ahhh the ponti in the background is a mess right now. And im not working on it, im only doing the suspension for it. Another guy who shares my shop with me is doing the body work. The chop was done by wild west customs orrigionally but the roof was really messed up, he pie cut it and fixed it, but it still has over a gallon on the roof, he started rushing.

the pillars are whats really killer, ill post some pictures sometime, you can see the old ones, he swapped the pillars out for 50 desoto pillars. they look really nice.


thanks a lot, i appreciate the feedback, i thought the boxes where clever. the driver side box is an extra 1.5 inches long so that i can fit some basic tools between my speaker box and the wall of it, it is a lowrider, it might break sometimes.

well its got a c6 in it, so i had to make the tunnel wide enough in the front so that i could eaisly mount the shift linkage to my exsisting shifter. AND as Garbz said, tools are expensive someday though. I am only 19 and i did mechanic stuff for about a year, and this kind of stuff/welding for 6 months.

radius bender isnt really on the top of my list though

1. Plasma CNC
2. miller 252 mig
3. Sand blaster/another big compressor
4. sheet metal tools sheer/brake/roll/bead roller/shrinkers and ill build my own english wheel and plinishing hammer.

its on my top 4 for now


cowl fins, where extremely simple. I had some peice of 16 gauge lying around that had already been sheered i think they where about 40x3 inches. I dont remember to well though. I mocked those up on the cowl, drew some lines with permenate marker to remeber where i put it, and trimmed the excess front edge off my virgin metal, Reset it on the cab, lined it up, and drew new lines for the front, then i cut it all out with the plasma and cleaned it up with the grinder(note if your doing metal work on thin stuff, i RARELY use a real grinding wheel, i normally use 80 grit polishing discs, about 5 bucks at home depot) and welded it in. I use a 110 Miller mini Mig for EVERYTHING i do in my shop. So if you know how to weld/set up a machine the size of it really isnt that big of a problem, I weld 1/4 plate all day long with no problems on my machine. BUT bigger is better with welders, a larger machien would run longer and better than my mini im sure.

primer is called ultimate 2k high fill primer, comes in yellow, grey, and black.
fillers i use are evercoat's basic bondo bout 23 bucks a gallon wholesale, or rage gold 32 bucks a gallon, what ever i can get in a case at the time. then we use evercoat metal glazing putty to finish, if i had the money to buy it in gallons id use it on everything its amazing but its like 35 bucks for a quart.

body lines. If your going to paint a truck, first off strip the whole thign to bare metal, its old, it will take about a day, but it will make your life easier in the long run i promise, Second is all the body lines and cracks on the entire cab where hit with a wire cup brush to clean out all the gunk

as far as patching that holes you have there on the rear quater. i would cut out the bend where it goes into the lip under the body , but on where its a straight bend, i would leave the compound curve of the fender wheel well, thats to hard to make with out a shrinker or good hammer skills, use 20 gauge it will be easier to shape. tack the top of the peice in first and work your way down the sides to ensure they are even and match the contour of the truck.

as far as sheet metal tips. Take your sweet time, quench it every few tacks, every 2 if your running hot tacks or 5 if you just zap it real quick. because if it warps, you have a lot of work in front of you. "peening" the welds help, just give each tack a tab between a hammer/dolly when its still hot it spreads it back out. dont ever run a bead, and yes use sheilding gas, chipping flux off your truck just gives you more of a chance of denting it

i run just a basic .030 wire and CO2, if you want to run a mixed co2/argon i reccomend it, you get less spatter



cowl fins, where extremely simple. I had some peice of 16 gauge lying around that had already been sheered i think they where about 40x3 inches. I dont remember to well though. I mocked those up on the cowl, drew some lines with permenate marker to remeber where i put it, and trimmed the excess front edge off my virgin metal, Reset it on the cab, lined it up, and drew new lines for the front, then i cut it all out with the plasma and cleaned it up with the grinder(note if your doing metal work on thin stuff, i RARELY use a real grinding wheel, i normally use 80 grit polishing discs, about 5 bucks at home depot) and welded it in. I use a 110 Miller mini Mig for EVERYTHING i do in my shop. So if you know how to weld/set up a machine the size of it really isnt that big of a problem, I weld 1/4 plate all day long with no problems on my machine. BUT bigger is better with welders, a larger machien would run longer and better than my mini im sure.

primer is called ultimate 2k high fill primer, comes in yellow, grey, and black.
fillers i use are evercoat's basic bondo bout 23 bucks a gallon wholesale, or rage gold 32 bucks a gallon, what ever i can get in a case at the time. then we use evercoat metal glazing putty to finish, if i had the money to buy it in gallons id use it on everything its amazing but its like 35 bucks for a quart.

body lines. If your going to paint a truck, first off strip the whole thign to bare metal, its old, it will take about a day, but it will make your life easier in the long run i promise, Second is all the body lines and cracks on the entire cab where hit with a wire cup brush to clean out all the gunk

as far as patching that hole you have there on the rear quater. most of these trucks have them because thats an old bumper mount. But i would cut out about a 1x1 or probably 2x2 patch because its easier to work with, cut the area out as a square, circles are incredibly hard. and you can try your hand at shaping it id use 18 or 20 gauge probably for ease of shaping. OR you could rougly shape it and weld it in behind which is what most people do. BUT metal finish looks so pretty.

