Fixin Dixie - 66 Short Bed Fleetside

[msg]

Thanks for that DPowers!

It has been too long since I updated but Ive been in teardown mode and finally took the first few parts to the sandblaster today. It's a start.



Recapping since last post

I removed the transmission and engine, first time doing that and it went well



Got the engine on a stand and starting to make repairs on the info and help Im getting from this thread.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=669346

Next is learn how to set up a paint booth in my 1 car garage with the space I actually have to work in since the frame and cab are still in the way. Once the blaster has those parts ready this week I'll have another first and thats painting the parts with epoxy primer to prevent flash rusting from setting in. Ill be doing this blasting in spurts, smaller stuff I can haul in the back of a 96 accord and then look to rent a moving truck for the bigger items as I go.

[msg]

Been plugging away and got the paint booth finally rigged up and actually got some epoxy primer down on the parts Ive had sandblasted.




Here's the exhaust portion thats positioned on the floor. Im replacing the filters about every 5th spray, gets gummed up by then but seems to works nicely.





Hopefully going to have some time next weekend to get back at it. Its been kinda slow but the paint booth took longer than I planned and I just learned how to use the paint gun. Need more practice for sure.

[msg]

I had hoped to get more panels painted this weekend but the sandblaster place is running behind. So I took time to strip down the fogged up and semi-pitted anodized aluminum custom cab trim plates and the front grill. Used oven cleaner to remove the anodized coating and then wet sanded with 600 up to 2000 paper and then tried out the polishing attachment to the drill with high gloss polishing compound.

After using the oven cleaner




On left is polished after wet sanding, on right is wet sanded only



Then both polished



Then I had my first successful brisket on a weber kettle!! Still needs some fine tuning but it's tasty.



I'll be polishing it off by weeks end.

[msg]

Catching up since last post, had a number of other parts I could fit into the trunk of the accord blasted and got them painted now. The only one that came back as a problem was the front bed panel that has me thinking its probably best to buy a replacement vs trying to get this repaired and rust fixed thats inside the roll.


If its flat or has right angles I can usually repair that though, here the radiator support had a rusted out section so I gave it a shot.


Also got the calipers spruced up




Tonight I was able to get the rear axle free. Now its a decision to either have it sandblasted by the shop or wire brush it if sand becomes a no no with this part of the truck.



Getting closer to getting the frame out of the garage and off to the blaster.
Got to get the rig figured out that will support the cab once I move the frame out of the garage.

[NevEno]

Progress looking good! I had my doors wet blasted without any warpage and the spray in rubber stuff scraped right off with puddly knife.

[msg]

Originally Posted by NevEno

Progress looking good! I had my doors wet blasted without any warpage and the spray in rubber stuff scraped right off with puddly knife.

Thanks NevEvo, was it wet blasted using soda? If I can get my hands in there without getting all cut up Ill try the putty knife.

I ended up using a putty knife when I went to lift the front crossmember they blasted for me. I grabbed it from the bottom and my fingers gushed into a mixture of dirt, oil and grease about a qtr inch thick. Right inside the tunnel they couldnt get the nozzle into I guess, bummer. Spent over an hour getting that gunk out best I could and degreased it.

Then I moved onto rebuilding my paint tent that had to be dismantled to get the garage door open. The problem then became that when I had my buddies lift the frame on the jack stands we had it so close to the garage door I wouldnt have been able to stand in front to paint it. Since it was Labor Day and I wasnt going to dial them up again I remembered I had a load leveler and a lift.

I bolted it to the leveler where I thought it was centered but it wasnt. It was still heavy on the rear and swung off the stands and touched down at an angle. So I lifted it from the rear and positioned it by hand while it was suspended. Next time ill bolt back a bit more.

Then I finished building the tent back and started prepping the frame with degreaser. The I shot SPI epoxy primer 2 coats and called it a night.



Next few days Ill paint a 3rd coat and then need to flip it over somehow to get underneath, or mount it up with the lift and leveler and paint it while its suspended. Id rather not do that feels unsafe even with grade 8 hardware.
One day I'll have a rotisserie, paint booth, and hydraulic lift, in a big ole garage. Till then Ill make due with the toys I got.

