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Comes in fine on my 12 Pro running 15.3.1.... Not sure why it is directing you to imgur.com .... what I see on my phone...
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...e800070e9.jpeg |
Originally Posted by unilover6163
(Post 20349126)
Wow, fender-to-grill gaps were quite distorted from factory.
I must look more closely at my '63 F100 unibody and see how badly mine is as well??? |
18 Attachment(s)
After fixing the grill gaps I moved to the passenger side cowl. The bottom edge had rust in it that I had already cut out. I pulled string to determine where to fold the bottom edge to match the body line in the door.
Attachment 278209 Attachment 278210 The aluminum c-channel was used to align the cowl skin at the correct depth compared to the hood and cowl before welding it in place. Attachment 278211 The edges were tweaked to even out the gaps. Attachment 278212 I had welded up the antenna hole earlier but there was some distortion from not being able to planish out the welds. With the cowl cut open I now had access to the back side. I smoothed out the welds on the back side using a mini belt sander, then planished the welds to level the surface. Attachment 278213 Attachment 278214 Attachment 278215 Attachment 278216 I always try to place weld seams where I have access to the back side for grinding and planishing, but the weld seam for the cowl made that a challenge. There is a hole in the upper kick panel that opens up into the cowl cavity and I was able to barely reach into it to hold a dolly and still reach the outer panel with a hammer. Grinding the welds flat on the inside between rounds of tacking/planishing wasn't as easy, I had to lay on my back with limited visibility and very little room to maneuver a grinder inside the cavity. Attachment 278217 Attachment 278218 Attachment 278219 Attachment 278220 Attachment 278221 Attachment 278222 Contour of the panel was retained by planishing the weld dots- no flat spot from weld shrinkage. Attachment 278223 Checking the alignment with c-channel after welding the panel in. Attachment 278224 Attachment 278225 Attachment 278226 |
13 Attachment(s)
The driver side of the cowl had the same rust and fit issues. This side didn't have an access hole and even if it did I didn't want to go through the hassle that the passenger side was. I should've done this on the other side, there will only be about 2" of butt-weld seams on exterior surfaces that don't have access this way so no planishing/contorting will be needed.
Attachment 278196 Attachment 278197 Cutting the cowl top off caused the top of the firewall to flex forward from the weight of the hood, so I welded in a turnbuckle and pulled it back into the correct position. Attachment 278198 The edge of the cowl and the edge of the hood didn't match up before cutting the cowl open. Having the skin off let me rearrange the edge to match the shape of the hood for an even gap. Attachment 278199 I used a chisel tipped hammer to move the crease over, along with a machined down hub as a post dolly and the bead roller to keep the corner sharp. Attachment 278200 Attachment 278201 Attachment 278202 Attachment 278203 The dark line is the old edge. Attachment 278204 Making progress. I'll finish shaping the cowl once the hood is back together an on the truck so I can make sure it's surface is in line with the door and hood. Attachment 278205 Attachment 278206 Attachment 278207 Attachment 278208 |
20 Attachment(s)
The hood ended up needing a lot more work than anticipated. Moving the doors outward to align the A-pillar and window frame meant that the cowl had to be widened to match, and to get the shape to flow from the doors to cowl to hood meant the hood needed widening as well. The front corners of the hood didn't match up with the shape of the fender tops, and the passenger side hood was too short once I had bent the side out to match the shape of the cowl.
