Ben Jammin's 1955 Chevy/GMC Project

[Kim57]

Looking good Ben. just keep at it and it will get done.
Kim

[GeorgeVale]

Looks good to me Ben. Woudn't worry about slow progress any progress is better than no progress at all.

[apache200]

Ben I have been reading through your thread, the truck is coming along great! I cant wait to start on my 55, I am trying to gather parts before I start the build. Keep up the great work!

[bensimmons_05]

Thanks for the comments, guys! I'm hoping to get back out in the shop very soon!

[1959 Apache 3600]

Yet another inspiring thead. Sure are doing a good job!

[bensimmons_05]

I have been welding all of the holes on the firewall, I want to maintain the factory look with all the holes smoothed over. One place was really bad so I cut it out and I am welding a piece fill it. I have some more pictures on my camera I'll post when I download them.





I got some floor pans from Santa Clause that will be going in after I finish up with the firewall!

[Kim57]

It takes time to get rid of all the holes but is worth it in the end.
Kim

[jimig1]

The firewall in these trucks look like they were shot with birdshot. It is pretty amazing how many hole there are.

[OrrieG]

There was almost 50 on mine from screw hole size to 1.5". Luckily when I did mine the wife was out of town for a week so I got to spend two 16 hour days, one welding, one grinding and smoothing, then about 3 hours per night over three evenings doing the final smoothing. Going to try and find a trip for her to take when I get to the final blocking!

[watahyahknow]

give her a spa week she be floating back after that

[bensimmons_05]

I'll tally the holes up when I work on it next. I had a friend that runs a CNC laser cut me out some plugs to go in the larger holes

[waybad]

[ChuckDriver]

Looking good!

[apache200]

Ben are you just welding the smaller holes with no backing on your firewall and using the plugs on the larger holes?

[GeorgeVale]

Looking good Ben . I did mine first week of January drove me nuts. The satisfaction is immense when you get finished.

[_Ogre]

just went thru your build, looks good.
i like the look of the stock firewall too.

when welding small holes in your firewall it helps to hold some copper or brass on the back side.
even a piece of 3/4 copper pipe flattened will help, weld won't stick to copper, it helps to keep the weld in the hole.
one guy on here found some tar paper nails with 1'' sq heads that worked well too.

i notice rust on the top of your cowl seam, this is caused by water and leaves getting into the cowl vent.
i tell any task force truck people- if you no other mod on your truck, shave your cowl vent.



this is the main cause of rust in our trucks. floors, hinge pockets, cowl and cab corners all rust out from junk in the cowl.
take your kick vents out and feel above the vent you will find all sorts of leaves and pine needles up there.



i also shaved the standing seam.

[OrrieG]

Ogre, some of us like fresh air! But you have to keep it clean. If you look closely on the bottom of the cowl on each side there is a piece of metal that is just screwed on. always wondered about that until I realized it is so you can open up that part and ream out all the stuff the accumulates from the vent. Also the reason the lower hinge pockets rust out and heaters quit working, leaves and crud fillup the bottom of the heater so air does not flow and the fan slows down.

[Red Foreman]

I have been putting it off but I need to start filling my firewall aswell while the cabs is still on the trolley, I think this will be a harder job than removing all the chassis rivets when I clipped it.

Does anyone know why GM punched unused holes all over the F/wall??

[watahyahknow]

they prolly had to make it one size fit all , the holes look about dollarsize , should safe you a lot of cutting and grinding if you use coins to fill the holes with
thai bath coins there worth allmost zero , using dollars should make the cab worth about 16 dollar more too and should make for some nice conversation for the next one restoring the cab

[OrrieG]

Someone asked before ... there are also lots of small holes for the trim pieces that hold the inside firewall insulation in place. Keep in mind the cab was used for big trucks too that have other dash hardware configurations. On the firewall and inner fender panels there are also dimples that are templates for drilling accessorie bracket holes. FAM shows lots of potential stuff that could be mounted on the firewall and inner fenders.

[bensimmons_05]

Apache, thanks for the kind words! The parts gathering stage always seems to drag out, but all of the sudden you will have enough parts to do what I call a mini-project haha.

Ogre, I really like the shaved cowl you did, but I think I am going back with the original on mine. There were one or two places of very small rust through on mine. I plan to fill them and coat the inside with POR 15. To do this I think I'm going to use a pre-valve sprayer among other things to get to all of the areas. I've been meaning to get ahold of some copper, too. Some others have made the suggestion, I need to get on board!

OrrieG, I like the diagram you provided. I figured it was a one size fits all, but it is neat to see what the holes are for.

Thanks everyone else for the kind words!

[bensimmons_05]

I'm starting to grind on the welds some and get it smooth. I ran out of welding wire and got some new. The new wire seems to be working much better!



These are some of the coins I had cut. They are 1" , 1.25", and 1.5" if I remember correctly.



For some of the smaller holes, I knocked the flux of and arc welding rod and held it in place as I filled the hole. It seemed to work pretty well, I just need my copper backing!



In action!

[bensimmons_05]

I also piddled a little bit with the guages. I am going to attempt to use the stock camaro gauges. I wised up and decided changing the dashes was not a good idea.

I'm thinking about something similar to this setup...

[renegade6]

A piece of copper pipe flattened out works well as a backer when filling holes.

[Rude Dude]

Great idea I was going to buy a flat spoon at the welding shop, Thanks. This is why I like this site great minds!

Originally Posted by renegade6

A piece of copper pipe flattened out works well as a backer when filling holes.