64 "Large Marge" LWB-SWB / Build thread.

[Bomp]

Wow, I ran across your fender fix on FB and you mentioned your thread.
I started skimming through the build thinking, "oh, this is like all the others."
While reading I realized this is NO ORDINARY BUILD.
I ended up re-reading, going back through, studied some pics, even ordered the Honda door seals.
Tons of good info here and all written out clearly.
Great build.
Congrats on the photo shoot in August.

[4mulaSvaliant]

Thanks man! Much appreciated.

I like to learn from others as well so explaining it all well is just me trying to pay it forward for all I gather on here. Im just trying to build a solid daily driver and enjoy it while I run the piss out of it!
I've been watching yours for a while as well!

Thanks again... Ill be posting up the fabrication stuff very soon too.

[4mulaSvaliant]

I need to get my Hood repair pics posted! Maybe this week!

[4mulaSvaliant]

So a while back I drove nearly across state to pick up a decent hood as mine was shot! The entire front section (the one you can buy) was rotted like crazy as well as the typical places back near the hinges.

The new one I bought only have rust back at the hinge area and I figured Id document how I repair this stuff. I had it in mind as I repaired them, that I would do a little write up, so I wrote on the hood itself through out the repairs.

Here we go.

Here are the rusted sections.

Passenger side:


Drivers side:



So beginning with an over sized patch, I bent the flanges to match the hood. As you can see I dont have many fancy tools.


Both flanges bent down.



Here is the panel with both flanges. You can see I have not cut the rusted area out. I like to make my patches, get them cut as a finished patch, then scribe the patch directly on the area to be replaced. Its much easier to achieve a nice clean fit in this manner (most times)



I used a profile gauge here (cheap one from harbor Freight) but you do not really need it for such a small and simple part.

It is nice however when working that curve into the part while standing at the Shrinker / Stretcher. This way I dont have to check the part against the hood so often. (just makes for less wandering around the garage)


Notes!!!!



A little shrinking and stretching on the flange I made. As you can see by shrinking and stretching the flange in the right areas, you can match the profile gauge.



On the other end (witout the flange) youll have to hand form the curve a bit. But because only 6" (roughly) away, the flange is trying to hold the shape for you.



Here you can see I have the profile in an acceptable tolerance. (good enough for my junk)









Now cut the rot out! Be careful not to cut the inner structure if you can help it. Though you can always weld it again so.... But its best to try to leave it untouched.
Cut the spot welds with a spot weld cutter (Harbor Freight for like $5.00)



You will likely find all the junk under there, that has caused your rot! Clean it and treat it to prevent more rust (as much as possible)










Now is where you want to make sure you make a great fit. This will save you more work later.
Ill go into a bit of info here.
So there are a few things people think about the fit. Some people like to leave a bit of a gap. The idea behind this is that once you have ground off the weld that is proud (sticking above the surface) that you will then have some of the weld left between the two panels and it will be a strong weld.

There are a few things that can hurt you by doing this though.
1. If your welder is set up correctly and you have good penetration through the sheet metal, then there is no need for the "filler" between the the panels. This is because the material from both sides will essentially melt together when there is both good penetration and a nice close fit. Basically the 2 pcs become one when the melt together.

2. Warpage..... when there is a gap, that means there is slack for the two panels to draw closer to each other. No matter the thickness of the material, it WILL shrink. And it WILL shrink from all the way around your weld toward the cent of the weld. If you give excess gap, it allows the panels to move toward each other when they shrink. Of course this on a microscopic scale, but when added up by multiple tacks, you'll notice it and it will cause you problems.
Beyond that, the gap will require more filler wire. More filler wire means more heat. More heat means more warping.

So the idea here is to keep the heat to a minimum. Quick, small diameter..BUT HOT... tacks are desired. that sounds counter productive, but a nice HOT tack will penetrate well the first time and you will not have to go back for pinholes or re-weld once you have ground off the top of the weld to find out that it didn't actually penetrate well and was primarily just on the surface.

OK I shall continue with pictures... LOL



I like to use a punch to allow me to "plug weld" back to the original steel that the outer skin was spot welded to.



A few well placed holes will help very well!





Tack her in when you feel you are happy with the fit!



A nice flush fit will save you body work later of course!



Here I have roughly ground the top of the tacks off. Be sure to tack a few places, elt it cool, grind the surface of the weld off, and repeat!


After the whole seam has been welded, finish grins / file, etc.... However you prefer to get a nice flat finish.



Of course some beer is needed!




The otehr side was done in exactly the same manner!

[tinydb84]

Great patch! Man I want to buy a shrinker/stretcher

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

4mulaSvaliant, thanks for documenting your body patching method. I'd never thought of using a profile gauge for doing bodywork. Great tip!

[Palf70Step]

Nice work.

[clemdaddy]

nice job…really like your explanations on doing the fab work.

[Grizz1963]

Thank you for the tutorial.

These build threads are my school.

[Bomp]

Nice work. Thanks for going in depth on cleaning and treating issues behind the sheet metal.

