Daves new 68 chevy swb

[Woodnears]

Finally about ready for paint.

[Woodnears]

Primer

[knomadd]

What did you use to fill in the wire gutter on the firewall? Did you cut sheet metal into strips or buy it from somewhere?

[mcbassin]

Excellent work on the firewall! Looks great

[Phill0406]

Man, that looks awesome. Could you post some more detailed shots of the firewall? My wire gutter is rotted and putting a strip over it and welding it shut has been my idea all along. Would love to know how you went about it.

[Woodnears]

It's simple but time consuming but basically I cut three strips of 18g a hair larger than the widest part. Measure in a few spots because the distance from the firewall to drop edge changes a bit. Use the longest measurement. I started at the passenger side and worked my way around tacking as I went. Use a sheet metal hammer to work the metal strips into shape as you go. The secret I found was too find a real thick new grinder wheel to grind the inside corner welds. It made a nice square grind.

[Phill0406]

Originally Posted by Woodnears

It's simple but time consuming but basically I cut three strips of 18g a hair larger than the widest part. Measure in a few spots because the distance from the firewall to drop edge changes a bit. Use the longest measurement. I started at the passenger side and worked my way around tacking as I went. Use a sheet metal hammer to work the metal strips into shape as you go. The secret I found was too find a real thick new grinder wheel to grind the inside corner welds. It made a nice square grind.

Thanks so much, this is exactly what I will be doing.

Somehow my truck has almost no rot on it except for the wire gutter on the firewall. I have no idea what previous owners were doing but it makes weather sealing the truck currently suck.

[Woodnears]

Gents, I pulled the trigger a month ago on a new set of doors and fenders from nsanehotrodz. I must of ordered too late because my order was back ordered due to one door. No big deal. They were running a 15% off sale which pretty much equated to free shipping. I have been working feverishly to get this truck ready for sheet metal in the meantime. I had my eyes set on hills rod and custom inner fenders and when I called they were also back ordered. I held off but decided to take advantage of the sheet metal sale and ordered a bed this morning while they were boxing up my previous order which had finally came in. I now have tracking numbers on pretty much all new sheet metal. I hope y'all are as excited as I am about this. It's been a long time coming for this truck to look whole again. More updates to come as soon as I get my hands on metal. Does anyone know a guy who can make me some head rolled panels for the inside of the bed? I'm gonna have to raise he floor a bit and my ocd won't allow me to leave the bed panels alone.

[69short]

Originally Posted by Woodnears

Gents, I pulled the trigger a month ago on a new set of doors and fenders from nsanehotrodz. I must of ordered too late because my order was back ordered due to one door. No big deal. They were running a 15% off sale which pretty much equated to free shipping. I have been working feverishly to get this truck ready for sheet metal in the meantime. I had my eyes set on hills rod and custom inner fenders and when I called they were also back ordered. I held off but decided to take advantage of the sheet metal sale and ordered a bed this morning while they were boxing up my previous order which had finally came in. I now have tracking numbers on pretty much all new sheet metal. I hope y'all are as excited as I am about this. It's been a long time coming for this truck to look whole again. More updates to come as soon as I get my hands on metal. Does anyone know a guy who can make me some head rolled panels for the inside of the bed? I'm gonna have to raise he floor a bit and my ocd won't allow me to leave the bed panels alone.

It's so hard waiting on parts. I get really impatient lol.

Can't wait to see more updates on this bad boy

[knomadd]

Nice!!! Dewayne and the crew at Nsane Hotrodz are good to work with. I've ordered many sheet metal pieces from them.

[Woodnears]

They have been pretty good too deal with. There was just a little issue worth back ordered doors. In the grand scheme of things a few Extra weeks won't kill this project. Next I'll be ordering inner fenders and hdx gauges.

[Bennett68C10]

Nice job on the firewall, I like the capped wire gutter too. Can't wait to see all the new sheet metal on there.

