Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Nice job on the roof, Hope you had a nice vacation in florida. I have family all over florida so I visit once or twice a year. I just finished rechaulking the gutter and painting my roof. I didn't have to do as much repair as you but still alot of work. (I feel your pain)

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Good news and not so good news. The cab is finally ready for priming. We have gotten the filler in all of the normal areas and the firewall all smooth. Very happy to be to this point!:D

The not so good news is I have to head out tomorrow to help my daughter move so will not be able to prime until next week. Funny how life keeps gettin in the way of my obsession.
Attachment 1106956
Love the clean firewall look!
Attachment 1106957
Attachment 1106958
Attachment 1106959

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Lookin Good and I can relate to life getting in the way...
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

X2 I can relate too! Looking really good though.... Can't wait to see it all primed:metal:
I think I'm going to rock the yellow primer and rust for now and will tackle the body in the winter. Hope my cab comes on this clean
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Thanks! Its hard to believe that I have spent 4 months working on the cab. Of course, life probably took a month of that time for other things.

Thank you! Sounds like a good plan to enjoy the truck now and do the body work in the winter. Welding is much better when its cooler and you don't mind wearing long sleeves.:metal:

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Looks good dabears, seeing some progress is very theriputical, that's how I justify my obsession lol
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Nice job on getting the cab knocked out. Patiently awaiting the paint.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Thanks! Progress is fun but sometimes spotty....

Thank you! The wait is finally over!

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

The cab is finally primed!!:metal: After taking a week off to move my daughter we were able to get back to the cab. The timing couldn't have been better. When we started to work on preparing the cab on Tuesday we discovered a number of spots where the cab was starting to flash. We have had some warm and humid weather here, finally. We got the spots cleaned up and cleaned the cab and got the first coat of etch primer on. Yesterday we got the second coat on.

After we were done and enjoying a beer :alc: it dawned on us that we have spent 16 weeks on the cab dating back to the end of January. It has been a journey so I will have to post some before and after pictures below.

Here are the before shots:

Here is the drivers side which was our "good" side:

Attachment 1110695

The passenger's side after we cut out the cancer:

Attachment 1110696

Now the good stuff:

Attachment 1110697
Attachment 1110698
Attachment 1110699

While the firewall would not even register on the Bomp scale, I am pretty happy with how clean it turned out. :two:

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Looking good man! Nice work!:chevy:
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Very Clean... Keep it Rockin'
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

That was 16 weeks of nice work on the cab & firewall too.
Great Job!!http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/sp...kdiscoball.gif

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Wow your cab looks great !!

The next time I do one of these it will be completely frame off as well, with a tilting cab cart.

Fantastic work, keep it up dude :metal:

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Working hard to try to even get close to the good work you do!

Thank you. It's nice to get to completion of one chapter on the build.

Thanks. You continue to amaze me with your skills!

Thank you! If you use your creativity on a full frame off, who knows where it could go!

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

We got the cab on the frame today. Was relieved that it went back on without issues. The 2X10 through the cab was a great way to lift it. Thanks to this forum for the solution.

I had been worried about it lining up with the mounting holes. Before we fixed the cab, the passenger side had holes in the floorboard, no inner rocker and the outer rocker was held on with filler. All four floor supports were shot. So having repaired/replaced all of that I had been concerned about whether the forward cab mounts in the cab would line up well. It took a little maneuvering but it went on.

Having the cab on the frame confirmed that I have to modify the suspension at least in the rear and then maybe the front. I have new stock springs all around now with 2.5" drop spindles in the front. When I started this project I wanted a little bit of rake in the stance but having seen all of the great trucks here, I now want it level. I was going to go with a 4" static drop in the back but when I was looking for kits I also saw a bag kit for the back that is fairly simple. No on-board compressor just set it where you want it. I am going to order that bag kit and make it level. Once I see it assembled with the bags in the back, I will then decide whether to drop the front more. Funny how things morph as the project goes along.:lol:

Attachment 1114311
Attachment 1114312

So now the question I have for all of you. As you can see below I have put on old school valve covers which I love. I got a matching air cleaner and am very happy with the look, just seems to fit with the truck. The problem is that the valve covers are tall and so I have about a 1/8" clearance to the firewall. I know the motor will move more than that. Would you keep the valve covers and modify the firewall or switch out the valve covers?? I can already hear Bomp yelling at me, "cut it up".

