Starting the project at last!

[mercman64]

You are really doing some great work!..I only have one suggestion....get a flangeing / punching tool....you can put a flange on a piece, slide it under the good member an put a tek screw in it to hold it in place while you align it. This will also give you a good edge to weld against. The punch will allow you to spot weld the holes just like the factory..keep the pictures coming...you are not intimidated by rust holes....good job............Dave

[dragginwagon]

i want my fender back now

[fire truck]

That's what they call skill kid!!

[andgott]

Thanks. I've got a flanging tool, there have been a few spots that it has come in handy. A few spots where I needed a 'spot weld' I drilled the sheet metal out before installing it, I'm sure a punch would be WAY easier though!

Dragginwagon-

It's too purdy now! I think I might clear coat it and hang it on the wall. I think my wife would LOVE that

-Andrew

[andgott]

Slow progress- I have been working on my boat, too... And we took a short trip to Florida... I also had to take a break to clean up the workshop a bit, I get to the point where I'm spending as much time looking for tools as I am using them!

I did some work on the tailgate, finishing up the patch I cut before-



I've gotten pretty used to bending sheet metal now, and can get fairly close to whatever shape I need now. I use a home made 'brake' in my leg vise, and do the fine tuning on the edge & horn of my anvil. I can get some pretty complicated shapes that way. I cut this part out of the top of the tailgate-



some previous owner had filled it with bondo- which had cracked. One good drop of the tailgate, and it probably would have popped right out! So, I made a patch and welded it in-



I'm happy with it- It's not dead on, but you have to look VERY close to tell, and it's got to be better than the Bondo.

I will be heading off to pick up a Core support on Saturday- It took me a while to track one down, but I think I finally found one for a '66 in decent shape! It's got to be better than the swiss cheese I've got under my hood now.

-Andrew

[Uncle Skip]

I've been a member here since the club started (Lance, was it Excite in '97?), and I can honestly say, even after all this time, I am still completely in awe of the craftsmanship and creativity of our members.
You guys rock. All of you.
Uncle Skip

[andgott]

Thanks, Skip.

It was reading the threads here that convinced me that I could actually DO this work... I've never done anything like it before- Last month the only welding that I'd ever done was either forge welding or stick welding... Never sheet metal!

There is just so much info here, and so many people willing to help out. I'd be lost without the forum, for sure!!

[andgott]

A bit more done today... I finished up the tailgate- There were a few more chunks to cut out and replace-





Looks a lot better now- Of course it's not perfect, but close enough for me-





All that's really left on the tailgate is some final paint removal from corners, a little sanding, and then epoxy primer.

I also finished up the cab roof-



I had a small area that had rusted through. It's amazing how spotty the rust is up there- MOST of it is fairly solid, but there are some areas here and there that are (or WERE) bad...



Whenever I cut a big hole like that, especially like the ones in the tailgate, I dig around a bit to see how bad the rust is inside. I also coat everything that I can get to with rust reformer- Hopefully it'll stop the corrosion from continuing on the insides, or at least slow it a bit!

Going to get the radiator support in the morning... I can't wait

-Andrew

[1965fordf100]

Nice work, keep it up!

[andgott]

I drove down to the beautiful N. Georgia mountains today, and was rewarded with a pretty decent Radiator support... I've been looking for a while, and FINALLY located a decent one-





There is only a tiny bit of rust damage on it, down on the bottom, but it should be an easy fix-



Spring break for the wife this week, though (shes a teacher), so I think we've got a lot of 'plans'... I don't know how much actual work I'll get done..

-Andrew

[andgott]

I cleaned up the core support a bit... A little aircraft remover brought it right down to bare metal in no time-



I'm going to weld a few patches on the bottom, Then seal it all off, prime and paint.

I think I'm going to use POR, although I plan to remove a lot off the rust and there won't be a lot of "R" to "PO", it should bond well with the clean metal, and be pretty tough, so it resists future rusting...

[andgott]

A bit more work complete... I got the bottom of the cab done- All the welding work is finished, it's primed, and I put a coat of undercoating on it-



I used an industrial self etching primer on the bottom- I do a LOT of boat trailers, and have used it on most of them. It really stands up to abuse! I'll use an epoxy primer on anything that will be 'seen', but on the bottom I wanted toughness over looks. It's also a little easier than the epoxy is to work with.

