Trying to make Junky perhaps just a little bit Funky...

[DD1]

Originally Posted by msgross

I did this floor as well. Make sure that you take a lot of reference pics with measurements in them (hold up a tape measure).

I focused the bracing on the door frames since the middle will follow that area. cross brace in all three axis then lay cab on it's back to install the new floor. I drilled out the spot welds in the front and back and reused those holes for the new floor.

My 68 had extra braces under the gas tank that I don't see on yours, they also helped for allignment. i also used a lot of sheet metal screws to initial fitting

Good luck.

Thanks!

I will take the pics you suggest with the tape measure. Unfortunately the side I already cut up may already be out of alignment, but it does seem to measure up pretty similar to the other side.

I have a stupid question: If the best way to install the floor is to lay it on it's back, and I totally get why that makes sense, how do you weld the back of the cab after the floor is in place? Do you clamp it up tightly, then flip it right side up to do the welding?

Unfortunately, I have to wait a few weeks to order the floor plan until my credit card recycles. My daily car broke down on Thursday on the highway and cost $650 to fix. My cat also got sick over the weekend, and we had to take him to the hospital ($279), and I am taking him to the local vet again today. So the July budget for the floor pan is all used up.

Here is a recent pic of Alec on one of his better days.

[DD1]

I have made a little more progress in removing the old floor pan. I drilled out all of the spot welds in the back of the cab, and removed the rocker panel from the drivers side of the cab. I suppose it's a good thing whoever installed the rocker panel did a crappy job; it made it a bit easier to get it off. I left a small piece on at the front of the cab as I was afraid of cutting possible good metal below it. Turns out I did not have much to worry about. Now I need to decide whether to repair the inner cowl and the pillar before or after I replace the floor board. Seems to me like it might make more sense to try and do it afterwards.

[DD1]

I am trying to figure out what to do about the door pillar on the left side. It looks like the metal in front of the cage thing that holds the nuts for the door hinge screws is rusted and actually pushing out. I was hoping to not have to mess with this as I know it's a pain to fix. You can see that crack in the right side of the pillar.

Can I maybe grind it down and weld the crack a bit? You can feel that it is raised when you touch it.

The door pillar replacement part is not high enough to cover everything. I am thinking about taking a piece of metal and extending it a little. Any thoughts on what I should or should not do?

The black line in the pic is where I think the part stops. Ignore the yellow lines; they are just some reference points for me.

[litew8]

Originally Posted by DD1

Looking forward to actually being able to use my air tools now!

Nothing compares. Saves tons of time.

[Hardesty454]

It looks too rusted to save. I'd cut it out... It's a pain but you don't want to have to come back to it later do you?

[DD1]

Originally Posted by Hardesty454

It looks too rusted to save. I'd cut it out... It's a pain but you don't want to have to come back to it later do you?

Pretty much what I was thinking. What do you think about my adding a piece of metal to the part? Pretty much where the red square is in the photo?

Thanks!

[DD1]

Today was an interesting day. My goal was to remove and hopefully replace the door pillar and the inner cowl panel. I did not get to finish it, but I did make progress.

I decided I wanted to use my Dremel to make the cuts, since I needed to have precision cuts in the right place and my grinder is too large for that. Last night I went to Lowe's and picked up the Dremel EZ-Lock kit with Metal Cutting Wheels. It worked really well, until...

...the carbon brushes on my Dremel started to fail! Of course this happens to me when things are actually going well for once.

Anyway, I managed to get it to work long enough to get enough cuts to use an electric saw to finish removing the door pillar. After lining it up carefully and checking some measurements from Dan's (67c10rustbuket) build thread (Thanks, Dan! ), I am pretty happy with the cut I made. I need to grind it down a bit, but I want to use the Dremel for that as well, so I need to wait until the replacement brushes get here on Tuesday.

I think I damaged the end of the screw cage thing a little, but I guess I can just add some metal to it or get it to weld in place. Not sure exactly how I am going to get it done, but I'll worry about it when I get there.

Next step is to carefully cut out the inner panel. I want to use the entire replacement piece rather than cut it. I figure I would rather have new metal than old metal. I measured from the base of the flat metal to the top and got 7 inches. Measured the same on the cab, so hopefully I have the right spot to start cutting.

It seems that the spot weld on the cage thing is on good metal, right above the bad part, so I plan to carefully cut that out and replace it with a piece of new metal. I have to ask Dan how he welded it without damaging the screw thing; he said he put aluminum behind it, but I am not sure how he got it in and out of the door pillar.

