
You wouldn't necessarily use the whole thing. Just the part you need.
Disclaimer: I'm not a body man. I just play one in my shop sometimes.
I cut mine out and used a piece of metal to fill it in. Be sure to drill out the corners of the truck panel first. I used a 1" hole saw. That way when you weld in the new panel you will not get a big heat build up in the corners. You should be able to find out how I did it in my build.
I cut mine out and used a piece of metal to fill it in. Be sure to drill out the corners of the truck panel first. I used a 1" hole saw. That way when you weld in the new panel you will not get a big heat build up in the corners. You should be able to find out how I did it in my build.
Can you explain this a bit more. Do you mean drill the corners around the square patch that I will be cutting out?
Buying that panel to only cut out a portion of the top would make that a VERY expensive piece of sheet metal.
Oh, absolutely. Over $70, with shipping. That's why I qualified with "if you don't want to fabricate your own". It would be most economical if one needed the cab corner as well. But a bit of a waste otherwise.
I cut out the louvers and was left with a hole that looked like this. You can see here what I meant with rounded corners. That was a trick I learned on a metal working forum. It helps not to concentrate the heat from welding into the corners. It makes it easier if any hammer and dolly work is required as well.
From there I took a piece of 18 ga. metal and ran it through an english wheel just to give it a bit of a crown. Ran it both ways as the panel does have a bit of a crown in it. You can see that by putting a straight edge on it. I then cut the metal slightly oversized.
traced it out. Then cut it, sneaking up to the line. You want as tight a joint as possible. Took several rounds of cutting, grinding fitting until I got it to a point that I was happy with. Then started tacking it in place. Here you have to go slooow. Tack, move a couple of inches, tack, move a couple of inches, tack, repeat. Then go back and go in between the tacks you made. Also during this process it is good to hit the tacks with a hammer and dolly. I normally do that after each round of tacks at first. Once I get them closer together I will do say 6 tacks, then hammer and dolly, 6 more tacks, then hammer and dolly, and on and on.
All ground down, ready for some primer. Then it gets a layer or two of body filler.
I don't have any final pics yet of this. I ended up welding up the seam above the louvers. Then a few months ago, I ended up with a small side job and was able to buy the lower cab corner and ended up replacing it as well. It has been to the filler stage now. I will be priming it again soon.
Hope that helps.
Marten
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