Jojo's '70 Stepper

[mcbassin]

I have been looking forward to an update. Looks like good job on the exhaust. How's the welding coming?

[jojo]

The welding sucks right now. I burn though a lot on all test material.

My practice sheet metal is like 22 gauge. It might be possible on the truck and the patch panels since they are like 20 gauge and I get no real burn though (when testing) but it looks really sloppy. I'm realizing that the flux core may not work and maybe I should get a true mig.

I got in a bunch of patch panels but I'm scared to try them until I get better at welding or get a better system. Plus I've been working like 70 hour weeks for the last 4 weeks.

I think the learning curve will be easier on a mig. What do you think?

[mcbassin]

Learning curve will definetly be easier on a standard gas machine. You can do it with the flux core, just hard to keep it clean looking.

[my67chevytruck]

great progress JOJO!

[Bubba4spd]

Keep up the good work JoJo!

[jojo]

got me another welder hobart 140 + the gas tank

its a hard pill to swallow (shelling out all that green for a tool)

it officially cost more than all my tools combined!

bye-bye flux

I'm officially stoked... and broke

[jojo]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Learning curve will definetly be easier on a standard gas machine. You can do it with the flux core, just hard to keep it clean looking.

No doubt this is true. After a practice run with the new machine, I know this is something I can learn and become good at.

My only complaint is the wire seems to "stick" or better put, "slow down" and not run at a consistent speed. I believe the cause is the wire expanding or something because holding down the trigger and running out about 6 inches or so seems to correct the problem.My temporary solution is to put a .030 tip even though I'm running .025 wire. That seems to work even though I'm sure this is incorrect operating procedure.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by jojo

got me another welder hobart 140 + the gas tank

its a hard pill to swallow (shelling out all that green for a tool)

it officially cost more than all my tools combined!

bye-bye flux

I'm officially stoked... and broke

Sweet! Can't wait to see the welds from this bad boy!

[jojo]

It's been a while (I've been at it almost every day but I'm slow so it won't seem like much progress). Also I need to start doing some intermediate pics because my tendency is to just give before and afters.

Updates:
1. I got a new front bumper installed (without bending the frame rails back where they belong)

2. Butchered the "new" passenger side door, then "un-butchered" it (sort of).

3. Learned how to adjust how the door hangs. And stripped a hinge bolt hole.

4. Butchered the "new" drivers side door, then "un-butchered" it (sort of).

5. Ordered some stuff: accelerator pedal, window felts etc., door handles, new front fenders(order pending)

some pics:

[highperf4x4]

Originally Posted by jojo

But that's off limits so heres where I'm gonna work on it at:

Originally Posted by jojo

To make the story a little more weird. About 6 years ago, all the stock rims were stolen. Now I got some stock rims again!

Glad you got it back though!

I helped another guy on here recover his stolen truck! http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=363343


Subscribed!

[jojo]

Butchering and "un-butchering":
The replacement doors had lots of cracks in them (in the jam area) so I tried to cut out stuff without making it worse. (tried)

I'm more or less done with the passenger side repairs but still need to grind on the drivers side.

Next time I'll wait till the primer dries before snapping pics.

Pics: passenger side before and afters then driver side and the "patch panel" I cut from a copier I scrapped at the shop (when I say shop, it almost always means our print shop):

[jojo]

Originally Posted by highperf4x4

Glad you got it back though!

I helped another guy on here recover his stolen truck! http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=363343


Subscribed!

HAHA but look where its at now... LOL

I saw how you helped rescue that mans ride... thats classic around this website... almost mythical... I love it!

The dodge is safe parked out front with the battery removed and a club on the steering wheel. I replace the battery daily before driving it to work... The turds will have to BYOB (bring your own battery to get my stuff!!!)

[jojo]

And incase ya'll wondered what this truck looks like without the front right fender installed:

[jojo]

Heres a pic of the messed up bolt hole for the hinge. I might just leave it that way.... Or fix it.... Who knows!

Screws are like fingers... If you lose one or two, it won't kill ya.

And my inner fender needs some attention:

[mcbassin]

Great progress! Looks like your butchering turned out good.

[highperf4x4]

Looks like alot of work!!

[jojo]

I finished the repairs on the drivers side latch area. I still need to drill the screw holes there.

I also filled in the trim holes and the 2 mysterious holes in the upper section.

Pics

[jojo]

I began the repairs on the inner rocker on passenger side.

[jojo]

And more pics

[jojo]

The inner fender has bolt holes that don't quite line up so I'll enlarge them later when I install the pillar thing...

Also I got the new fenders in.

[highperf4x4]

Sweet. I don't think I've seen any replacement parts yet that line up like they should. Looks like you've a pretty good handle on it though. Nice welding too.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by highperf4x4

Sweet. I don't think I've seen any replacement parts yet that line up like they should. Looks like you've a pretty good handle on it though. Nice welding too.

Thanks Travis.

Here's some more updates:
I finished the passenger side rocker, inner rocker and front pillar. I have some progress pics, but not the finished product. I positioned the truck for access to the drivers side before I took the pics.

Ya'll can see by the pics that I should have got a kick panel patch and installed that before I installed the pillar. But I was able to make my own template and patch and seal everything up pretty good. I may revisit that after the drivers side is done. I did order a kick panel for both sides after realizing this.

[jojo]

And More pics

I plug welded in the outer rocker
and you can see how I resolved the stripped hinge bolt plate by welding in a couple of nuts behind the old ones.

[jojo]

I lied heres the passenger side finished product:

[jojo]

Drivers side before pics.

At first glance, I thought I'd be able to do it without a front pillar or back pillar for that matter. But things are worse than expected.