I initially cut the passenger side lower edge off to make a new taller piece to weld on. Attachment 278173 I use tape and mark the bends and overall length to use as a template for the new piece. Attachment 278174 Attachment 278175 Attachment 278176 The hump and curved outer edge were made with the tipping die on the bead roller, then fine tuned with the shrinker/stretcher. Attachment 278177 This edge was in rough shape so I made a new section to weld in. Attachment 278178 Test fitting and tweaking. Attachment 278179 Forming an offset for the new panel to fit into. Attachment 278180 Attachment 278181 Attachment 278182 Attachment 278183 The corner was rusty and dented and shaped wrong so I made a new one. Attachment 278184 Lots of puckering from shrinking the edge, half of it shown hammered out. Attachment 278185 Attachment 278186 The front edge of the hood was rusty and I had cut that out back when I stripped and blasted the hood. Between the front edge, passenger edge, and passenger front corner being cut out the hood was too flimsy to fit the new outer edge. With the brace still in it wouldn't be possible to planish the welds across the front. I also found some stress cracks around the spot welds so I decided to remove the braces so I could do a better job of patching the rust and making the hood fit the cowl properly. Attachment 278187 Attachment 278188 This rust along the back edge was flaking up and would've caused a high spot to show up later on, and eventually would've rusted through. Attachment 278189 Attachment 278190 Attachment 278191 With the skin off I can mock up the braces, weld in the new outer sides, all while setting the gap to the grill filler panel and fenders, and making sure the back edge is flush with the cowl. Attachment 278192 |
21 Attachment(s)
Starting with the front brace, there was a plate that the hood catch bolted to that also extended up to the emblem holes in the outer skin. The owner wants to delete the emblem and its recess so I cut off the sides that extend up. There was some damage around the emblem area and someone had brazed the inner brace to the outer skin at some point.
Attachment 278152 Attachment 278153 The mounting pad for the hood catch bent so I flattened it out. Attachment 278154 Attachment 278155 The safety catch used slide in clip nuts to fasten it to the brace. I flattened out the clip recesses and made a plate with nuts welded to it to clean up the look and make it easier to mount. The clips don't let the base sit flat and they move around whenever you loosen the bolts which makes it harder to adjust accurately. I also welded up the holes for the emblem mounting studs. Attachment 278156 Attachment 278157 Attachment 278158 Attachment 278159 Attachment 278160 The edge that sits against the hood skin was curled and rough. I ran the edge through the planishing hammer to flatten it and pulled tape for a reference to grind back to. Things like this are quick and easy to do while its apart and will make the sanding the high build much easier. Attachment 278161 Attachment 278162 Attachment 278163 Attachment 278164 Another area that only takes 5-10 min and makes life a lot easier when sanding primer; the cut outs had rough edges that I flattened with a hammer and dolly. Attachment 278165 Attachment 278166 There are a couple of unused stampings that bigger trucks used for latching the hood that aren't needed. Attachment 278167 https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...b83b51ab8.jpeg Attachment 278168 Attachment 278169 Attachment 278170 Attachment 278171 Attachment 278172 |
Tons of hours!
What to you use for a gap on sheet metal? (door to cowl, door to B pillar, hood to cowl, fender to door etc) I have a dozen 65-66 trucks here now and the variations from factory is staggering. If they would have only followed the alignment holes on all vs getting the holes just close. I have seen door openings vary 1/4" and same with doors. Opening size not gaps. Looks like they targeted the door opening to be 28" across at lower cowl. Current one has under 3 mm door gaps but some you can stick your finger in especially back of door to B pillar. 5mm gaps seem too wide and 3.5 mm gap seems about right. |
Originally Posted by Boss9F100
(Post 20450424)
Tons of hours!
