Seams. We don't need no stinking seams. That looks CLEAN!

Thanks Doug, he's already been in a much clearer mental state from the financial relief. The tool sales in just the first day was enough to pay off all of his Snap On bill, and we sold an equal amount the next day which will help a ton with medical bills, etc. His kids were able to travel to be with him this weekend so I had the "day off" from helping out at his shop. Still a long way away from getting the whole shop emptied out but there's been a decent sized dent put in it.


Thanks! The proportions of the cab, especially viewed from the rear have really improved with the skin dropped ~3/8" and the seam smoothed.

The new roof skin needed a flange turned to mount it to the drip rails, so I folded the edge about 3/8" wide.

Attachment 280291


Vice Grip pads had the right diameter so I used those to hammer against in the front corners.

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Didn't take pics, but the roof was blasted where necessary and the outside was stripped by soaking the paint in lacquer thinner covered with plastic, then 95% of the old paint scraped off easily with a razor blade.

Attachment 280294


After stripping there were some dents to fix. I used wax and grease remover to make the surface reflective, and the overhead light's reflection as an indicator to show the damage for pics. I used a hammer/dolly, shrinking disk, and plexiglass sanding block to find the high/low spots.

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After initial straightening- overall shape is correct but was still wavy/choppy from smaller imperfections. Next few pics are from a few rounds of hammer/dolly and shrinking disk work. The shrinking disk really speeds up this process by shrinking down the high spots.

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Rotated to check the reflection using the tree limbs outside. Pics don't show this but watching the reflection while moving around the panel will show high/low spots easily.

Attachment 280301


Waves found using the reflection check method.

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High/low spots after blocking to show exactly where to hammer/dolly.

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With the roof straightened I moved to fitting the newly shaped flange to the drip rails with the shrinker/stretcher. Quite a bit of difference in the beginning vs end shapes compared to the straight ruler. I also split the corners to allow the sides to conform to the drip rail positions better. Dropping the roof ~3/8" meant it needed to be widened slightly.

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Inner roof structure and drip rail flange coated with two coats of SPI epoxy.

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Roof skin mocked up to roughly mark the back edge for trimming. I cut out the original flanged seam, then clamped the roof back in place and scribed the edge of the roof skin for trimming with hand shears... good forearm workout.

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I also checked the fit across the sides and front while mocking up the roof skin and made notes to shrink/stretch the flange to fit the drip rail contours better. Lots of on/off and small adjustments to the the shape corrected.

Attachment 280270


I noticed how rough the pinchweld was on the last '66 F100 we restored, and this one was no different. Most spotwelds were twisted and the edges of the flanges were very rough and uneven. I flattened the twisted areas with a hammer/dolly and ground the edges even and smooth with a 2" grinder. Also slightly rounded over the edge so installing the windshield will go smoother.


Before-

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After-

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The A-pillar to upper windshield frame fit was really bad, so I made a relief cut to allow for reshaping, then welded up the cut and seam.

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Same issue with the lower seams.

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Initial fitting of the roof took awhile to get the rear edge lined up exactly flush with the lower part of the cab. Once it was in place I made a few tacks, then had to reshape the body line on both sides for a flowing shape through the two panels.

Attachment 280253

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The sides had uneven shapes meeting at the seam from top to bottom.

Attachment 280255


Adjusting the tightest part of the roll in the body line.

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Fixing an overlap from the metal being stretched out due to reshaping.

Attachment 280257


The slow process of a row of tacks, then planishing the tacks, grinding them nearly flat, and repeating until it's welded solid.

Attachment 280258


Welds flattened with 36 grit, taking care not to cut deeply into the surrounding area.

Attachment 280259


36 grit scratches removed with 100 grit.

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DA sanded with 60 grit to prep for epoxy.

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Details- the seam that was eliminated ran into the end of the drip rail, and the roof skin flange was overhanging the end of drip rail a bit. The inside corner of the roof skin flange also didn't fit tightly against the drip rail, or the lower panel.

Attachment 280238

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Inside corner tightened up with a rounded chisel and hammer.

Attachment 280240


Seam welded closed.

Attachment 280241


I also welded the roof flange to the drip rail so they wouldn't have a chance of separating later and cracking the paint.

Attachment 280242


Initial smoothing with 36 grit and a cutoff wheel for the tight corner.

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100 grit.

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DA sander.

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Roof skin flanges welded via plug welds with a bit too much penetration.

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Antenna hole was filled in.

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Considering your masterful skill level, did you give any thought to eliminating the portion of the drip rail over the windshield? It seams like all it's really good for is making wind noise and drag. No point in having it too keep rain off the windshield.
I know from this cross section pic that Thunderkiss1965 put in a reply to a thread of mine that its now as easy as just removing the drip rail.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...d51c40bd60.jpg
Drip Rail -Eliminating part over windshield - any one done this? - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums (ford-trucks.com)

We didn't consider removing the drip rails, the end goal is a mild custom truck that keeps most of the stock details. The drip rails could be removed, but it wouldn't be as simple as cutting them off flush and welding up the seam left. The front edge of the roof extends out over the windshield frame, so the front of the roof skin would have to be moved back to match. The doors would need to be installed and fully adjusted so the sides of the roof could be welded in place so that the roof and door tops are flush. I did move the roof on this one rearward a bit so the very front of the roof skin is on the same plane as the windshield post.

