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Today's pictures:

Not much time spent today, decided to take a little extra time and treat myself to a steak and baked potato lunch.. :)

I sliced it open and pulled the lip over, then i had to work the curve via stretching the metal with a hammer and dolly to get the curve to match the rest of the door jamb (Note in picture 3 how the curled lip sitting too far forward of the A Pillar by 3/16" in pic 4 it lines up properly) then made a filler.

Will tack the filler into place tomorrow, then recheck the door one last time, then fit the cab corner and tack it in place before i stitch the slice up. I'm holding off on the floor weld up until the rocker and cab corner are done just in case i missed something.

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Nice work Mike!

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All i did today was weld up the pie slice.. Busy tomorrow so hope to get after it this weekend.

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Nice work Mike, had to do the same thing with mine. Just keep plugging away

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I didn't take any pictures today, worked from 10am until 6:15, past when i couldn't see anything in the dark. :)

Tested the door fit one last time, got the inner kick panel welded up, then welded in the cab corner and started spot welding in the floor, got the inner rocker splice welded up on the inside so the outer rocker can go on. I'm kinda afraid to check my wire spool for fear its almost gone LOL!

I did have some trouble with the cab corner, i am assuming it was some contamination on the inside that i missed, it was spitting and spattering, first i thought i had ran out of gas, nope.. I got a wire brush on my bantam motor and cleaned it up as good as i could, it helped but as hard as i tried to get a great fit i missed the mark a bit, I got a little shrinkage but not near as bad as what i had on my gas fill door.

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Great work mike, it's coming together well... I need to go out and get after mine now, been away from it for a few weeks.

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Well the weather isn't cooperating today, i don't mind having my 220V extension cord strung out from the garage, over the fence to my car cover and hung onto the truck if its a little damp or even a light sprinkle, i never let it touch the ground and its got a very heavy duty plastic sheathing that is very durable and it is in great shape, i inspect it often for cracks and abrasion and i keep the plug end high and dry, I'm always standing on dry plywood when i weld also, but once the deluge of rain starts its time to call it quits, i would like to retire some day... ;)

I have about 1/2 of the spot welds done in the rocker, again no pictures.

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Yea, none of my vehicle "to do" list got touched today.

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So i finally get a real nice day and what happens? no motivation.. :lol:

Here's the progress pictures, still have some welding and grinding to do but its coming along nicely. I'm assuming that due to the fact i flanged the floor in i will need to smear the bottom of the flanged area with seam sealer, probably all welded and joined areas i guess.

Also, a pic of my passenger cab corner to show how small the flanges are and why i'm so concerned about sealing the gap up, kinda wishing i spent a little time welding in some extra flange material on the drivers cab corner as i think the stock corners had more material there and sealed the area better.

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I do have a question, when i epoxy prime the floor and rockers is it advisable to remove the existing weldable primer and black rocker primer first?

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The black rockers a electro plate black primer. it's like power coat. you can epoxy prime over it. as for the red prime try a test area and see if it sticks.

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Ok thanks Dwilber

Next time i want to find a can of brush on weld thru primer, this stuff in the spray can comes out way to fast and is not controllable.

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I had the same issue with gap on rocker and cab corners. I used the hammer and dolly to rework rocker a little then did some trimming and cleaning up in cab corner and B pillar. Was able to get it closer by doing so. There was ripples on cab corner flange and rocker flange I hammered and ground flat.

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Thanks, I did rework the rocker a bit, as well as the cab corner, pictures don't show it but the bottom is touching and the top is separated a bit. I'll try and get a pic of that next time.

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Rat I agree with BB. my aftermarket rocker would not fit. I mean the area that is close to the door jam curved at the flange that welds to the inner rocker.(hope this makes sense). I did my best to make it flat and still have a little gap (as you have seen in my build). Keep up the good work as I thought I had a lot to do, you had to replace big sections.

As for motivation..... we want to see more so keep it up. no matter how a classic truck looks everyone wants it......

Weld-on my friend!!

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Looks like it is all coming together nicely Mike. On my floor repairs, I spread seam sealer on both top and bottom of my welds - figuring the extra insurance wouldn't hurt. My goal for the floor was never to make it appear there hadn't been a patch done. Plus, I sprayed bed liner top and bottom of the floor as well. All of that managed to cover any ugly from my welding pretty well :lol:

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Well with a flanged floor that's not gonna happen :) Thanks for the tip on the seam sealer, it will go on the bottom too.

So the weather chanel said by 3 it was gonna start raining again, so i get out there about 10, all the welding gear, 10 minutes later i'm outta gas! Oh well.. Got a new cylinder today instead, bought a new 4.5" grinder too made in Germany called a Metabo (Ma-Ta-Bo) got the 8.5 amp version, should last a lifetime, my old Skill i bought when i was 18 has served me well thru the years but the cord has been replaced, the housing is cracked in 2 places, it vibrates becase the bearings are wearing out, and the switch does not lock onto the on position any more..

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Looking really good Mike a lifetime grinder would be great, was it spensive?

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$225, about the same as my right angle 20V Dewalt Drill. The 6 amp version was about $150, there was one more powerful that was a bit over $300, the 6 amp version has a smaller body and is lighter, probably would have been fine with that one.

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Matabo makes good equipment my Brother has several of there tools.

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Its been windy and wet out so being as last time i moved the welder across the side yard i kinda chewed it up a bit caus its a mush pit, so i decided it was time to put some better wheels on my shop welding cart, i wanted wider swivel casters but the hard ware store didn't have any.

Here's a feature if the Metabo grinder i like, a quick detach safety shroud..

