1954 Chevy / S10

[xpickup]

oldman3, Thank you. Yes I have been busy. I have a little more to do I my buddies truck cab and then back onto the 54. Computers are great till they stop working. Glad your back. Any new projects?

Shannon

[oldman3]

No new projects, just helping my son with a 50 F**D coupe.

[Fat Mike]

Can you give some pointers on shaving the hood seam?

[xpickup]

Fat Mike. The way I did it on my panel was just welded the seam and then was going to fill the valley with filler BUT I thought about it and am going to redo it when I get back to working on it. I think with the way the hoods are the filler will crack. So when I did the 1954 I sheared a strip and welded it in. Which I would not do again because the double thickness of the hood makes it not easy the hammer and dolly the hood now. So with learning as you always do, I would shear out a 1 inch wide strip and I would start at the back of the hood and use a slitter wheel the cut out a 1 inch wide strip out of the hood about half way down the hood(where the valley is). Then weld in the strip skipping around . Then you do not have the double thickness. Then work from where you left off and work to where the valley stops. I think trying to do it in 1 piece would be a pain. I would just weld the seam in the front. Then I would grind BOTH sides of the hood that way you could hammer and dolly it and make it flat again because it will warp a little. I am going to redo mine that way. After seeing Kabwe's hood and a couple other 55-59 hood being pancaked (slant section), I want to do maybe a 1 or 1 1/2 inch pancake on mine too.

On another note we got a new addition to our family. This is 8 week old Bailey, a chocolate lab. My 3 kids just love him.

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by xpickup

So with learning as you always do, I would shear out a 1 inch wide strip and I would start at the back of the hood and use a slitter wheel the cut out a 1 inch wide strip out of the hood about half way down the hood(where the valley is). Then weld in the strip skipping around . Then you do not have the double thickness. Then work from where you left off and work to where the valley stops. I think trying to do it in 1 piece would be a pain. I would just weld the seam in the front. Then I would grind BOTH sides of the hood that way you could hammer and dolly it and make it flat again because it will warp a little.

This is how I've seen it recommended on metalmeet to join the two sides, for the reasons mentioned. Lots of work though, as you already know.

[xpickup]

Kabwe, Thank you

BlueJeep, Yes alot of work but worth in the end. When I first started to do sheetmetal I would use flanging pliers that put a step in and you can not dolly it because of the added thickness. I recut the seam on my doors (my panel truck) by welding in a strip now and the doors need a lot less body work on them now and they have 2 welded seams. You never stop learning.

The brown trucked santa claus stopped yesterday with some more parts for the 1954 so back on to that. I will get the headlights done and then should be able to put the epoxy on. Can not what to see it in one constant color.


Shannon

[oldman3]

Shannon, great looking pup, what did the kids name it? Ref the hood, I welded mine together and filled with filler. No cracks in 8 yrs, but when the hood get hot from driving you can see the line in the center until it cools down. Your ideal is great, lots of work by great.....Jim

[xpickup]

oldman3, We named him Bailey. I wondered if it would crack and that worried me. If I would have filled it, I would have used fiberglass stranded or all metal first for the strength. It is good that yours did not crack. Never thought about the different expansion thing in the sun.

Shannon

[Fat Mike]

Thank you for the info!

[xpickup]

Fat Mike, No problem. I never mind sharing any info because this is a great site and there are a lot of great people on here.

Shannon

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by xpickup

Fat Mike, No problem. I never mind sharing any info because this is a great site and there are a lot of great people on here.

Shannon

X2 on that.....Jim (yeah I used the short fiberglass filler)

[Kabwe]

Hey thats a great looking pup. I love dogs but a lot of guys on here know that already so I will not bore you.lol

[oldman3]

Shannon, looking forward to see how you finish this up. I have the Hagan unit and don't care for the look all that much....Jim

[xpickup]

oldman3, It wasn't about the look, I think they look nice it was the way they used plastic to hold the headlights and the way the adjusters were. The ones I used were on a 1939 buick and those did not come with the bucket the way the truck ones do. The way I am doing it they will still retain the factory look but will be smoother looking.

Shannon

[xpickup]

oldman3, Here are some pictures of the F!@# panel I am working on too. I work on it 8 hrs a week for a buddy of mine. He owns this and a 48 F!@# COE so I ussually toggle back and forth between the them. He wants to finish the panel and then back to the COE. As you can see it has alot of metal work too.

Shannon

[oldman3]

Shannon, I always thought the 48 F**d truck front ends where hard to make look good, but bro you have proven me wrong (happens alot). That front end looks great, what headlights did you use? Really like everything you've done to this one, great work......Jim

[xpickup]

oldman3, Think it around a 1998 explorer which is cut into 3 pieces for the width to be right. There are alot body mods done on it. Flip front end, suicide door with hidden hinges, the running boards are all custom, the rear doors open the way the excursions open, but with hidden hindges ,and on and on. I am doing the body work now and figuring a paint job/graphics. I think I am painting it a medium blue and a light silver with some kind of graphics. There are three of us with panels, one with a Dodge, one with this Ford , and me with the Chevy. Should be neat with all 3 one the road.

Shannon

[oldman3]

Good luck on the new digs. Never enough space for us car guys.....Jim

[Intimidator]

Cool. Very close to what I've drawn up for frenching my lights into the fenders and losing the outter ring.

Looks great.

I can't justify the $400 for the kit when I could make it for around $50 in parts and materials. And of course some time, but hey, I like fabrication, so it's well worth it. Just wish I had the right tools for the job at home.... so much slower when you have to run around to different places to do things

Truck is great! Well done!

[xpickup]

oldman3, You never have enough space. I just have to pray our place sells. There are houses all over the place for sale.


Intimidator, I was the same way it just seemed like too much money for what you got. I had hardly have any dollars into them just time and the new rings. The adjustment works great and it was simple too.

Shannon

[Intimidator]

Yeah, I just don't have proper tooling to flange the buckets and stuff so it's gonna be tough.

[oldman3]

Shannon, sorry to hear about all the s##t that happened, hang tight, you have lots of people on here pulling for you.....Jim

[xpickup]

Thank you all. Right now I have about 16 inches of water and have 3 pumps going. I left at 2 this morning to give back the gas pump and now I got 2 more electric pumps going plus my sub pump. The ground is just that wet that it is still coming in and the storm drains are full and backing up . I never had anything happen like this and fell for the people that have been flooded. At least one good thing is that the water can only be in the basement. No mud like some places.


Shannon

[99 to Life]

shannon, if it makes you feel any better. My house has a full time pump in it. If the electric goes out, my basement gets feet deep. It's an old foundation out in the country and the ground is just so moist. I want to dig a french drain and see if that doesn't help the problem. hang in there, looking forward to some build updates too, on the positive side.

[oldman3]

Shannon,
I know people up you way have been catching hell from Mother Nature. Hope things are better with you, your in our prayers......Jim