49' Patina bagged in PA

[FarmerSid]

Nice patch 99! What tools do you use for your patch work? Paper grit, grinders etc.

[99 to Life]

thanks sid, normally I get down to bare metal with a 40 or 60 grit flap disc, also just a cutoff disc works good, esp if there is some major pitting. I then cut all my patches out with a cutoff wheel, I currently don't have a good metal shear, beverly shear or bandsaw so that stuff would make things alot easier.

I then weld it up and obviously you have to dress the welds on sheetmetal, so I use the same tools as above. I prefer a cutoff disc to get it really knocked smooth, some guys use a grinding disc, I don't like them as much personally.

Depending on the area and how the patch turned out, I hammer and dolly to get it smooth and knock any dents out. On finer stuff that is super critical, I use a shrinking disc which really helps level out the metal. Lastly alot of guys dress the metal with a DA, I don't have one yet but using a 60-80grit flap wheel on the grinder would yield a similar look.

[99 to Life]

9-29 monday, so I spent more time than it looks on this door so far. The hinge filler plate had 3 screws that were so rusted I had to drill them out. I took out the door window and lock mechs and had to weld nuts to a few of the clutch heads to get them out. As you can see I have to weld in some new metal on the bottom and fix another area on this door. Other than that it needs stripped down, gonna put chassis saver on as much of the inside as I can bf I weld on patch. Its crazy how many parts go with the doors and how much money they are. fortunately I have plenty of spare parts to pick stuff off of.

I got my other inner fender stripped down, top atleast. So I'm hoping to get all or most of these parts in epoxy this weekend, high build primer if I'm lucky.

By the following weekend I'd love to be done with painting. Get cab back on and really start making some headway. Gotta do brakes, pedals and steering. Finish up fuel and air line. Get a driveshaft and this thing should move. I still need a MC and calipers so between those and the driveshaft thats 500$ so if all works out I should have all that by end of Oct.

[Advanced Design]

Yeah it is often the little things that take a lot of time and test a guys patience...good progress and plan 99. You will be cruising before you know it!

[99 to Life]

AD, yep the nickel and dime time and money is the killer. I see all too often guys just plopping these bodies on dime frames and leaving so much undone that will need attention later. I want everything to be done to prevent future attention to rust. Even just painting firewall, interior and rims has been a ton of work and a decent little chunk of the budget. Luckily I'm keeping the patina but fixing all the rust and rot, full paint is soo much work. thats why I'm keeping my 52' when I finish it.

[FarmerSid]

Looks good 99. I hear ya on progress or lack of due to funds.

[99 to Life]

thanks sid, yah know its def a balance on the time and money. I'v been so pinched for loot earlier on in this build, putting all the hours into the cab kind of gave me busy work on the cheap. Then you got to balance weather. I don't think I can get my garage up to 65 deg unless maybe I got another heater. So I have to do things in a certain order, like now, rushing to get everything I need painted. Last november I was rushing to get rims painted bc of the cold.

I also have to factor in supplies like cut off discs, paint, flap discs, welding wire and gas, etc so those expenses always seem to hit when you need parts and are tight on money.
I have to order things in a certain order so I have it the week I need it. Some stuff I order and it hasn't been need quite yet so the ordering process in itself is a balance. I'v been fortunate this summer to make a little more money so I can chip away at some expenses and did manage to pick up some more tools I needed.

The big expenses are just about done after this month. But I'll be putting some money into interior and all those nickel and dime parts throughout the truck.

[99 to Life]

10-3 Friday. nothing but rain today, so had to do alot of grinding inside. I managed to get a good chunk of the lower door fixed. Still have some more patches to put on it. I got some chassis saver put on the inside of the door. This time I got the gloss black and I really like it. I coated a bunch of other parts too.

Put a patch on the other inner fender. Finish striping bottom of the inners, got them coated as with the running boards. Going to put the Herculiner on the bottom of those, eventually the front fenders, bed and hood.

Trying to get the doors, inner fenders and a few parts in epoxy this weekend. Hoping to get them in high build and if I'm lucky paint.

[99 to Life]

Here is the inner fender patch. Got wheel bearings for the powerstop rotors. Got about all my fuel and air lines, same with brakes. need to button all that up and exhaust bf I get cab back on. Shooting to have cab on next weekend if I'm lucky.

[IWanna49]

Ahh yea. Pickin up steam now!! Great work!!