[Woodnears]

Thanks everyone. I am trying to figure out this shipping carrier from keyparts. It seems like these parts will be handed off to a few carriers before they ever get to me.
Has anyone ever dealt with shipping from Key parts?

[Woodnears]

Can you guys give me some pointers for sanding this hood down? It's very straight but has 4 layers of paint on it. I've got a da but man this hood is flimsy in the middle of the panel. I thought about chemically stripping it but not sure if that's good or not.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Woodnears

Can you guys give me some pointers for sanding this hood down? It's very straight but has 4 layers of paint on it. I've got a da but man this hood is flimsy in the middle of the panel. I thought about chemically stripping it but not sure if that's good or not.

If you have a good DA sander and a good supply of air, I recommend you use that. I think I used 60 Grit on mine HERE. It's a slow process but, you definitely don't want to use a sand blaster. Chemical stripping might be an option to get the majority cleaned off.

You still will need to sand it to bare metal. The DA is the best tool in my opinion.

You can lightly media blast the areas around the edge that are braced on the under side of the hood without warpage. This will save some time sanding in the corners and hard to reach areas.

[Woodnears]

Sorry guys for the delay in updates I've been busy. On Friday I had a vacation day and meet up with the truck driver and picked up all my new sheet metal. Spent the rest of Friday hanging it and loosely fitting it all. I've got a good bit of the work done. Bed is on square and cab lined up perfectly. Doors were a pain. Elongated hinge holes on the door side to get the doors out far enough to line up with the fender. Had to raise he core support a bit to support the front clip and line up the fender to door gap. Question for y'all. Has anyone had to reshape the fenders to match the doors? Here's a few pics? Seems like I could cut the inner brace and push this area in to match and reweld the inner brace. Am I thinking this wrong?

[Twisted78SS]

Originally Posted by Woodnears

Sorry guys for the delay in updates I've been busy. On Friday I had a vacation day and meet up with the truck driver and picked up all my new sheet metal. Spent the rest of Friday hanging it and loosely fitting it all. I've got a good bit of the work done. Bed is on square and cab lined up perfectly. Doors were a pain. Elongated hinge holes on the door side to get the doors out far enough to line up with the fender. Had to raise he core support a bit to support the front clip and line up the fender to door gap. Question for y'all. Has anyone had to reshape the fenders to match the doors? Here's a few pics? Seems like I could cut the inner brace and push this area in to match and reweld the inner brace. Am I thinking this wrong?

Have done that more than once, your spot on. Well that is what has worked for
Me In the past anyway

[Woodnears]

Originally Posted by RRR18

Looking good. Bet you got lot of neighbor visits when the truck rolled out into view.

Not only the neighbors, I once had an ambulance stop by on their way back from a call.

Originally Posted by Twisted78SS

Have done that more than once, your spot on. Well that is what has worked for
Me In the past anyway

It seems like a good idea. I want to get all the hardware in the door and get it for sure where I want it before I cut the fender.

[Woodnears]

Rolled to it for a bit of sun to clean the garage.

[Woodnears]

A few mor

[MMcMasters]

The truck is looking great! My advice on the hood since your have that many layers would be to chemically strip it and finish with a DA. I think it would take a very long time and a lot of sandpaper to get that many layers off with a DA, especially if its an old paint job and it was done in laquer. That **** clogs paper up really bad!

[tlmoore2501]

Anyone wanting to strip paint down to metal quickly check out Black Hawk easy strip 4 1/2 disc for electric grinder.To see the Eastwood version in action check out youtube.I have used many things to get to bare metal.I have an 80 gal 7.5 hp 2 stg compressor,DA's,water sandblaster,compressed air sandblaster.These disc are by far the cleanest and easiest paint and rust scale remover I have ever used.

[RRR18]

Looking good. Bet you got lot of neighbor visits when the truck rolled out into view.

[Woodnears]

Still working on body lines. Making great progress. Here's what it looks like after a little slicing and dicing and bfh persuading.

[Woodnears]

Took a side step and am focusing on the bed floor for a bit. Designing it in sketchup to work out any bugs.