Dug's 1959 Fleetside

[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.

[dug224]

Side note...I entered the '75 TL230 in my first motorcycle show last weekend. Came in second to an incredible Italian Harley (cycle behind mine). Had a blast. I suspect I will retire from the show circuit with this second place win under my belt and go out a winner or, as some say, the first loser.

[dsraven]

I can't believe that italian harley won you out. not even a front fender on it.
i suggest to give the sandblasted stuff a quick sand to knock down some of the profile left from blasting before you spray epoxy.

[dsraven]

cab looks good.
also wanted to mention the lead filler in the cab corners can be removed and regular filler used instead. primer sticks better from what I have heard. some guys will use the filler with metal in it, all metal, but it is prone to cracking and other issues. regular filler is better I think, if you are going to do anything with it at "roof time"

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

I can't believe that italian harley won you out. not even a front fender on it.
i suggest to give the sandblasted stuff a quick sand to knock down some of the profile left from blasting before you spray epoxy.

Good idea. Profile is pretty high at this time. I'm shooting fine glass in my blast cabinet so I am not used to seeing such a coarse finish. I figure can hit it all with at least 180 grit before spraying primer. The lead filler looks pretty good. I'll see what it looks like after priming.

[dsraven]

be carefull over the leaded areas because the soft lead can grab onto and hold the sand from blasting or sanding and that can give you paint problems (silica sand). some say to use a vixen file over the leaded areas and not sand them for this reason. the sand granules cause paint bubles or craters from loss of adhesion, like an oil spot would. clean really well after working and before spraying epoxy.
just a heads up.

[dsraven]

be carefull welding the roof holes. do small welds and walk away so the area doesn't warp from heat expansion. trust me on this one.

[dug224]

Originally Posted by dsraven

be carefull welding the roof holes. do small welds and walk away so the area doesn't warp from heat expansion. trust me on this one.

Maybe it will warp back into shape!!!! Ha!

[dsraven]

well, there is always that possibility. think warm thoughts and hum a lot....

[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

[dsraven]

truck looks good.

that felt wire cleaner was from the welding supply place. it is a barrel shaped felt with a slice in it to allow the wire to be inserted into the barrel, then a sheet metal style spring goes over the felt to keep it on the wire. it goes on the wire just after the spool but before the feed motor and will naturally follow the wire up until the barrel gets high centered on something that stops it's travel. then the wire simple slips through and gets cleaned at the same time. if you think about it there isn't much time when the welder is running without some grinding operation or whatever going on so it makes sense. cheap too. I'll get a pic later for you.
keep plugging away, literally. haha

[dsraven]

pic of the wire cleaner

[rapid49]

A filter off of a cigarette works perfect for a wire cleaner .

[dug224]

Dennis & rapdi49: Great suggestions on keeping the wire clean. Also noticed people using ear plugs. Since I have a bag of ear plugs, I expect I'll be using one of them to do the job.

Still "plugging" along. I have 75% of the holes welded closed and will be working on the lower passenger hinge pocket next. The driver's side looks good so I will be simply touching up some welds in that area and renewing the seam sealer.


Trimmed out the rotten sheet metal. I'll be going back with whatever I can get to fill the hole and still get the welder in there. I'll probably weld straight to the lower fender mounting bracket rather than trying to recreate a separate hinge pocket floor like I cut out. It won't look like it did from the factory but it will be water tight.



Note the left over undercoating in the previous shot. I took ptc's advice and used a chisel to try to pop it off. The stuff came right off. Wish I had taken his approach earlier!!

[58CameoAZ]

I have posted this before, But, Harbor Freights Air Gasket Scraper works
"GREAT" for removing the original undercoating you have in your pics.
Takes it off very fast and clean, fwiw,

Allen

[dug224]

Originally Posted by 58CameoAZ

I have posted this before, But, Harbor Freights Air Gasket Scraper works "GREAT" for removing the original undercoating you have in your pics. Takes it off very fast and clean, fwiw,

Allen

Allen: I took a look at the HF site. I can see how it would remove the stuff in a hurry! Fortunately, most all of my undercoating is now gone. Will use on the next project for sure. Thx

[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