1966 F100 Short Bed Styleside Metal/Body/Paint Work

[theastronaut]

Getting started back on this one. I only quickly mentioned before that the old frame that Fatman built was done incorrectly; they welded the front crossmember in about 2.5" too far forward and missed that one of the front rails was bent. They unded up not being willing to make it right, so instead of trying to fix it the owner decided to start over with a new chassis from No Limit Engineering. The new frame has fully boxed rails and a very substantial center brace to increase torsional rigidity, much improved geometry and bigger/stronger components compared to the usual Mustang II based IFS, double adjustable Viking coilovers, huge Wilwood brakes, wrench flats on the eccentric upper control arm shaft for easily adjusted camber/caster... No Limit really knows what they're doing. We asked if they could build the front frame rails with bolt on bumper mounts with some adjustability made into them (it normally bolts directly to the solid frame rails) so we could dial in the fit of the bumper to the body,, and also asked that they leave off the filler neck flange on the gas tank so we could locate it ourselves with the hole in the bed.

Once No Limit had it finished the owner picked it up and swapped over the new Coyote and 6 speed from the old frame, and had the exhaust built and ceramic coated before delivering it to us. This will be a huge upgrade compared to the old frame, the increased frame rigidity will go a long way in keeping the panels in alignment over time. I spent a ton of time making the panel alignment and gaps perfect on the first C10 I ever restored but after driving it a bit the stock frame was flexible enough that the panels shifted slightly.



















The new frame required notching one of the floor braces, so I cut out a section for clearance and boxed it back in with matching 14g. It also has electric parking brakes now, so the hole and brace I made for the Lokar e-brake handle won't be needed.















Extra long filler neck with separate flanges to build our own neck. I'll wait until the bed, cab, and front end are all back on and everything is shimmed/leveled an in their final position to make sure the filler neck is centered in the floor opening.











Adding door jamb switches. I measured from a hinge bolt hole out to the door edge to see how close the door would fit against the jamb, then hung a plumb bob from the matching bolt hole in the hinge arm and found a spot that would stick out enough to contact the switch.

[jkeating1]

very OCD friendly

[jhrusk]

Looking great as always John. Please let me know when this one is finished. I would love to see in person.

[NONHOG]

That frame is super nice. Several years ago I (and about 10 friends) toured Art Morrison back when I lived close. Fun day! Keep up the great work!

[joesscamaro]

That's unfortunate about the first frame and the issues with it. Glad the NL frame is working out...it sure looks good! Thanks again for the updates. Always love seeing them.

[theastronaut]

The vertical ribs stick up over the top of the bed so they're visible when the truck is assembled, and after discussing it with the owner we both though it would look better with that area flat.





Cut, moved down about 5", overlapped to scribe the cut line.







Starting to get it welded in. This was a nightmare because of all of the stress in the metal around the ribs from when it was originally stamped. Not only were the welds shrinking liken normal, but the heat from welding was relaxing the stress and making the panel move around like crazy. 10/10 would recommend not cutting the whole panel out like this, but only cut the tip of each pocket instead to minimize welding/warping.





With the lower area in I made a rough cut a filler panel and scribed a trim line.









Straightening the weld seams, checking progress with aluminum c-channel.









Not perfect but good enough for a thin skim.




I also had to slightly reshape and relocate the inner brace slightly lower so that it would still land on the ribs and not the new filler panel.

[theastronaut]

I'd been seeing posts and videos about using splines/long spreaders to spread filler over large areas to the correct shape to cut down on sanding, along with using Rage Xtra mixed into Rage Ultra to extend work time so you'd have time to use a large spreader to get the filler on and shaped before it set up. I made a few in different sizes using 1/4" lexan, the longest was doubled to increase rigidity so it would hold a very consistent slight curve over the entire length. The shorter one is abut 30", and the shortest is about 16" and narrower to let it curve easier. I'll grab more pics and include them in the next update.







I was able to get the upper back of the cab in shape with only three skims, with very little blocking needed to get it super straight. The shot with the c-channel shows just how straight the filler is even without being sanded yet.







There was a bit of a learning curve, but once I started getting the hang of it I got the back of the cab shaped up pretty trouble free. There is very little wasted filler since you have a lot of work time- any excess from the area you're working can be applied to another low area and spread to shape before it sets up.





To get the ribs shaped up, I milled 3/8" lexan to match the 45* angles.









Spreader trimmed to the correct shape, with a little allowance for applying enough to block.





Guide taped in place to keep the spreader straight, and results of skimming/blocking.









The tips got their own cut to shape spreader, and a guide to keep the height of each matching and level.







The body line had a few irregular areas so I built those up and blocked it to the correct shape. I taped over most of the block to keep 3/4th of it from cutting, and used it to get the built up area 95% flat without digging into what I'd already blocked around it.