[oldman3]

99, Everything looks great, nice work on repairs and paint makes it look closer to being done...Jim

[IWanna49]

99, where do you get the chassis saver and Herculiner from?

[99 to Life]

thanks guys, yeah can't wait to be done with all these little repairs and start putting this thing back together.

49' I get the chassis saver off ebay, I buy em in quarts so it doesn't go bad. I usually need some here and there, never a gallon at a time. I think the frame took 1.5 qts almost 2 maybe. I'v used probably another 1.5-2qts on the rest of the truck and now this quart. Herculiner I got off ebay for $77 shipped I think. Its normally around 100 bucks. The other option is raptor liner by upol, I hear good things about it.

[Advanced Design]

Good progress 99. Those running boards look good.

[99 to Life]

10-4 Sat. thanks AD I'll be coating the bottoms with the herculiner as well, same goes for fenders and inners. So today was crazy weather, hailed for a bit, cold, rain and sun off and on. I had to run my heater to coat parts. Which I did alot of again today.

So onto DOOR #2 which is a donor door. Previous owner took some time making aluminum patches that he bolted ontop of all this nasty rust. So I tore it all off. I made the patch for the inside. It was late in day so the coating I put on the other side wasn't dry, so couldn't weld it up. Once I get that on, I'll cut out the outter skin, way more than my door #1.

Got my gas tank bolted back up. Frame is dusty as heck. Made another patch for my other inner fender. They where whooped and if I remember now, I'll prolly have to patch the front fenders lip as well. I already have to patch rear fenders. Can I get a break!

[99 to Life]

Ok, so here is the rest of the patches I did on DOOR#1 today. I put some duraglass on there afterwards. sanded it down, got a coat of Rage on there I'll sand off monday and touch back up and get ready for epoxy. So probably won't get to high build this weekend. If weather is good next weekend I'll try wrapping up all the highbuild and paint.

[oldman3]

99, nice progress on both doors. You may have said earlier, what gas tank are you using?...Jim

[99 to Life]

thanks jim, here is the specs of the blazer tank. I got it off ebay for a good price, but now I realized I'm going to have to get the sending unit for it, so thats about 60 bucks. overall still better price than most other tanks out there. This is the style I wanted, found a few others that would have worked, but this was the best price. I'll use the sending unit and and aftermarket fuel gauge that I'll hide behind the speaker grille that is hinged. I figure it would be much more accurate than the stock gauge.


20 Gallon Gas Fuel Tank for GMC S15 Jimmy Chevy S10 Blazer
Detailed Applications

Specifications:

Capacity: 20 Gallons/76 Liters
Dimensions: 33 X 22 X 10-1/2 inches
Depth of bottom half - 5-1/4 inches
Not correct for Fuel Injected models

Includes the lock ring and gasket for the sending unit.

[FarmerSid]

Your getting a lot done in a day 99. Nice repair work. Question for ya. I'm starting to fill holes on my 51 frame in preparation for boxing. Wondering if you would be able to tell me what holes I should NOT be filling. I already made the mistake of filling in one of the cross sill holes. Maybe you could point some things out that I hadn't thought of. Maybe check out my build thread and cut up my work so far. LOL!

Thanks!

[99 to Life]

thanks sid, I thought I was subscribed to your thread, guess Im not. I'll hop over there now.

[99 to Life]

10-6 Mon Put seven hours in today, working fast and not taking any breaks. Tried to beat the weather and clock to lay some epoxy, but no dice. bounced around on the two doors and inner fenders.

So Door #2 I welded the inner and outer patches on. Coated all up inside the door with chassis saver. Hard to tell by the pics but I replaced the outer lips of each side of the bottoms. The one piece requires a shrinker, which I don't have yet, so I make it by hand. I added a middle support piece in the door for the outer door skin.

You can see I don't have a sliproll so I used this contraption to bend the outter skin into shape. I welded it up and then bent it to shape on the door. There is much more work than the pics show. all the edges were flanged over just like the factory edges were.

I got door number one body work almost done for primer, got the inners in primer so they don't flash rust until I get epoxy on them. So next weekend I should be doing more body work and shooting some primer. Weather permitting.

[99 to Life]

more door pics

[Advanced Design]

Really nice work 99! Love the creative solution for shaping the bottom of the door. Did you form the flanges over with hammer and dolly?

[oldman3]

99, super nice work on the repairs...Jim

[99 to Life]

thanks guys, yeah I just put a few relief cuts in the excess metal and hammered it over. Spent some time caressing it into shape.