Wampus Cat

[EagleScreech]

Awesome pics and info here. Thank you!

[roll_the_dice]

Thanks for the great seam sealer write up...I am doing mine in about 2 weeks! This is perfect timing!

[slammed57]

nice fab work. keep the pics comming

[TxCajun]

Work Shop Electrical

I finished the assembly of the steel building workshop back in November 2018, and have been using it with just two 100' extension cords running from the house while I worked out the electrical design that I wanted and saved up the dollars.

My city electrical permit was approved in early May, and we installed the electrical at mid-month. I ran 220v power from the main panel at the front corner of the house, through the attic to the rear corner of the house, then dropped down the outside of the house to the underground run for the shop.

The area where I live is solid limestone, so we rented a rocksaw to trench 24" deep for about 96'. The limestone is fairly soft and the trenching took about half a day.

In the shop, there is a subpanel that breaks out two 220v circuits for an air compressor and a welder, and multiple 110v circuits to run outlets all around the perimeter of the shop, switched power to the ceiling for lights, switched power to the ceiling for fans, and non-switched power to the ceiling for drop lights. I also have a switched security light circuit outside and covered GFCI receptacles outside.

The install passed the building inspection, and I've been enjoying not dealing with extension cords and tripped breakers for about a week.

Next up, back to cab floor rust repair. ;-(

[TxCajun]

Floor Rust

Somewhere in the past, someone had laid bondo and fiberglass on the sides and front of the cab floor to cover the gaping rust holes. At one point I had thought about just leaving this so that I could get the truck back on the road, but after completing all the rust repairs on the roof I couldn't bring myself to leave the floor with this mess, so I started poking at it.

It appears that they slapped this bondo/fiberglass mix on top of the dirty and rusty floor with no preparation, so it was just a crusty mess. The first picture below is about a fourth of the slabs of fiberglass that popped off. Once the loose stuff came up, I used a side grinder with a wire brush cup to remove the rest. It was a dirty, itchy mess.

The second and third pictures show the rust on the driver side floor and the huge hole where the gas pedal was mounted in some of the fiberglass.

The fourth and fifth picture show the passenger side floor and the top of the passenger side rocker panel.

The cab appears to have a thin layer of undercoating on the bottom, and because both the roof and windshield leaked, it appears that the cab floor rusted from the top down (or inside to out).

The good news is that the “A” pillar structure appears intact and the rocker panels are solid except on the top.

I plan to fabricate the patch panels for repairing the floor. I bought a Harbor Freight bench top 30” metal brake for about $50 and a Harbor Freight 2 inch tear-drop mallet for about $8 for doing this. I already have some body hammers and dollys.

I plan to use some of the leftover inner roof panel material (from the Craigslist roof that I bought for roof parts) to form some of the patch panels (it appears to be the same gauge as the floor). I also bought some 18 ga and 20 ga sheet metal drops at a local metal supply shop which sells drops by the pound.

[TxCajun]

Floor Rust 2

These are some in-progress shots. My brother is in town visiting his son and has been “enjoying” playing with the metal brake and pounding/fitting panels with me. Big thanks!

The first picture is a panel being cut and formed for the passenger side floor. I don't have access to a metal roll former for making the stiffener channels for the floor, so my brother came up with the idea for cutting these parts from the leftover inner roof panel that already has some of these channel features.

The second picture shows some of the repair panels tacked in place on the driver side floor.

The third picture shows the formed piece that will be fitted to the top of the outer rocker panel on both sides of the cab. It had to be formed in two pieces because it was too long to fit in the metal brake, but we were able to create a pretty good reproduction of the flange where the door weatherstrip mounts.

[TxCajun]

Floor Rust 3

The first picture is about 2/3 of the rusty metal removed from the floors and rockers.

The second picture shows the floor repair panels welded in place and welds ground flush.

The remaining pictures are the completed repairs to the tops of the rocker panels. On the passenger side, I had to remove some of the front portion of the rocker to get to some rust repairs at the bottom of the A pillar, then rebuild and reinstall that part of the rocker.

I started removing the bed mounting bolts and plan to remove the bed and fuel tank so I can see if there are any rust areas to be repaired at the bottom rear of the cab.

[aggie91]

nice work on the cab repairs. Shop electrical looks good too.

[TxCajun]

Aggie91, ........ Thanks! I'm very happy with the shop electrical. It certainly beats dealing with the extension cords from the house, and occasional tripped breakers back at the main panel.

[TxCajun]

Bed removal.

I removed the bed so that I could work on any rust issues on the back of the cab. The bed has a welded steel tread plate floor that I estimate adds 250 to 300 pounds to the weight of the bed, but I was still able to pull it with my engine hoist. I also built a dolly to store the bed out of the way and move it around the shop.