So on Tuesday evening, I will be very carefully trying to remove the inner panel without damaging it. I want to keep the shape to match it up to the new part.

[67c10rustbuket]

Darien, you are pretty close. From where you are now I and removed the nut part just leaving the "cage" hanging there. Then I removed the kick panel so I could access it from the back side (removed the same size as the new patch). now once you have measured a thousand times and drilled the holes in the new pillar and removed paint and prepped both surfaces to weld, You also need to remove paint where the cage nut will be welded to the new A pillar.
Then I put a couple tack welds to hold the pillar on but not on the front surface where the hinge nut is, put the welds on the outside edges away from the hinge nut area. Then This is where I used a piece of aluminum stock cut to fit inside the pillar but you could use a copper welding spoon or any other weld backing tool that will fit, clamped in place. The purpose of this is so the weld does not protrude through the inside of the pillar leaving an irregular surface for you to grind. Having your weld come through may interfere with the hinge nut being able to move around for adjustment/alignment of the door. That my theory anyway.
Next I would weld the pillar fully from the outside, remove the weld backing tool, grind and sand out the weld. now put the nut in the cage and put a bolt in one of the holes so you don't drop it. clamp the cage against the A pillar (gently its fragile!) and weld the bottom tab of the cage (where you drilled out the spot weld) to the pillar.
You may now proceed to fit (fight) and install the kick panel.







PS- Cats are evil

[DD1]

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

Darien, you are pretty close. From where you are now I and removed the nut part just leaving the "cage" hanging there. Then I removed the kick panel so I could access it from the back side (removed the same size as the new patch). now once you have measured a thousand times and drilled the holes in the new pillar and removed paint and prepped both surfaces to weld, You also need to remove paint where the cage nut will be welded to the new A pillar.
Then I put a couple tack welds to hold the pillar on but not on the front surface where the hinge nut is, put the welds on the outside edges away from the hinge nut area. Then This is where I used a piece of aluminum stock cut to fit inside the pillar but you could use a copper welding spoon or any other weld backing tool that will fit, clamped in place. The purpose of this is so the weld does not protrude through the inside of the pillar leaving an irregular surface for you to grind. Having your weld come through may interfere with the hinge nut being able to move around for adjustment/alignment of the door. That my theory anyway.
Next I would weld the pillar fully from the outside, remove the weld backing tool, grind and sand out the weld. now put the nut in the cage and put a bolt in one of the holes so you don't drop it. clamp the cage against the A pillar (gently its fragile!) and weld the bottom tab of the cage (where you drilled out the spot weld) to the pillar.
You may now proceed to fit (fight) and install the kick panel.


PS- Cats are evil

Thanks for the step-by-step instructions. I think you removing the nuts is the part I missed. Not sure how you got them out, but I'll mess with it later today and see how easy it is.

I agree with you that the weld might get in the way of the hinge nut. I'll have to be really careful about it. I feel good about the process so far, although that could change quickly!

And my cat is not evil, although my friend John used to watch him when we were away and called him "El Diablo." Of course, he was stupid enough to visit him wearing shorts. Alec likes to gently swat you when he wants your attention; especially if he has not seen anyone in a while (he thought Alec was attacking him). He does not know the strength of his nails, so wearing shorts was like asking to be scratched.

[DD1]

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

way.
Next I would weld the pillar fully from the outside, remove the weld backing tool, grind and sand out the weld. now put the nut in the cage and put a bolt in one of the holes so you don't drop it. clamp the cage against the A pillar (gently its fragile!) and weld the bottom tab of the cage (where you drilled out the spot weld) to the pillar.
You may now proceed to fit (fight) and install the kick panel.

Okay, Dan. I took a look at the pillar and it's really easy to remove the nut assembly from the cage. I can't imagine how you had enough room to get it back in the cage, much less put a piece of aluminum as a backer, but I will give it a shot!

Thanks for the help! I'll let you know how it goes.

[DD1]

Okay, so today I spent a little bit of time working on the door pillar. I got my brushes for the Dremel, so it's working again more or less. And I also picked up the Flex Shaft for the Dremel, which does make it a bit easier to use in tight spots.

My first attempt was to repair the small rusted piece of metal just under the top spot weld for the nut cage. Now keep in mind, this might seem like a minor job for most of you, but for me having this work without any major complications, is a big deal.