Even though its more work, my initial thought is that its only two days of work to modify the firewall and I really like the valve covers. Just looking for some response on whether I am being a dumb a$$ or not. Thanks for the responses in advance!

Attachment 1114314
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

I Vote with Bomp, Cut it up...:metal::metal::metal:
Then I can see how you do it so I can do the same when I get ready to get the cab back on the frame, I have similar valve covers...:lol:

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

I saw that on one of your posts. You painted the valleys the same color as the motor. I assume you like them as well. Still debating on whether to paint mine or not.

Question is how much room do I need for motor movement?.
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Not sure, but I would guess about 1/2 to 1 inch... But that's no more than a guess at this point. Gonna research...
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

While I was surfing through your build, doing my daily catch up, I busted out laughing.
You were saying exactly what was coming into my mind. No question, cut it up !

Sweet valve covers.

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/o...psfc7e87da.jpg
You could make an 'X' style of cut, tap tap tap til you get room (about an 1.25"-1.75") clearance.
Then cut an X patch. Bit of a pain but that way you don't have to make a giant pocket but Im no expert.


Good Luck, You can DO it
or move your motor forward.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Trade/sell/buy for short covers (if your valve train combo permits).

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Glad that the post made you laugh, best life remedy!!;) I like the X idea, forming pockets is a PITA. Thanks for the advice on how much clearance. Once I pull the cab back off it will be time for some slicing, banging and welding. My welder seems to get bored if its not pulled out each week!

Did think about moving the motor. It means 10 new holes (3 for each perch and then 2 on each side of the trans cross member) and filling 10 old holes. Firewall sounds like more fun.:metal::metal:

Glad you actually mention this. I put roller rockers on it and when I placed the old valve covers on the heads to protect them during the engine build they were about a 1/2 inch too short. So even if I did try to go short it wouldn't work.

Time for my very poor Bomp imitation. Of course I haven't heard from McMurphy, he always is very creative so he might come up with something out of left field.:lol:

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Thank you Dr. Bomp! Clearances noted as well as the X cut plan... Looking forward to seeing your progress Da Bears!
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Haha I'm aboard the cut it up crew as well:metal: nice progress, starting to come together!
Pretty funny how plans change. I was just going to throw my motor in and make it drivable and once I started lowering it.....I couldn't stop:lol:
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Wow the Cut Up Crew, and I am the Left Fielder ...... Hmmmmmm
Sorry Bears, I got nothing.
The only thing that came to mind was a pair of classic Chevrolet valve covers that Astronaught did a mod-job on to fit an LS engine. That was pretty cool.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Agreed, always nice to have a doctor in the house.:lol: Going to be a couple of weeks, need to fix the doors and get them on, then assemble the front end to see how the fit is working.

Thanks! It is amazing how our obsessions morph over time.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Thanks!

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

So this is going to be the tale of two doors, even though its the same door. My doors were bad with the truck so I bought two new to me doors. They were rust free which was great but the drivers side door had been hit and had a dent in the corner. Given the metal that we have replaced in the cab it seemed to be no big deal, cut a patch and move on. We put the patch in as you can see below:

Attachment 1120318

What we did not realize was the the dent in the corner pushed in the entire door skin. When we checked the skin after patching it we had a 1" gap in the middle of the door. I should have taken a picture to document what happened but was so aggravated that I spent two days patching for nothing. In addition the door oil caned something fierce, seems the metal was stretched from the dent.

I know we do not have many posts of I failed on this but that is what this is.

