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Originally Posted by Vandy23
(Post 19844267)
Love your work and attention to detail. Truly the work of a craftsman!
Originally Posted by unilover6163
(Post 19848733)
Wow, I am speechless!
The numerous suttle fixes, modifications, upgrades and repairs are executed wonderfully, true craftsmanship. The pursuit of perfection on every detail is exhausting but you persevere each one at a time. And to document these details in this master class for your online forum students to observe in wonderment is simply brilliant! Thank you for your dedication and generous sharing - Pete p.s.: Sorry to hear of your friend health challenges and the efforts to sell off his tools to settle his financial struggles. I appreciate the comments!! I had stripped the doors awhile back by blasting the inner frame and DA sanding the outer skin, but there were rust specs that didn't sand off. I didn't want to blast these and warp the skin so I used Ospho to soak the spots, along with scrubbing with a scuff pad and a stainless brush on the worst spots. Most came off quickly but a few spots took awhile to clear up between scrubbing and soaking. I kept the Ospho wet and thoroughly rinsed the doors to neutralize the acid so there would be no issues with epoxy adhesion. Attachment 279944 Attachment 279945 Starting to clear up. Attachment 279946 Attachment 279947 99% clear, one spot was more stubborn. Blasting the door would've meant spending more time on this spot with the blaster, so the metal would've stretched more in this spot than anywhere else, leaving a high spot. Acid with epoxy isn't ideal but I felt better about doing it this way to prevent warping. This is another reason I don't trust "rust converters" or Por15 type products... even with abrading the surface to bare metal all over there were deep enough pits that a spray on rust converter wouldn't have been able to penetrate into fully to kill the rust at the base where it's most active. Attachment 279948 I found a spot of rust through where a brace is spot welded to the frame, so I cut it out and blasted the inside the inner frame. There was a bit of flash rust from rinsing the Ospho off that needed to be blasted off the inner frame too. Attachment 279949 After light blasting I welded in a patch, then brushed on two coats of epoxy to seal up the inner frame and bracing. Attachment 279950 Attachment 279951 Attachment 279952 |
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The rear of the door jambs had a couple layers that stuck out for a tab to hold the inner and outer panels together. This looked pretty terrible, and even with the planned carpet and inner panels there would be no way to make this area look neatly finished.
Attachment 279932 Attachment 279933 Test fitting the area with a carpet scrap and panel board... it still looks unfinished. Attachment 279934 Flange cut flush with the jamb edge. This left a recess that needed filling in. Attachment 279935 Attachment 279936 Attachment 279937 Attachment 279938 Filler piece formed and tacked in place. Attachment 279939 Layers welded together, filler panel fully welded in, and welds smoothed. Attachment 279940 Attachment 279941 Attachment 279942 Test fitting again, much cleaner looking than before. Attachment 279943 |
I've looked at that spot so many times that it became invisible to me until, I see your work and attention to detail. Man that really looks great. Nice work!
Doug |
Those small details are incredible, and time consuming.
Very nice detailed execution. Please keep your photo updates coming. Love seeing your work - Pete |
Originally Posted by doug64f100
(Post 19856984)
I've looked at that spot so many times that it became invisible to me until, I see your work and attention to detail. Man that really looks great. Nice work!
Doug
Originally Posted by unilover6163
(Post 19857117)
Those small details are incredible, and time consuming.
Very nice detailed execution. Please keep your photo updates coming. Love seeing your work - Pete |
20 Attachment(s)
I started blasting the cab and the passenger floor had pretty deep pits. I remembered the other F100 having rust in the seams between the floors and cab mounts so I decided to go ahead and cut both floor pans out to avoid future problems.
Driver side- Attachment 279778 Attachment 279779 Passenger side- Attachment 279780 Attachment 279781 Attachment 279782 Body mounts blasted. Attachment 279783 Attachment 279784 Attachment 279785 Two coats of epoxy. Attachment 279786 Attachment 279787 Fabbed a new passenger side patch. This has a bit of a reverse curve in it so I used the linear stretch die in the planishing hammer to create the drop off while keeping the upper half completely flat. Attachment 279788 More of the driver side was pitted so I bought a new pan for that side. It fit pretty well after a little trimming. Attachment 279789 Attachment 279790 Attachment 279791 Attachment 279792 Attachment 279793 The owner had cut the top of the tunnel out to fit the T56, so I made a new taller tunnel. I used the Pullmax to add an original style bead around the top perimeter, bent the edges over, then used the linear stretch die to curve the front up. I made a template with the shrinker as a guide for shaping the curve. Attachment 279794 Attachment 279795 Attachment 279796 Attachment 279797 |
Great work as usual. I have read all of your threads over on the 67-72 Chevy Truck forum and read them more than once. I am amazed at the level you set the bar. You work is not only inspirational , informative and I seem to always learn a new trick or two that I will try or a product to test out. Again thanks for documenting the work.
