Bringing the '65 back to life

[pmkrew]

Congrats on the engagement and the progress on your truck...

[65 wonton]

Could you post a link to Top Banana? I get everything but repop panels when I try to google it.

Good work and great transition in lineage.

Dave.

[racecougar]

Thanks guys!

Dave, the link is www.topbananaparts.com.

[65 wonton]

Thanks.


Dave.

[racecougar]

I didn't get as much done as I would have liked this weekend, but I did spend some time on it today.

The kickpanel is welded in and the floor is welded back down to the long cab support rail.



Then it was time to install the rocker panel. I fit the rocker panel while the door was in place, and held it in place with clamps, screws, and a few tacks before pulling the door off to fully weld it. The rocker panel fit quite well. It only required a little finessing to get the corners nice and tight to the door pillars. On the underside, I punched a line of holes in the floor pan to plug weld it to the rocker panel.







Next up will be the cab corner. Even with all the work that had to be done to the rear cab support to match the original, and all the little tweaking here and there, I'm still very happy with the patch panels overall. Honestly, the most difficult part of this project is finding time to work on it.

[Bomp]

Looks good. Always feels good when things come together.
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[racecougar]

Thanks! And it certainly does.

[racecougar]

I swung by the shop for a few hours yesterday to get a little work done. I made a few little patch panels, took care of a couple odds and ends that needed finishing, then cut out the old passenger side cab corner. The new one is fit and ready to weld in, which is what I had planned to do today, until I looked outside this morning (freak spring snowstorm).

The gray in the pictures is zinc (weld-through) primer.

[racecougar]

I only had a couple hours to work on the truck today, but I managed to get the passenger side cab corner welded in.


Dad's been smoothing things out.


And I'm finally done welding up the passenger side of the cab. Time to move to the driver side and start all over.

[McMurphy]

Many of us have been there!!
Hang in there, you will be glad you did it.... when it is done,

[da_bears_da1]

Nice build, subscribed.

[62 Barnfind]

Looking good!

[Jmorales3181]

Thank god I don't have to go through all of that. Nice job u are doing!
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[racecougar]

Thanks guys! Dad worked on smoothing down the welds a bit more today, and we stuck the passenger side door back on. It fits/opens/closes sooo much better than it used to.


Then it was on to the driverside. I took some measurements and started getting things out of the way (dimmer switch, dome light wiring, door, etc.).


The difficult part on this side will be locating everything correctly, as there isn't much left to reference off of. The upper floorpan/lower firewall is going to be a little complex to make, too.



We've got a swap meet to hit up next weekend, but hopefully I'll find some time to work on the truck as well. As always, I'll update this thread as we make progress.

[racecougar]

Dad brought home a truckload of parts earlier this week from a guy we found through Craigslist, and we picked up a couple parts at the swap meet today.

I started cutting out the rusty driverside floorpan, while Dad worked on one of the bedsides. I also just ordered a few more parts from Top Banana. Progress continues...

[66-PMD-GMC]

Nice work so far... glad I live in Arizona.... rust repair is a bummer.. you are making it look easy

[racecougar]

Update:

Welded up the front framerails where they were hacked up years ago in a failed oversized radiator install attempt.


Installed the new front door pillar:


Fitting the front floor pan:


I think swiss cheese has more structural integrity than the rear corner of the cab. Time to start cutting.



Old rear door pillar out:


New rear door pillar in:


Front floor pan is zip screwed and bolted in place for now. I'll start mating up the new rear floor pan next. Once they're both fit correctly, I can fit the new cab supports, then weld it all up. Then it's on to the kickpanel, rocker panel, cab support rail, lower firewall, and cab corner. No big deal. Haha.

[da_bears_da1]

Making good progress! Your after market panels look like they are fitting much better than mine did. Are they Top Banana parts?
Posted via Mobile Device

[racecougar]

Yep, all the patch panels have come from Top Banana, and I believe they have all been Tri-Plus stampings. Everything has required tweaking, some parts more than others, but that is to be expected.

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by racecougar

Yep, all the patch panels have come from Top Banana, and I believe they have all been Tri-Plus stampings. Everything has required tweaking, some parts more than others, but that is to be expected.

Thanks for the response. I got my first set of patch panels from Classic Parts of America and they we very bad. I realize tweaking is required but I had to cut, twist, bend reform and even had to add another panel on the inner rocker because the one I got was an inch shorter in front than back. Will be going with Top Banana in the future.

[Bomp]

Your doing a great job on getting all the patch panels massaged into place.
Really like all the pics

[racecougar]

Originally Posted by da_bears_da1

Thanks for the response. I got my first set of patch panels from Classic Parts of America and they we very bad. I realize tweaking is required but I had to cut, twist, bend reform and even had to add another panel on the inner rocker because the one I got was an inch shorter in front than back. Will be going with Top Banana in the future.

No problem. The biggest rework I've had to do on a patch panel thus far was narrowing/re-shaping the passenger side rear cab support. Other than that, it's just been minor re-shaping, pie-cuts, trimming, relocating holes, and the like. I'm happy with the panels, but I just want to be sure not to give anyone the impression that you can just drop them in place and start welding. From what I've read/seen, there are two or three companies that actually produce the panels (Tri-Plus being one of them), which the retailers (LMC, Top Banana, etc.) sell to the public.

Originally Posted by Bomp

Your doing a great job on getting all the patch panels massaged into place.
Really like all the pics

Thanks, Bomp! I'm still reading through your build thread. I really dig the stretched cab.

[racecougar]

I put some hours in on the truck this weekend. First up was to get the rear floor pan cut out.



Dad took a turn throwing sparks.



Once it was punched, flanged, and screwed in place, I cut out the kickpanel.


It's easy to access the kickpanel with the floorpan out of the way.


Getting there. Kickpanel and floorpans trimmed, flanged, and screwed in place. I still need to fit all of the bracing under the floor, check the door gaps and rocker panel fitment, and tweak/trim a few pieces, then it's time to weld it all up. That will probably have to wait a couple of weeks, as I'm booked pretty solid next weekend.

[da_bears_da1]

Good progress! Having been through this I appreciate the time and effort to get it all lined up and then welded.
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[racecougar]

Thanks! Yep, there's a bit of time involved. Heck, there's probably a few hours just cleaning/weld-prepping metal.