So after a few deep breaths, a smoke or two and a rum and coke, or two, maybe three, I decided it was time to order a door skin. Given my experience with repop parts, I really was not optimistic. My buddy who has been helping me has bought parts from Classic Industries and had good results. Given my experience with Classic Parts, I was not optimistic.

So we ordered the door skin and got on Thursday. It came with the roll over for the skin to wrap around the door. We took off the old skin. My two favorite tools right now are the air saw and seam separater. Yes, I want to have a plasma cutter but have already spent a fair amount on tools so the air saw was the in between. Here they are:

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Since I am almost at the limit for pictures, I will post the results in another thread.

Door part 2
 

So here is the rest of the story. Got the door skin and it actually fit. So it was time to cut out the old and go with the new. We have a neighbor who is an old body guy and he recommended that we just grind off the roll over to get the old skin off. As you can see below, once you grind you can actually see the multiple layers of roll over on the door.

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As you can see in the picture below, its easy to see the three layers once you have ground it.

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Now I realize its going to take 3 posts to show what we did. Here is a picture of the skin after removing it.

Attachment 1120343

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Great job. Can't wait till I really get going on my body work. Keep up the great work.
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

So hopefully this is the last door post. We got the old skin off and then placed the new skin on the door. We overlapped the cut area so that we could attach the new skin then cut a seam on the old and new skins. We did coat the door with rust encapsulator.

Attachment 1120350

Here is a picture of the roll over section.

Attachment 1120351

So got the new patch on and used an hammer and dolly to roll over the edges. We then stated welding it. We ended up cutting the seam 4 times to get it to lay flat but was happy with how it turned out. Have to finish the welding and grinding but am taking my time. Don't want the warp the doors.

Attachment 1120352
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Wish I had know that these door skins would work so well, I would have not wasted a couple of days trying to fix the dent.

Thanks for looking at my build.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Oh, that Seam-Buster looks like an ergonomic nightmare, and should be very pleasant on your wrists! LOL!!!!
....That is what I love! Whatever it takes to get a job done!

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Just kiddin around, the door looks great dude!

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

bear, I have the same problem with the valve covers, i'm going to use 2.5-3"inch pipe to bang on the firewall to get the room I need! flips72 had to do the same thing to his firewall! and if I remember he told me theres like 1/2-3/4"" clearance around the valve covers!

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Slick work on the skin.
Im pretty sure one of Bompensteins doors is going to get a new skin.

Thanks for the write up. Helped me out on some stuff I had to figure out.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

New to the board and just trying to get the know some peeps and check out some sick trucks! Thanks ...sorry still trying to figure out the boards.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Thanks!

It was surprisingly easy to use. All we did was slide it in before the spot welds and let the air hammer do the work.

Thanks Modges! Glad it came out as well as it did.

I think I am going to cut and weld in metal to create the room I need. There was a good thread a week ago about notching firewalls with some good examples. Here is the link:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...light=firewall

With your skills and speed, you could probably knock this out in an hour.:metal: It was much easier than I thought. Gotta give Classic Industries credit, shocking to get a repop door skin that fits and looks good.

Welcome aboard. If that is your truck, you have a great looking one! Check out the FAQs on the forum, lots of great info. There are also a ton of great builds going on that contain a lot of very useful info.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Nice work on the door skin, and like my daddy used to say "Live and learn!" Great job!

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Love both of those tools I have both except my bar doesn't have the air chisel attachment and I also have the 90 degree one for wheel wells works well too!

Skin is looking good man!:chevy:
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Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

Thanks Don! You daddy was a smart man. Figured I would share the lesson.

Thanks! Wish I had bought the tool before I started working on the cab. Would have save a few hours.

Re: [B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]
 

sorry to hear of your melt down... I have certainly had a few of those. Actually I guess you could say my entire build has been one of trial and error. With emphasis on the error part.

Glad to see the skins worked out for you though. In the begining I dont think I would have attempted new skins, now however I might. I have learned a lot on this build, and from this board from posts just like yours !!

Keep it up buddy !! :metal: