Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Great build and love the rear fender treatment. I'm planning to do something similar with a 63 GMC since they don't really get aftermarket fender flares and the factory ones fit the look so well.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Thanks. I like the fenders that way too, I wanted them to match the front as close as possible so that it looks like it came that way. I still plan on changing the length of the flare somewhat on both front and rear flares where they meet up with the original running board, but that'll happen once I get the cab on and can do a little photoshopping to check it.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

The grey door has a little less rust in it, and now that I have the door skin off, I can fix the hinge from the inside, so Ill use that door for the hinge side and keep the majority of the good metal. I will also beef up the door at the hinge bracket.

After much consideration I picked where I wanted to cut the doors. I scribed the cut lines then added tape with direction markers for which side of the lines to cut. I did some other work for a while, then came back and double checked my math. After about 15 times of doing that, I might be ready to cut.

I cut the grey door 7 inches from the latch edge of the door, cutting on latch side of the scribe. This will leave the entire regulator mechanism on the original metal. Then I cut the blue door 13 3/8 inches from the latch edge of the door, cutting on the hinge side of the scribe. I then cut 3/8 of an inch off where I couldn't flange the metal. This way, I can overlap the 2 pieces where they are flat, and butt weld where they arent.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Flanged sections.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I fit the 2 pieces together, and I'm pretty happy with the fit. But looking at the pieces, there is a lot of rust in the doors that I cant get to. I picked up a gallon of Evapo-rust and rust block and built myself a box that I could line with a heavy plastic leaf bag. I dipped the bottom edge of the blue door overnight in it, and you can see the difference by the line in the pic below, as well as the comparison to the first 2 pics. Ill pick up some more Evapo-rust, and see about building some containers to be able to dip larger sections in.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

So, I picked up another 5 gallons of EvapoRust, and a longer plastic container.
The container is about 39 inches long x 16 inches wide.
I didnt want to fill the whole thing, so I built myself a cardboard box to fit inside the container, with just enough room to fit over the door end that I wanted to soak.
I lined it with a giant garbage bag to contain the liquid, and supported the cardboard with wood to keep the cardboard wall in place.
The first 2 pictures are of the hinge edge of the door sitting in my makeshift dipping tank.

With this setup, I was able to get the door about 6 to 7 inches deep in the EvapoRust.
That was enough to cover the entire inner support structure.
You can see the results below from the next day.
After this, I turned the door 90 degrees and put the bottom edge in the liquid for 24 hours as well.
The last pic is the stretch section of the door after a couple of soakings of EvapoRust, a little wire wheeling done on the flat sections, and a little rust inhibiting primer.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I added a couple of gussets to the upper hinge mount. my welding looked pretty rough, but they should hold.
I also found that a 1/2 inch OD steel tubing fits very snug into the hollow in the window frame and I can fit about 9 inches of tubing across the seam with 4.5" in each side. It should help keep the frame sections straight, and it will add strength to the frame when its all welded up.
I put 3 holes about an inch apart on the top side of the window frame on either side of the seam area to use to weld the frame to the tubing. Then I inserted the tubing into the frame sections, and clamped everything in place to check all my measurements.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Test Fit of the Door on the cab before finishing welding seam. Fit is pretty good. This was a lot easier to weld and keep flat and straight than the roof was.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I put the original glass in the lower channel to fit the extension piece. once it was welded into place, I moved the glass forward to original position to test the window regulator mechanism. Worked fine with this glass. I removed and cleaned the channel up and painted it. I may test fit it again once the new glass is ready. I may want to do that before I install the door skin permanently. I have also been soaking other random pieces in the Evapo-Rust as I come across them, to clean and paint.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

I cut the 2 skins with 6.375" extra, and used my flanging tool to flange .375" of the blue panel along all the flat sections. After quadruple checking my measurements, I tacked it together. Once I was happy with the fit and overall dimensions, I moved to welding the seam on the front of the panel. .

I have messed up some good welds by getting too impatient, so I took my time, putting a stitch weld about every 3 inches along the length of the seam. I then hit it with air until cool to the touch before making another pass. I'm pretty happy with the result.

I test fit the skin onto the door frame, and it fits very well. I will pull it back off soon to test fit the full glass panels and the seals once they all come in. (wing window seals on back order)

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

You have skills! Looking good.

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Subscribed!

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Thank you, I appreciate the comment. However, we shall see over the course of this project. I am having fun with it, and hopefully I'm not making a huge mess that I have to haul off to the scrap yard. Either way, I'm learning a lot along the way.
BTW, that's an impressive list of vehicles in your Signature.


Welcome!

Re: 1968 C40 to K40 pickup project BlueMule
 

Been a little while since I posted but I have been working on the doors.
I took a bunch of video of the door skin stretch and re-assembly, so I may to post that to YouTube and will post a link if so.
I finished up the passenger door skin, cleaned up the welds as best I could and reassembled the door. Re-bending the hem material of the skin back onto the door was a pain. The 1968 panel (blue) I had only bent 30 to 45 degrees, but it split in several places when bending back down, so I had to weld the door edge after I got it all back together. I didn't have any issues with the 1972 panels, even where I had to bend them up to 90 degrees to get the panel back on the frame.
I then used a surface conditioning tool to remove all the old vinyl sign material. You can see on the last post that the doors had some magnetic signs on them over the old vinyl too, so there is some rust that got between the magnet and the door. I wanted to expose all of that, and get it cleaned up and treated. I also took the rest of the paint off the skin. Then I test fit the door onto the cab.
It will need a little work on the drip edge gap.