What to you use for a gap on sheet metal? (door to cowl, door to B pillar, hood to cowl, fender to door etc) I have a dozen 65-66 trucks here now and the variations from factory is staggering. If they would have only followed the alignment holes on all vs getting the holes just close. I have seen door openings vary 1/4" and same with doors. Opening size not gaps. Looks like they targeted the door opening to be 28" across at lower cowl. Current one has under 3 mm door gaps but some you can stick your finger in especially back of door to B pillar. 5mm gaps seem too wide and 3.5 mm gap seems about right. True Blox shows that process here- https://www.trueblox.com/blogs/body-filler/perfectgaps |
that is some high end meticulous work....major kudos
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20 Attachment(s)
Originally Posted by paxtond
(Post 20452476)
that is some high end meticulous work....major kudos
I didn't post many details on patching the other side, so I'll be more detailed about this one. I formed the top to bottom curve on the slip roll, then added a bit of compound curve on the english wheel, then formed the tighter curved edge on the Pullmax. The brace and patches are 16g so they required more force to shape than thinner panels. I already had this die set that was a close match. Attachment 278129 Clamped in place to scribe the trim line. Attachment 278130 Precision trimming with the Beverly shear. It's possible to get a tight fit with minimal gaps or need for further trimming/grinding if the scribe line is accurate. Attachment 278131 Welded and smoothed. Attachment 278132 The overlapped areas didn't match up well so I used a hammer, steel block, and a rounded over air chisel to flatten out the areas that didn't lay flat on the lower piece. Attachment 278133 Attachment 278134 Attachment 278135 Attachment 278136 Attachment 278137 Attachment 278138 Attachment 278139 Attachment 278140 The flat areas weren't very flat and there were raised bumps from spot welds. Attachment 278141 Attachment 278142 The height of the front edge wasn't consistent from side to side and it had random offset spots pressed in. Originally this edge had padding stapled in place to support the skin while allowing the skin to float on top of the brace. I'll either use similar padding or two part 3M NVH Dampening Material. Since this edge will be very visible when the hood is open I wanted to make it the same height all the way across, both for looks and so the padding or 3M NVH will support the hood evenly. I made a set of simple Pullmax dies from 1" steel bar to reform the edge into an even 3/8" offset. Attachment 278143 Attachment 278144 Attachment 278145 Attachment 278146 Attachment 278147 Attachment 278148 |
20 Attachment(s)
Getting started back with updates, I'll break them up into a few posts since I have a ton of pics for the work done on the hood and some of the forums I post to have a 20 pic/post limit.
A few post back I started making new pieces for the bottom edges of the sides of the hood. Before cutting off the old sides I made notes of how steeply angled the outside edge was bent every few inches. Attachment 277636 Attachment 277637 Attachment 277638 I also made tape templates to rough in the shape of each end. Attachment 277639 Attachment 277640 Attachment 277641 Attachment 277642 The rear edge had an offset area stamped into it to allow a flange on the brace to fit flush with the bottom edge. I trimmed a piece of scrap 18g to the shape of the recess and used it to define the edges and depth of the recess, then formed it with a rounded over air chisel tip and hammer. Attachment 277643 Attachment 277644 Attachment 277645 Attachment 277646 The hard part- making all the pieces fit together with each other while making sure the edges were in the correct locations. Getting a piece too high or too low, or too far in or out, or too far forward or backward meant the gaps and flushness would be way off once its all welded together. At this point the hood skin was really cut up; both sides and almost all of the front were cut out so it was pretty flimsy. I decided it would be best to focus on getting the inner braces and sides fit together first. With the front brace shimmed into the correct position and clamped in place, I started fitting it's flanges to the new sides. The sides were shimmed off the top of the fender the correct height to keep their edges in line with the bottom of the cowl. Attachment 277647 Attachment 277648 Attachment 277649 Attachment 277650 I decided to shave the holes in the braces to make body and paint work go easier later on; getting paint shot through holes like this onto the inside of the outer skin is a pain and it never looks as good as you want it to. The outside edges of the holes had lumps on one end so I used a socket and mallet to cold shrink them down smooth. Attachment 277651 Attachment 277652 Attachment 277653 Attachment 277654 Attachment 277655 |
20 Attachment(s)
To set the width of the rear hood brace and hood sides I first had to set the location of the rear of the new hood sides. I also needed to finish the left cowl bottom patch. I used magnets to float/clamp the aluminum C-channel in place down the length of the door, cowl, and new hood side. That keeps all the new pieces flowing well from panel to panel. String was pulled down the door's body line at the correct height so that the new bottom edge of the hood isn't too high or too low, which would throw off the body line and hood to fender gap.