I think drip rails that fit closer to the body and were maybe 3/4 as tall as stock rails would clean up the look and have less wind noise without looking like an 80's/90's full custom where everything was shaved smooth.

I was thinking just the part over the windshield. Leaving the DR over the doors alone, other than of course, maybe go down the A pillar a small amount.

I want to assemble all of the sheetmetal on the frame next to start panel alignment. That means I need door hinges, and the old ones needed attention. The driver side upper was really worn, as was the lower and passenger upper. The passenger side lower seemed pretty tight but it was packed full of old hardened grease that could make it seem tighter than it actually was so I pulled apart as well.


Before- caked on grease, misshaped door check levers, and worn out pins and bores.

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Stamps to keep track of the individual parts.

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New oversized pins. I bought a tapered reamer set which included a .3400 to .3740 reamer which worked well with .373" pins.

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Blasted all pieces.

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Since the reamer is tapered I could set the inner diameter of the hinge brackets slightly smaller than the pins so the pin won't become loose in the bore.

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The mounting flanges had a lot of raised edges from the stamping and tapping processes so I flattened those down.

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The last F100 I restored had wide/loose notches on the stop arm which let the door move excessively on the stops. There was also a "ramp" shape on the stop to hold the door fully open which put the roller in a bind and made the door "pop" when closing it off the stop. These were the same way.

Original shape of the ramps-

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New shape. I had to weld one ramp to get the shape corrected. The "V" shape holds the door tightly in each stop position with no free play, and the flat ramps allow the roller to smoothly come out of the stops without binding.

Attachment 280193


Another problem- the stop arm bottomed out on the hinge body, which let the roller separate from the ramps so the door moved freely. I ground away the edge a little to make more room for the arm to correct this.

Attachment 280194


Finished and reassembled, ready to test fit the doors.

Attachment 280195


Video showing before/after reworking the stop arm ramps.

The door bottoms needed to be cut out to repair rust damage, and to extend the flange. There are back to back 90* bends that are only 1/4" apart and my brake only does a minimum of 3/8" apart. The logical thing to do is buy a milling machine to help make dies for the Pullmax, then make door bottom dies... right?


We actually bought a Bridgeport about a month ago but hadn't set it up yet. So I bought a pallet jack to move it, a few things to get the mill up and running, and had to dissasemble and clean the vise it came with before I could start making anything with it.

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It came with a Kurt vise but it was filthy inside and out. Ended up having to boil it in Purple Power to loosen up the crud enough that it could be scraped off.

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After deep cleaning, filing/stoning any high spots down, and repainting it.

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In it's temporary spot, ready for work.

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The Pullmax uses 22mm posts so I bought 1" bar and machined it down to size.

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I also cut a quick tool post alignment jig. I'll make a real one out of aluminum eventually.

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First lower die attempt. The right side is a plain 90 to hold in place a 90 that I pre-bent in the brake. The ramped left side progressively stamps the second 90. This design didn't have the correct shape ramp so it distorted the work piece.

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Version 2 using a twisted steel bar instead to fully support the flange being folded over. This worked much better.

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For the test runs I stuck sandpaper on the test panel and slid it in and out by hand with the machine off to show any high spots on the dies. High spots thin out and stretch the work piece and cause distortion.

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The finished part with matching 1/4" offset between the 90's.

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Welded in and welds smoothed.

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Amazing work my friend!

Thanks Doug!


The last time the owner visited he brought a set of reproduction knobs and bezels for me to graft onto the Vintage Air switches.

Attachment 278069


The switches have M7-.75 threads and the original retaining nuts had a small enough ID that they could be drilled/tapped to match. The shaft of the switch is 15/64ths, and the new knob's ID were smaller with enough material so they could be drilled out to match.

Attachment 280022


Retaining nut drilled/tapped, then shortened.

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Knob insert drilled oversize.

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Test assembled on the VA-supplied backing plate.

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The original switch holes were dimpled to clear the bulge on the back of the bezel. The new holes I made earlier weren't, so I had to add those.

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I used a large washer for the OD of the dimple, and marked the center of it with making tape to center it behind the switch hole. This was clamped in place with a plate behind it to set the depth of the dimple.

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Another piece of tape with a center hole was marked to locate a 1/2" socket. I used a large C clamp to press the socket into the hole of the washer to create the dimple. A 1/8" hole was drilled for the locating tabs on the switch.

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Switches mounted.

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Love your work and attention to detail. Truly the work of a craftsman!

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.