Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window

[ChuckDriver]

Glad to see you are still making progress!

[Rods57]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Really? Wow, I'm surprised. Why would that be necessary?

For those of you that have blown their beds apart for paint, did you reweld it? Cause I don't plan to.

Great question, i have the same one. I wonder if its to keep the bed square. i was thinking of tacking mine before i paint.

[Russell Ashley]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Really? Wow, I'm surprised. Why would that be necessary?

For those of you that have blown their beds apart for paint, did you reweld it? Cause I don't plan to.

Dan, you can probably get by with not welding the bed sides since your truck won't be worked out of and the tailgate will most likely always be closed, but that's not how these trucks were intended to be used. Even though there's four bolts on each side holding the bed sides to the rear cross member I doubt that the bed sides would have remained square to the floor for very long under the typical usage that these trucks were subjected to if they weren't welded. The bolts are located at the bottom of the bed sides so a heavy object hitting the top of the bed side would likely knock it out of position especially if the tailgate was down. I would weld it like the factory did it if it were mine, but that's just my opinion. Either way, I'm anxious to see some updates on your truck.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Dan, you can probably get by with not welding the bed sides since your truck won't be worked out of and the tailgate will most likely always be closed, but that's not how these trucks were intended to be used. Even though there's four bolts on each side holding the bed sides to the rear cross member I doubt that the bed sides would have remained square to the floor for very long under the typical usage that these trucks were subjected to if they weren't welded. The bolts are located at the bottom of the bed sides so a heavy object hitting the top of the bed side would likely knock it out of position especially if the tailgate was down. I would weld it like the factory did it if it were mine, but that's just my opinion. Either way, I'm anxious to see some updates on your truck.

Hi Russ! Long time no talk.

I spoke with the body man and we both came to the conclusion the welding was just as you said: to keep the sides relatively in alignment after loads of sand or gravel, etc had been dropped in the bed. These trucks lived HARD lives. Mine doesn't appear to have been one of those - my original bedsides barely have any dents in them and the original bed wood was completely intact except for one board if you go back to my early posts! We decided wil will profit the entire bed together once the body work is done on each side. The "fit" of the sides to the rear-most cross member is TIGHT on mine so it'll definitely scrape the new paint unless we relieve that fit a little prior to paint.

Something I forgot to post is I DIDNT have the angle strips removed from the bed sides before blasting. My body man wants to remove them, sandblast where they were and rework where the drilled out spot welds were because without doing that there is rust left behind the angle strips. He's pretty thorough and I'm happy about that. But I think I need to post a separate thread about this to ask some questions.

[Dan in Pasadena]

May 23, 2016

Just back from a week of vacation and stopped by the shop to check on progress. My cab interior was about to be sprayed with final red primer. These photos aren't as clear as I'd wished because everything looked great to me.


After having had both rear cab corners replaced, the rust-out in the kick panel areas repaired and the extra radio holes in the dash repaired it looks so good.






Re: My bed sides, the painter drilled out the spot welds holding the angle strips and resent them to the blaster (a block away) to blast behind where they'd been. They're not back yet, when they are they'll be finished and re-primed, readied for final paint. I will install polished stainless angles using buttonhead stainless bolts as described in a separate thread - thanks for the advice guys!

[Dan in Pasadena]

April 27, 2016

Well, that was quick. The blaster called me back in less than 24 hours that my bed was done. I went yesterday to pay the bill and they offered to deliver my parts to the painter as I wasn't driving my other truck when they called but I was near their facility.

Anyway, this update is just a record that the parts are now with the body shop and I left instructions on filling a few extra holes that are in the bed rolls. I'll check in later this week and take some pictures.

[Nut Case]

Dan, When you mention "Truck Shop" I looked them up downloaded the on line catalog. Going to get sheetmetal form this business. Thanks a lot. Good build, I have pirated many things from your thread. Thanks again

Nut Case

[ptc]

Originally Posted by Nut Case

Dan, When you mention "Truck Shop" I looked them up downloaded the on line catalog. Going to get sheetmetal form this business. Thanks a lot. Good build, I have pirated many things from your thread. Thanks again Nut Case

I looked them up and it says TruckSHOP.com is closed.... is this the right one?

http://www.truckshop.com/


On the bed dealio ---- my bed is completely welded together now as I had to make it to lift off for access to my FAT TIRES. I made the mounts easy too by just removing 4 bolts to the frame rails and its loose. Unplug the wire connector to the tailights and Two guys can lift it off.

Trucks looking good Danny!!!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by ptc

I looked them up and it says TruckSHOP.com is closed.... is this the right one?

http://www.truckshop.com/

No, technically it's called, "The Car and Truck Shop". Here's a link to their site:

http://www.truckandcarshop.com

Originally Posted by ptc

Truck's looking good Danny!!!!

Thanks so much. It's coming along.

[ChuckDriver]

Looking real good Dan! How's the Altman door latch install coming along? Haven't done mine yet!!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hey, Nut Case I'm glad you've found the thread useful here and there. What I will tell you is there have been others that have not had good things to say about the The Truck Shop. Mostly having to do with their shipping and customer service.

I'm not exactly warning you off them just letting you know they have been as issue for others. I use them because they're relatively local so I can physically pick up what I'm buying, pay no shipping, and not have to deal with anyone but their counter men. Those guys are nice, helpful, etc. Just a head's up. -Dan

[Dan in Pasadena]

April 28, 2016

Picked up the new bed front panel, polished stainless bolt kit as well as rear fender bolt kit in polished stainless as well today.