Attachment 277616 Attachment 277617 Attachment 277618 Attachment 277619 Shape of the door transferred to a profile gauge, gauge used to check the shape of the cowl bottom patch. Attachment 277620 Attachment 277621 Adding curve to the flanged ends until the shape matches the door edge. The middle of the panel was stretched to add shape by hammering on top of a slightly rounded dolly to add shape. Attachment 277622 Attachment 277623 Low across the middle after tacking in place. Attachment 277624 After planishing the welds, still not all the way back to shape. Attachment 277625 Low again after more tacks. This was good enough to hold it together to finish fitting the cowl in place so the hood could be fitted. Attachment 277626 With the C-channel and string in place I could accurately measure how long the lower flange needed to be made to make the panel sit flush with the hood and door. This flange won't be able to be added until the fender comes back off, and I need the fender on to set the hood's dimensions correctly. Attachment 277627 Attachment 277628 The front edge of the hood had been cut out for rust repair, and to shave the recessed emblem mount. I made a template of the edge of the upper grill panel and marked that shape onto a 4x6" steel tube. I supported the rear of the hood with angle blocks, making sure to keep the hood level in all directions. I initially overlapped the new panels and tacked them in place, then doubled checked the fit on the truck to make sure the front edge was in the correct location. Attachment 277629 Attachment 277630 Attachment 277631 Attachment 277632 With the fit where I wanted it I scribed and trimmed the edge and welded the new pieces in. The nice part of using tubing was that it kept the flange 100% flat. Attachment 277633 The braces were sandblasted and shot with SPI epoxy. I also made captured nut plates for the hood latch and safetey catch. Attachment 277634 Attachment 277635 |
hello, wow, what a great job. I just read the whole report. You would get a master's degree for this project here in Germany as precisely and cleanly as you work. when i look at my work, i think i'm a beginner.
Keep it up, I'll be happy to follow the work. Greetings Bernd |
Originally Posted by bernd61hd
(Post 20678663)
hello, wow, what a great job. I just read the whole report. You would get a master's degree for this project here in Germany as precisely and cleanly as you work. when i look at my work, i think i'm a beginner.
Keep it up, I'll be happy to follow the work. Greetings Bernd |
13 Attachment(s)
The hood brace was bolted to the hinges and adjusted back against shims to replicate the gap size and thickness of the outer skin. Also had to adjust the hinges some to get the angle of the brace corrected so the rear edge had a consistent gap along the cowl, and not tighter or looser at the top or bottom. Since the mounting pad swings in an arc I was able to move the hinges up or down to change the resting point angle. The overall height of the brace isn't that important since the rear flange is vertical; the outer skin can be moved up or down against the brace's flange as long as the brace isn't higher than the cowl, or too low that the outer skin's flange wouldn't reach the brace's flange.
Too narrow to match up with the hood side flanges. Attachment 277578 Attachment 277579 Marking how much the brace needed to be bent outwards. Attachment 277580 I clamped the brace to a table and made a mark in the center of the brace to reference how much I was bending the edges. Attachment 277581 Attachment 277582 Double checking and making new notes. Attachment 277583 After a lot of hammering and tweaking, the brace and sides lined up. Attachment 277584 This area had a spot that fit too tightly against the cowl which would push the skin too close and make the gap too tight, so I laid a couple strips of tape parallel with the cowl edge. Attachment 277585 With the first piece of tape removed I was able to set calipers at the correct width (silver mark), then scribe the rolled edge to mark where the edge should roll over, then hammer the edge back the correct amount. Attachment 277586 Attachment 277587 The bottom of the hood brace flange fit too tightly against the hood side flange, so I used a ruler as a spacer/straight edge and scribed a line to trim to. Notice the 1/8" alignment holes drilled through both layers so it can be disassembled and easily reassembled in proper alignment. I did this to all of the pieces once they were fitting correctly. Attachment 277588 Attachment 277589 Attachment 277590 |
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