What do you think so far?

[Lippyp]

This is my first ever attempt at proper bodywork repairs, replacing the outer and inner rockers, patching the floor, kick panel and door pillar. My previous attempts when young generally involved a bucket of Bondo and some chicken wire. I'm also a relatively new welder too.



found the bottom of the door pillar was rusty too



all cut out



home made floor patch



and welded in

[Lippyp]

new inner rocker cut and fitted up, I had to build the curved section at the end from scratch, bashing it out over a homemade former as the new inner sill didn't include that section. It did need a touch of bondo afterwards just to get the final shape bit it looks great now.



tacked in



finished and ground down



kick panel ready for fitting



and welded in

[Lippyp]

and finally started to fit up the door pillar repair



and seam sealed the back of the kick panel weld and gave the inner rocker a coat of weld throufgh zinc rich primer although the weld areas will be sanded back to clean metal before welding.



Will get this welded in on Monday and then painted before rehanging the door prior to fitting the outer rocker.

I'm pleased with progress so far, like I said its my first proper body job at 40 years old, so it just shows you're never to old to learn new skills! What it looks like to your expert eyse I'm not sure though but it is solid and so far everthing fits on as I've tried the outer rocker on all the way through.

The floor will get a coat of POR15, the kick panel will need some bondo to get a decent finish but its going to be carpeted anyway.

[LUV2XCLR8]

I would say it's looking good, any work accomplished by ones self is awesome
reguardless of what we think, btw I know a while back you posted pic's of ur
beautiful place in the country, so where are u doing this work at? Nice pic's

[Lippyp]

This is being done in some rented workshop space near my house in the UK. I rent it from a couple of local guys who are also into American cars and it shares the space with a restored 68 427SS Impala, a 70 Camaro running 9.38's on methanol and now a half built Chevy Nova that they're aiming to get into the 8's.

The house in France is still ongoing but its made huge leaps forward this year in that we now have a septic tank sewage system installed, a proper tarred road that means you no longer need a 4x4 to get to it and finally a working bathroom and toilet. Plus we have our own little miracle or rather two of them due to arrive on the 28th March following a succesful course of IVF treatment so life at the moment all in all is pretty good!

[LUV2XCLR8]

TWINS? Any updated pic's since your last house post? ( 04-28-06 )

[Palf70Step]

Nice work on the truck. It looks good. and congrats on the future family expansion!

[Lippyp]

Thanks guys, twins at age 40, I think I've got my work cut out as I'll be staying at home to look after them when the wife goes back to work as she earns far more than me. This for us is a miracle as we lost our first daughter at birth 5 1/2 years ago and its taken us this time to find out we have some medical problems, some of which are a direct result of the doctors bungling our daughters delivery which ended in a very messy emergency C-section and then a long hard road to get to the IVF stage.

I'll post some pics of the house in a thread in general discussion as it's changed quite a lot since then.

[LUV2XCLR8]

You have my Thoughts and Prayers for a NORMAL pregnancy this time around

[Palf70Step]

It's definitely a learning or relearning curve having the munchkins later. I was 43 when my son was born. Good luck with everything. Our prayers are with you two.

[RANDY COX]

Looks very good,nice work and congrats on your twins,I too have a set of twins boy and girl,they are now 10,wouldn't have it any other way.

[TruckinDaddy]

Originally Posted by Lippyp

Thanks guys, twins at age 40, I think I've got my work cut out as I'll be staying at home to look after them when the wife goes back to work as she earns far more than me.

Cool for you! I stay home with two kids, but not twins. But my twin nieces started walking when they were staying with us for a week. Enjoy the time with them and get some sleep NOW!

[ebfabman]

Go Lippy...go!

[alfeefish]

That looks good .I'm thinking of tackling the same job.I have read the door must be on the cab to check clearance.Your thoughts?

[Lippyp]

Yeah, once the door pillar is fixed the door will go back on before I position the outer rocker, I could just picture welding it on, refitting the door and having a Homer Simpson moment finding it doesn't shut!

Funny thing is when we tell people who have kids we're having twins the first thing they do is say congratulations and then they laugh this kind of knowing laugh.........

[PanelDeland]

Hey Lippy congrats on the babes.Also ,I have a question.

"WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME??!!!"

[jamon8]

I did not read all the post so if I repeat something

put the door on before you do the final welding of the rocker

[QKENUF4U]

thats looks fantastic. now come do mine :P

[Lippyp]

Originally Posted by PanelDeland

Hey Lippy congrats on the babes.Also ,I have a question.

"WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME??!!!"

Surf the web!

[birdie]

Congrats on the twins, and nice work on the truck i will have to bookmark this. I will be starting mine very soon, infact I just bought a nice little mig welder yesterday. As for starting a family I was 44 when Amy along.

[Lippyp]

Well, Ive been cracking on with it and today finally put some coats of rattle can yellow on the finished job.



Primer



Top coat





I'm pleased with the way its turned out for a first attempt at proper bodywork repairs.

Just got to rehang the fender, fit the hood and cowl, bench seat and drive her home. I dug out the worst of the dried out sealer from the rain gutter, soaked underneath in rust convertor, primed it and replaced the sealer with new, its a temporary job tbh as its gonna sit outside for a while and once I find some new workshop space I'll dig it all out properly.

I also fitted some new front brake shoes in between coats of paint and found out why the brakes have been poor, one side had the shoes the wrong way round so its not surprising it pulled to one side (damn previous owners!) Its now got new shoes the right way round! Its also had new rear shocks and the back half of the exhausts replaced.

[boraxman]

Nice work. Im going to be taking up welding myself soon. What type of welder did you use?

[Lippyp]

Its a sip Migmate 150 turbo, not a brand I think you get in the USA, its a 240V 150 amp fan cooled mig welder, using 0.6mm wire and argon/co2 mix gas. (BOB Argoshield light) My one best purchase was a cheapy auto darkening helmet bought from Ebay. It made my welds much more accurate as no flipping down the shield when tis time to weld, I always used to lose my place when doing that.

The paint is the closest match I could find at a local paint supplier made up into a high quality rattle can (has a pattern much more like a spray gun than a normal shop bought standard can) over white cellulose primer. The colour is actualy a FIAT colour. I still need to fill, rub down and paint the inside of the kick panel to get a good finish though. I also have a brand new red carpet set to go in including the kick panel carpets.

[LockDoc]

Lippyp,

Nice job. My truck is also going to be yellow with a red interior, just a lighter shade of yellow.

Lookin' good....

LockDoc

[JRB]

Lippyp,
Excellent job on the Rocker, I am doing mine on my 69 shortstep and like you its my first time. I will say your better at welding than me. I need some more practice but its getting there. I had to put mine on hold due to building my shop. Its now setting in my shop and when I get it plumbed, wired and finished I can resume working on it. Good luck with the Twins, I have 5 kids and family is great!!!!

JRB