'55 International Metal/Body/Paint Work

[theastronaut]

I've had a couple guys on here ask me to post other project's I've worked on, so here it goes. It's a 1955 International R-112 Pickup that the owner brought to us to do the metalwork, bodywork, and paintwork. It doesn't have a ton of rust but the body is BEAT!! The owner had already fixed the rust in the floors himself and had taken the cab and all of the panels to be blasted and primed with PPG DP series before bringing it to us. Here's some pics of when it arrived. The owner already had it on the rotisserie which is a huge plus!


You can see some of the damage in the pics. The roof looked like it had been used as a dance floor, the back of the cab was pushed in in places, there was rust deep in the seam under the back window, and dents everywhere!

[theastronaut]

Getting started on the rear cab panel seam repairs. There were two spots rotted out in the seam itself, the cab corners were rusted out, and the gap across the upper seam itself was uneven and needed evening out. I decided to remove the rear panel to gain full access to the upper seam rust and also make it easier to work out the dents. Doing this allowed me to sandblast inbetween the seams that can't be reached normally.


The upper seam rust.






Uneven gap across the seam.






Cab corner rust.







Drilling out the spotwelds that hold the rear panel on.







Rear panel removed.










Inner cab corner rust.

[theastronaut]

Old sound deadener sheets removed.




Roughly straightened and bottom marked for cutting.





Corner formed on an English Wheel.







Trimmed, ready to weld in.







Welded up.





Welds ground down.






Fixing the inner cab corners.




Formed a new edge on the shrinker/stretcher.





New piece welded in.





Fixing the other cab corner.

[NONHOG]

Looks like fun! Anxious to see more!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Looks like fun! Anxious to see more!

Thanks!


I sandblasted everything while the rear cab panel was off. I also cut out the rust that was in the rear cab panel mating flanges and welded new metal in.

[theastronaut]

Then applied a couple coats of Chassis Saver paint to the inner panels and along the seam under the window. This should keep the seams and cab corners from rusting from the inside out.

[Pop's C-10]

nice work

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

As usual, you're doing a great job!

Those Internationals have a face only a mother could love, but they have their own charm. They've got some funky design features, which was an International characteristic. I'm glad to see someone restoring one and not making a crappy Rat Rod out of it, which sadly becomes the fate of many International trucks.

Thanks dude!! The owner's dad bought it new and this guy drove it to college and even took it on a cross country trip, so I'm glad it's being restored as well! I've been reading through your '55 build; very impressive!!

Originally Posted by Pop's C-10

nice work

Thanks Pop's!!
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[theastronaut]

Fixing the w/s opening rust.




Cut out the old peice and made a new one on the shinker/stretcher. Test fitting it using magnets to hold it in place.




Welded in and ground smooth.

[theastronaut]

The cowl panel had a couple seams where they meet the fender mounting panels that needed seam sealer. Most of the old sealer came out when blasting but it still needed minor prep before applying the new sealer. I also got the front and rear roof skin seams at the same time.


Drip rails were straightened before applying the seam sealer.




Cowl seam.





Sanded out with 180 grip paper folded in half.




My seam sealer gun, love this thing!!




Sealer applied.




Sanded smooth.




Close shot of the front roof seam, it's a good bit deeper than the cowl seams.




The rear roof seam after sealing and sanding smooth.

[theastronaut]

Next I shot PPG K36 high build over the seams to get them really slick. I'll be using Slick Sand for all of the major priming and blocking but I don't like using it straight over seam sealer, so I used the K36 instead since I feel it sticks better to the sealer. Improperly sealed and shaped seams are a pet peeve of mine...

Cowl seams.






Front roof seam.






Drip rail.




After sanding the cowl seam. I used a small diameter rod with a few layers of masking tape over it for cushion to block the seam out. This way the seam has an even diameter down its length. After the seam is blocked evenly, it gets re-guidecoated and taped on one side of the seam. Then the flat part of the panel against the seam is blocked down, and the edge of panel is rolled into the seam using the edge of a Durablock. The guide coat shows the seam, and how evenly you're cutting into it when you're rolling the edge so you can make sure it's even. Then the tape is flipped and the process is repeated on the other side.








The front and rear roof seams after recieving the same treatment.

