Cab Floor Replacement - Cab Bracing Question

[1972CheyenneSuper]

I've searched through several topics regarding cab floor replacements and it seems that every single one has been braced differently. Some people use a few pieces through the door opening and call it good, others build a conglomeration like I did today. I would like some input from others that have done it, if there was an area they would have braced better, or if I'm just overthinking the whole ordeal. Anyways, I spent the better part of the day working on bracing my cab. I made it so I would be able to unbolt it in pieces, and use it in the future if needed and also so I wouldn't have to grind a bunch of welds all over my cab. Let me know if I have any areas I should address.

[Gromit]

Wow.. I stared at those pictures for about ten minutes.. Nice work - I haven't done it so I'm no help there but from what I've seen one difficult area is where the kick panel sheet metal meets the floor.. it is blind on one side due to the vent bottoming out there.

There are some areas that contain sealant too but I think that is mostly the upper cowl and dash.

Great idea to use the strut channel - the one you used is much heavier than the 12 gauge ones I've seen.

Have you considered welding on a circular plate on each side with a pipe through the middle and indexing holes and removable pins around the perimeter? That would add a rotisserie feature to your bracing

You cab looks to be in good shape.

On a slightly different topic I have read that the paint on these trucks is lead paint; so just a heads up.. when I sanded the floor of my '70 there was a lot of dust - I think the paint is about 30% lead by weight and the significant dose is less than 50 micrograms (millionths of a gram) and less for children.

In hindsight I wish I'd have sent mine out for soda or C02 blasting or wet media blasting..

You might look at bruceman's build page - I may be recalling wrong but I think he found something with the fit of the door where he suggested trial installing the door before welding the still.

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Responses in red.

Originally Posted by Gromit

Wow.. I stared at those pictures for about ten minutes.. Nice work - I haven't done it so I'm no help there but from what I've seen one difficult area is where the kick panel sheet metal meets the floor.. it is blind on one side due to the vent bottoming out there.

I'll keep an eye on that area then when stuff starts to get cut loose.

There are some areas that contain sealant too but I think that is mostly the upper cowl and dash.

I do believe that there is seam sealer at the cowl to floor pan seam. Most of mine has degraded to nothing though.

Great idea to use the strut channel - the one you used is much heavier than the 12 gauge ones I've seen.

Have you considered welding on a circular plate on each side with a pipe through the middle and indexing holes and removable pins around the perimeter? That would add a rotisserie feature to your bracing

The thought did cross my mind after I had most of the main structure built. I think I should have used heavier tubing between the jambs if I was going to used it as a rotisserie. I could probably sleeve my current pieces with some heavier angle iron I suppose. Hindsight is unfortunately a factor in most of my projects.

You cab looks to be in good shape.

These pictures are focused on the bracing more than anything. I've got some pictures of my cab in my build thread that would probably change your mind. All of my outer floor pan edges, inner rockers, and cab supports are rotted through, add to that antenna holes, cab marker light holes, and a couple of good sized dents.

On a slightly different topic I have read that the paint on these trucks is lead paint; so just a heads up.. when I sanded the floor of my '70 there was a lot of dust - I think the paint is about 30% lead by weight and the significant dose is less than 50 micrograms (millionths of a gram) and less for children.

I guess that hadn't crossed my mind. Duly noted, it's easy to forget about the seemingly harmless things that can cause health issues later.

In hindsight I wish I'd have sent mine out for soda or C02 blasting or wet media blasting..

You might look at bruceman's build page - I may be recalling wrong but I think he found something with the fit of the door where he suggested trial installing the door before welding the still.

I haven't quite decided if I should get it blasted when all of the metal is done or not. I guess my plan was to get the floor in, hang the doors, and then do rockers and cab corners. At that point see how much patching and rust repair is left and judge the need for blasting at that point. I'm guessing by still you meant sill as in door sill? I'll check his page out too, thank you for the info.

[Gromit]

Yes, I meant "sill" - don't know where the extra "t" came from I'll blame the site's spell checker.

I also wrote bruceman but now that I recall I was actually thinking of bruce88

Here is a link to the first page of his build thread:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=318544&page=1

Warning; his thread is as addictive and irresistible as I imagine crack cocaine or heroin must be.. I couldn't rest until I read the entire thing but I'm a better man for it and my truck is way better off for all I learned from him.

I don't know the exact page but the posts were something like "fit and fair" I'm thinking around page 20:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...p+side&page=20

"Hindsight is unfortunately a factor in most of my projects."

Ha! that's great - Everything I do is iterative so you're not alone.

[LockDoc]

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Wow! That is a work of art!!! Not sure how you are going to get in there to work though.

Here is a thread where my buddy Ron and I replaced the floor in his truck. We used 4 pieces of 3/4" thin wall conduit, two angled in the door openings and two angled side to side inside the cab. We didn't have any problems but Ron has been doing this for a lot of years....

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=490272

LockDoc

[1972CheyenneSuper]

Originally Posted by Gromit

Here is a link to the first page of his build thread:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=318544&page=1

Wow, I wonder how that is not a sticky. It'd be neat to see that in a book form, lots of step by step instructions and details. I'll be saving that one, thanks.

Originally Posted by LockDoc

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Wow! That is a work of art!!! Not sure how you are going to get in there to work though.

Here is a thread where my buddy Ron and I replaced the floor in his truck. We used 4 pieces of 3/4" thin wall conduit, two angled in the door openings and two angled side to side inside the cab. We didn't have any problems but Ron has been doing this for a lot of years....

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=490272

LockDoc

I was envisioning one thing in my head as I was reading that, and then I clicked the link. I was not expecting two thirds of the cab being replaced in one piece. You guys did great work and have the skills to match. I shudder to think how bad I could screw something like that up.

On my cab, I wasn't anticipating doing a major amount of work inside, at least until the floor was out. Maybe I should be? I'm basing that off of about six other replacements that I ran across. Most of those seemed to be drilling all of the spot welds out front and back and working the old floor out. I was expecting a little bit of inside stuff around the front seam where it's sealed. If there is something major that I'm overlooking, I am all ears. I know a lot of work happens in between those five to six pictures people choose to post on the internet, and maybe I'm not catching every detail. This is my first major project of anything involving panel fitting/gap deciding sheet metal work so I go into my usual overly cautious/expecting the worst mode. I wish I had a buddy Ron.