[B]65 Stepside Frame off Resto[/B]

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Bomp

While I was surfing through your build, doing my daily catch up, I busted out laughing.
You were saying exactly what was coming into my mind. No question, cut it up !

Sweet valve covers.


You could make an 'X' style of cut, tap tap tap til you get room (about an 1.25"-1.75") clearance.
Then cut an X patch. Bit of a pain but that way you don't have to make a giant pocket but Im no expert.


Good Luck, You can DO it
or move your motor forward.

Glad that the post made you laugh, best life remedy!! I like the X idea, forming pockets is a PITA. Thanks for the advice on how much clearance. Once I pull the cab back off it will be time for some slicing, banging and welding. My welder seems to get bored if its not pulled out each week!

Did think about moving the motor. It means 10 new holes (3 for each perch and then 2 on each side of the trans cross member) and filling 10 old holes. Firewall sounds like more fun.

Originally Posted by jayoldschool

Trade/sell/buy for short covers (if your valve train combo permits).

Glad you actually mention this. I put roller rockers on it and when I placed the old valve covers on the heads to protect them during the engine build they were about a 1/2 inch too short. So even if I did try to go short it wouldn't work.

Time for my very poor Bomp imitation. Of course I haven't heard from McMurphy, he always is very creative so he might come up with something out of left field.

[Ta2Don]

Thank you Dr. Bomp! Clearances noted as well as the X cut plan... Looking forward to seeing your progress Da Bears!
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[Jmorales3181]

Haha I'm aboard the cut it up crew as well nice progress, starting to come together!
Pretty funny how plans change. I was just going to throw my motor in and make it drivable and once I started lowering it.....I couldn't stop
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[McMurphy]

Wow the Cut Up Crew, and I am the Left Fielder ...... Hmmmmmm
Sorry Bears, I got nothing.
The only thing that came to mind was a pair of classic Chevrolet valve covers that Astronaught did a mod-job on to fit an LS engine. That was pretty cool.

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Thank you Dr. Bomp! Clearances noted as well as the X cut plan... Looking forward to seeing your progress Da Bears!
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Agreed, always nice to have a doctor in the house. Going to be a couple of weeks, need to fix the doors and get them on, then assemble the front end to see how the fit is working.

Originally Posted by Jmorales3181

Haha I'm aboard the cut it up crew as well nice progress, starting to come together!
Pretty funny how plans change. I was just going to throw my motor in and make it drivable and once I started lowering it.....I couldn't stop
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Thanks! It is amazing how our obsessions morph over time.

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Wow the Cut Up Crew, and I am the Left Fielder ...... Hmmmmmm
Sorry Bears, I got nothing.
The only thing that came to mind was a pair of classic Chevrolet valve covers that Astronaught did a mod-job on to fit an LS engine. That was pretty cool.

Thanks!

[da_bears_da1]

So this is going to be the tale of two doors, even though its the same door. My doors were bad with the truck so I bought two new to me doors. They were rust free which was great but the drivers side door had been hit and had a dent in the corner. Given the metal that we have replaced in the cab it seemed to be no big deal, cut a patch and move on. We put the patch in as you can see below:



What we did not realize was the the dent in the corner pushed in the entire door skin. When we checked the skin after patching it we had a 1" gap in the middle of the door. I should have taken a picture to document what happened but was so aggravated that I spent two days patching for nothing. In addition the door oil caned something fierce, seems the metal was stretched from the dent.

I know we do not have many posts of I failed on this but that is what this is.

So after a few deep breaths, a smoke or two and a rum and coke, or two, maybe three, I decided it was time to order a door skin. Given my experience with repop parts, I really was not optimistic. My buddy who has been helping me has bought parts from Classic Industries and had good results. Given my experience with Classic Parts, I was not optimistic.

So we ordered the door skin and got on Thursday. It came with the roll over for the skin to wrap around the door. We took off the old skin. My two favorite tools right now are the air saw and seam separater. Yes, I want to have a plasma cutter but have already spent a fair amount on tools so the air saw was the in between. Here they are:





Since I am almost at the limit for pictures, I will post the results in another thread.

