Build: I've never done bodywork...but I can change if I have to! (bagged '67 SWB BBC)

[smoknbarrels]

I didn't want to get the high hump and sacrafice even more leg room for anyone sitting in the middle (even though that would be rare), so I decided to make my own mid height hump, just high enough to clear the tranny, it's about 1-1/4" high


I just simply slid the cut piece forward as it already had the right curve for the exsisting part of the hump.


All welded in, just need to smooth it out tomorrow, had to take the cab off again to finish up welding, I think the cab is going to be ready for paint pretty soon, hopefully this is the last time I have to take it off!!

[smoknbarrels]

Originally Posted by YBNORML

Looking good! I understand how hard it is to find time to work on these things. I just had another kid as well Do you still need that cab section or did you manage to get yours fixed?

hey, nice to see you are still following, I will go check out your build thead right away to see how you been doin!
Yea, I still need to grab that piece from ya, I want to keep it as back up, I might just try to bondo it, as I am not sure if I can handle welding such a sensitive area, if I have to add too much filler for my liking, I will use your piece... I should come pick that up soon, I am getting married this weekend, so I might still be a little bit, I hope there aren't any interest charges on that!? haha!

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by smoknbarrels

hey, nice to see you are still following, I will go check out your build thead right away to see how you been doin!
Yea, I still need to grab that piece from ya, I want to keep it as back up, I might just try to bondo it, as I am not sure if I can handle welding such a sensitive area, if I have to add too much filler for my liking, I will use your piece... I should come pick that up soon, I am getting married this weekend, so I might still be a little bit, I hope there aren't any interest charges on that!? haha!

No rush, it's tucked out of the way. You won't find much going on in my thread

[PHAT TONY]

Love the "old-school" weld wheels, looks really good!

[67c10rustbuket]

I'm still watching you too Drag lites look nice!

[nuke1]

Looking good!!!

[smoknbarrels]

Originally Posted by PHAT TONY

Love the "old-school" weld wheels, looks really good!

yea, I know it gives it more of a dated look by using older style wheels, but I hope it works out well with the aluminum side moulding package. sure was a pain to try fit 15x14 rims on a narrowed 9" with disc brakes while still utilizing stock swing arms and adding that 1" spacer so it would drop all the way down... really isn't much room in there for all that.

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

I'm still watching you too Drag lites look nice!

thanks.

Originally Posted by nuke1

Looking good!!!

thanks!

You guys are awesome at body and paint, not sure you'll be saying looking good for much longer, haha! but I really hope I can get some positive criticism, if anyone notices I am doing something stupidly wrong or should redo.

Haven't have a chance to work on it the last few days, recovering from goin out for the stag...

[smoknbarrels]

Well I gone and did it! ... got married this last weekend, honeymoon isn't for a few weeks, so I can work on the build for a little bit now. looking forward to a married life, I can count the amount of times I cried in the past 15 years on two fingers and this was one of them, was just too much to have a new wife and new son all wraped up in that moment. a friend took this photo, clearly doesn't know how to use a camera, but will do untill proper ones are done.


Exciting stuff! doing some filler work and sanding, peeled off some etching primer, not sure how well that stuff is gonna work anyway.


Got the cab all primed up, but still might need to do a little more touch ups and filler work, I'm not very good at it, but at some point I am gonna have to leave it as is and throw some colour on it in the next day or two. I tell ya, all the spots I welded are simple fill jobs needing very little, but the one the "expert" did is just crap, he warped the gas filler area, and I just cant get it right, just so many curves in that spot... I think that retired autobody guy was more like a forced retirement.

[smoknbarrels]

Well I threw some colour down today! hopefully gonna clear the cab tomorrow and then start thinking about putting it on the frame for good!
finally got the gas filler bodywork to a point I could accept it.
I already can't wait to start putting the guts back into this cab!

[hilljob26]

coming along nicely

[67cheby]

Congrats on the beautiful wife and the paint ! I think that when guys like us with car addictions find women that can handle us and that we should feel very lucky ! Lol
Posted via Mobile Device

[Bomp]

Congrats on gettin married.
The cab looks great too.

[smoknbarrels]

Originally Posted by hilljob26

coming along nicely

Thanks, winter is the only time I can actually work on it, so i gotta push hard till end of march.

Originally Posted by 67cheby

Congrats on the beautiful wife and the paint ! I think that when guys like us with car addictions find women that can handle us and that we should feel very lucky ! Lol
Posted via Mobile Device

Absolute nail on the head, she is very understanding, I have wayy too many hobbies, and its nice when she appreciates my efforts.

well had a major setback today.. I really was unsatisfied with my sanding abilitles (or lack of ability). the back of the cab was wayy too wavy, I was using a padded block and it did nothing for me.
so now I have to strip it all down again. I think I'll leave part of the interior (inner roof and dash) but the exterior has to get taken down. I guess I just rushed it too much and should have taken a little more time to check thoroughly.
Did a little more research and gonna give it another try painting it myself. this time I am gonna block the bajebers out of it!

