'50 chevy 3100

[Matt_50]

Lol, and I didn't get all the bondo off either.

[Matt_50]

Today I cut a small patch for the other side like the one I just did, but I didn't put it on yet.

Since my cab corners should be here Tuesday, I thought I'd better do some more prep. Got thevrest of the bondo off and went ahead and cut out just the rust area on passenger side. The inner looked more complete and I thought if I was careful I could copy or patch it and then use it for reference on driver side.

[Matt_50]

Got an hour in today. I recut the outer skin about a 1/2 inch up. I used electrical tape, and carefully laid it around the curve and I got a nice straighter line. Previously I was just cutting out the rust and evaluating the inner piece.

Cut out a section and put in the piece I formed yesterday. I put it a vice to get my lip and then used pliers as a crude tucking fork. It required a lot of work to tuck then hammer then tuck and hammer to get a flat curved pieced, not perfect but not bad. I did lap weld it, not by much but this is a nice hidden area and having overlapping pieces or a backing piece sure has helped with my flux core welding and limited skills. I'll seal it real good.

[joedoh]

looking good! I just picked up inner and outer cab corners today, I will be doing this work this weekend likely.

[gigamanx]

I find body work therapeutic. Being able to make something out of a flat sheet of metal and it ends up pretty solid and permanent. 50 years from now, you'll have the guy with the big car shop and the TIG welder stripping down the truck saying "what was this guy thinking." haha...

[Matt_50]

I have been ok only recently doing some welding all by myself, but to tackle a cab corner... I'm very pleased with myself! I know it's not done, I'm going to fill it in slowly.

I did use a 1/2 strip behind to act as a backing piece because of burn through. I don't burn through as often as I did even just a few months ago but it still happens.

[8man]

Go slow and practice, practice, practice. It looks like you are getting there. Good work.

[Matt_50]

We've been getting a little rain so I kept the passenger side primered and cut the rust out of driver side so I could cut rust out of the inner piece.

[8man]

It doesn't rain in Odessa!

Keep up the good work.

[joedoh]

you are going to be a cab rebuild specialist by the time you are done!

[Matt_50]

Two surprises when I got home!

All my goodies are in except one back ordered spring eye bolt. I didnt expect the u bolts yet.


2nd surprise was my Great Pyrenees got a little sick. Explosive watery diarrhea sick. Omg the smell was awful. Thankfully on tile... not exactly what you expect when you get home.

[joedoh]

I'd love a pyr, I have a little more than an acre, but my wife is scared of their size.

[Matt_50]

I grew up with dogs and had a pyr. My wife never even had a goldfish! We got married and I said we need a dog. She said outside right? I was like sure sure... and he never spent a night out lol. She loves him, spoils him more than me.

[Matt_50]

I started taking my front axle and springs apart a few days ago and I got rid of my jacked up hanger. Probably fixable butbi found another really cheap so I went that route. Had to cut it out, PO welded it for some reason. Got a couple spots to fix up but no big deal.

[Matt_50]

I got 20 minutes in, literally lol. Wire wheeled and primered passenger springs.

[Matt_50]

Springs are ready to assemble. I've got liner and new bolts too.

[joedoh]

looks good! the local spring shop uses this black suspension paint on springs that doesnt seem to fully dry, like its mixed with graphite or something. makes an awful mess of your shirt if you arent paying attention

[Matt_50]

I got my disc kit in! I hope to get it installed soon. I want a factory look to the wheels and tires. Plain or old wheels with a skinny tire.

Any suggestions on backspacing?

[GreasyLikeaBurger]

Theres always companies like wheel vintiques https://www.wheelvintiques.com/ Pretty sure there are a few more that offer custom sizes. I think I bought my wheels from them 15 years ago. Like others suggested on the other post, measure for back spacing and wheel/tire size.

[Matt_50]

Disc kit conversion done! I hope... the instructions kinda sucked. The only way it worked was to have the caliper towards the front. Is this right?

[Matt_50]

I got a hold of tech support and I do need to swap the brackets around. My instructions didntvsay to, but I have to grind the steering stop a tad so it will clear. Good thing I didn't put it completely together.

[Matt_50]

Well power steering kit requires that the lower shock mounts go towards the rear. Again, I'm glad I didn't quite put it all together and torque everything. I went ahead and dropped the axle again so I could roll it over and tap on the end caps that cover the kingpins. Bottom ones were to much of a pain trying to do that underneath. Moved the shock mounts around and ground just a tad off of the steering stops and moved the caliper brackets around so that the calipers are towards the cab.

Got the gearbox kinda in place, need to make a bracket and was able to borrow the tool needed to pull off the c10s pitman arm. The p/s kit's draglink wouldn't thread on the tie rod in on one side. Before I chased the threads I thought I'd call POL and they said no big deal another draglink is in the mail.

[Matt_50]

Me and a friend if mine worked on the truck a little, took our sweet time on the passenger corner, so far no warping! Needs another pass though. Driver side inner is in, and started fitting outer to fit. Messed with a couple other things but the corners are the big part for now.

[joedoh]

All Seasons Garage™ !!

I have been working with the garage doors open, man I love fall.

[Matt_50]

Brake lines are in the mail! And I got an early birthday present from my wife! A radio with all the stuff I wanted. Has siriusxm so I won't have to mount a separate controller and is Bluetooth with lots of extra plug in stuff in the back. Should look like this pic when done.

I need to do some searches to figure out how I will do the speakers and which one to get. Any suggestions?