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Absolutely the best sheet metal work I've ever seen- subscribed- in anticipation of seeing more of this build.
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Originally Posted by F_in_Idaho
(Post 19970135)
Absolutely the best sheet metal work I've ever seen-
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Originally Posted by landarts
(Post 19930129)
Great work as usual. I have read all of your threads over on the 67-72 Chevy Truck forum and read them more than once. I am amazed at the level you set the bar. You work is not only inspirational , informative and I seem to always learn a new trick or two that I will try or a product to test out. Again thanks for documenting the work.
Originally Posted by F_in_Idaho
(Post 19970135)
Absolutely the best sheet metal work I've ever seen- subscribed- in anticipation of seeing more of this build.
Originally Posted by 78ShortBed-
(Post 19970939)
Amen..............
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12 Attachment(s)
The original hand brake was deleted since it would be in the way of the clutch master cylinder for the T56. The owner decided on a tunnel mounted e-brake instead. I made a backing plate out of 16g on the Pullmax to add some strength to the top of the tunnel since the mounting area will see some strain when the brakes are applied.
Attachment 279674 Mounting the handle as intended left very little room for your hand to get between the floor and handle- even less once padding and carpet is added. Attachment 279675 Attachment 279676 Part of that problem was a gap between the last tooth of the ratchet section and the base where the release lever rests, so the handle could droop with a bit of free play between the base and the first notch. Attachment 279677 Attachment 279678 I welded up the base to take up the free space so the lever can't tilt down past the first tooth. Attachment 279679 I also flipped the front mounting pads to the top of the panel to angle the handle up slightly more. Attachment 279680 With the mounting pads flipped the bolt heads were sticking up too far to be covered over with carpet padding, so I welded the bolts into the brackets upside down to work as studs, then cut the bolt heads off. I also shaved down the rear bolt heads so they'd have a lower profile. Compare the gap between the boot bezel and the floor in the last pic to the one I posted above. https://i.imgur.com/q9hISOoh.jpg Attachment 279681 Attachment 279682 Attachment 279683 Reinforcement plate and tunnel prepped for welding. Attachment 279684 Attachment 279685 |
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I needed to make a hole in the tunnel for the shifter, but the shifter was too close to the seat as it was.
Attachment 279655 Attachment 279656 Shifter assembly flipped around for more seat clearance, e-brake mounted to the tunnel, and shifter hole punched in the tunnel for a test fit. I positioned the e-brake lever so that the both boot bezels will line up evenly at the front. With the trans in first gear there will be room between the shifter and seat to easily reach the e-brake handle. Attachment 279657 Attachment 279658 Attachment 279659 The gas pedal is drive by wire and needed to be mounted. The spring tension is fairly high so I made a 16g plate to spread out the load on the firewall. This will also let me clamp the pedal in a few different locations and pick the one that feels the best before permanently mounting it. I'll measure the brake pedal location in the donor truck and mount the gas pedal in a spot that makes heel/toe downshifting possible. Attachment 279660 Attachment 279661 Attachment 279662 While the weather was too wet for blasting, I started planning for the upholstery. The tank is under the bed now so the back of the cab will have an upholstered panel. I made a 16g flange for the lower edge of the panel to clip into, then roughed out paper patterns of the panels and clip locations. These are things that are better to do before paint. Attachment 279663 Attachment 279664 The headliner will be fabricated from aluminum panels so I patterned b-pillar covers as well. We have the donor roof's inner structure to make the headliner pattern from. Attachment 279665 Attachment 279666 Edges defined with fine line tape and sharpie marks. Attachment 279667 Clip holes punched so the locations can be easily transferred to the final panels. Attachment 279668 Firewall and kick panels were also patterned. Attachment 279669 Attachment 279670 Attachment 279671 I was hoping to have all of the cab blasted by now, but the weather has been wet on and off for awhile. Contrary to the usual "blast with one hand, prime with the other" mindset, I like letting it sit in bare metal for awhile after blasting. This shows all of the places that weren't blasted well enough- humidity causes any rust that's deep in a pitted spot that wasn't cleaned out 100% to start growing again. These are areas that were pitted, and rust deep in the pits wasn't fully blasted to clean gray metal. It's not hard to overlook extremely tiny specs like this while you're blasting between the amount of area you're trying to cover and the lens of the blasting hood getting dusty. Letting it sit until missed areas pop back out then going back with the blaster to target those areas is a good way to make sure every square inch and every tiny rust pit is 100% rust free before the epoxy goes on. These spots were invisible immediately after blasting and only showed up days later. Attachment 279672 Attachment 279673 |
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There was a indention stamped into the passenger side of the original tunnel that needed to be flattened before I could start fitting the new tunnel.