[da_bears_da1]

So here is the rest of the story. Got the door skin and it actually fit. So it was time to cut out the old and go with the new. We have a neighbor who is an old body guy and he recommended that we just grind off the roll over to get the old skin off. As you can see below, once you grind you can actually see the multiple layers of roll over on the door.




As you can see in the picture below, its easy to see the three layers once you have ground it.



Now I realize its going to take 3 posts to show what we did. Here is a picture of the skin after removing it.

[williamsboys]

Great job. Can't wait till I really get going on my body work. Keep up the great work.
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[da_bears_da1]

So hopefully this is the last door post. We got the old skin off and then placed the new skin on the door. We overlapped the cut area so that we could attach the new skin then cut a seam on the old and new skins. We did coat the door with rust encapsulator.



Here is a picture of the roll over section.



So got the new patch on and used an hammer and dolly to roll over the edges. We then stated welding it. We ended up cutting the seam 4 times to get it to lay flat but was happy with how it turned out. Have to finish the welding and grinding but am taking my time. Don't want the warp the doors.




Wish I had know that these door skins would work so well, I would have not wasted a couple of days trying to fix the dent.

Thanks for looking at my build.

[Modges'66]

Originally Posted by da_bears_da1

Yes, I want to have a plasma cutter but have already spent a fair amount on tools so the air saw was the in between. Here they are:

Attachment 1120328
Attachment 1120329


Since I am almost at the limit for pictures, I will post the results in another thread.

Oh, that Seam-Buster looks like an ergonomic nightmare, and should be very pleasant on your wrists! LOL!!!!
....That is what I love! Whatever it takes to get a job done!

[Modges'66]

Just kiddin around, the door looks great dude!

[chad64chevy]

bear, I have the same problem with the valve covers, i'm going to use 2.5-3"inch pipe to bang on the firewall to get the room I need! flips72 had to do the same thing to his firewall! and if I remember he told me theres like 1/2-3/4"" clearance around the valve covers!

[Bomp]

Slick work on the skin.
Im pretty sure one of Bompensteins doors is going to get a new skin.

Thanks for the write up. Helped me out on some stuff I had to figure out.

[Chase-1966 Chevy]

New to the board and just trying to get the know some peeps and check out some sick trucks! Thanks ...sorry still trying to figure out the boards.

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by williamsboys

Great job. Can't wait till I really get going on my body work. Keep up the great work.
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Thanks!

Originally Posted by Modges'66

Oh, that Seam-Buster looks like an ergonomic nightmare, and should be very pleasant on your wrists! LOL!!!!
....That is what I love! Whatever it takes to get a job done!

It was surprisingly easy to use. All we did was slide it in before the spot welds and let the air hammer do the work.

Originally Posted by Modges'66

Just kiddin around, the door looks great dude!

Thanks Modges! Glad it came out as well as it did.

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

bear, I have the same problem with the valve covers, i'm going to use 2.5-3"inch pipe to bang on the firewall to get the room I need! flips72 had to do the same thing to his firewall! and if I remember he told me theres like 1/2-3/4"" clearance around the valve covers!

I think I am going to cut and weld in metal to create the room I need. There was a good thread a week ago about notching firewalls with some good examples. Here is the link:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...light=firewall

Originally Posted by Bomp

Slick work on the skin.
Im pretty sure one of Bompensteins doors is going to get a new skin.

Thanks for the write up. Helped me out on some stuff I had to figure out.

With your skills and speed, you could probably knock this out in an hour. It was much easier than I thought. Gotta give Classic Industries credit, shocking to get a repop door skin that fits and looks good.

Originally Posted by Chase-1966 Chevy

New to the board and just trying to get the know some peeps and check out some sick trucks! Thanks ...sorry still trying to figure out the boards.