In the pics:

1. Shows the area in need of repair.
2. Removed the nuts from the nut cage.
3. Cut out the bad part. If you look closely, you can see I cut a bit too much to the right of the nut cage. I am hoping that when I weld the piece of metal in, it will fill that spot in.
4. Fit / clamp the replacement piece of metal. I learned the hard way that it's a pain to weld a tiny piece of metal. So I used a large piece and cut it after I tack welded it. (I used another word instead of "pain;" just learned that the board censures "bad" language with asterisks.)
5. Piece is tack welded. I realize it's not the best weld job, but for me it's not bad. I would not mind hearing any comments or suggestions for improving the welds. I remembered to turn on the gas this time, which for me is a great start.
6. Lined up the old piece against the new metal, made the marks and cut it out. Made sure the nuts will still fit inside the cage.

I will finish welding the piece in before I attach the door pillar.

[DD1]

Next, I test fitted the door pillar and attempted to remove the lower cowl panel at the same measurements as the new piece, while taking it out in one piece.

1. Door pillar seems to fit pretty nice. It's still 7-1/2" from the top nut to the hole in the pillar.
2. There is a nice gap at the top of the pillar.
3. Seems like I should be able to bend it in place when I am ready to install it.
4. Managed to get the lower cowl out in one piece.
5/6. Seems like it lines up pretty well.

Overall I am pretty happy with the way it turned out so far. Will probably try and finish up the door pillar and lower cowl on Saturday.

[67c10rustbuket]

Nice progress, I like it

Originally Posted by DD1

Okay, Dan. I took a look at the pillar and it's really easy to remove the nut assembly from the cage. I can't imagine how you had enough room to get it back in the cage, much less put a piece of aluminum as a backer, but I will give it a shot!

Thanks for the help! I'll let you know how it goes.

Hey D if you look at this post http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...4&postcount=24 You should see

1. I bent the cage up out of the way and removed the nut plate
2. Clamped the outer edges of the pillar and put a weld backer behind the cut seam where the nut plate goes.(aluminum plate because thats what I had that fit).
3. Weld seam, remove weld backer.
4. install hinge nut plate into cage, put a bolt in the nut plate, push cage down flush against new lower pillar and weld the bottom tab back to the pillar.


Now the captured nut plate should move around freely within the cage and not fall to the bottom of the pillar. Once you are convinced everything is secure go ahead with the new kick panel.

[Xeen]

Man that is some complicated surgery going on there.
After you get done with this section there shouldn't be anything you can't handle when it comes to repairing rust.

[DD1]

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

Nice progress, I like it

1. I bent the cage up out of the way and removed the nut plate

You... bent the cage... up out of the way... Now why didn't I think of that? Duh! I wonder how much time I would have spent trying to get something between the cage and the pillar if you had not said that.

Originally Posted by Xeen

Man that is some complicated surgery going on there.
After you get done with this section there shouldn't be anything you can't handle when it comes to repairing rust.

Hopefully. It's coming along nicely I'd like to think.

[DD1]

Dan, I wish I had taken the time to read the post in the link you included in your last post before I started doing work today. Then I would have read the line that says " I welded across the front only where the hinge attaches so it would have just enough flex to cram the kick panel in behind it. then i welded the bottom of the cage nut thing to the "A" pillar."

The Good, The Bad, and The Oh Man, Are Those Welds Ugly!

That would have been smart for me to do as well. I tried to see how the panel would fit in there and I cannot find any reasonable way to get it in. I wish it was possible for me to have installed it first, but that was not an option. Following your advice would have been smart. Oh well, since I plan to drop the floor pan, it should not be a big deal. I can tack weld it in place before I install the floor pan.

So I actually installed the left side door pillar. I have a couple of small things left to do, but this is major progress for me. I actually almost finished something I started with this truck, instead of getting stuck, frustrated, and walking away.

The holes I cut for the nuts are kind of big and ugly, but they will get hidden by the door. My welds on the front were ugly, but I managed to grind it nicely. I heard someone say that you don't need to know how to weld well, as long as you can grind well. Of course, I can't do either well.

The welds on the left side of the pillar are ugly as ever. The weld on the right side came out better. I suck with the grinder. I think I grinded too much on the left corner - you can see how messed up it is in the photo. But the metal still seems in decent shape. I also welded, grinded, and re-welded the left side. I was not happy with the amount that it went through (or didn't go through I should say) to the inside.

