55 make over

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by nvrsatisfied

day 16/17.. got the back of the cab sanded down to metal and found some dents and of course all they did was load them up with filler. got most of the driver side cab corner smoothed in and pretty much done just need to work the inner part of the jamb. started on the passenger side cab corner and its story is like the driver side but it had a lot more good ol Arizona sand in it to drop off here in Oklahoma. went and cleaned all the rust off of best i could. welded it in full and put some rust preventive on it.

lovely work!

[nvrsatisfied]

Originally Posted by daveshilling

lovely work!

thank ya. i should finish out the passenger tomorrow and start setting the new doors on and get them ready to cut up since they rounded off the upper corners.

[dsraven]

good to see you doing a good job where the previous shop did a quick job.
my first truck, as a teenager, I would see the cool guy driving around our small town. it was a 63 GMC long box fleetside, in primer in spots because the guy was driving it while fixing it up. I finally connected with the guy and he sold me the truck. rebuilt this and redone that, ready for paint. well, the first oil change after a week of driving was very thick oil and it smoked thereafter. the rebuild was just a paint job apparently. the bodywork was simply steel wool or fiberglass filler where the holes used to be. it was good though, in that it allowed me to learn how to torch weld sheet metal and do some customizing of my own. yep, I overpaid for the truck, but it kept me out of trouble while I rebuilt everything. those rear fenders remind me of the bodywork the dude did on my 63.

[dsraven]

post up pics of those doors when you get to it. curious to see if that cab and door combo is any better than some of the ones I have had the priviledge of working with. same cab, 6 different original doors, they all fit (or don't fit) differently.

[nvrsatisfied]

Originally Posted by dsraven

post up pics of those doors when you get to it. curious to see if that cab and door combo is any better than some of the ones I have had the priviledge of working with. same cab, 6 different original doors, they all fit (or don't fit) differently.

man don't jinx me before i even get started on the doors .in short i have just come to the conclusion to work gaps over anyways. i know somethings may fit well, to get something to open and close and most people are happy with that. i haven't really ran into a panel that was just absolute junk...fingers crossed. now if someone wants to have a good gap around it all then labor cost goes up. generically speaking, nowadays most panels are repops of original and early model anything was made to be assembled and sent down the road. nobody back then even knew about a 3/16 gap around every panel

we had a couple things go on today so i got to this when i could, but here is the passenger side. i'll need to do a little hammer and dolly along its seam then it outta be good enough. after the new year, its off to fit doors.

(if you want to see big gaps look at bel air!)

[nvrsatisfied]

passenger cab corner almost finished out, i need to work the vertical body line with a little more weld, shape it and then just a little hammer and dolly and should be good enough.

EVERYONE HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

[Jason 56]

Coming along nice! I can relate to the terrible sheet metal work hidden by WAY too much filler. It took me 2 years to fix mine. That’s after I spent good money on what I thought was a good body. Boy was I wrong! I’ll be following.

[nvrsatisfied]

day 20?... got the doors on and now the real fun begins. the previous shop cut the door(s) upper corners and mid corners and rounded them off. i like the way it looks so we're gonna go with it. first thing we did was get the body lines lined up best we could, it really didn't take much to get that but i'm not counting us in the clear yet, because we still have to get the Altman latches working. BUT before i get the latches working i'll have to trim the door corners off to get the door to set inside its frame, soooo that's where we're rolling the dice along with whatever butcher job they've done up along the B pillar to get the old doors to fit. SO LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN

i wouldn't judge too hard on this fitment because there has been some previous hack work done along this cabs door edge, but i'm thinking that if you had a normal stock truck and needed replacement doors these would've fit good enough for open and close with a factory gap.

[nvrsatisfied]

here's a look at the over lay of the door... i'm just going to use my former to get the radius of the corner and transfer that to the door and trim back. i'm not too worried about gaps now, i just need enough off to get the door to close and work the gap later.

[nvrsatisfied]

almost there, then off to the other side and repeat the process..

[dsraven]

looks like fun. maybe you'll end up trimming that front corner a bit more when the time comes. I was thinking of new doors for mine but that is not gonna happen, they are waaaaay too much money up here in Canada. I'll skin the old ones I guess.
keep on posting up those pics, you're doing great.

[nvrsatisfied]

Originally Posted by dsraven

looks like fun. maybe you'll end up trimming that front corner a bit more when the time comes.

thanks, we just keep chipping along. the cutting i just did was just enough to get the doors to shut and work good enough to line up the center bodyline, move the door around, get latches installed and door to open and close. when its said and done the gap around the door will run close to 3/16. i'll be adding to the edge of the door in areas with weld.

the previous shop did some type of work up and down the B pillar to work with whatever the heck they had going on? when we got the drivers door hung and working great with the latches and lining up decently with the fenders and upper part of the cab, a problem showed up mid area and down along the cab, it was an 1/8 low. so we removed more bondo from the inner pillar to find out that they had cut the area up the B pillar and welded it back! so i cut their old work out and started to fix things. as of now the cab is pretty flush with the door, so far so good.

[slammed57]

I did the same thing on my doors. Lookin great

[nvrsatisfied]

while finishing up the door edge the work bled over to the inner part of the b pillar. we started cleaning out the filler that was caked inside the pillar hiding their previous work on the latches they added in and covering the original catch location. we left their cover plate over the catch area and cut out a small section to locate the nuts on the back side. i then pondered on weather or not to just put a piece in to cover the holes and then add weld, reshape the area they used for their door catch. but i couldn't, i think it would've look like we were covering up something. so i went ahead and cut out the area and took a small patch piece and ran it through the bead roller. i had to mismatch some dies to try and get the roll, i think i got the roll good enough but not exact, but it'll work.

[nvrsatisfied]

so after finishing up the lower area, i went ahead and added some weld to the top area. took out the reamer and got to reshaping. i think overall it'll work out and not need the 1/4" of filler like they had used. i never agreed with a lot of filler being used in the inner jamb areas, too much traffic in that area that could allow for something to cause a chip.

[nvrsatisfied]

since i felt like i was on a roll after doing the drivers side this morning, i went ahead and knocked out the passenger side to. pretty much same process as driver side. i cut out an area and this time i did a turn or so more on the roller to try and match the curve area a little more. it worked a little better i think, so i tacked it in and blended. and as for the top part same process, this side was a little easier because they didn't weld as much around it so it was easier to clean up my work.

now that im done with the b pillar areas i think i can start on the door gaps now.

[daveshilling]

Sweet!! Keep up this momentum, its motivating

[nvrsatisfied]

Originally Posted by daveshilling

Sweet!! Keep up this momentum, its motivating

for sure! we just keep chipping away..

my next process, is the way i do it. it is a bit of a process but i can say that there is next to no filler around my edges. once you get this process figured out it really isn't all that bad, but then again i don't mind the extra work. there are tons of other ways but this is my take....

i got started by double checking the center body line on this truck. with no striker bolt, i start by loosening up the hinge bolts (cab and door), just enough to move the door around. after a few times opening/closing i ended up with 4 paint sticks stacked on the foot well step, i taped them together and taped them to the foot well step so they couldn't move. with the door loose i picked it up while closing it and rested it on the sticks, everything seemed to line up good enough. i crawled inside the passenger door and tighten the door bolts. i then taped and made some marks to get a rough idea of the cab hinge placement. opened the door used a jack under the door to help with support and movement i may need and ran the hinge bolts on the a-pillar. next insert the striker bolt and get the door depth adjusted to meet the cab. i had about 1/16 of door higher than my pillar area so i ended up using a piece of wood 1/2" thick about 2ft long and a small ball ping hammer. lay the wood on the door and hit the wood along the door edge area, allowing the outter door edge to "massage" it's way down to become flush with the cab b-pillar.

with the door opening/closing, body line all good and depth good. i tape off the inner area of the cab. there's a lot of welding and grinding going on, so i want to keep it out the cab. next i take black spray paint (because the under lying door is silver) and i spray a little around the doors edge. i use a scribe from Big Kid Blocks. it is a machined piece with a flat side and a scribe edge (a very useful little tool to have). i run the flat edge along the fender and where ever the door is too close it will scribe a line through my black paint giving me a silver line. i run the tool up the fender, along the cab and down the b-pillar letting it put a scribe mark along the door where areas are too close.

with your scribe line, work a little area at a time, because in some places you could grind through the doors rolled edge, allowing a little separation and you don't want too much of that when you'll be welding that shut. now where the part did not touch i make a note on the door where i can either stack some welds or weld on some dowel rod. in this doors case it was away from the b-pillar area by quiet a bit, so i welded in an 1/8" dowel. the dowel is just the right thickness to keep the look of the rolled edge. if you add by welding always weld more than what is needed this allows for you to have enough material to shape on the show side and inside to look clean. you may have to bounce back and forth for a scribe mark but it'll work out.

[nvrsatisfied]

i should finish out this door in the morning and hopefully finish out the other door by the end of the day????

[nvrsatisfied]

i never really got a good pic of their previous gap. but you could see about 1/4" of the door seal showing along the whole b-pillar. where the mirror was at i could stick my pinkie all the way in and the upper corner was almost pinching...so i'll be happy with what i'm doing.

[62 Barnfind]

Nice work. I had to do the exact same thing with both doors to get them to fit right. I even had to extend the rear of the door to meet the top body line. I wish someone would take their product and do a quality check to see how it fits.

[dsraven]

nice work. thanks for posting pics too. I also use paint sticks for gap checks and use the same kinda procedure for setting up the hinges. it's great that these trucks have the hinge bolts accessible when the door is closed. I also use tape and a sharpie to mark thngs like hinge set points when I am doing the door on, door off thing when I get it right I usually drill a 1/8 hole through the parts so after dissassembly and paint it is easier to line stuff up like it was during mock up. a roll pin set in place there can help too.

[nvrsatisfied]

thanks everyone!

worked on the drivers door a little bit more finishing out the edges and corners so they might not look too bad.

[nvrsatisfied]

moved on over to the passenger door to get it lined out. this one might be a little quicker, since it seems to fit better in more area's. got the rods and stuff tacked in for the evening and will go in tomorrow morning and start getting them cleaned up and get the upper corner and mid corner welded in...i'll have to go over everything and double check a few things and maybe we can change paths and get ready to start the primer and blocking..

another fun thing to add to the list is that we might be bagging it now! he seen a bagged one and really liked it. wheel size in rear might be a 22 and a 20 up front. he wants to lay it on the ground it sounds like or at least really close. i have bagged a few rides but but not this model. any preference on upper lower A arms, the truck already has rack and pinion up front and we have a four link out back with a pan hard bar, but thinking about switching out to a watts link. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[dsraven]

a drop like that is gonna call for some serious frame work, like chop off the rear and weld in a big C notch to allow the frame to drop over the axle. that also means a bunch of box work to allow for the C notch. I would make sure the owner understands what the final look will be and, of course, how many hours it takes to do this properly so YOU don't have "come back warranty" problems. it may affect the wheels and tires chosen as the lower it goes the easier it is for tires to rub. shocks need to have the proper travel factored in as well. the front axle centreline may also need to be looked at once he decides on the actual "driving down the road" ride height.
sounds like fun. sometimes more fun when it isn't yours and somebody else is paying the bills. haha