[NevEno]

We used glass on the doors and garnet on the rest.

[msg]

After 3 coats of epoxy primer I need to paint the other side. Without calling on favors I am trying to use the engine lift to rotate the frame. I was able to use the load leveler to tilt it onto the tires and blankets to stand it upright. Tomorrow I will try and rotate it and sit it back on the stands and finish the paint this weekend.

[RANDY COX]

Wow a lot of hard and good work on repairing those fenders, yea bondo is never a good rust fix, my ole burb had newspaper packed in a hole and then just bondoed over like really how long would that last...I just recently got new repo fenders and I will pop a hole in the bottom of the fender brace since all it does is trap water and dirt and that's what rust's them out anyway...I will be subscribed..

[msg]

Originally Posted by RANDY COX

Wow a lot of hard and good work on repairing those fenders, yea bondo is never a good rust fix, my ole burb had newspaper packed in a hole and then just bondoed over like really how long would that last...I just recently got new repo fenders and I will pop a hole in the bottom of the fender brace since all it does is trap water and dirt and that's what rust's them out anyway...I will be subscribed..

Thanks for checking out my build Randy! Newspaper and Bondo, man. I did that once to fill a hole in the sheetrock when I was a kid, wadded up the paper and stuffed it and joint compound all round. Good luck with your fenders, its worth taking the time to modify to help stop the future muck that pockets and rusts.


This weekend I was able to use the engine hoist to flip the frame to paint the other side. Took my time and covered up the hoist base with a moving blanket to keep it from scratching. Then I took a 4 x 6 and cut 18 inch lengths to take lag bolts and mount the frame. Added some felt to the top of the posts to keep from scratching and added casters to roll it down the drive when the time comes to have the cab blasted and placed in the garage for repairs.



As of tonight I now have 3 coats on the frame and front cross member.

[msg]

Been working on painting and repair the past few months, painted alot of sandblasted parts and panels. The rear axle was blasted and I have 3 coats of epoxy primer on it. As soon as Im done with the paint and repair on what I have I think Ill do the bearing and seal replacements and store it till it's assembly day. Dreaming of that day. Also the trailing arms are painted 3 coats as well, after I finally figured out how to get that bushing out of each so I can replace with the rubber OEM part.
.

The doors that I had previously cut off the base rusted areas are underway now after being sandblasted inside and out. I tried at first a trick that the supplier mentioned on painting the interior of the door and that was to tape up all the holes and crevices and add reducer to the epoxy primer and pour it while tilting the door around so it gets in all the spots the paint gun wont reach. That method didnt work out so good mainly cause you need to mix a bit more than a quart to have it flow across everything. So I took the mixed paint and got a foam paint brush and loaded it up and got into as many places as I can access, pushing the paint into the seams and corners as I went.

Heres the door painted


then shots of the interior after painting


Then I saw some pin holes I didnt see before I had cut the base out and cut that section out and found rust and crud that needed to be dealt with. The other side of the door will be needing a base of door patch panel as well.



Then I had cut the patch panel out as careful as I could, lotta angles and curves there to deal with and they match up so so. 3 things I didnt consider, 1 was that when I had cut out the base of the door and had them blast it, it seemed to warp the panel since there was no support there. So the base of the door sagged in. So I had to get the stud welder out and place pins and try and pull it back up. Mostly it gave me a point to grab as I spot welded and helped to line up. 2nd thing was I noticed even thought the cut panel and patch panel matched in size after cutting, there is a slight gap at the base of the panel where the front panel will have to wrap around and be spot welded. I took the stud welder and pulled it out a bit to line up but its not lining up like I hoped.



The 3rd thing was that either I am putting too much heat as I use the mig welder to spot weld off and on different areas and its shrinking, or that the warping from the blasting caused this.



I will pay closer attention on the other door Im about to work on this week.
I guess between the high build primer and body filler that depressed area will even out. Hope so anyway.

[msg]

I almost forgot to keep the thread going, got derailed in the repairs on the passenger side bed panel and needed guidance. Here is a link to that.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=688673

and heres the last post there..

Originally Posted by msg

This panel has taken a while but Im almost done with it. Just need to bend and spot weld the edge that faces the cab. I might just leave that end loose until I get the truck back together and hang it first to fit.

The upper portion that I used the PVC pipe to form took the longest since that furthest area is not easy to get behind to planish. What a pain, but here it is.



Then I took the (now shorter) patch panel and cut to fit. Measured many times before I got the snips out.



Then I commenced to the method of spot weld, planish, grind, sand many times over



and finally got this



Then fixed broken spot welds on the braces



Then there was an area on the base of the tail light portion of the panel that was rusted through kinda bad so I cut it out, took a scrap piece, got the snips, cut a rough size, then pounded it to match as best I could, then tacked it in and finished it up.



Then there was an area that someone in the past screwed in some holes to pull a dent out, so I prepped it and welded it back flush



Also, a note on the patch panel. Its not at tall on the edges as the original, so I had to get the snips and taper it so it doesnt step up like this.



All for now, hopefully the other bed panel wont be so bad.

As for now Im trying to get that panel painted and out of the shop so I can move onto the driver side bed side panel. Then one day get the cab, hood, tailgate and rims blasted and make repairs as needed. Mainly the cab, thats gonna be fun with all that rust at the base in the usual places.

[msg]

Been working on the driver side panel and getting it in shape. There were 17 holes across the top rail that I had to fill. I guess they had a hand rail and something else mounted to the inside, what a pain.



On the 4 holes on the inside lip of the rail I couldnt get behind it to pull out the cave ins from what ever was mounted there, so I rigged up this to put behind it and use the slide hammer to pull out the recessed areas best I could. If the panel were bolted and sturdy I may have gotten better results, it only pulled a little and I didnt want to distort any more of it.





After prepping each hole I would backplate with a piece of copper with a clamp and puddle in some metal with the MIG. After doing all of the holes I cut out the rear tail lamp base of the panel that was rusted through and welded on a patch panel piece. It was from Top Banana and fit pretty much like the original only the flange didnt come down as far for that spot weld, so I had to fill that hole too.





Then I dealt with that rear side blinker hole I dont want.
I took some scrap and cut a circle with the snips and tacked it in and used the overlapping tack, planish, and grind method Robert helped me with. Its getting better results now. Another thing I tried that helped me in grinding was to use my shop light to better see the weld proud from the side as I am grinding and also it helps me steady the grinder against it so I dont mess up as much.




Still have a few things to get done on this panel then I'll be gearing up for the cab and other parts to get blasted so I can get them in the garage and keep at it.

[Palf70Step]

Nice Work!

[flashed]

You made that look too easy .

[DPowers]

Great progress

[msg]

Originally Posted by DPowers

Great progress

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice Work!

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by flashed

You made that look too easy .

Its getting easier with practice, but those pics cover hours of head scratching and working

The panel had an area that had a good bit of body filler in it, so I tried getting it raised up with the help of the stud welder. First try I pulled to hard in one spot and got a bump that I tried to shrink with a propane torch but it just kept getting worse. So I reached out to Robert (MP&C) and he was helpful and generous as always giving me pointers on how to better understand what to do.


But even with the pro tips I had a full day of trial and error. I would get it pulled out perfect with the studs and slide hammer and there would be no oil canning. But even as I would go very slow cutting off the studs and grinding each one down slowly by starting and stopping, the oil canning would happen and it would pop right back down

When I used the shrinking disk or torch the heat spread too wide and raised and expanded too much. What worked best for me to shrink the oil canning out was to use the stud welder to get smaller raised areas hot and then cool with a wet rag.

Finally got what I was after, more level and no oil canning!!



Then there was a dent in the back post cap area, so I found a slot in the side of the post I could get a screwdriver into and banged it out. But of course I stretched the area in doing this but the stud welder shrink method worked out.



Then I painted it up w 2 coats of epoxy primer and stored it away.

[msg]

After a long break away Ive been trying to get back to it.

I have been off and on getting things done but not updating this post, so I'll get a few posts going here and get the progress updated.

The cab I had taken back in February to the blasters in a rental moving truck with the help from my neighbor. Just enough room to transport it along with the hood and some other parts.



Then I got it back to the garage and got it onto the cart



and heres what it looks like




The next thing I did though was work on the hood. I'll post some pics in a bit on the work I did there.

[msg]

This is a recap from a different thread I had going where I had asked some questions about the hood corner patch repair.
(link to that thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=701476)

The things I noticed only weeks after they dropped off the hood.

The cab was delivered along with the hood, and hood was placed on work horses in my garage. They told me the paint wasnt blasted off since I took the braces off the middle of the hood and they were worried about warpage.
I was so distracted I guess by the fact I was gonna have to get my sander out and strip off the paint, that I didnt notice all the damage they did moving it around. If you look at the popped out areas of paint right in the center where the embossed area is that goes down the center thats where the forklift i guess creased and dented that area. Took me a full day to get that dents out there.





another dent, looked the same on the other side.



After sanding all the paint off I started to make cuts on the rusted corners..


Then took some rocker panels that I had ordered by mistake many years ago and used it to cut to fabricate the patch panels I needed. Turns out I needed a full inner rocker panel instead on both sides.



I cut out a section of the patch panel and flattened it out, then used a brake that I picked up at HF to get the edges formed



A dolly that I had was a good match to the curve of the original panel I cut that needed to form the new one.



After some pounding and bending I got one done.


Then I got to work on the other patch I needed






Then I got them epoxy primered..

[NevEno]

Looking good!

[msg]

Originally Posted by NevEno

Looking good!

Thanks NevEno! I dont see how you do it..Ive only got 1 truck going and its creeping on progress. Its my first time though so next time I hope goes smoother. Your thread is inspirational.

This stuff Im posting now is from March, reminding me of that progress graph you posted in your thread

Anyways here goes, the next thing was to get the patches in place, so I prepped the area behind the patch area, the inner brace that I could reach with wire wheel, then ospho, then degreaser and then slathered epoxy primer, 3 coats worth in there.



then took the patch I made and used the snips to get it to size, overlayed the patch to the hood, made a mark of where I still needed to snip a bit to fit, then tacked it in. These areas Im finding are tough since you cant get access behind to make the repair unless you disassemble the whole brace spot welds and all. More work than I was willing to do this time.

[msg]

Also did the same on the passenger side repair






Then I got going on the cab driver side





The rear pillar looked ok after a wire wheel spin



not so good on the front one, in fact Ive wondered after seeing how the fender brace does the same if there isnt a modification thats needed here on the new patch I put in. Cutting out a drain hole at the bottom maybe?



Then cut the rear cab driver section that was bad.

[msg]

Before I started cutting off the inner rocker, pillar, and kick panel I put a t square to work and marked off some spots along the way to measure how far the original edge of the inner rocker was. So i took pics and notes on all that.


The kick panel seemed like a good place to start, so I taped off an edge to make a cut.


Then I scribed off the area to cut out of the inner rocker panel and cab floor. Only marked to cut what was bad after reading from alot of guys never to remove good metal just because you have a new patch panel. The other thing I have been reading about is how others have used a method of cutting where they take the patch panel, line it up and overlay it onto the area to be cut, then use self tapping sheet metal screws to drill it in place and then make the cut. I have yet though been able to figure out for the patches Ive had to make, how to do this.

For example the inner rocker, how are you supposed to overlay it to begin with? Its got so many bends and curves and folds it just didnt seem possible to get lined up right to use the self tapping screws?



So without knowing how to use that method I just started making cuts.





After seeing how much rust was in that brace I decided to go ahead and cut an area back to the floor mount.

[msg]

So I cut it back and got to wire wheelin and cleaning it out the best I could.



Then got the degreaser/cleaner and scrubbed it out and then applied Ospho and neutralized with water cleaned it all off and let it dry.



Then epoxy primered it all up, but I think though for the inner braces that need work like this I'll use some POR15 I just got.



Then I had to recover the mounting disc/plate and clean it up and paint it.



I cut out a cardboard template of what I needed for the floor panel repair.



Got it all painted and lined up



Spot welded the disc to the panel



Lined it all up and welded it in

[84blaze]

Nice work so far. That rust repair seems so time consuming nice to see youre staying motivated on the project.