[Officer68]

Love this info... Makes me miss my grandpa, he owned an international dealership from the 40s to the 80s. I got tons of great IH pics at the lot
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[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Officer68

Love this info... Makes me miss my grandpa, he owned an international dealership from the 40s to the 80s. I got tons of great IH pics at the lot
Posted via Mobile Device

That's neat, I'd love to see those pics if you have copies online!

[theastronaut]

Here's the process to get the rear cab panel ready to reinstall.



The corners were cracked and needed repairing before getting the panel back in place.













Since there was no way to reweld the upper corner flanges, I had to use SEM panel adhesive for those spots. There was also no way to clamp the flanges, so I welded on tabs and pulled the panel tightly into place with ratchet straps. This let me check the final position and work the edges to straighten out the gap before welding and glueing. I also added a few tabs and straps across the center to keep the two panels flush with each other.







Flanges were blasted, prepped, and sprayed with PPG DP40. This will get ground off right around each spotweld area for clean welds.

[dean jendro]

John,

Outstanding job, as usual. Internationals are not my cup of tea but I can appreciate anything that's been restored to better than new condition. I can imagine the looks this guy will get on his drive back home.

Dean

[theastronaut]

Thanks Dean! I'm sure they'll have a blast driving back!

[theastronaut]

Here's one I saw at the mall last week. The body was original but it was slammed on torque thrust.




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[65Pickup]

Your doing such a nice job on 'Goldilocks' I thought I'd check your other builds!!! This one is unreal, thanks for the detailed pics and info, may help one day when I get some tools. Great build.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by 65Pickup

Your doing such a nice job on 'Goldilocks' I thought I'd check your other builds!!! This one is unreal, thanks for the detailed pics and info, may help one day when I get some tools. Great build.

Thanks 65Pickup! Glad you like it! It's pretty much ready to paint now, I'll work on adding more pics to get the thread caught up to it's current condition.

[theastronaut]

Once everything was prepped and aligned for the rear cab panel, I spread SEM panel adhesive on the corners and pulled it into place with ratchet straps. I used too much which made a mess on the outside, but I wanted it to have enough to squeeze out on the inside to fully seal up the seam. The metal will tear before this stuff loses grip of the metal! It can be heated for removal if ever needed.

Last test fit.






Adhesive applied and strapped in place until it cured.






The bottom corners were clamped into place and plug welded.







Once it dried I ground/sanded off the excess adhesive.

[65Pickup]

Looks complicated, but great solution, technology worked beautifully.

[flashed]

Very nice work ,I like international trucks ,I think they were ahead of their time. I know of a guy one county over from me that collects every International truck and Scout he can find and he drives and restores them.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by flashed

Very nice work ,I like international trucks ,I think they were ahead of their time. I know of a guy one county over from me that collects every International truck and Scout he can find and he drives and restores them.

I agree. The way the bodies were assembled was pretty neat for that time; the whole floor section bolts in and can be removed easily, and cowl/windshield section also bolted together to the roof skin at the upper seam. That made it easy for International to make the parts interchangeable between their trucks and carryalls, and cab overs. Repairs could be made easier too since there weren't any spot welds to break loose and reweld if those panels needed to be replaced.

[theastronaut]

The owner had already done some rust repair to the floor section, and sealed the seams with silicone when he reinstalled the floor panel. Paint won't stick to silicone though, so I had to remove it and put epoxy sealer back in. I also cleaned all of the old seam sealer out of the firewall and cowl seams and redid those.


You can see the black silicone in the seam, and the epoxy primer had already started coming off just since it had been blasted and primed.




Most of it scraped out, then sanded to get it ready to apply new epoxy sealer. For some reason I can't find the after pics with the new sealer applied.






The factory cowl-to-firewall seam sealer was terrible, with large areas thin or missing completly.











Thankfully the old sealer wasn't hard to remove. I scraped it out and put 3M strip-caulk back in the seams. The strip-caulk is ideal for areas that are hard to reach, or where gaps are too big for epoxy sealer to fill in. It's paintable too.

[65Pickup]

Incredible pictures, the detail is impressive and appreciated. Your explanation will make my attempts better, plus no guess work on what products to use. Beautiful restoration.