[4mulaSvaliant]

Thanks guys! Been doing this stuff for a bit now. Always trying to step up my game a bit more.

I am scheduled to attend a metal shaping class at Yocums Rod shop next month. Kyle is insanely talented dude, and I hope to step up my game a bit after his class.

Here is a firewall I recently finished on a 28 Ford Roadster pickup I am building for a friend.




The Chevy straight 6 sits within the firewall, and multiple items have been built around when it came to the firewall shape. I like that look.

[4mulaSvaliant]

SO as day light begins to shorten as fall approaches, it got me to thinking about the commute I have. During the winter months, like many of you, its dark both when I head to work as well as the drive home. All that said, I want to address my old factory head light set up.

A little bit of searching on the site of course turned up great info and I have already ordered the components needed. Hopefully I can have this relay and H4 upgrade done in the coming weeks.
Ill be sure to document it well when it happens for any of you that may be reading this.

I picked up good quality items because yet again this ol truck is DAILY DRIVEN and I need it reliable!

Bosch relays and Hella H4 lens are whats in the mail!







Aside from that, I think it would be a wise idea to do a little "winter forethought", and I should probably also address the heater box and its air tightness. I know last winter I threw it all together and it functions just fine, but it has been disassembled so many times that the seals are all gone.

Ill have to address this with some foam tape and a bit of time as well.

I am thinking it may not be a bad idea to maybe strip all of the seam sealer out of the roof, clean and treat the current heavy surface rust, open the drain holes from years of paint, and reseal all of the drip rail. Primarily just to prevent even more rust up there.

If you're following along, I hope to get to these in the next few weeks.

[CRGRS 66]

I am following along, and wait with baited breath for the upgrades to unfold!

[mahanian]

Any updates?

[4mulaSvaliant]

Hey hey Mahanian....
Really I have been driving the hell out of it and knocking out other peoples work so I can get back to it.
The Roadster pickup left a few weeks ago, and of course I had the next lot of side work in the garage before I could even clean it up from the last job.

Here is the end results of my portion of the fabrication on this.







There of course is much more but Ill keep this thread on track with my build.

[4mulaSvaliant]

That said, I have accomplished a little bit on my truck!
I managed to get started on the rust repair finally! So a while back I realized I needed to abandon the fenders that cam on the truck as someone before me didnt patch them worth a damn!
They bought the cheap patches (same as all of us have to) BUT....... They used the entire patch and cut out far more than they likely needed too. Not to mention the cut and replaced the structural part toward the rear of the fenders as well.
Basically all of this and some piss poor welding led to me wanting to start from scratch with a set of fenders that had at the very least, not been hacked up.
I managed to find a rusty set on CL for $100.00

Here you can see what a bad job was done. I didnt want to have to try to sort this out! LOL







I did however salvage the structural pieces from these fenders. I wanted to aide in the water and mud NOT getting trapped in the bottom of this part, which is what typically causes the rust.
So I decided lets cut out where the debris and water gets hung up. I could have (and should have) dont a cleaner job, but Ill admit I was rushing to beat day light at this point.







Again.... make your patch, then transfer it to your part to be repaired. (Yes these are the same crappy panels that all of us have to buy)







Tacked in and well on my way!



Now...... you cant see it here, but the area i was not happy with is this very bottom section where the fender lip is. The replacement panel doesnt match very well and the transitions of all these shapes didnt look so great. I did a bit of hammer and dolly work to make it a "decent" patch, but I still have to do more later. Fortunately, it is still workable and an easy location to do so.


I just realized I dont have any pictures of this finished and on the truck.

Ill have to add those to show where the hammer and dolly work is still needed.

[4mulaSvaliant]

The next update will be in several parts as I dont have it complete and itll likely drag out through the rest of winter and be "unveiled" come spring.

I have become a fan of the 22" Transit wheels, and have started down that path! LOL

So I managed to snatch up a set out of Canada, and since then I have been collecting the remaining parts as well as doing a lot of homework regarding tire selection (size wise)

I also began looking for a set of hub caps I like. I hit up a buddy and sure enough he had quite a selection to choose from.
So along with some clips that a Instagram user has made available, I was able to get the hub caps mounted on two wheels and with the help of a few blocks of wood.... snap a couple pictures to see what the future holds.

So here are the 1955 Bel Air caps, and the 1966/1967 Chevelle caps I chose.


The "cap clips" (#capclips on Instagram if you are looking for them)
The set came with a drill bit and tap, however there were some minor issues in tapping the holes. Nothing to do with the product, but entirely to do with the carbon content of the steel that the wheels are made of!


A well placed block of wood gave me a pretty good idea what I was in for as a final look on the front.



And here, you can see I tried for a full side shot, but it wasnt as successful! LOL
I plan to lower the rear of the truck another 2" soon. This should take most of the "rake" out and make the rear wheel look better in the fender.

HOWEVER..... this is where my tire research is coming into play! I LOVE THE RAKED LOOK! i WANT TO KEEP A HOT ROD LOOK!
So...... I plan to run a taller sidewall tire in the rear than the front.
To be continued.........

