Wife's 48

[Scott2]

Regarding those 4 indented holes in the firewall

(Now I do have a question since I bought 2 trucks and both were completely dissembled. There are four indented holes on the top of the firewall. They are spaced to look like they go to an interior brace, actually two braces. Will I need them when I go back together?)

Those are for the dash brace/pedal support. I bought elevator bolts with a large flat head (got mine at Lowe’s) and ground the heads down until they fit down in the indent and bolted the bracket in to properly locate the bolts. Then I welded them from the firewall side and filled in the indents with a little Bondo.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Scott2

Regarding those 4 indented holes in the firewall


Those are for the dash brace/pedal support. I bought elevator bolts with a large flat head (got mine at Lowe’s) and ground the heads down until they fit down in the indent and bolted the bracket in to properly locate the bolts. Then I welded them from the firewall side and filled in the indents with a little Bondo.

the two larger ones are for the dash support, the two further to the center and slightly smaller are for the cowl vent mechanism.

[lower50's]

I guess it's to be expected to some degree when working on a 70 year old truck

[8man]

I've been working on welding up holes. I got the bottom of the doors done, no pics of that, I got the fenders welded up and beat out enough to prime and see what I have. So I've been trying to finish the cab on the 48.

I had to remove the dash, it was hacked all to heck by a po, so here it is without a dash.
IMG_2007 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr
This is the last time you'll see this truck without a dash.

Now I have a dash that was removed including the A pillars that I took apart some time ago. I welded up the steering column indent and it was time for blasting. You will notice in the picture you can see the steering column indent, that is because it is a different steel and blasted differently. It is really smooth as is the choke hole.

My buddy who is buying the truck from me didn't want to spend the extra $60/hour for soda, so he went with a sand.

I have to say that prior to "sand" blasting the dash fit perfectly.

After sand blasting it looked like this, here it is all primed on the inside with self etch epoxy and the little lip has weld through self etch on it, and I thought it was ready to go in.
IMG_2008 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Here it is bolted in with the 4 bolts.
IMG_2009 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Yes, that is it now sticking up above the front cowl. However, with a little messaging it went back into shape and fit pretty nicely.
IMG_2010 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

And from the inside,
IMG_2011 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

I have not primed this side as I am going to take the entire cab to be SODA blasted and epoxy primed. I am not going to let him take a chance on another "sand" blaster.

All welded in and looking good,
IMG_2012 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

You can see the steering column indent here, it is smooth, and yes, that is the persuader I used to get it to fit so I could weld it. It looks good now. At the A pillar we'll have to do a little putty, but not much.

Now to get the frame cleaned up and cab stands started for this one so I can start on the cab of the 54 for the wife.

[lower50's]

Nice job! It is really amazing how much heat sand blasting causes.

[joedoh]

dash looks good, I havent ever attempted removing one and looks like I still wont.

Originally Posted by 8man

Now to get the frame cleaned up and cab stands started for this one so I can start on the cab of the 53 for the wife.

how many trucks does your wife need?

[8man]

Long story. We got the 48 because she wanted a 5 window. I had it in the barn for several years waiting to get to it. Then we went to a car show and she saw a 54 with the "smooth" windshield and that was the one for her.

So my best friend from highschool on decided he would like the 48. As a result, I'm building the 48 for him and the 54 for my wife.

[joedoh]

well I was just picking on you because of the thread title, but good that you are spreading it around!

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Nice job! It is really amazing how much heat sand blasting causes.

Sand blasting doesn't cause heat, that is a very commonly thought myth. It does just the opposite if you feel the metal it's cooler, it has been blown with air remember. What causes the warpage is the pieces of sand are like little hammers that are thinning out the top layer of the metal. The top thus gets larger, and that is what warps the metal.

Brian

[lower50's]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Sand blasting doesn't cause heat, that is a very commonly thought myth. It does just the opposite if you feel the metal it's cooler, it has been blown with air remember. What causes the warpage is the pieces of sand are like little hammers that are thinning out the top layer of the metal. The top thus gets larger, and that is what warps the metal.

Brian

Oh good to know. Thanks

[8man]

Well, my buddy came over today to help on his truck. He has myasthemia gravis, some call it "MS light". So any time he comes over we make the most of it.

He is taking the support off of a bed/running board filler here.

IMG_2013 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Next he blew a hole in some sheet metal trying his hand at welding. I fixed it and he ground it down. After that, we started building the cab mounts.

[joedoh]

haha tell him we ALL blow holes in sheetmetal. if there was a way to use that cold solder UV light stuff instead of welding I would buy stock in it.

[8man]

Well we got to spend about 12 hours in the shop over the last two days. We got the cab mounts built, the next picture should look familiar.

IMG_2014 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Thanks for the diagram.

So we got them built. My welding could use some improvement, but I got good penetration and I'm sure they won't come apart.

IMG_2015 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Then we started taking the cab off of the Camaro/54 frame. I'm going to put it on the body dolly so I can work on it. We built a wooden dolly for the 48 cab until it gets its test fit on the S10 frame. If you look on the right side of the picture you can see the back of the 48 and my body dolly under it. That is the one I can I used to do the repair panels.

IMG_4750 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

If you look at the lower drivers side door hinge you will see that it is still in the cab. It is held in by something, I'm thinking it may be the hinge pin as I've read about that. The upper hinge had a hinge pin that was about 1/8" out when pulled. This lower just won't come out.

Does anyone have an idea on how to get it out?