The drivers side of the cab rear panel looks ok, but the passenger side may require a little surgical repair.

Next, I'm going to pull the gas tank so that I can inspect this area from the inside also.
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[TxCajun]

Rear cab passenger side rust repair

After removing the gas tank and doing more cleaning/inspection, this area looked suspect. When I removed the paint and scale it turned out to be perforated, so I cut out the area, made a patch using the metal brake, and welded it in.

In retrospect, I should have made the patch taller so that I would have had more access to the back of the weld in order to planish hammer the long portion of the weld. However, the seam is pretty flat after grinding, so a little body work should make it ready for paint.
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[TxCajun]

I have a few more cab rust areas to address in the rear corners and on top of the dash just below the windshield, but I was feeling kind of burned out on all of the stitch welding and grinding for the sheet metal repairs. I decided to take a break from sheet metal, and work on a trailer hitch.

A while back I had found a $15 receiver hitch on Craigslist that I thought I could modify to fit. It was originally from a 90's RAV4.

The first thing I did was modify the "leaning Z" shaped brace that is riveted as part of the frame a few inches from the rear ends of the frame rails. I turned this in to a "C" channel by bending the top flange to 90 degrees, and cutting off the bottom flange, flipping it around, and re-welding it to make the bottom of the "C". This channel is then bolted to the back of the frame to box it in. (I didn't really need to do this to support adding the trailer hitch. The modification is to make way for either a rear gas tank or a rear spare mounted on a cable or chain hoist. Direction is still to be decided.)

I then modified the receiver hitch by reducing the width about 6 inches, and adding a 4 inch wide plate to each side to lower the receiver 4 inches and move it rearward about 3 inches. I also added a 2 inch wide plate to the top of the receiver for bolting to the bottom of the rear bumper. The modified receiver hitch has two bolts per side through existing holes in the frame rails and two bolts through existing holes in the rear bumper.
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[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by TxCajun

I have a few more cab rust areas to address in the rear corners and on top of the dash just below the windshield, but I was feeling kind of burned out on all of the stitch welding and grinding for the sheet metal repairs. I decided to take a break from sheet metal, and work on a trailer hitch.

A while back I had found a $15 receiver hitch on Craigslist that I thought I could modify to fit. It was originally from a 90's RAV4.

The first thing I did was modify the "leaning Z" shaped brace that is riveted as part of the frame a few inches from the rear ends of the frame rails. I turned this in to a "C" channel by bending the top flange to 90 degrees, and cutting off the bottom flange, flipping it around, and re-welding it to make the bottom of the "C". This channel is then bolted to the back of the frame to box it in. (I didn't really need to do this to support adding the trailer hitch. The modification is to make way for either a rear gas tank or a rear spare mounted on a cable or chain hoist. Direction is still to be decided.)

I then modified the receiver hitch by reducing the width about 6 inches, and adding a 4 inch wide plate to each side to lower the receiver 4 inches and move it rearward about 3 inches. I also added a 2 inch wide plate to the top of the receiver for bolting to the bottom of the rear bumper. The modified receiver hitch has two bolts per side through existing holes in the frame rails and two bolts through existing holes in the rear bumper.
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Nice. I've been watching C-list for a similar deal. All my earlier trucks utilize hidden hitch set-ups that you can't see from the rear. I want to do a similar hitch for my OBS '99. Maybe not hidden, but out of sight vs. hanging way below the bumper.

[TxCajun]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Nice. I've been watching C-list for a similar deal. All my earlier trucks utilize hidden hitch set-ups that you can't see from the rear. I want to do a similar hitch for my OBS '99. Maybe not hidden, but out of sight vs. hanging way below the bumper.

Thanks! I like the "hidden hitch" setups that I've seen on this forum that are behind spring loaded license plates, but I didn't want to cut the old dealer bumper on the truck. I did try to tuck this hitch as close underneath and forward of the bumper as I could while still being able to bolt it to the bumper through existing holes.

You might want to look at Wrench-A-Part or Pull-A-Part yards near you for a hitch to modify. In Austin and Belton, they sell them for about $25 or $30. I was at the yard in Belton a couple weeks ago and saw a lot of hitches on 90's and 00's Chevy trucks that might be a good starting point.

(While there I pulled Jeep Cherokee rear wipers and door checks for my truck.)
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[TxCajun]

Hood Removal

I'm stripping the paint from the cab using a Twisted Wire Cup Brush on a side grinder. I have the top back and sides done. In order to get to the cowl area I needed to remove the hood, but the hood seemed a bit heavy and bulky to do by myself.

I ended up looping a tie-down strap through the hood snout and the hook on my engine hoist and putting this in slight lift/tension. Then I removed the bolts between the hood and the hinge, and then lifted the back end of the hood while swinging it forward. This worked fairly well and I was able to stand the hood up on its back edge for storage while I'm working on other areas.