My side steps appear to be drilled for the old school stainless steps with Chevy bow tie emblem and I debated whether to weld shut the holes or buy replacement steps? I bought the large flat steps the Truck Shop had to test them for fit. There is a second type of these steps with a kicked up lip but they're smaller and they were out of stock on them anyway. The blue bow tie would be painted black or red.

[Kim57]

Looks real nice.
Kim

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Looks real nice.
Kim

Thanks Kim! I stopped by the body shop and the holes in my steps are MUCH closer together so these steps will be returned and the holes welded shut. I can always decide later to add step plates even after its painted.

Like I said, these things are old school (as am I, unfortunately!) so I run hot & cold on whether I want things like this or do I want a newer, cleaner look?

Things like chrome inside window & windshield moldings, chrome ashtray face, these steps, etc all used to be kinda standard on a "dressed-to-the-teeth" truck. Now? Not so much.

[Valarius_Starchaser]

Looking so good! I bet you were ready to jump out of your shoes with a sight like that!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Valarius_Starchaser

Looking so good!

Thanks a lot for the kind words.

Originally Posted by Valarius_Starchaser

I bet you were ready to jump out of your shoes with a sight like that!

Actually, what's going to make me "jump out of my shoes" is to see some color go on it. I CAN'T WAIT for that. We're getting closer. It's taking a lot of time but I'm not upset about that - makes paying for it easier and I've seen the progress week to week and I know he's doing things the way I wanted them done.

[Kim57]

Coming along real nicely.
Kim

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Kim57

Coming along real nicely.
Kim

....if s l o w l y, ha ha!

I asked about seam sealer along the interior steps. The bodyman said he puts that in after the color primer. I guess I thought it should be before, but what do I know!

The interior floor will have a bedliner type textured finish and
I will put Dynamat or Peel 'n Seal on it before carpet goes in eventually.

Also confirmed seam sealer along spot welded joints running around door perimeter. He confirmed that will be done as well. Self-leveling gutter sealant will also go in before color.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hi JJ,
It went fine. Had to do a little "cut-to-fit" so it worked exactly right but not much. Go back to post #1249&50 for photos. Turns out my kit wasn't the one that replaces the entire door panel. Instead, the bodyman will cut the 90* bend off the door panels and grind/contour the edge to look aesthetically good in case I don't install full door upholstery panels later.

[Dan in Pasadena]

June 5, 2016

Stopped by the body shop yesterday to see if my bedsides had been delivered to the shop by the sandblaster/powder coater?

The good news is they had.
The bad news is that the angle strips had NOT been removed as I had been told they would be before powder coating!

The painter was in the booth but I told his son about my concern so we'll see what happens. I'd been told he would remove the angle strips, the sides would be reblasted and THEN they would be powder coated with red as a primer before the real primer. According to him this was to remove the rust that had formed behind the angle strips over the years made sense to me. I didn't know to ask for this and now I feel like I want it done, ha ha!

A pic to prove it happened:

[Kim57]

They came out nice.
Kim

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Kim.
Yeah, they look kinda brick orange/red in all the photos but they're actually a darker true red.

[dug224]

Making good progress. dug

[Dan in Pasadena]

Monday, June 6, 2016

Made a tentative agreement today to buy a '56 Chevy car dashboard from a Craigslist seller. I had pretty much given up on this idea but this popped up cheap - $150.

There was a bit of a "thing" when seller said it wouldn't include the glove box door just the "bare" dash. I told him those words were'nt in his ad but even if they were I consider the "bare dash" to include all the dash sheet metal, meaning of course the glove box door. He's chopping up the car with a Sawzall to get the dash out so I'll have to drill out the spot welds and remove the bits of car body that come on it. This is preferable to me than him drilling out the spots welds because I'm afraid he'd present me with a twisted up dash!

JJ (ChuckDriver) please chime in. I'm assuming I don't have to either lengthen or shorten the dash but I haven't measured yet. SO I'm guessing just trim the metal where it meets the truck cab metal and puddle weld where the spots are now drilled out. - Now that I think of it I'm wondering about struts or reinforcement of some kind BEHIND the dash?

Shopping eBay I see a new repop instrument cluster surround and speaker surround go for the low $300 range and the 3 pc. '55 aluminum dash trim are another $100. The speedo cluster itself I am unclear on. Looks like maybe $100 for stock (hopefully rebuild able?) to as much as over $800!!! For custom aftermarket non-stock unit - Yikes. The cost of installation whether bodyman does it or I do it MAY prevent me from doing it at all!

Any/all advice opinions appreciated.

[ChuckDriver]

Originally Posted by Dan in Pasadena

Monday, June 6, 2016


JJ (ChuckDriver) please chime in. I'm assuming I don't have to either lengthen or shorten the dash but I haven't measured yet. SO I'm guessing just trim the metal where it meets the truck cab metal and puddle weld where the spots are now drilled out. - Now that I think of it I'm wondering about struts or reinforcement of some kind BEHIND the dash?

Any/all advice opinions appreciated.

Dan, I'm not sure how the widths of the two compare, if anything I would guess the truck may be a little more narrow than the car dash. If so its nice and flat in the middle and wouldn't be hard to do!

The truck has a large brace behind the instrument cluster that you can attached to the car dash, which had two rods that bolted it to the firewall.

From what I've seen you do this is definitely something you can handle, so go for it!!

Here's some motivation for you!