Also, the wooden dolly for the 48 is in the lower left corner.

IMG_4754 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

This is the Camaro/54 frame with the 283 and T350 that is going into the 48. When we get the cab test fit, this is next to be fit on the S10.

IMG_4755 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

And the gratuitous shot of the 48 finally ready to be test fit - and off of my body dolly so I can start on the 54.

IMG_4756 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

And here the 48 sits on the dolly so we can roll it around in the shop. The shop is FULL right now. I should post a picture. Never enough room.

IMG_4760 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

I hope with the long weekend we will get the 48 test fit and the frame and all of Richards parts to his house so he can start stripping and priming stuff.

It's been a good Labor Day weekend so far.

[joedoh]

woop woop!

[BIGglaSS]

Originally Posted by 8man

Never enough room.

True dat! My daily routine is move the all the bikes, mower, power washer outside, then shuffle the rest of the junk out of my way to work. At the end of the day move it all back in...

Your work is looking good. Must be nice to have the lift!

[8man]

Today is a new day, but the offending hinge was still stuck.

IMG_2016 (1) by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

I fought with it for half an hour before I finally resigned myself to cutting it out.

First I had to make some room to get a saw in to cut the pin. So I used the cut off wheel to take the top of the hinge off.

IMG_2017 (1) by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Then I started with the Sawzall. It had one long steel cutting blade, but it was old and dull. So back up plan was a hack saw blade, by hand.

IMG_2018 (1) by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

So after half an hour of cutting with one hand, the pin was cut enough that I could break it with some long needle nose pliers and get the top of the pin and the hinge out.

IMG_2019 (1) by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

The pin had backed out of the top hinge about 3/8", it backed out of the bottom hinge over 1".

NOW, if I could find some willing sole to sell me two rebuildable drivers door hinges, cheap enough that I could rebuild them. Just the bottom would work if anybody has one.

[joedoh]

oof that sucks, needing to cut the pin on a perfectly good hinge. why not weld the pin back together and reuse it? sure its a lot of planning to get it straight, and a lot of grinding once its welded, but you HAVE an original hinge.

I thought I needed one for mine too, I was glad it was capable of rehabilitation, aftermarket hinges are not great is what I have heard.

nice work otherwise!

[8man]

Joe, I would love to have saved that hinge. However, I had to cut the top part of the hinge off to get the saw blade in there to cut off the pin.

I heard the same about new hinges, so if someone will just find me a set of hinges I'll be good on door hinges. I don't mind rebuilding them, but I need at least the 2 for the drivers door.

[lower50's]

The simple things can be so frustrating sometimes.

[8man]

Well, I got lucky with the hinge and it went back together just fine, it even fit back into the cab right.

IMG_2052 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

NorCalGal has been kind enough to make new faceplates and so I'll be using the original 54 hinges.


The 48 is on the wooden dolly to be worked on when Richard is here. We cut the frame horns off the S10 and ground off the S10 body mounts to get ready to mount the Skymang version of the cab mounts for the 48. He called it a short day, so I stopped on the 48 and started on the 54.

[NorCalGal]

Robert
Here are the pictures of the running board mounts you asked for of hussey's.I modified his so that the running boards could easily be removed. I used 1x2 tubing for both the L bracket that mounts to the frame and the runnng board bracket. I did also weld a piece of 1/8 inch plate to one side of the L bracket that mounts to the frame for strength(I'm a bit of a wide body myself). Hussey I believe used two brackets and I used three. I did have to notch the original running board brace so that the forked end could slide over the running board brace. After I had everything fit together I drilled a hole through the forked bracket and tapped the upper fork and installed a bolt from underneath.

[8man]

Thanks Jan, those help.

[8man]

Friday was a good day in the shop.

First off, a big thank you to NorCalGal for the hinge plates.

IMG_2063 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

They are great, thank you.

Then I started cutting parts from the really bad 54 cab to use on the better 54 cab. I started by cutting a patch to cover the gas filler hole in the cab. I went to the drivers side and cut the patch.

IMG_2059 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

I put it over the hole and it seems to match the contours. I will cut it to fit once I get the filler hole removed.

Then I have some issues on the cowl. The top cutout is to repair a spot where it looks like they put an antenna. Just below that and toward the front I cut a patch to use over the mirror damaged area, sort of like what I left in the picture and then I cut a larger patch that I am thinking about using over the gills on the riders side. Haven't decided on that, whether to remove the gills or not.

IMG_2060 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

Notice on the bottom of the lower hole, the metal is thicker. I think that is where they leaded an old dent, I don't know, but it is definitely thicker and that corner is heavy.

Going out today to start work on the dash. I'll get pictures later, and hopefully some repair work will be included.

[8man]

Since I had the hinge plates for the door hinges I decided to dissemble them today. It only took about 6 hours, no I'm not that slow, I ran into a little problem. First off, can anyone tell the difference in these two rider's side upper hinge bases?

IMG_2064 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

The top one was from the 54 cab and I had planned on using it. The cross piece was actually cut off. I have no idea why, and I didn't notice until I had completely dissembled it. I was about to panic when I remembered I had another rusty upper rider's side hinge from a really rusty door. So I had to take it apart too.

Here are the remnants.

IMG_2065 by Robert Moorman, on Flickr

The rest of the hinge parts are waiting for me to get some rebuild kits, clean them up and reassemble them.

[oldman3]

Robert, nice you have old stuff to cut up for repairs. I filled in the gills on the passenger side, didn't want water getting inside, and I also added air...Jim