Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Dug,
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it would have been better if you'd have drilled out the roof spot welds and removed it before taking it to the blaster. There is typically rust all over the top side of peripheral interior metal "headliner" surround.

It's the one thing I wish I'd have done in redoing by entire truck.

Agree. If I decide to take it off, I'll fire up my little blaster and take care of it. As of today, I'm thinking I'll hammer and dolly it the best I can and get the truck on the road. Maybe after I build the new house, I'll do a good paint job!! Thx

[dug224]

Made some headway on the bumper brackets. Before cutting the welds I made when I set up the bumper when the body was in place, I drilled pilot holes to index the brackets to the frame. Drilled the big holes in the brackets using my drill press and the final holes in the frame using my cordless. Frame tube is much lighter than the plate steel I used for the brackets. My new Drill Doctor is keeping the bits sharp which really helps with my lack of patience when it comes to drilling large holes.

Note that the vertical portion of the bracket is really close to the big sway bar. I had to grind out a rounded section to give my self about 3/8" clearance which can kind of be seen in the third photo below.


Nuts setup for welding. The top one in the horizontal position is the front core support body mount. Took this opportunity to weld it to the frame as well. Used all three bolts to position the bumper bracket then removed the front lower one before welding so I could get the welder down inside the frame tube to tack the back bolt.


Nuts tacked into place.





The entire picture with the core support still up on 4x4's.

[dug224]

James the blaster was kind enough to send me some progress pictures on the cab blasting.


Yikes.


A little primer and I'll be ready to pick it up.

[Scottish58chev]

Looking really good

[dug224]

Decided to bring the cab home today without any primer on it. It will make tackling the additional welding faster since I won't be having to sand any primer off. Weather here is good so it will make it into my conditioned garage before any rain. With that said, does anyone have an inexpensive solution to temporarily coating raw sheet metal to prevent rusting that is easily removed when it comes time to paint???

[ptc]

If you use epoxy primer, you dont have to sand it off to apply your bondo, just 80 grit it and apply it right over the top of the epoxy. Its a great seal for the metal and a good adhesive for filler. Thats what my guy did. If your blaster can paint it there just have them do it.

[dsraven]

same same with PTC, epoxy it as soon as possible. is buffs off fairly easily when cured. you don't need to sand it to bare metal for filler, the filler will stick fine to the epoxy and some say it is better because the filler can hold condensation so if it is on top of epoxy the metal is sealed from that.
man, you have some serious hammer and dolly work to do on that roof. or just weld the holes closed, epoxy it, fill the crap out of it and drive it for now. paint it after the house is done. you never know when a something accidentally dings the roof when loading at the lumber yard or hauling garbage anyway. throw a new roof panel on later.

[dug224]

Gents: You talked me into it. I'll purchase some epoxy primer and spray asap......but first, I'll hit the welding and grinding hard for the next couple of days and get it primed this weekend. I am still leaning towards getting the holes welded up with some body work here and there and getting it painted and on the road.

Cab is safely home in the garage. Overall, it is in really good shape.


Only one surprise. The bottom of the passenger hinge pillar has a blow thru. I'll patch with some sheet metal I have in stock.


Starting devising a production approach to filling the trim holes. Can't get to the back of it so I am using a small nail that I bent 45 degrees. Should go pretty quickly.


James the blaster kindly offered me a deal I couldn't refuse. He has some left over "RAPTOR" 2 part protective coating and offered to let me coat the bottom of my truck with it. They are spraying pipe racks with it and it appears to hold up really well with some pretty tough use.

[BIGglaSS]

Originally Posted by dug224

With that said, does anyone have an inexpensive solution to temporarily coating raw sheet metal to prevent rusting that is easily removed when it comes time to paint???

NOTHING! Get your metal work done, then buzz with 80grit D/A if there is a little bit of oxidation. Anything you put on it is a contamination for epoxy! Try to keep hand prints off the bare metal.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by BIGglaSS

NOTHING! Get your metal work done, then buzz with 80grit D/A if there is a little bit of oxidation. Anything you put on it is a contamination for epoxy! Try to keep hand prints off the bare metal.

Will do...I've always been a fan instructions that are direct and to the point. Even I can follow these instructions! Appreciate the input. dug

[dug224]

Was running wide open yesterday and had dedicated the entire day to welding. My welding kept getting worse and worse to the point that I stopped and starting looking closely at the machine. Turns out, the wire feed was occurring at random speeds. Took the wire spool out to make sure it was not binding only to find that the motor running by itself was running at random speeds with the trigger pulled. Called Eastwood and after a few minutes, they had me FedEx it back and will ship me a new one when they get the old one. The welder is at least a year out of warranty (purchased March 2013) and I had replaced a $40 mother board in it about 6 months ago. So far, I have been pleased with the machine and especially pleased with Eastwood's customer service.

Meanwhile, to get back on schedule, I borrowed a friend's 110V Lincoln. Really nice machine for the light repairs I am doing.

[dsraven]

good to hear you got it figured out. that is a reason why I run that felt wire cleaner on the wire just prior to entering the drive. it helps clean the wire and that keeps dirt out of the sheath in the cable so the wire drag doesn't get excessive and burn out the wire drive motor and/or wear out the sheath prematurely. it also helps to keep the cable fairly straight when using it so the wire drag stays low.
good on eastwood for yaking care of you.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

good to hear you got it figured out. that is a reason why I run that felt wire cleaner on the wire just prior to entering the drive. it helps clean the wire and that keeps dirt out of the sheath in the cable so the wire drag doesn't get excessive and burn out the wire drive motor and/or wear out the sheath prematurely. it also helps to keep the cable fairly straight when using it so the wire drag stays low. good on eastwood for yaking care of you.

Is the felt wire cleaner something you devised or can they be purchased?

[dug224]

Along with general hole filling, I got the rear seat nut plates and seat belt nut plates welded in. Seems like a lot of stuff to weld on the cab but I'm slowly marking them off of my list.

The Snap-on LED light I bought at Costco a couple of years ago sure comes in handy lighting up items I'm trying to weld.

[58CameoAZ]

Originally Posted by dug224

Along with general hole filling, I got the rear seat nut plates and seat belt nut plates welded in. Seems like a lot of stuff to weld on the cab but I'm slowly marking them off of my list.

The Snap-on LED light I bought at Costco a couple of years ago sure comes in handy lighting up items I'm trying to weld.
Attachment 1646739


Attachment 1646740

Funny, My Son Bought me one of the Snap-On Lights also, Liked it so much
I had him get me another one lol...
Truck is looking Good!
Allen

[58CameoAZ]

Fenders and Inner Fenders done? great tool for the price!

Project is looking good,

Bye the way, I had a Neighbor that i grew up with that had the same Trials Bike,
Pics of yours are like going back in time! Very nice!

Allen

[dug224]

Originally Posted by 58CameoAZ

Fenders and Inner Fenders done? great tool for the price! Project is looking good. Bye the way, I had a Neighbor that i grew up with that had the same Trials Bike. Pics of yours are like going back in time! Very nice!

Allen

The inner fenders and fenders had almost zero undercoating and they are already blasted and primed. I'm always looking to add tools to the inventory so I'll dream up an excuse to own one soon.

Thanks! The TL project was pretty fun and I'm really glad I did it but I probably should have stayed on the truck. I ended up with a bunch of new friends as a result so it was worth it. I guess I need to do a short project occasionally to keep up the enthusiasm for the '59 going. Technically, the '59 is now my "short" project and the future new house is my real project. That is, if I want to stay married. Some motivational shots I'll have to look at when I get on this thread. Maybe it will help me stay on track.

Property located on a small boat basin in Orange Beach, Alabama on the North side of the island. Looking North from ridge of the existing boathouse (before I put the metal roof on) into Wolf Bay. House will be on piles so this is the approximate elevation of porch.


Looking South up into the boat basin.

[dsraven]

looks like a really nice place to build. too bad about the water view. you gotta see that everyday?
kidding.
just dethatched my lawn for the spring. still sorta frozen/wet in the shady areas. bummer.
enjoy the warm temps. we will be at 21C for the first time since nov today. yippee

[dug224]

Managed to get the hinge pocket sealed up. Used leftover sheet metal from the '95 Bed. Yesterday, I had gotten my sandblaster out and re-blasted the driver floor and hinge pockets and made a pretty substantial mess. Took me a long time to clean up. As I started working today, sand kept coming out of every crack. After about 45 minutes, I had it all blown and vacuumed out. I stitched together 5 separate pieces. Before I welded in the largest piece, I shot it with weld through primer then some black paint on all the areas I was not welding.

[Scottish58chev]

Lot of work but looking good

[dsraven]

did you find the weld spattered quite a bit? I find the weld thru primer does that so I try to go bare metal when welding unless just spotting through a hole for a spot welded look, then I just run the drill bit through the spot weld holes to get rid of the primer on the back up material before i weld. also, the 95 box may have a zinc (?) based dip on the metal so i usually sand that off with 50 grit first along the weld area. the 04 envoy that i am using parts from has the zinc (?) dip coating on it under the paint and if you don't get it off the weld spatters a lot. also the fumes are not good for you, the weld will usually leave some white smoke trails nearby that is a dead giveaway. we should be welding in well ventilated areas anyway.
looks good. nice to have progress hey?

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

did you find the weld spattered quite a bit? I find the weld thru primer does that so I try to go bare metal when welding unless just spotting through a hole for a spot welded look, then I just run the drill bit through the spot weld holes to get rid of the primer on the back up material before i weld. also, the 95 box may have a zinc (?) based dip on the metal so i usually sand that off with 50 grit first along the weld area. the 04 envoy that i am using parts from has the zinc (?) dip coating on it under the paint and if you don't get it off the weld spatters a lot. also the fumes are not good for you, the weld will usually leave some white smoke trails nearby that is a dead giveaway. we should be welding in well ventilated areas anyway. looks good. nice to have progress hey?

Not too bad. If I could reach it, I scraped the paint off the areas I was welding or use a bit like you stated. Not a fan of any fumes. When I'm welding, I have the garage door open and I turn on my horizontal Air Handling Unit which is near the garage door to positively pressurize the garage.

[dug224]

My smooth cowl came in. Brothers Truck Parts is putting the pieces I need on sale just about the time I need them. I'll be stitching this one for quite some time.


If anyone needs my old louvered cowl, let me know and I'll give it to you as long as you cover shipping. It is in great shape with zero rust. Send me a PM if interested.




Also, a friend was tossing this Police issue Harley Davidson trunk. Was looking for some place to store the jack tools but not sure, if I used this, where it would go. Would have also made an interesting looking center console....if it would have fit.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by Scottish58chev

Lot of work but looking good

Agree and thanks! I blew through 7 hours straight yesterday and didn't even realize it. Still having fun working on it.

[dsraven]

you are right, that bag would be interesting as a console.
it's good to see you have time for some truck live. been doing the odd thing on mine as well. melding the parts together and figuring out what I will do for this and that. you been there too with the trailblazer swap thing.
I like to open the garage door and entrance door as well. just a bit cooler here at times plus I want to keep my neighbours happy with less noise so I open and close a lot if i am hammering or grinding.
nice pics.