Rat repair.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by JayB331

Really nice work on the instrument cluster!

Thanks, its hard to get a good pic of it without reflection.

[swamp rat]

Well, story of my life, as soon as i'm ready to work on the truck the rain rolls ion in LOL!

Looks pretty ugly huh? I was able to suck in some of the high spots using the shrink tip on my stud welder, there is still a bit more to do.

I decided it was time to clean up the door surround and check out the conture, i massaged it a little and got it pretty close, didn't install the door into the surround yet but will do that before i weld it in.

This brings up a question..... I cant reach the back side of the opening with my bantam motor so whats the best way to clean and prep the back side before ya weld? I can take some Scotch brite or sand paper to it but think that may take a while. Same go's for wanting to cover the weld with seam sealer when I'm done. Ideas??

If anything good came from this its that i am now looking at the paint layers, my step dad paid my uncle to paint this truck When my uncle was out of work and needed money, its now evident that my uncle just scuffed the original paint then primed and repainted, I already know he just masked around the door handles, windows and trim lettering and the original paint was in great shape before it was painted, so I'm half tempted to grab my sander and try and sand the outer paint and primer off then get back to the original color, anybody think this is possible?? the exterior dark green is pretty shot.

[Dean'smeanmachine]

awsome work on everything, cluster looks sweet.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I was able to suck in some of the high spots using the shrink tip on my stud welder, there is still a bit more to do. I decided it was time to clean up the door surround and check out the conture, i massaged it a little and got it pretty close, didn't install the door into the surround yet but will do that before i weld it in.

This brings up a question..... I cant reach the back side of the opening with my bantam motor so whats the best way to clean and prep the back side before ya weld? I can take some Scotch brite or sand paper to it but think that may take a while. Same go's for wanting to cover the weld with seam sealer when I'm done. Ideas??

If anything good came from this its that i am now looking at the paint layers, my step dad paid my uncle to paint this truck When my uncle was out of work and needed money, its now evident that my uncle just scuffed the original paint then primed and repainted, I already know he just masked around the door handles, windows and trim lettering and the original paint was in great shape before it was painted, so I'm half tempted to grab my sander and try and sand the outer paint and primer off then get back to the original color, anybody think this is possible?? the exterior dark green is pretty shot.

Looking good on the panel straightening as well as the fuel filler door! You're going to have it where you want it in no time.

When I need to clean up the back of something that's borderline unreachable, I'll take a couple of sanding discs and put them back to back and install them on an air sander. Discs in attached photos may be too large for your application, but can be trimmed to the size needed. Put the discs thru the opening and use the sanding surface that's facing you. As for the seam sealer, I'd just use my fingers.

I doubt you'll have much luck sanding down just the repaint layer. But if you plan a repaint, it needs to come off anyway. No use wasting expensive materials on a quickie prep.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Looking good on the panel straightening as well as the fuel filler door! You're going to have it where you want it in no time.

When I need to clean up the back of something that's borderline unreachable, I'll take a couple of sanding discs and put them back to back and install them on an air sander. Discs in attached photos may be too large for your application, but can be trimmed to the size needed. Put the discs thru the opening and use the sanding surface that's facing you. As for the seam sealer, I'd just use my fingers.

I doubt you'll have much luck sanding down just the repaint layer. But if you plan a repaint, it needs to come off anyway. No use wasting expensive materials on a quickie prep.

Vic i cant say thanks enough for the sander tip, i do have a sander similar to that, not that my air compressor will keep up with it LOL! But i'll give it a try.

I did find that it was hard to control the shrink, I'd put the tip where i wanted to shrink but a number of times the hot spot was actually at the outer ring electrode, not sure why if both Ring and Tip were touching. But at least i made some headway, far from perfect.

Oh, I do have the 2" filler neck.

EDIT: Vic whats a good gap to maintain before tack welding? 1/16"?? or less? I have the Harbor freight version of the butt weld clamps but thought maybe the gap required by them may be a little too wide?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

whats a good gap to maintain before tack welding? 1/16"?? or less? I have the Harbor freight version of the butt weld clamps but thought maybe the gap required by them may be a little too wide?

I've got a few that are HF vintage also. Regardless, all my blades are .040", but your gap should be a bit wider or it makes it tough to get the blade out after the weld shrinks. I prefer gaps to be no more than 1/16" but I've welded wider ones than that. No matter how wide the gap is, go slow, skip around to minimize the heat and if you see a crown or a sinkhole developing, stop and hammer the area flat before proceeding.

