Just so you know its not a prissy show queen sunday use only truck, its a working truck too.
Next job is too sort that the rear arch out, not sure how i'm gonna pull it straight yet? Might try a portapak hydraulic ram , or maybe lash up some heath robinson block and tackle to an eye bolt in the floor to pull it out.
Decided i would make a start on sorting out the rear bed sides. I had to improvise and welded bar to the arch to pull it down. Crude.... but seems to be working
Gave it a crack tonight with my butane gas torch, got it to a nice cherry red and seems to be work with a bit of hammer tapping, slow progress, but progress is good.
Also removed the tie down catches, they ruined the body lines of the fleetside, plug welded the holes
done some more on the rear bed, couldnt get a decent hit from behind, so with a bit of encouragement from a mate took a sharp intake of breath and cut the rear section off in 2 parts. Then i could give it a proper good bashing over a length of 2" angle held in the vice.
Looks a lot better now its welded back in, a few more gentle taps and heat here a there and then a a skim of filler.
first skim of filler
looks a ton better than before
turned it round to do the other side. need to
plug weld random holes along the top each of the bed
remove the after market tie downs
knock the dents from the sides
weld up the hole a red neck had cut to try to bash the side back out :shake:
to get nice plug weld a put a piece of copper underneath, that way you get a flat weld on the other side and it wont stick to the copper .
managed using a slide hammer and heat to remove most of the dents and reform the shape of the side, below is after the first skim of filler
my favourite accessory on my truck, in fact its the only creature comfort
my new favourite tool in the garage, especially when combined with the above tool:drunk:
Also tacked the problem why the fuel gauge stopped working. Removed the sender and found it had been soldered before but it's holed again and full of fuel. I've tried to fibreglass it as it's too thin to solder again. But I'm not sure it will be fuel proof? So might buy a new plastic one. looks the same as any old mini or Beetle float.
Took this picture in July in France, but could have be taken 50 years ago in USA. Might get a nice big print of this for my study 8)