Hope to get back to the truck tomorrow pending weather..

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Looks like you could ride on that welder all the way to New Yawk Citty!

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Its made my life a bit easier! still need better fronts tho but its livable!

The driver floor is pretty much welded in now, i have been fighting a few bouts of porosity that i think maybe my heat and feed were too high, i have turned them down, it seems to be better, now i need to go back over some of the spots with a light under the truck to insure no pin holes are present.

Question: seam sealer before epoxy primer or after?

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After. Always best to get the epoxy on the bare metal first since it's your last line of defense against moisture. The seam sealer will adhere to it just fine.

Everything is looking great! Having lived up there for almost two years I know all about the weather you're dealing with. Kudos for hanging in there.

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Thanks again Vic! Today was a nasty one, high winds and cold rain, no work done at home, Just weekend OT and a severe lack of sleep.... .

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No kidding! Remember my brother-in-law Rick that lives up by Seabeck and came down with me to see your truck? This is his backyard and his brand new car. If I'm not mistaken, it's the ONLY new car he's ever bought - and may well be the last. ;)

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Yep i do remember, i thought about posting a pic of a car that a guy died in after a tree fell on him but couldn't bring myself to do it, feel bad for his family whoever he was, he had his baby with him but the baby survived because he/she was in the back seat. Even the ferries were taking water over the top of the car deck, (video below) The very reason i took down the 11 trees i had on my property and thankful my neighbor took the one out of his front yard too..

I used to think nothing of the wind when i lived in eastern Wa but around here i have had a change of opinion, watching these trees come down where you live is kinda spooky especially the big ones..

http://www.king5.com/story/news/loca...erry/81751312/

Nothing done today.. just rest.

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Hi again swamp rat, awesome progress on the truck. I also like the upgrade to the welding cart, its awesome. I been thinking about getting the cart, and now I'm thinking about doing the same thing. :metal:

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Fair warning on that cart its not super heavy duty as far as the structural support on the upper front corners of the cabinet right above the top drawer corners, it can bend a bit in shipping from side load, i had to return the first one i ordered and had UPS'ed because my local H/F was sold out when they were on sale, and the bottom where the gas bottle sits has a slight bend to it now, absolutely meant for the cement floor, i have been a little rough on mine i guess.

Thanks for the comps!

Not much to report but i cut down the cab reinforcement and reworked it on the passenger side so i can get into the driver side better and finish it up.

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Thanks for the info on the cart, mine will probably be in my shop mostly. I do have a nice cement pad outside in front of my shop thought about 18x24. :metal:
Here's some cool tools eBay item number 322040819339

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Picture of my one of my toys http://C:\Users\Leif\Pictures\lift.jpg

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Ok so as i posted the rust repair on the driver side is done but i had some surface rust on my front fender, i did some sanding on it and brushed the inside with rust treatment, however it was just too cold to sand and cover the fender with 2K primer.

Working under the car cover i have limited space to work, i will need to pull the truck out and turn it around to start the other side, i didn't want to do that with the fender off so i kinda fell into hold mode and started researching a bit on paint booths.

So the past week has been really nice outside, so nice that i got sprig fever and didn't touch the truck, what can i say.. This weekend i finally started building my small paint booth, i'm at the point i need to start covering it in plastic.

Which brings me to the question, do i plastic the inside or outside?? This will be a positive pressure, fan pushing air in, 20"X20" fan will have a filter plus 2 20"X20" filters for the exit, the far wall will be hinged and latchedand have foam weather stripping to make it air tight..

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The fan should be at the bottom and pull air out install filter at the top to filter the air coming in. blowing air in will blow in dust bugs and small debris. Rap the visqueen around the out side.

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I agree with Dwilbur, that's how I did mine. I also placed a couple of small electric heaters just outside the air inlet filter and it helped keep it toasty warm inside.

Also place put a filter before the fan if you don't want it painted.

Gary

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So i was going to tape the filter to the outside of the fan so the air coming in is filtered, reason was i thought i read somewhere about having a positive pressure in the booth, so i guess that is wrong and i need to pull the air thru.....

I posted the same question on the paint forum a while ago too, no time to do any more today anyway so i'll see what they say as well.

The good news is i use the same size opening on both sides for filter and fan so its an easy fix, just a little more time involved..

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Being in a negative helps remove the fumes, doesn't blow your paint around as much and having some sort of a door that's overlaps on the outside will be kept closed by the suction. At least this worked well for me, I painted a couple trucks this way. You still should have at least an organic filtered mask or an air supplied respirator !!!

Gary

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Got the respirator covered. Do you think i will need 2 fans or just the one?

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That's a fairly small enclosure, you should be fine with one fan. Your biggest place of air flow restriction would be your inlet filter, maybe put in a second filter. I imagine your fan is a 3 speed, so you can choose what speed works good for you.

Gary

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Yes the two squares in the frame on the other side are for 2 filters, 20"X20", plus 1 20" x20" to cover the fan.

No pictures today but i moved the filter frame to the top of the wall where the fan was, then moved the fan where the filters were originally going to go, also added a second fan frame for an additional fan if needed.

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So fighting some back strain today and my chiro is out today.... so won't get the booth finished.

But i have the framing all done less plastic and putting the hinges on both doors. Two 20X20 filters nearest the camera, a side walk thru door and the far wall will be hinged to allow for body parts to be brought in and out, doors will be sealed with weather strip foam. Oh, i ordered an additional fan identical to the one i have so will have plenty of air flow, they mount in the far wall/door bottom. Hopefully i'll have it done Sunday as i'm working Saturday.