The upper part of the body line was blocked with a durablock wrapped in 150, with 90% of the face masked off so only about 1/8" of the edge was exposed. This made it easy to bring down the line until it was dead straight all the way across, and left a perfect 1/4 round radius.







Starting the roof skims using the middle length spreader. All three sectioins of the roof had a very slight flat spot in the middle, and the spreader was able to perfectly bridge across the low and create the correct overall shape using the to sides as a guide.






Once all of the lows were identifided and skimmed individually, I did a very light overall skim to fill an any pinholes/spreader marks.






Prepped and shot with epoxy.






Blocking the epoxy to show any missed spots. I blocked the center, then along the entire outer rear ~1.5" with a long 3/8" block to create a constant light line before the inner section dipped lower, masked that area, then transitioned in the center dip to the tape line.








1/8" thick half width block for more flexibility.






1/4" half width block for less flexibility.

[theastronaut]

Last coats of epoxy, these areas are nearly ready to paint. I left the areas around the jambs bare since they'll be worked with the panels assembled.

http://youtube.com/shorts/AzqpTSiYp8...cvTE-nsLoJ0Ylx

[SCOTI]

Just.... Wow. Sooooo impressive.

[NONHOG]

Nice work! Great DIY tools!

[Ol Blue K20]

Nice!! Very Nice!!!

[joesscamaro]

Alright! Been looking for some updates on the truck. I think I've seen you say that you use SPI epoxy? Looks like it's turning out great so far!

[raggedjim]

Fantastic work on the rear of this cab. Thanks for posting your process on this, I have struggled with the rear cab line on my 68 and hopefully will be able to use some of your techniques to try to get the body line back in shape.

Nice work, Rg

[Tempest67]

Nice work

That chassis looks beautiful

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Just.... Wow. Sooooo impressive.

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Nice work! Great DIY tools!

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Nice!! Very Nice!!!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by joesscamaro

Alright! Been looking for some updates on the truck. I think I've seen you say that you use SPI epoxy? Looks like it's turning out great so far!

Yes, SPI epoxy. The pics of it still wet are one light initial coat, then two wet coats, all shot 30 min apart. It builds a good bit more than most epoxy primers, there was around 5 mil build thickness on the tape so probably 7ish mils on the cab.

Originally Posted by raggedjim

Fantastic work on the rear of this cab. Thanks for posting your process on this, I have struggled with the rear cab line on my 68 and hopefully will be able to use some of your techniques to try to get the body line back in shape.

Nice work, Rg

Trimming a spreader to the shape you want to create/repair and using a guide to get it spread straight is a big help, and masking off the blocks as shown keeps you from digging into the areas around the body line.

Originally Posted by Tempest67

Nice work

That chassis looks beautiful

Thanks, No Limit really did their homework; the cab, bed, and front end is all fitting well so far. I mounted the cab this week and everything clears and lines up. The very bottom of the inner fenders will need slight trimming to clear the upper a-arms, which was expected since it originally had I-beams.

[theastronaut]

Got the cab and bed on the frame for final fitting. The engine had a power steering reservoir relocation kit mounted to the driver side but it interfered with the inner fender, so I had to remove it to fit the inner fender. After talking with the owner we decided to hide the tank under the inner fender, with the lid coming through at the front.






I initially was just going to cut a hole and have the lid pop through, but that looked out of place/unfinished, and the metal at the front edge was pretty stretched and loose, so I made a recessed circle on the Pullmax and welded it in which shrunk the loose metal and it looks way better.




To make the recess I used a set of dies I already had that were meant to roll the edge of a panel. I took the backstop off and made a shorter flat piece to bolt in place of it, and set up the circle cutting clamps in the throat to make a perfect circle.










To roll an inner flange I tacked an old bearing race on the back and used a mallet to fold the flange in.




Welded together.

[theastronaut]

The radiator support is a reproduction '65 support that needs some mods to fit a '66, no one makes the correct '66 support. The original support and inner fenders were rusty and had crash damage so I used the inner fenders from the same parts truck we got the roof from. '65 inner fenders and the mounting flanges on the rad support were different, so I needed to rework the flanges to fit the '66 inner fenders and have more room for the '66 radiator.





Difference in angle of the lower flange.








Spotwelds drilled to remove the '65 radiator brackets.




New lower flanges.








The donor inner fenders were better but not perfect so I had a few areas to straighten out.








I slightly rounded off the sharp corners on all of the edges.




On the back of the mounting flanges, I ground the outer edges at about a 15* angle to bevel the edges, once it's painted the edges won't dig into the firewall and chip the paint underneath.