[swamp rat]

Well nothing much to report today, i did a little more shrink/hammer dents work then decided it was time to weld in the door, pulled my welder out and searched....and searched... I swear i had already bought .023 wire and supplies but i guess not... Oh well back up town again..

Wanted to take a moment to show my tweaker levers i made, i also have some made from Richlite as well, come in handy for straightening sheet metal edges.

[Pegman]

Keep up the great work

[swamp rat]

Well got started welding in the door today, of course as soon as i started i had to stop and change the battery's out in my miller welding pod, naturally finding said battery's was another story.

But got it started and so far no oil canning, had about 3 burn thru's that i had to fill and one of the spots did crack so i know i need to watch at closely too..

I drilled thru the inner bed panel in 3 places tith a 1/8" bit as a rough marker for cutting the inside opening later.

I just had a thought while typing this, i sure hope i didn't get the procedure messed up so i cant get the inner part of the filler screwed on to the piece I'm welding in?? In other words, should i have done all the clearance cutting first and had the inner part screwed onto the part i'm welding in? Hope not..

[swamp rat]

Thanks Dean! i took the day off today to enjoy the nice weather with the wife, hope to get back at it again tomorrow.

[swamp rat]

I finished spot welding in the door, crap that took forever! I gotta say i had a heck of a time with it, not sure what it was but ether, .023 wire, double checked my ground, checked for gas, new tip, gas cover shield not plugged... i couldn't spot weld with the heat way down, I'd turn it up to where i could weld and i had problems with burn thru, but i got thru it, it didn't come out perfect but for the first time welding sheet i guess it was Ok....

And even tho i was told to watch for it, i didn't see it happening with my untrained eye, on the upper part of the door i did get a little bit of shrink that pulled the panel in just a little, i tried to get it in the 2nd pic but you can barely see it, don't know if i should try a little "hammer on" on some of the spot welds to see if it will release it just leave it and skim coat it with the rest of the bad spots.

Then i roughed out the inner bed and floor and started fitting the filler, my whole goal with the filler was to try and make it so the yet to be fabbed cover would be no wider (encroaching on to the floor) than the rear stake pocket, i don't think its gonna happen.

I'm also beginning to think after i figure out the angles on the filler tube i may have to tack it up and take it to someone with a Tig welder..

[ryanroo]

looks like fine work to me!

[Vintage Windmills]

Yep, looking great! I fought my miller 252 wire feed with 0.023, similar to what you describe, and am hoping it will get better when I use the right liner with it.

Whats a Miller pod? And why does it take batteries? Is it a specific autodarkening helmet?

[swamp rat]

Thanks guys! This is a learning curve like no other for me, thru the years (back in my younger days) i have run Mig, Arc and Dual Shield burning close to 3/4" wide beads but this body work stuff is a totally new world.

The Miller Pod, Just my country boy slang term for my Miller pro hobby welding helmet, yea its an auto darkening helmet, i had it to full dark and maxed sensitivity outside but still had some residual flash burn, I don't know if maybe i need to add a different lens or even if that is possible, still gave me a little trouble today but not as bad as the other day.

Well, today i decided to contact a guy about a craigslist add and he gets back to me and made the truck sound like a perfect truck (another project for me) Said he kept it parked in his barn so no rust at all in the gutter and windshield, so i get to his place, about 1 hour from my place only to find out he was lying thru his teeth, about where there is and isn't rust, windshield flange had major problems as well as the firewall, even the dash was cancered out, the rest i wasn't worried about, and it had a pretty good bed and front clip, i told him I'd be interested at about $700 but he would never answer back, I just hate it when people miss represent the trucks they are selling. Wasted my time, should have went after another truck that was listed, but i didn't wanna spend that much money, its gone! My loss.

Anyway back at the filler, I got the filler cut down, kinda pie sliced it like they used to do with the old 2 stroke exhaust pipes, and pieced it back together, then i had to figure out how to hold it together while i tagged it, had to get creative being as i have no fab table... A little wood shop welding??? Got out my Great Grandfathers old parallel clamp and it ended up working out nicely both for tagging (Country boy slang for spot welding) as well as helping hold it while welding it up, which is nothing more than more spot welds..

Ugly as all get out but its almost done, the 3 main welds are finished, I water tested and still have 2 weeping holes on the lower bead i need to fix. Sorry no side pic but I sure hope gas flows thru the S bends ok without flipping off the gas nozzle. And i still have to remove the 5/8 vent hose elbow from the leftover section and get it welded on the new filler.. I also ended up cutting about another inch out of the bed floor dang it.. If i ever do this again i will go ahead and lower the filler as low as possible to that body line

[Dean'smeanmachine]

sweet, looks great

[Mustard72]

I can only hope that mine looks that good if and when I get to that point.

....and yeah, what's the pod?

[swamp rat]

Before i forget, I have a spray can of epoxy primer, so should i go ahead and spot paint all the bare metal asap??? I'll still plan on sanding a larger area then doing the bondo skim coat but just don't want any surface rust. The weather is suppose to turn back to rain with possible thunder crap again..

[swamp rat]

If ya scroll back you can read about my seat cover debacle.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=155

After a long wait of about 4 months Finally last Wednesday the seat was supposedly shipped although Tim did not give me a tracking number i trust it has actually shipped. He also has stepped up to send me some hog ring pliers and rings so i can install the cover, nice gesture.

I was concerned about the velour used on the last cover as it stretched on the install compounding the problem of the accidental dimensional problems from the top and bottom cover. I asked if they could locate some kind of black (non stretchy) woven fabric, he asked if i would be ok with Houndstooth? i said if they made a Black/Charcoal, Charcoal or just Black then i'd like it, but they don't and i don't like Black/White, Black/Blue, Black/Green, ect. So this was why the long wait, they took the time to research a different material that was kinda similar to hounds tooth but not exact, hopefully not stretchy and have durability too, i really didn't care if the material was a straight criss cross pattern or what have you long as it didn't stretch.

This is what they came up with.. A little different than anything i have seen in the past but i think I'll like it better than velour. Once its in the truck i probably wont think twice about it anyway.

[DWilbur]

Swamp Rat
it's looking good. I'm painting mine in the driveway. I was planning on building a cover out of 1" square tube steel and I have a white cover that will rap the sides and top. set up a fan with filter to draw out the fumes.

[swamp rat]

Thanks! I have a feeling that i may be doing the same when the time comes!

[swamp rat]

I know i mentioned somewhere that i have been side tracked again so I'll say why now, i had a 67 C10 kinda fall into my lap about 3 weeks ago, its a beater and quite rusty but the price was right and still a driver so i bought it and drove it home. Brakes are a little sketchy at the moment, fun drive home Every body panel is dented up and rusty. But its an all numbers matching survivor, with bare bones options like one driver sun visor and arm rest.

So i started to comb Craigslist and this forum for some parts, I found an 8' original 67 fleetside bed up north last Thursday night so Friday i made the trek up north to get it, A little more damage than the seller would be willing to admit but isn't that how it always is? Not in pristine but in good shape compared to the old one, my plan was to drive it for a while as an 8' then later cut the frame down and the fleetside bed too, so I brought it home.

Saturday i finished the filler tube on the Rat, i admit it its kinda ugly! but i think i got all the weeping pinholes sealed, pita! i also bought some tune up stuff for the 67 and worked on it a bit, but i think i may have a dead lifter, i need to buy a leak down tester, will pull a compression test later.

Saturday night somewhere on Facebook someone posted an add on Craigslist in Portland.. a 68 step side bed! so i called him first thing in the morning and said I'd buy it for his price as long as he didn't sell it while i was driving the 2Hr 45 minutes trip to get there, plus i needed an hour to get the other bed unloaded before i could leave, and i hauled butt.. I'm real happy with it, has all the cross sills and bed strips, fenders need a little work and the markers will need to be filled but otherwise its in pretty good shape. I will keep an eye out for 67 rear step side fenders too just in case, i'd rather not fill these if i can help it.

Then talking to him i find out he also has a couple 67 front fenders, not perfect but way better than whats on the truck! so i cut a deal for the fenders and another front drive shaft for the Rat while i was at it.

I think the only thing I'll need now may be a couple repair panels off a donor cab Or maybe even a donor cab?? LOL! I already have a line on one, In Oregon again! also need some repair panels for the doors. then I'll have almost everything i need body wise for the C10, more mechanical stuff will also be in the mix, i plan on building the inline 6 and hopping it up a bit, kinda into the nostalgia of it, plus i want to try and maintain decent mileage along the way. So now i will do some shuffling of beds and then get back to working on my rat again.

Busy weekend! Need to get back to working on the rat!

[JayB331]

Nice find Rat! Really like the '67

[Dean'smeanmachine]

cool find!

[Mustard72]

Hey! Wasn't that '67 in the truck of the month thread?

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Mustard72

Hey! Wasn't that '67 in the truck of the month thread?

Um....Yes.. LOL!