47-59 home made portable planishing hammer build

[leegreen]

That looks great!

[FinnDiesel]

Lot of stressful work, but looks really good.

[Kevin_C]

Going to be a sharp looking truck!

[FinnDiesel]

See Bellos Kustoms on the Utoob -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rNwbjmweOE
He builds the outer edges first and then lays the roof as a whole and welds to the strong areas for minimal warpage I imagine.

[dsraven]

Well, NOW you tell me.
Lol
Did some leak testing and I have some rewarding to get done. Mig isn't really the best if you gotta work the area, but that's what I had at the time.
Now gotta de with HAZ
Grrrrr

[dsraven]

rewelding
autocorrect is awesome
not looking forward to this part

[leegreen]

take your time. extra time to cool grind down and stretch welds as you go saves you time in the long run.

[dsraven]

Used compressed air from inside along seam. Brake clean on outside. Look for bubbles or blow out area. Found lots. Mig didn't like the working along seam apparently.
Drilled very small hole through each pinhole
I'll try some tig welding on the holes tomorrow if I get time
Appointments every day this week. Day interceptors
Anyway, keep you all posted. Thanks for showing the interest and giving pointers. Appreciated.

[dsraven]

I watched the u tube vid. good idea to use the stronger edge area for the seams. I lengthened mine so pretty hard to make that work unless I had a longer piece of roof to use.
might hafta walk away from it for a day or two to allow the internal pressures to equalize. I built up a little steam this morning when i was trying to weld up some pin holes. lol.

[dsraven]

post 58
day interuptors
pretty sure thats what I typed. gotta start proof reading before I hit go.

[dsraven]

well, the roof is done finally. no leaks in the welds either. all planished and sanded 40-80-120 grit. the home made planishing hammer worked well, as did the shrinking disc and laundry iron (here and there)
.
now on to the dash graft.

thanks for the input everybody. appreciate the comments, ideas and the fire lit under my seat cushion when things didn't go so well, lol.

[leegreen]

looks great!

Let us follow along on the dash graft too, I'd like to see it.

[Rickysnickers]

Nice job Dennis!

[FinnDiesel]

Looks great in the photos! You must be happy to get that behind you.
The side shot could be travelling in either direction if one didn't know the vehicle.

[dsraven]

thanks for the comments everybody.
I'm currently working on fitting the envoy dash to the cab and filling the gaps around the windshield. when thats done i need to replace some of the window surround, since it is rust pitted badly in the lower corner areas. i have another outer cowl that has the patches i need so i don't have to hand form them at least.

[dsraven]

the dash to windshield filler will be 4 shorter sections welded together once formed. less chance of getting things twisted by accident

[FinnDiesel]

That is neat work. Add a 1/4" rod for stiffening if needed at the dash side. Nice roller tool - princess auto?

[FinnDiesel]

Are you planning 4WD, AWD or RWD?

[dsraven]

Thanks
There is a 18ga steel strip underneath that the dash pad sits on. The upper part will be welded to the windshield bead and have a u shaped door trim on the edge to finish. It will all be screwed together with another trim piece to sandwich it all for zero rattles hopefully
The bead roller is from kms tools. It was pretty light duty for rolling 16 or 18ga and would move around so I reinforced it overkill likely. Haha.
I built the drive system from a princess auto shaft flange built for weld on sprockets. I simply made a chevy flywheel fit that. Then modified a chevy starter so the shaft would protrude through the rear housing. That is driven by my milwaukee drill. The drill is actuated by my home made, bike pedal cable operated, foot pedal and another home made adapter for the drill. Works good because the drill stops right away when the pedal is released. I have seen others using a gear reduction box or chain drive set up with a motor but they seem to run on till the motor finally stops. That can make it harder to do precise rolling around corners etc.
Another tool that is really handy for turning an edge is simply a short length of shaft with a hacksaw cut slot in the end. Taper the shaft to be flat on 2 sides to match the slot then it can be slipped over sheet metal to bend the edge. Useful for this project cuz the roller can't get close enough to the acute angle needed for the windshield bead.
My frame swap unit is a real 4x4 with transfer case that does 2H, 4H, AWD and 4L. Not that it's a heavy duty front axle diff or anything but will be fine for the boat launch etc.

[dsraven]

I cleaned up the shop yesterday but had a little time to finish fitting the dash filler parts. then welded the 4 parts together to get 2 sides with a joint in the center. tomorrow i will weld the joint together. then take the dash pad out to finish welding in the under side 18ga "shelf" that the pad sits on, figure out how i will make the wipers work and also mark and cut the holes for the defrost vents. then the envoy heater will need to be adapted so the original envoy defrost system will allow the wiper motor and linkage but also fit up to a defrost and vent system.

[dsraven]

a few pics

[FinnDiesel]

Really nice work. How do the dash ends work out? Did u have to cut and now replace or is the width ok ?
See, I knew you needed a build blog !
My GMT800 dash ends were cut about 1-1/2" each side and I fab'd up removal metal end panels. They incorporate decently into the vents etc.

[dsraven]

I wrecked 2 envoys, that were write offs, so i am lucky enough to have a mock up dash and a final dash.
I started by peeling back the vinyl covering on the dash pad, then cutting the plastic "body" of the dash to fit into the openiong between the closed doors. i cut it a little too narrow but it's the test fit dash so I'm not worried about it much. then i bolted it in. obviously the pad is too high on the drivers end because thats where the headlight switch is located and GM put a clip in panel there to hold that. it actually worked to my advantage because without the switch plate there i can see whats going on and also heat and bend the dash plastic to fit the cab better. on the drivers side there is a latge vent that removes similar to the headlight switch and I peeled back the vinyl and cut the dash to keep that. on this end i will plastic weld a new end cap onto the dash and then work the old vinyl around that with a thin upholstery foam under it, or else simply do a new hard finished panel to cover the end. i am hoping to leave that area of the door alone but if need be i will sculpt the door to fit around the dash end.
doors come after the dash is done
the dash screws to the metal structure removed fom the envoy so where the dash fits against the windshield is simply to hold it in place and not flop around and squeak etc.

[dsraven]

I got my wiper motor installed today. the shaft angle matches the wiper arm shaft angle. I mounted it as high as i could because I need the room under it for the heater etc. i'll hafta fab some linkage arms to fit around stuff.
took quite awhile to make the little brackets with rubber mounts, the bracket on the drivers side and to figure out how to mount the passenger side. getting the angle to match was also a chore. i used hose clamps on the brackets and the tubes xoming off the motor. that way i could get it in place and then adjust things for center and angle. the clamps are gone but it is all just tacked together in those places
i had to air hammer the firewall above the motor to make a little room above. well, actually, i air hammered it alot. now I will hafta mod the grille in front of the windshield. oh well, it will just be the center section and won't be much

[dsraven]

this is what it looked like from the donor