Attachment 279640 After using a hammer and dolly to flatten the indention. The flange needed shrinking since stamping the indentation stretched the metal. Attachment 279641 Using a tuck tool to form a tuck, then hammering the tuck flat to shrink the high area. Attachment 279642 Attachment 279643 The top of the tuck is hammered in first to lock in the tuck, then the rest is hammered flat which shrinks the area. This is after one tuck. Attachment 279644 Attachment 279645 A second tuck got the flange straightened out. This view also shows the rear rounded corners of the tunnel that were later cut out and reshaped to fit the raised tunnel. Attachment 279646 A few vids on tuck shrinking. With the flange straight I trimmed both the cab floor and new tunnel so the tunnel slightly overlapped the floor, then used a scribe to mark the trim line. The shape of the new tunnel and the floor was still slightly different, I'm guessing from stress in the original floor from the stamping process. I tacked the places that did fit up, then marked out a grid inside and out so dad could hold the dolly on one side while I hammered the other side to bring the panels into better alignment. I had to do a bit of heat shrinking to bring a couple of areas back into shape. I forgot to take pics, but the back rounded corners were cut out, reshaped with the shrinker/stretcher and a section of round tube in the vise as a dolly, then tacked back in with the front edge about 1.25" higher than the factory position, so I had to make a triangle shaped filler strip under the rear corners. Attachment 279647 Attachment 279648 Attachment 279649 Attachment 279650 Before pics of the stock tunnel. The new tunnel retains the same basic shape, bead detail, and offset at the front driver side for more throttle pedal clearance. Attachment 279651 Attachment 279652 The fuel line hole isn't needed anymore, so I cut a plug and welded it closed. The owner will be bringing the clutch pedal setup soon for me to mock up. I'll work on blasting the cab and get started bodyworking the roof and rear of the cab until then. Attachment 279653 Attachment 279654 |
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Boring stuff first- I mounted the cab on the rotisserie so I could scrape off the undercoating and grind the tunnel welds to prep for blasting. I planished the worst spots along the weld seams to roughly even out the shape, at least the ones I could reach through the shifter opening.
Attachment 279608 Attachment 279609 Never ending stream of dust and dirt. Attachment 279610 There were quite a few really sharp spot weld blow-outs that I smoothed out with the 2" grinder. Attachment 279611 Ready for blasting. Attachment 279612 I noticed a few small pin holes in the bottom edges of the cowl sides so I cut both out so I could clean up the inner panel with the blaster. These are reproduced now so I'll get a set ordered in the morning. Attachment 279613 Attachment 279614 Random small holes welded and smoothed. The factory punched drain holes in some of the beads so I welded those up too. Attachment 279615 Attachment 279616 |
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And the fun stuff... the owner brought the hydraulic clutch master cylinder setup from Modern Driveline and the pedal assembly to the shop today. The pics in the instructions didn't look anything like the '66 firewall and the box was marked 61-66 so I looked up pics of '61-'64 firewalls, knowing that they were different. Seems like the kit was designed for the different 61-64 firewall and pedal assembly.
Instruction pic- Attachment 279588 Wider 61-64 pedal mount with straight pedals. 65/66 have curved pedals and a narrower pedal assembly mounting pad. Attachment 279589 This vid shows the problem with mounting the kit to 65/66 pedals and firewall. This was the starting point of the clutch pedal, it was pretty crooked and the pedal pad plate was welded on too low compared to the brake pedal pad. Attachment 279590 A 24" adjustable wrench and the vise worked to easily straighten the kinks out. I still need to relocate the pedal pad. Attachment 279591 Attachment 279592 The instructions didn't say how far away from the pedal pivot point the pushrod mount needed to be for the correct throw, so I had to measure the master cylinder travel (~2 3/16")... Attachment 279593 Attachment 279594 Then I set the pedal up with a stack of shims at the floor to replicate padding and carpet, and I added a 1/16" shim on top of the old top stop to simulate a taller new bumper since the old one was flattened out a bit. Attachment 279595 That set the maximum travel of the pedal. I found the point that had 2 3/16" travel and marked it- about 6 1/8" away from the pedal pivot. Attachment 279596 The mount area needed to be spaced over so I made a pattern and made a 3/16" thick strap to weld in place. Attachment 279597 Attachment 279598 Smoothing out the welds with a carbide burr for the inside corners. Attachment 279599 Attachment 279600 Attachment 279601 Attachment 279602 Firewall drilled to mount the master cylinder and linkage. In the instructions and video it shows the m/c being mounted at an angle which looked wrong, and the linkage hanging downward so it was more visible under the dash. I drilled the m/c holes vertical instead and installed the linkage upside down to hide it better. The offset bolt pattern kicked the linkage closer to the pedal assembly this way for less angle on the heim linkage. Attachment 279603 Attachment 279604 Linkage adjusted, checking linkage angles with the pedal in and out. Attachment 279605 Attachment 279606 Enough room for a ~10" booster. Attachment 279607 |
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