Welcome aboard. If that is your truck, you have a great looking one! Check out the FAQs on the forum, lots of great info. There are also a ton of great builds going on that contain a lot of very useful info.

[Ta2Don]

Nice work on the door skin, and like my daddy used to say "Live and learn!" Great job!

[Jmorales3181]

Love both of those tools I have both except my bar doesn't have the air chisel attachment and I also have the 90 degree one for wheel wells works well too!

Skin is looking good man!
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[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Nice work on the door skin, and like my daddy used to say "Live and learn!" Great job!

Thanks Don! You daddy was a smart man. Figured I would share the lesson.

Originally Posted by Jmorales3181

Love both of those tools I have both except my bar doesn't have the air chisel attachment and I also have the 90 degree one for wheel wells works well too!

Skin is looking good man!
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Thanks! Wish I had bought the tool before I started working on the cab. Would have save a few hours.

[McMurphy]

sorry to hear of your melt down... I have certainly had a few of those. Actually I guess you could say my entire build has been one of trial and error. With emphasis on the error part.

Glad to see the skins worked out for you though. In the begining I dont think I would have attempted new skins, now however I might. I have learned a lot on this build, and from this board from posts just like yours !!

Keep it up buddy !!

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

sorry to hear of your melt down... I have certainly had a few of those. Actually I guess you could say my entire build has been one of trial and error. With emphasis on the error part.

Glad to see the skins worked out for you though. In the begining I dont think I would have attempted new skins, now however I might. I have learned a lot on this build, and from this board from posts just like yours !!

Keep it up buddy !!

Thanks! It is nice to be able to share with a good community like ours. I agree about the skins. Four months ago I would not have even thought to take on something like that.

[Bomp]

Originally Posted by da_bears_da1

Thanks! It is nice to be able to share with a good community like ours. I agree about the skins. Four months ago I would not have even thought to take on something like that.

So Im all inspired after reading about your door skin install. ()
Get to looking around on the web. Prices are about what I figured. Looks totally doable.
Found some that,,,,well,,,,figured I could do some damage too and get the job done.
THEN IT HITS ME. Hey, none of these will work
Bompenstein has a 5" stretch.

Your write up was still great though.

[da_bears_da1]

Originally Posted by Bomp

So Im all inspired after reading about your door skin install. ()
Get to looking around on the web. Prices are about what I figured. Looks totally doable.
Found some that,,,,well,,,,figured I could do some damage too and get the job done.
THEN IT HITS ME. Hey, none of these will work
Bompenstein has a 5" stretch.

Your write up was still great though.

Come on now, with your cutting and welding skills that shouldn't be a problem. Just buy 3 skins and stretch two with the donor.

[da_bears_da1]

Finished the door skin replacement so thought I would show some of the finishing touches. The first job was to finish welding then grinding the top of the skin. Took my time and have no warps in the metal.



Added some weld to the edges at the seam and then slowly ground it down. Turned out great, cannot see a seam on the front or back.



Next came the corners. What I did not realize until I started replacing the skin was the forward corner is more rounded than the back corner. All 4 of the doors that I had were that way. So cut off some metal on the rounded corner and then hammered a small roll over on that corner. Figured it would be best to strengthen the corner so added some weld along the inside seam. Turned the heat down on the welder since I was just hitting one layer of metal. Happy with how it turned out.



The square corner was easier. Still had to cut away a little metal to make it look like the factor seam with 45 degree angles. Once it was folded over, went ahead and added a little weld.



Last step was to put filler over the welds. Put a coat of fiberglass over the welds in case there were some pin holes. Then put the regular filler over and sanded it down. Very surprised at how little filler was required to smooth it all out. Since I had the new skin on most of the door it only took a hour or so to fill and sand the other spots.



Gotta say that this was much more straight forward than I thought. It took just over 2 days from start to finish. I would encourage anyone who is thinking about doing this (Bomp) to dive in. This is my first resto/mod and I was able to pull it off.

It is now time to prime the doors!!

[Ta2Don]

Amazing! Great job...
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