Well I finished the last of the metal fabrication work. Now I just need to go back and finish welding it up and grinding on the inside. Once that is done I'll go over the entire thing with P15 and then seam sealer. It doesn't have to be perfect since it will all be covered with Killmat. The outside is a diff matter. That has to be gotten ready for paint.


I cut these strips for the vertical patch on the rear wall.

Frankenstein patch. Once the body work is done, you won't know it's there.

 

Does this seam need to be welded all the way across?
In the last post (#91), in the first photo you see the patch panels I made for where the back cab wall meets the floor. I made a lap joint for those panels and spot welded it on the inside and bottom. Do I need to weld it solidly all the way across the back wall?

 

Mine was spot welded every few inches where the back wall meets the floor, just above where it has the short return (90) that goes under the cab. I only plan on drilling holes and plug welding where the back meets the floor.

The long horizontal cut I made a few inches above the floor will be welded back up continuously all along the back wall.

 

Thanks, HertzHound. Today I welded. Man, I gotta say I'm becoming a whizz with my mig welder. Practice makes ... adequate, lol.


I coated the bare metal with P15. After it dries I'll coat with seam sealer, and lastly it'll all be covered with Kilmat.

Having a painted truck is getting so close I can almost taste it!
I know this is a topic for a diff thread, but I've been looking at new stereos and like the RetroSound Long Beach model, but I don't like the price tag. Any ideas? I have a 2 channel amp and killer Boston speakers. Does anyone know of a nice unit for a nice price?

 

I decided to delete my stock stereo/speaker setup and just put a bluetooth speaker somewhere in the cab. I'll likely run a power source to the speaker as well from somewhere.

 

"Practice makes...adequate, lol." That is funny!! I'm going to recycle that line as much as I can and, of course, claim it as my own.

 

Ha! That's a great idea! You do away with a lot of expense too. I was so locked into thinking about this in one way that your solution never even entered my mind.

You go for it. I'll send my venmo info so you can send royalties, ha ha. I too have 'barrowed' a few quotes from the forum. My favorite was a guy telling how much air his efan moved, and he said, "It'll suck a cat through the grill." The wife did not find that too amusing. Cheers.

 

I think I finished the last major metal/body work on the cab today. Hopefully, I should be spraying paint in a few days.


I got creative with the oe body lines because of the metal patchwork.

 

I'm having a time trying to get this cheapo Harbor F gun to flow/spray enough material. It is spraying like half what it should, so I'm moving the gun irritatingly slow to get coverage.
From day one I've had this issue with this CA gun. I thin the primer as directed on the label, use the psi the gun calls for, and spray when the temp is in the 70's. It is very annoying.
So I bought a primer gun today with a larger tip. That should do it. I'm thinking that Friday I should be spraying top coat and clear.

Does anyone have any do's or don'ts for filling the rain gutter with calk?

 

what tip size are you using on that gun? I have that purple HF gun as well and plan in drilling out the tip so it's a bit larger for urethane primer. Unfortunately it's still sub freezing here and my minisplit doesn't get my garage hot enough to paint/prime. I've been looking into torpedo heaters but might just wait until spring to paint.

 

Hey there. I drilled the tip out to 2.0 and am still having the problem. But, I bought a primer gun with a 1.8 tip and will see today whether it flows the proper amount of material/primer.
I will be spraying top coat a bit in the jambs and around the edge of the hood, in the jambs of the tailgate as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get the proper flow with top coat/paint. If not, then the HF gets tossed and I buy a better gun.

 

Might have to play around w/ fluid flow and air pressure. Most of the primer will get sanded down so I'm not too worried about some texture. I've not sprayed before and plan on doing a lot of test patterns prior to laying down color.

 

250 restorer,
Your doing a great job on your dent side truck. Rust for sure is always worse when you open it up. I do some old tractor work as a hobby .Trying to do a clean, refurb and paint on several over the last 10 years. You said you had not done this type of work for a while, but you seemed to ramp back up pretty fast! Your truck is going to look really good! Your body work looks good. Again working on anything that has rusted or been damaged is a challenge. Keep up the good work! You have done a lot in a couple months.
I was surprised how the fender that you purchased did not seem to be close to fitting.
Regards,
Chris and Cheryl

 

Thanks for the encouragement. The tools have been gathering dust in my garage for quite a few years. When the truck got hit while parked a couple of years ago, I was happy I had held onto the tools.
I was quite surprised as well when the fender from amazon, via Taiwan, did not come close to fitting. Maybe that was for the best since the metal is thinner than oem. It did serve--part of it--as a patch panel and allowed me to reuse my original fender. What impressed me was when I saw body work on the oe fender that had bondo that had oozed through the slide hammer holes, and there was no rust around those holes. That was surprising and impressive. I guess the bondo seals the raw metal.

When I began this project, I told the wife it would take a couple of weeks. That was November. At that point I had no Idea that I would be replacing the floor pan, the lower part of the door post, part of the rocker panel, removing the backing plate for one of the door hinges, fabing up a lower fender bracket, patching in several spots in the door jambs, as well as spots around the back window, rebuilding the rear suspension due to a broken U bolt, installing new window mechanisms, new door and window seals, adding sound deadening to floor, ceiling, rear wall and inside the doors, rebuilding and epoxying both door panels and cutting out part of the rain gutter as well. Those things really slowed me down. Now it is time to double up on the espresso and bring the final stages to completion.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing the truck in red and white. That will make me happy. Yep, my dd is 50+ years old. I can't wait to take it on the freeway, shift into OD, and see if I can tell a diff in the amount of road noise entering the cab.

Random thought: At the beginning of this project a forum member said to leave the sound deadening until last because if you're having to kneel and sit on it, you get that black tar like material everywhere. Did I listen? Of course not.

I need to sand this and coat with P15 before covering with Kilmat.

 

I've never had so many problems with spraying primer! Today was the final straw. I mixed a batch of the urethane primer as directed, and thought I might get better results if I added 15% reducer. I was also using a new gun with a 1.8 tip. I was spraying the front, nearly vertical section of the hood and noticed that once again I was having to move the gun very slowly to cover, and then it began to sputter when I tilted the gun. To my surprise, I noticed that the over-spray further up the hood must have dried before it landed because it was all over sitting there like tiny ***** that I could wipe away like dust. WTHell?

After so many tries, and 3 different guns, I can only assume that it is the primer itself causing the issue. Summit urethane primer that sat for probably 2 years on the shelf. I tossed the entire container in the trash and will go with a fresh batch. At least I got the front of the hood primed.

Finished installing the Sound deadening sheets. This is the Summit brand.

I sanded and painted the heat spots with P15. Trying to coat all new metal and welds with it.