as far as sheet metal tips. Take your sweet time, quench it every few tacks, every 2 if your running hot tacks or 5 if you just zap it real quick. because if it warps, you have a lot of work in front of you. "peening" the welds help, just give each tack a tab between a hammer/dolly when its still hot it spreads it back out. dont ever run a bead, and yes use sheilding gas, chipping flux off your truck just gives you more of a chance of denting it

i run just a basic .030 wire and CO2, if you want to run a mixed co2/argon i reccomend it, you get less spatter

 

One Idea I had for fixing that rust spot...since there were so many bends... was to move down the bed side a bit tack 24 gauge metal on (larger than the spot needed)...and gently work the metal with various items ie pipe for the long curve bend just below the body line.... 24 gauge would be easier to work...but would it be too thin for a patch?

I know some of these "collision cneters" use a mesh material for patching holes and then fillilng in the mesh and sanding it smooth... another thought I had... but something just doesnt seem right about it? My brother in law used some to patch a rust hole about 3 inchs round on his 2001 ford ranger... so we will see how that turns out ... It was incredibly easy to bend and form. Got it from a PPG/ dupont paint shop for 6 bucks with 3 sheets 6 x 6... bondo makes one too... lol but its "self adhesive" and not sure what its made of....I would feel better with some tacks on that. The first stuff I told ya about is a weld in material. in fact when we ripped the old bed off my father in laws truck we found that he had some similar material on one bed side...looked rather old.. and from the front couldnt tell there was a patch.

 

Minium 18 guage for patch material.

Evercoat is the shnizz for body work......Expensive but worth every penny.

Its not everyday you see a chop attempted on the body style car.. Hard...

Brandon I can show you how to make a CHEEP radius bender.....less than 50 bucks in materials...and will do a 1 1/4 full radius for 90 degrees.

Garbz

 

i agree about the evercoat, I love rage gold.

thinking about using zchrome rust defender, or feather fill for an all over

 

I have a question about the wells. how deep did you make them?

 

mine are 8 inches deep. BUT remember my truck is body dropped, so you could make yours how ever you want. BUT more than 8 inches will stick out from underneath the rocker. and mine are 18 inches long, from the gas tank foward.

yes it is expensive, but i just recently found this cheap evercoat, its the same color as the metal glaze and its only 23 bucks a gallon which isnt much more than that **** bondo brand and it works great.

PLEASE, tell me how to make a radius bender and/or any other tools you know how to make, because ive learned you can make any tool for FAR cheaper than you can buy them. I made a make shift brake to make the 2 bends in my floor, for Free, i rummeged through a dumpster and found a case of these stainless steel dowels, with spacer that fit over them. i used those as my pivot point, an old concrete stake for the handle, and 2 peices of 1x1.5 for the face and welded it all to a table, worked great. precision bends for free!

no real collision center uses mesh/body/fiberglass to repair holes, none, or they wouldnt be in business because im 19 and i can do better work than that. They all patch, but they charge you for it out the ***. There really isnt much "patch" work going on in the collision business now a days, cars are made to crunch when they crash and every body panel is made to be replaced, IE door skins, you can buy door skins for any new car, you simply, drill the spot welds, hammer/dolly the bend back over the door frame, and re spot weld. and youve got a brand new repaired door in less time than it takes to make a patch, with no filler!.

id use 20g minimum, garbz says 18, because 18 is the factory gauge of old sheet metal, and its what i use, but i think you could get away with 20, most jap cars are 20 or 22. depending on how crappy it is.

 

Shoot me a PM and i can explain how it is put together.

Garbz

 

thanks, 7 or 8 sounds good. i really dont want it to stick out.

 

yup, they work out really nice, make sure to post some pictures on my thread when its finished id like to see how it came out.

 

ok. that might happen really soon. im running out of space in my "travel" tool bag. first i have to find someone in memphis who can weld it all in for cheap (read: free) i could rivet it all in and see how it looks.

 

rivits would be bad, just make sure to seam seal it.

 

Would you be willing to share with the rest of the class?

 

I just put a sketch together for Brandon if you have a fax i can shoot it off anywhere.

Garbz

 

Can't wait to see the final product. I'm going to be doing something similar to my 66 short bed this winter. As far as the CNC Plasma, don't waste your $$$ on a plasma. A water jet can do a WHOLE LOT more for the same cost. Just upgraded out old water jet with a new custom made one. We were looking at both and the WJ offered so much more. We've been making templates out of OSB before we cut the metal. Just my .02. Awsome Project!!!

 

where can i get a waterjet for 7 grand? if i can im down
but im getting torchmates set up for just under 7 grand, its a do it yourself kit, comes with gears belts, drives, and such. also comes with a machine torch, cad software, and a few other nice features. ID rather have a laser, but i dont have that kind of money