[chevy88]

Congrats on getting married, beautiful wife. I'm doing research also for primer and paint as i'm still trying to get my panel dents perfect with bondo. If your panels are wavy using a padded in line air sander is usually because you need to pull sander on 45 degrees across the area then go back the opposite way 45 degrees, instead of just moving straight across the area, I'm no expert but that sands it perfectly flat with no waves. Also good luck tackling all the jobs yourself, I'm doing the same on my truck can be trying at times.
Posted via Mobile Device

[smoknbarrels]

Originally Posted by chevy88

Congrats on getting married, beautiful wife. I'm doing research also for primer and paint as i'm still trying to get my panel dents perfect with bondo. If your panels are wavy using a padded in line air sander is usually because you need to pull sander on 45 degrees across the area then go back the opposite way 45 degrees, instead of just moving straight across the area, I'm no expert but that sands it perfectly flat with no waves. Also good luck tackling all the jobs yourself, I'm doing the same on my truck can be trying at times.
Posted via Mobile Device

yea, I tried that, I think maybe i was using a bit too much pressure too, this also caused it to get down into the dips aswell, I'm learning as I go

[smoknbarrels]

well I spent another week, sanding the thing down again partially is some places and fully on the back of the cab, but I think I am going to give up on painting. I just can't get it right, this time I did the bodywork and priming perfect, sanded the primer down oh so smooth. but the colour is just so hard to work with, I ended up getting an "overspray" texture on half of my project (plus all the dust bits from doing it in my shop where I sanded it)



I am trying to find a way to fix this paint, but the only thing I am finding is to sand again and respray the colour again for the third time... not sure I wanna try that again, I might just take it in to get the base and clear done for me..
I can't simply just colour sand it and then clear it, as it has tons of pearls in it, so it would look botched I think?

[tk-mpl]

Just went through your build. Nice job. I didn't do any of the body work on my truck. Now I feel like I missed out.
Keep up the good work.
Posted via Mobile Device

[502ms]

congrats on the nuptials. truck is coming along great!

[smoknbarrels]

Originally Posted by tk-mpl

Just went through your build. Nice job. I didn't do any of the body work on my truck. Now I feel like I missed out.
Keep up the good work.

Thanks, looks like you have a pretty nice ride in that avatar photo, do you have anywhere i can see some photos of that '68? Nice colour choice by the way!

Originally Posted by 502ms

congrats on the nuptials. truck is coming along great!

thanks, it is trying sometimes though, definitely learning a lot as I go!
Posted via Mobile Device

[tk-mpl]

Thanks!! Never took the time to do a build thread. Most of the time it was hard to find the time to work on it let alone doing a build thread. It is close to being done. Still alot of little stuff to finish, but it is driveable.. If you would like anything specific let me know..
Trevor.

[PHAT TONY]

Where are you at? I'd offer some help if I could....

[smoknbarrels]

Originally Posted by PHAT TONY

Where are you at? I'd offer some help if I could....

Thanks, i will keep that in mind, and I don't mind paying for good help either! I am just east of edmonton.
But I did manage to ask for some advice on the paint and body work section, got some good responses.. Also did a bit more reading about paint.
I tell ya, I can sure respect a good paint job when I see one now!

Actually I made some good progress today, I wet sanded my cab interior with 800, then final wiped/tack clothed and added 2 coats of base and cleared with 2 coats, dont have any photos yet as it just finished flashing! Haha, but it turned out pretty good! I did unfortunately get quite a few dust nibs, but i expected that for my interior as all those little nooks and crannies hide stuff.
I decided to do my interior and exterior of cab seperately and am finding it is much easier to control the flashing of my base... I am using medium reducer and i am not kidding it flashes in 3.5mins! So when i was doing the whole cab at once, i was getting overspray effect by the time i got to a different side.
Now I'll mask off the interior and do the outside of the cab.
But now i have another problem... I used up all my paint for most of the project on my cab mistakes (turned it into expensive dust on the floor!) and my supplier of ALSA paint is out of stock! Anyone know of a dealer in alberta that sells this stuff, other then AMP in edmonton? I really dont want to wait three weeks.
Also, do you think it would be safe to hit the clear with a light 2000 wetsand, eventhough i only have 2 coats, not the 3 needed normally. I just wanna get out a few of the dust nibs if possible. I plan on 3 coats and wetsand for the exterior.
Posted via Mobile Device

[67cheby]

Keep it up, you will figure it out but if you dont there is nothing wrong with handing it over to the professionals either !

[smoknbarrels]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

Keep it up, you will figure it out but if you dont there is nothing wrong with handing it over to the professionals either !

Here is a preview of my paint, this time things worked out by not trying to paint so much at once, just did the interior and so far and I like it! Absolutely pops when it hits the sunlight.

[smoknbarrels]

Well I got a lot done today, which is nice. I reinforced my C-notch as I didn't really trust it, since I plan to pull a small trailer or a boat with this truck, so I boxed in that small area of the frame on the inside. Also I welded in some studs to the trailing arms so I could mount the shocks in the one and only place I had room for them, just between the tire and the frame rail where it narrows in the rear.

My high tech template


found a nice piece of scrap plate that was just the right thickness as the frame and enough material to make two notches


welded it in, had to do a little fill job on the bottom as the C-notch had a gap there.


this is my shock mock up, I still need to make a bracket to weld to the frame, I am going to use 1 3/4" channel, its a tight fit between the tire, but will work awesome in this location, way better then stock even. You can also see I had to cut the bolt in c-notch as the bolt heads and plate were too thick and would have too little of clearance for these wide tires, so I cut it back and welded it to the frame, so now I have a partially welded and partially bolted notch! haven't decided if thats a good or bad thing yet! haha!