I forgot to take a pic of the right side of the pillar after I grinded it. Now I have to reattach the nut cage, and finish up the outer edges of pillar. My almost full can of Copperweld is shot because I left it in the garage in the winter. Unfortunately, I can't find anyplace to buy it locally.

I am having trouble grinding the welds as the get smaller. I end up taking off too much of the good metal. Any suggestions?

Any feedback / thoughts / criticisms of this job?

Thanks!

[Xeen]

I am not a welder myself however I have picked up a lot from the board watching other peoples work so I have a few tips you can try that should help you improve your technique and give you better results.

Instead of running a bead just do dots, @-@-@-@ and alternate spots so that you don't heat up the metal too much in one area, once you have it dotted all the way around go back and put more dots in between the other dots so that it looks like @@@@@@.
Once you have the weld filled in completely then grind it down using a side angle grinder with a "Flap disk", it is important that you only apply as much pressure as is needed to take off the weld and when you get it close to the sheet metal start easing off on the pressure and pay special attention to the angle of the disk so that you don't gouge the metal and you get a nice smooth surface.

Using the dot method the welding process will take longer but to speed it up you can cool it down with compressed air so you can work faster.

Also there are a few tools that will help you.

Flap disk, there are many grits available.
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-60...isc-69628.html

butt welding clamps
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-piece...mps-60545.html

magnet holders, there are many different sizes available from tiny to large.
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-3-4-q...lder-1938.html

[DD1]

Originally Posted by Xeen

I am not a welder myself however I have picked up a lot from the board watching other peoples work so I have a few tips you can try that should help you improve your technique and give you better results.

Instead of running a bead just do dots, @-@-@-@ and alternate spots so that you don't heat up the metal too much in one area, once you have it dotted all the way around go back and put more dots in between the other dots so that it looks like @@@@@@.
Once you have the weld filled in completely then grind it down using a side angle grinder with a "Flap disk", it is important that you only apply as much pressure as is needed to take off the weld and when you get it close to the metal start easing off on the pressure and pay special attention to the angle of the disk so that you don't gouge the metal and you get a nice smooth surface.

Using the dot method the welding process will take longer but to speed it up you can cool it down with compressed air so you can work faster.

Also there are a few tools that will help you.

Flap disk, there are many grits available.
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-60...isc-69628.html

butt welding clamps
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-piece...mps-60545.html

magnet holders, there are many different sizes available from tiny to large.
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-3-4-q...lder-1938.html

Hey Brian,

Thanks for the tips. I am using a flap disk; I like it so much better than a grinding wheel. I also have the butt-clamps and the magnets. They did not work well on this piece since the little rod in the clamp would have been vertical, and it was hard to get it to stay in place. I also need to get bigger magnets. The small ones don't hold anything together.

I will try your advice about managing the amount of pressure I use. I am pretty sure I have some old pieces of metal I practiced welding on that I can use to practice grinding. I will also try using the "dot" method of welding.

Overall I am pretty happy with the way it turned out; trust me it could have been SOOO Much Worse!

Darien

[Xeen]

One thing I forgot when you are repairing metal in an area pay attention to whats behind it because once you close it up the opportunity to remove surface rust is gone, so take the time to remove any surface rust that might be a problem.
There is an excellent disk to use on your side angle grinder to quickly remove rust, paint or debris from metal and it is non destructive so it won't remove any material from the sheet metal.
Polycarbide disk
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-h...eel-94017.html

[DD1]

Originally Posted by Xeen

One thing I forgot when you are repairing metal in an area pay attention to whats behind it because once you close it up the opportunity to remove surface rust is gone, so take the time to remove any surface rust that might be a problem.
There is an excellent disk to use on your side angle grinder to quickly remove rust, paint or debris from metal and it is non destructive so it won't remove any material from the sheet metal.
Polycarbide disk
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-h...eel-94017.html

I have used those before; they work great for stripping paint and stuff. My only complaint about them is they wear out fast. At $5-6 each it can get expensive quick!

I am going to shoot some protective paint up the inside of the door pillar. Eastwood sells a paint for that purpose with an adapter hose you stick up there. Or I can do what Dan did, and use a paint brush on a paint stick and paint some POR-15 or Rust Encapsulator up there. It would be very difficult to actually remove surface rust from inside the pillar area. Maybe I can try using a wire brush to get some of it off.

[DD1]

Mostly did a bunch of garage cleaning today. In the evening, like around 8:30pm, decided to try cutting the A-Pillar for the other side of the cab. This was a bit more tricky as I already cut out the pillar a few months ago, and I removed the right side of the floor board.

I suppose in retrospect, I could have simply placed the floor end part I was going to use in the cab for reference purposes, but that would make it too easy!

Anyway, once again thanks to Dan's measurements of 7-1/2" from the middle of the top screws to the big hole in the pillar, I was able to work out some measurements. I measured a lot, I swear, but of course something had to go wrong. But I suppose it could have been worse.

The middle part, which I guess is the most important part is cut nicely. I need to do some minor touch up work to make it a perfect fit, but it's not bad.

I cut the sides a bit too low. I do have a nice strip of filler metal, so it should work out okay. I briefly considered getting a new part, until I checked the price at Tabco, and this is already the 2nd pillar I ordered, because I screwed up the first one.

I must say I do like the Tabco part. It might be my imagination, but the metal seems stronger, and it seems like the metal is designed to fit the shape of the cab better than the other side, which I believe is a Tri-plus part. Tabco does add a bit too much metal to the edges in some places, but at least I won't have to force the piece to match up with the cab.

I plan to tack weld the middle first, then worry about the sides afterwards.

The first pic shows the part with the scrap metal I can use to fill it in.

The 2nd pic shows how I cut around the nut cage. The right side is lower than the left, which probably helped to throw me off.

The 3rd pic shows it lined up. You can see the gap on the left. It's bigger than it looks in the pic because of the angle of the camera. The black mark on the left side is where it had to be lined up to make the 7-1/2" measurement.

In picture 4, the gap looks larger than it is, again because of the angle of the camera. (My wife took the pics.)

Picture 5 gives a better representation of the left side gap.

[DD1]

I have not had a chance to continue work on the door pillar as yet, and I need to order a bunch of patch panels to finish up the rest of the cab, including cab corners, rear door pillar, and maybe another lower cowl panel for the p/s since I screwed up the first one.

My friend Peter was in town from Houston this weekend, and I had a pretty busy day planned, but we managed to find time to mount the engine on the frame. It took longer than expected, because I did not have all the bolts for the transmission bellhousing, and we had to visit a couple of different stores to finally find the right ones. I have to say that Lowe's is surprisingly good to shop at for unique hardware, especially grade 8 bolts and nuts.

I am not sure when I will be able to order the floor. The cards should be paid off soon, but my wife found out on Thursday that the place she works for is closing down in two weeks, and her job will be over at the end of September. Not sure how this is going to affect the truck budget. Also, can you believe that they have known about this since March and waited this long to tell them? Most of the staff was told they will have no job in two weeks. The handled it extremely poorly.

Anyway, so we got the engine mounted, although it took us a long time to be able to screw in the motor mounts to the frame bracket. It was tricky lining them up.

The goal and purpose of this was to free up space in my garage, and to be able to fire up the engine and make sure it runs properly as it has not been fired up since it was rebuilt. In between working on the body, while waiting for parts, perhaps, I will mount the battery, radiator support and radiator, wire up the engine and get it operational.

Attached is a pic of the engine mounted on the frame. I have a question I would like some thoughts on. The last couple of pics is a transmission cross-member that was fabricated by the PO. It sits on the bottom part of the frame and is bolted in (not bolted in the pic). Is this sufficient to adequately support the transmission?

[Xeen]

I can't tell if there is a rubber transmission mount on there, if not it is going to transfer vibration.
I would probably rework it so that it is more like a aftermarket trans crossmember.
Or just fabricate a new tubular one.

Notice how it is flanged where it connects to the frame and where the transmission mount goes.

[DD1]

Originally Posted by Xeen

I can't tell if there is a rubber transmission mount on there, if not it is going to transfer vibration.
I would probably rework it so that it is more like a aftermarket trans crossmember.
Or just fabricate a new tubular one.

Notice how it is flanged where it connects to the frame and where the transmission mount goes.

Thanks. There is a rubber mount under the transmission; it was mounted to the transmission. I think I might just get an aftermarket one. I don't have time or the experience to make my own, and it seem like it is not too expensive. Not sure if I trust this one that some kids made up.

[Xeen]

I purchased that transmission crossmember from CPP.
Here is a link to it on their Ebay store.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/63-72-Chevy-...item417f7d9607