Avoid the Concrete

[C-DUB_07]

Originally Posted by ltrrtl

C-DUB_07,
You may want to check out the latest release of the mag "classic trucks". They have a pretty detailed article on removing the drip rails.

I'll check it out, I read an article in "Street Trucks" on shaving C10 drip rails but they welded in a 5/16" rod and left half of it exposed leaving a lip, I just like this look with them completely smoothed a lot better!

[Low68]

Thank you guys. I don't have much to update on. I had my daily driver torn down for about a month while I was getting some much needed repairs done on it. I have that put back together now and am going to try to get back to making progress on the truck.

C-Dub, I thought about doing it that way. There were two reasons why I ended up doing it the way I did. The metal is relatively thick there and it seemed to me that it would be hard to bend the metal without distorting the windshield opening. I wanted to make sure that the weatherstripping flange remained as straight as possible to avoid any issues with sealing or pushing the window out. The other reason is I think if you just twist the pillar back, it reduces the door gap.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by Low68

Thank you guys. I don't have much to update on. I had my daily driver torn down for about a month while I was getting some much needed repairs done on it. I have that put back together now and am going to try to get back to making progress on the truck.

C-Dub, I thought about doing it that way. There were two reasons why I ended up doing it the way I did. The metal is relatively thick there and it seemed to me that it would be hard to bend the metal without distorting the windshield opening. I wanted to make sure that the weatherstripping flange remained as straight as possible to avoid any issues with sealing or pushing the window out. The other reason is I think if you just twist the pillar back, it reduces the door gap.

Nice build man.
Can I ask a favor? My front fenders and grill are doing exactly what yours are doing. I would love to see how you remedy it. I'm sure if we just bought factory used fenders it would work but I would like to fix what I have.

[Low68]

I will be sure to document what I do. I have the idea in the back of my head of making the grill and fenders one piece, but not sure if I am actually going to do that or not. I will be sure to show whatever I decide to do.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by Low68

I will be sure to document what I do. I have the idea in the back of my head of making the grill and fenders one piece, but not sure if I am actually going to do that or not. I will be sure to show whatever I decide to do.

I'm assuming those are aftermarket fenders right?

[Low68]

Correct, the fenders are aftermarket.

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by Low68

Correct, the fenders are aftermarket.

Well, I'm going to duplicate what you do so try not to kill me. Mines a 4wd blazer. Lol

[C-DUB_07]

Originally Posted by Low68

C-Dub, I thought about doing it that way. There were two reasons why I ended up doing it the way I did. The metal is relatively thick there and it seemed to me that it would be hard to bend the metal without distorting the windshield opening. I wanted to make sure that the weatherstripping flange remained as straight as possible to avoid any issues with sealing or pushing the window out. The other reason is I think if you just twist the pillar back, it reduces the door gap.

Makes sense, I also thought it may be too hard to do without making a mess bending stuff up. I may try it when I get to that point but we'll see how it works out haha.

[Low68]

I moved the truck back to the shop and finished up the window modification on the driver side. I finished making new mounts for the window channels and then stripped the doors down in preparation for sandblasting them. I also shaved the driver side lock knob hole and worked a little bit on removing a dent on the top edge of the door.









I am going to be trying to make some good progress on this, so hopefully the updates will be more frequent again.

[Low68]

My dad sandblasted the inside of the doors for me. When I was putting the driver's door back on, I noticed a crack on the driver side A pillar at the top hinge. I am not sure if this is from the accident or just from the stress from the hinge, but I welded it and smoothed it out.





I hung the doors and got the passenger side line up right where I had it before. The driver side isn't cooperating yet.






I am going to smooth out the window openings where the window slides in and out. It bends right where the vent window used to be. That was another thing that always bugged me about the one piece windows. I am thinking about also bracing the top edge of the door since the vent window added some strength to the doors and now you can squeeze the door shell and outer skin together pretty easily.

[Low68]

Did some more work on the truck today. I straightened the top edge of the door. It had a bow in it. I cut out the hole where the bolt for the vent window was.



I also cut out the indented section of the door. I cut a piece to fill it in and extend the flat section all the way to the front of the door. This will give the weatherstripping something to adhere to.






I bought some clips for the weatherstripping I bought. I still need to cut another hole in the piece I added for a clip in the front of the weatherstrip.

I also added a brace along the top of the door to add some support. It was kind of flimsy with the vent window support removed.

[mcbassin]

Very nice work on the door modifications. I'm looking forward to the finished product. This will be really cool.

[Low68]

I finished patching the driver door. I cut a filler piece and aligned it as I tacked it in. Started at the bottom and worked my way up.




Ground it smooth once I had it aligned and welded.




Then I cut a slot for the weatherstripping clip at the front to help secure the extra length of weatherstripping. I couldn't think of a better way to cut the hole, so I just used a drill bit to cut a bunch of holes and then used a cut off disc to grind down as best I could. Then I used some hand files to clean it up a bit






I started working on the other side. I got the front extension welded in and ground smooth.

[highanglehell]

Love the progress giving me lots of ideas for when I get around to talking mine apart keep the updates coming man

[Bomp]

Excellent metal fab.

[Low68]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

I did some more this past weekend. I welded on the passenger door brace. I also welded the speaker hole shut and a hole on the rear edge of the door. I also cut the slot for the weatherstrip clip.

[boostedc10]

Moving right along, nice work

[Low68]

Thanks Brandon. Your truck is looking great as well!

I have been trying to finish up all the welding I need to do on the doors so that I can spray primer and insulation on them and put the door skins back on. I patched the driver side speaker hole. I didn't get any photos of it, partially because I was annoyed with how it came out. It had a bit of a wave to it. I welded up the two upper vent window screw holes on the door also as I am not going to use those. Here's the driver side:






I also needed to patch the front corner of the passenger door as it had some rust holes in it. I cut it out and welded in a new piece. the door has some pretty good pitting in that area, but I don't feel like replacing all of it. With the primer and insulation sprayed on it, I think it will be fine.





I also worked on straightening the door skins. I was originally planning on replacing them, but don't really feel like spending the money on them. I figured I would try straightening them and if it was too much of a pain or became a disaster, I would just be out my time. They seam like they will straighten up pretty well from what I have done so far. The passenger door curved in at the front edge pretty bad. I wanted the doors to be nice and flat where they meet the front fenders and I didn't want a build up of body filler. The driver side is already pretty flat at the front, but back when I shaved the door handle, I welded too fast and warped the skin slightly. I didn't get any photos of the door skins.

[Low68]

Time for a long overdue update. I was having issues with the driver door not closing properly. It turned out that the rocker panel was hitting the bottom of the door. I cut the rocker off and bought a new one. I test fit it and it still hit. I couldn't move it down because it was hitting the inner rocker. I cut the inner rocker and moved it down to allow the rocker to be moved down. I tacked everything in place and put the door back on. Everything cleared and seemed to line up ok, so I tore it all apart again and welded everything up. I had to cut the ends and bend them slightly to get everything to line up. Once it was all done, I think it came out pretty good.

[gringoloco]

Some subtle tweaking from the wreck? I think every aftermarket rocker has to have that same pie cut up front...

[Low68]

Not sure if it was due to the accident. I think it was messed up before that as I had problems with the front of the door scraping the rocker.

[Low68]

I started working on mocking up the front sheetmetal. I decided the front should be on there so I can make sure the door lines up before I put the skins back on. I made a bracket that bolts in place of the grille that will allow me to adjust the fenders and hold them in place while I fab up the core support.





Once I got it adjusted, I tack welded it to the frame to hold it in place. I also cleaned up the edges of the core support mount brackets.






I put the hood on to get an idea of how it fits and am really not happy with the hood fitment. It is going to take quite a lot of modification to get that to fit right. Here are some random gap photos I took.









This last one makes it look like a truck again. We rolled it out of the shop to be able to get the laser level back far enough so we could line up the body lines.

[1slowM6]

What happened with this truck?

[StorminNorman]

Photobucket killed it.

[Low68]

Haven't touched it in a while. Promotion at work is taking all of my time lately and moving into my first house next week. Really hoping that having it at my own place will give me some more time and motivation to work on it more. I guess I will find out soon. Going to have to figure out photobucket. May just have to pay their hosting fees.