Also pulled off the bumper, grill, and grill surround.

Next, back to paint stripping and a couple more rust repair areas that I've uncovered while stripping paint.
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[TxCajun]

I've been setting aside funds to buy material to build a cover over the driveway to the shop so that I have a place to work outside when the weather is nice or when I'm doing something too messy for the shop.

Finally was able to buy the steel last month (although it cost 30% more than the quote I got last fall thanks to steel tariffs !%#@##!!! ).

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[TxCajun]

Continuing to remove paint from the cab, but finding more rust in the lower rear corners and the A-pillar drip rails.

Just when you think you're done with rust and can make some progress on other stuff ............ :-(

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[TxCajun]

Rear cab corner rust repair.

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[TxCajun]

More paint stripping and body work.

I've been stripping the cab exterior and interior with cup wire wheels on a grinder, but my brother suggested that I look in to media blasting for some of the other parts.
I took the hood, doors, grill, and a couple other items to a wet media blaster and the results were very good.
I think I can repair most of the newly uncovered rust, dents, and old dent-pull-holes with the welder and some fabricated patches.
However the lower nose of the hood is pretty far gone and has multiple curves that I probably can't duplicate in a fabricated patch so I've ordered a replacement. Found a pretty good deal on eBay through CarID with free shipping for a TriPlus™ Lower Hood Repair Panel (302-4060-1) by Auto Metal Direct®. Will show the install of this panel in an upcoming post.

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[Grizz1963]

Two things, maybe three.

Love the problem solving on hood removal.

Love the carport, extended roof even more, I have a large shop but would love to extend my undercover space more.

Third, really like your systematic approach to your build.

[SCOTI]

That hood.... Yuck.

[TxCajun]

Hood Lower Valence Replacement

Well, as you can see from the media blast photos shown above, the hood lower valence needed to go as it was really rotten.

I looked around quite a bit and decided to buy an Auto Metal Direct TriPlus Lower Hood Repair Panel from CarID. Through eBay it was about $180.

I first removed the inner hood support by drilling out about 40 spot welds. This piece turned out to not have any significant rust damage but did have a few cracks in the corners that needed to be welded. It was also slightly tweaked, but a little bending and hammer work fixed that.

Before removing the Lower Panel from the front of the hood, I clamped a piece of angle across the front of the hood to help retain the hood shape.
The hood gets very wobbly when this lower panel is removed.

Because the Lower Panel spot welds that attach it to the hood are not accessible with a drill or spot weld cutter, I cut off this part with a side grinder and cutting wheel just shy of the seam, then used a spot weld cutter and a grinder to remove about 35 spot welds and clean up the joint.

The new Lower Hood Repair Panel fit fairly well but did require some massaging on the rear flanges at each end. I also had to drill holes for all of the plug welds that I would need to attach the new part to the hood and the inner hood support.

The Lower Hood Repair Panel was fitted in place and secured with a bunch of clamps. I then started plug welding from the center and worked my way out to each end.

Next, was cleaning up and painting the topside of the inner hood support and the underside of the hood where the support would cover it. I then positioned the inner hood support in place, secured it with a bunch of clamps, then started plug welding from the center and worked my way out.

The end results are pretty good, and the new Lower Hood Panel is a huge improvement over the rotten one that I removed.

I worked a few other areas on the hood that needed some hammer and dolly massaging. The next step is to get the hood primered since it is starting to get some flash rust on the media blasted parts. Hoping for a few warm, dry days early next week.

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[SCOTI]

Fit looks pretty decent 🤓👍

[TxCajun]

Scoti, thanks for the comments on the hood lower valence fit.

My brother was a big help in getting that aligned, clamped and welded, plus working out a few dents. On that big hood, it is more than a one man job.

My brother is also loaning his Iwata paint gun to me and got me up to speed on using the gun so the hood now has a coat of two-part epoxy primer which makes it look even better.

I'm using paint supplies from the local TASCO Auto Color shop. For the media blasted parts I used the PPG SX579 Metal Cleaner, then the PPG SX520 Metal Conditioner, let that dry overnight, then sprayed a coat of the JP375 Epoxy Primer mixed with JH3770 Primer Hardener.

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[TxCajun]

Fenders

The media blasting of the fenders revealed some cracks, a bunch of holes that had been previously made for pulling dents, and some big dents that had just been filled with lots of body putty.

In addition, there was rust in the rear lower sections. When I cut out these areas for repair, I found the inner braces were full of hardened mud/rocks/rust that had to be chiseled out.

After much hammer & dolly work, patching, and welding, the fenders also got a coat of epoxy primer.

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