Then, I cut the damaged areas out of the core support, made up some repair pieces, and welded them in place-





The damage was pretty limited, really only in two small spots. Then, I gave it all a good coat of POR-



It's the first time I've used that stuff- I like it. It went on pretty easily, covered well. I'll probably overcoat it with some black paint, though I suppose that I don't really HAVE to.

It hid the repairs pretty well-



If I'd have ground the weld bead down, you would be hard pressed to tell that there was a repair. But- You'd really have to be digging deep to see that area anyway, and I'm not building a show piece here, just a driver.

I also flipped the cab back up, and started to repair the corners. I was going to cut them out completely and use 'donor' corners from my other cab, but once I got looking at them, they weren't as bad as I had thought, so I made a patch panel... The passenger side is a little worse, So I might replace that-



-Andrew

[bmcgc]

Very nice work, I hope mine is not as bad because I dont have those kind of skills.

[andgott]

After a lot of long dirty hours, I got the floors and firewall prepped. I removed the paint, and the rust, with a wire wheel... Once I had it all down to bare metal (or mostly so!), I gave it a good coat of POR-



I wanted to seal off the floors as well as I could, so I never have rust issues to deal with. Oddly enough, all the rust damage on this cab is on the INSIDE- the outside was perfect...

I've still got a lot of stripping to do on the cab, but I like to do it in 'sections' like this so I don't leave anything bare for too long

I do hope to have the rest of the cab epoxy primed by the end of the week....

-Andrew

[andgott]

I needed the cab corners from my old cab to finish up the 'new' cab, so it was time to pull off the bed. I had to cut the heads off the bolts in the bed, since they were pretty rusty. I managed to cut all 6 with very minimal colateral damage to the bed floor, Though I'll be doing a LOT of work on the bed so a little damage here and there isn't going to hurt much



Then, after finally getting the last two bolts out of the frame, back by the bumper (luckily they weren't rusted nearly as badly!), I lifted the bed off-



That gantry is the BEST $100.00 I've ever spent on a tool, for sure. It made the job super easy, even with only one person. Between the boats and the truck, I use it all the time!

Then, I set the bed down on a wheeled base-



The base was actually built for the last boat I restored- It held the hull while I rebuilt it. I built it so it would hold the bed, too- It makes it a lot easier to be able to wheel it around where I need it!

She looks a little different with a naked rear end!-



It is also going to be SO much easier to do the brakes, suspension, etc without having to crawl under this thing...

There was plenty of junk inside when I went to cut the corner off- Luckily, the brake fluid container was EMPTY. And, the whole 12 pack of bottle rockets was too wet to go off... That would have been a HELL of a surprise!

Oh- No one called the Sheriff on me today, So I guess it was a good day (so far!)

-Andrew

[slickmainer]

thats the same welder I have. I've had it for a year but have yet to use it..my time has come, thanks for the tip about the better wire. nice work

[PoKoMoko]

Wow! Thats awesome work!

[andgott]

Thanks! The welder works quite well. I have used a few similar models, and it seems to be as good as the 'name brand' ones that cost 2x as much. Friends of mine who are far more experienced welders have commented that it's great on sheet metal- Which is my primary use. You NEED to get a tank of gas, though!


I was playing with photoshop the other day, when I was trying to be quiet so as to not offend the neighbors. I found some photos online of a few different trucks I liked, and combined them to end up with the look I am going for. I used the base color from one truck, along with the bed rails, and then edited in the Two-Tone, and the 'factory' wheels that I've already got. The color wasn't my first choice- But it was my Wifes first choice- Got to keep her happy



I kind of want that old farm truck look- I think this pulls it off nicely

[bmcgc]

Thats the color my misses wants on Ruby, but Im leaning toward the green since it doesnt seem as common.

I like the wood, but what do you think of stepping the top tail back?

I was thinking about filling the stake holes and putting a cover on. I really dont want to do all the work straighting out my bed floor and I dont want to look at it either.

[slickmainer]

color looks good to me. looks lighter than marlin blue, but could be the view.
My 61 uni was originally a D code which I mapped back to starlight blue. looks like this on a tbird


I think I'll go starlight blue and white two-tone with black interior when I repaint it