This area was dented and I couldn't really tell what the original shape would've been, and after knocking the dent out the area was floppy/loose. The rest of the inner fenders have sharp, straight bends with flat areas in between and this area was rounded so it looked out of place. I made marks with a straight edge and hammered in creases with a chisel and hammer over a sandbag, then used the shrinking disk to bring the rounded areas down until they were flat.






After-






All of the original wavy edges were flattened, and I trimmed back the areas around the new crossmember to make more room for getting in there with tools to align it, and room for the power steering reservoir hoses.




Extra holes welded up.

[Russell Ashley]

I'm impressed as usual, or amazed might be more correct. You are a magician with steel. I hope I get to see this truck when it's finished. Please keep posting as I usually go over every picture multiple times to fully digest it.

[MP&C]

Beautiful work as always, John. All in the details!!

[theastronaut]

I never was able to get the front bumper fitted due to the old frame being bent too badly for the bumper and filler panel to bolt on. The bumper that was on the truck was a later 67-72 style with squared ends, but the parts truck had a painted 64-66 bumper with the correct angled ends so that's what I started with. It had been hit on both sides so there were some buckles and bends to work out.







The overall shape was way off after getting the buckled spots worked down flat.







I used a come a long and vise plus heat, hammers, and a 24" adjustable wrench to get it back in shape.









Linear stretching a spot I over-shrunk.





Decided to use an aftermarket filler panel, the factory one I had was rotted, so I got the overall shape pretty much matched up with the new panel.

[theastronaut]

Starting point of the front bumper/filler panel fitment. The corners and outer flanges of the splash panel were so far off that I just cut those off completely to get them out of the way. The rad support, fenders, and filler panels are all aftermarket and nothing matched up. The mounting flanges on the filler panel were supposed to be vertical but were angled around 15* on each side on the new panel, so the outer mounting flanges also had to be cut off just to get the filler panel to fit in place. The bumper stuck out too far past the detail line on the filler panel, and the whole thing stuck out way too far from the body.













I double checked the rad support/filler panel fit with the original filler panel to determine which part was shaped wrong; neither fit correctly so the rad support isn't shaped correctly.









The rad support had metric threads so I drilled them to the next standard size up and retapped the threads.





The bumper normally mounts directly to the frame with no ability to adjust it, but we asked No Limit to make shorter frame stubs with bolt on bumper brackets so the bumper could be moved around easier. The holes they drilled didn't offer any adjustment, so I cut the whole rear edge off to make room for moving the bumper back farther, welded up what was left of the holes, and drilled/slotted new ones once I had the bumper where I wanted it.







Filler panel mount brackets removed from the original panel, blasted, and straightened to fit the fenders and rad support better.











To fit the bumper closer to the body, I split the filler panel down the middle and initially overlapped it to do a test fit to see how far in I wanted to bring the bumper in, and settled on taking out 1".

[theastronaut]

With the bumper straight and stripped, the filler panel split and shortened/welded, I wanted to capture the front edge of the filler panel by adding tabs on the inside of the bumper. Originally the splash panel floated under the bumper, unattached so there was nothing to keep it from sagging or to hold it in alignment with the bumper. I spaced the front lip down off the bumper 5/32" to get the top edge of the bumper flush with the top of the filler panel. I'll find the correct size metal stock and weld narrower permanent spacers onto the edge.












I cut and bent 1/8" strips 90* and welded them to the bumper to hold bottom of the filler panel at the correct height. After the bumpers are plated I'll brush on Plasti-Dip to keep this from rattling.




Test fit on the truck.











Both corners of the bumper need to be trimmed to clear the body better, but now that the bumper and filler panel are in their final places I can start remaking the flanges and edges of the filler panel to mount correctly and fill in the gap around the bottom corners of the grill. I expect the bumper to slightly move around when the chrome shop does the final straightening, so I'll wait to get the filler panel fitting any better until after the bumper is back. I'll use the finished bumper as a guide for skimming the top of the filler panel to make it perfectly level with the bumper.

[joesscamaro]

Looking really good! These little modifications and cleaning up the front end like that are going to have people scratching their heads. They'll have the same truck and look at this one and say, "Why does it look so different and so much better than mine?!" Haha, keep up the good work!

[SCOTI]

^^ Agreed! ^^

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by joesscamaro

Looking really good! These little modifications and cleaning up the front end like that are going to have people scratching their heads. They'll have the same truck and look at this one and say, "Why does it look so different and so much better than mine?!" Haha, keep up the good work!

Originally Posted by SCOTI

^^ Agreed! ^^

That's the plan- fix the bigger overall proportion problems like the roof/back of cab, panel fitment, and bumper fitment, and that'll get them looking at the smaller details. Now that it's on the new frame we can also get into figuring out the right wheel sizes/offset, tire sizes, and ride height to get the stance just right.