[NevEno]

Looking good and like the wheels!!

[4mulaSvaliant]

So not sure of how many think my build is interesting enough to follow, but for the sake of the story of the truck, I figured Id write a few memories that have made me a fan of these old trucks.

There wont be a whole lot of organization to these, just a bunch of random memories maybe.

1.
It Starts back about 1990 or so. My dad managed to get a hold of a 1964 long bed step side 4x4. It was on old Forrest service truck at one point and had a few modifications that eventually led to other issues.
We lived just outside of Spokane Wa. near Elk Wa. He had just gotten out of the Navy and my parents struggled to make ends meet so he ended up with this truck very inexpensively I'm sure. He has always been a great mechanic and it very obviously where I picked up my love and many skills from.

We had bounced around a while for his random jobs and landed in Ritzville Wa. where he worked as a farm hand and mechanic. I learned a lot there at that farm. I learned to drive in that old truck. We occasionally used it on the farm when the farm trucks were down. I remember learning to drive it one morning very unexpectedly.
My dad needed me to drive the truck through the field as he and anther farm hand loaded "hand line" (irrigation pipe) onto the trailer from the field. So out on the dirt road he showed me how to let the clucth out on the old 4 speed in 1st gear with out stalling it. After a few minutes of them laughing at a 12 year old learning to drive that monster, I had it pretty well under control and he sent me out in to the field. That old truck worked my leg for sure! That clutch was tough on my skinny little leg!
Because we were in a field that was recently irrigated there were low spots that were pretty muddy. I remember getting quite a kick out of having to "give her hell" as my dad said..... I had gotten into a low and really muddy spot and the old bias ply's slipping and I was damn near stuck. I heard him yell from behind the trailer "GIVE HER HELL!!!!" "GO...go...go!" So I probably damn near popped that little 283 v8 as she was in 1st gear screaming and slinging mud all over the trailer, the irrigation pipe, and both my dad and the other guy! I made it out and of course it was violent looking because I didnt know to ease off the throttle, so I just let up and the works came to a very abrupt and jerky crawl before I thought to push the clutch in.

2.
We acquired an 8' camper from one of my uncles for that old truck. Thats actually the first time we realized we had a problem with some modifications the Forrest service dept had done years before.
Someone along the lines had installed some seriously heavy leaf springs and it basically never had enough weight in it to make the suspension flex much if at all. Long story short, our theory was that the ridiculously stiff suspension was beating the hell out of the outer axle bearings. We seemed to go through outer bearings about twice a tear.
Two times we lost and axle in that truck while on the road. The first time, we had just gotten on the interstate and were moving roughly 50 mph and as we entered the road, the left rear axle started to work its way out of the housing. By the time my dad had realized what was happening in the drivers side mirror, he noticed a guy racing up beside us to pass the wheel and axle that is now hanging about a foot outside of the rear fender. He realized what was happening just as he was beside us. Fortunately he slowed just in time and that axle tore the damn fender off the truck! It then went across I-90 and into the median. It would have destroyed that Fiero for sure!

The second time we lost and axle was with the camper in the bed. I was actually in the bed above the cab when we were cruising along an old highway between Ritzville and Moses Lake. We lost the same axle and of course the truck dropped and sparks went everywhere. He managed to keep the old truck stable enough that it was pretty uneventful coming to a stop. It was soon after this that we decided we were going to get 3/4 ton running gear and install it all in the truck.

Thats enough for now I suppose.
Its amusing to think back on these moments.

Oh and here is an old truck that my Grandfather owned (my dads father) So we have all owned one! I just now realized that!!!

[Bomp]

Great story.
Re-reading through your build, I purchased a punch. Can't wait to try it out.

[Palf70Step]

Enjoying the read. I been slow lately catching up, but we like following you. Good story/history!

I learned to drive at age 9 on the farm for the same reason. Too dang skinny to lift the hay bails onto the truck. The truck I learned on was a converted 1959/60 International dual axle dump truck. 2 speed read and strigt cut gear. Like you mentioned I ended up with one heck of a left leg muscle.

[4mulaSvaliant]

Hahahaah.... that clutch will get ya when youre a little dude!
Thanks for following along.
I am slowly clearing my plate of other peoples projects and then Ill be back to my own stuff!

[4mulaSvaliant]

BOMP: Thats an awesome tool when you need it! Its one that sits in the drawer a lot, but saves a lot of time when you need a multitude of small holes compared to drilling them all.
There is also another tool Id like to get a hold of soon that kind of goes hand in hand with the punch. Its much like one of those coat racks that expands and collapses (accordion style). It has holes at each pivot along the way. Its very useful for symmetric layout of holes. Ill see if I can find a picture and post it.

[4mulaSvaliant]

Here is it BOMP....

It expands and contracts (evenly of course) to give you nicely spaced hole centers along your panel. It is primarily used for rivet layout. Ill definitely be acquiring one soon!

[4mulaSvaliant]

Dropping these bed wood details here for safe keeping.
http://www.gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm