Roostre's 1967 C20

[Roostre]

I've been back in the shop doing rust replacement on the cab. Today is a sunny 56 degrees, so I decided to wander back to the other shed to take a look at the rest of my truck.
Apparently, the door leaks. Stupid predominant northwest wind through the winter. This picture may be more appropriate for the trucks in the snow thread?
Thankfully the cab is nowhere near ready to go back onto the truck at this point.

[Roostre]

I worked in the shop for a couple of hours tonight. I got the driver's side cab corner cut out. I cut it at a slightly different spot from the passenger's side, just below the factory stampings in the rear of the cab. I'm hoping that this will make it easier to align and weld in. While this corner wasn't as rotten as the passenger's side was, there was still plenty of sheet metal riveted in place and covered with body filler. I'll have to cut my patch panel to fit and weld it in another night. It feels good to be making progress again.
Here are some not very exciting pictures of the cut out.

[Roostre]

It has been a few months since I've done anything. Hopefully I will be able to get back into the rust repair on my cab. I did manage to get the driver's side cab corner welded back in. Cutting below the factory stampings did make it easier to align the patch panel and weld everything in. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos. Now I'm on to patching a couple of rust spots in the firewall. After that, I will be bracing the cab and removing the complete floor and rockers. It should be exciting, for me anyway.

[Roostre]

It has been a while since I've been able to work on the cab repairs. I finally got out and removed the patches that someone riveted onto the interior floor of the cab where the floor meets the firewall and the inner A pillar. There is a disappointing, but not unexpected, amount of rust there. I'm more glad than ever to be doing a complete floor. I plan to just patch the lower parts of the firewall, there is a section about 7 inches by 3 inches that I cut out on the driver's side and another area a little larger that I will be cutting out on the passenger's side.

I got the driver's side cut out and a patch made. I didn't weld the patch back in for a couple of reasons.
First, I only had 22ga. sheet steel laying around, and I think that may be a little thin. I was really happy with how the patch turned out, it wasn't bad for a guy with a vice, a hammer, and a cheap Harbor Freight break. I was able to find some 16ga, and hope to make the patch out of that.
I also need to patch in the bottom of the A pillar, and that will be much easier without this piece of the firewall and with the floor out.

Next up will be to cut out a similar area on the passenger's side. That also won't be welded back in until I am able to patch the lower A pillar.

Here's some pictures of the area, the cut, and the patch. Enjoy.

[Roostre]

Here are a couple of close-up pictures from outside the cab showing the damage to the lower A-pillar. I think I have my work cut out for me in this area.

[Roostre]

I just realized that I didn't get pictures of the driver's side cab corner. It's all in now. I'll have to grab a couple the next time I'm out there.

[Roostre]

I went out and got a picture of the cab corners in. I need to grind down the welds and throw a little bondo over them, but I'm happy with how they turned out. The driver's side isn't perfectly lined up with the door, but I think it's good enough.

I also grabbed a picture of my rear roof seam with the bondo and a couple of coats of high build primer. I should be able to sand the primer a little and have it look really nice.

I like the look of white roofs on these trucks, so I'm kicking around the idea of doing that with mine. I don't think a bright white would go with the look I'm going going for, so I think I'm going to try the off white that I've been using to paint the grill trim, headlight buckets, and bumpers. If I don't like it, I'll scuff it and shoot it red when I do the rest of the truck.

[LockDoc]

-
Looks good. Glad to see you back on it.

[May70]

Work is looking good! Im beyond ready to get some stuff done on mine, problem is everything else needs work/finishing around here... Once I get the garage done its go time.

[Roostre]

Thanks both of you! I hope to keep going on it, but the weather looks like it's going to be really cold for the next week or so. Hard to get any ambition when the temperature doesn't get above zero.

[LT7A]

Hang in there. It's good to see your progress.

[Roostre]

I made a new replacement patch out of 16 gage steel. It was tougher to bend, but better matches the thickness of the firewall so I think it will be easier to install. It is the one on the right.

Now to cut out and make a patch for the same spot on the right side.

[Roostre]

I bought this truck with a flatbed on it. At some point, something shifted and smashed the passenger's side cab corner. Someone filled it with bondo and carved the body line back out. Over the years, the bondo started cracking and peeling away. I was looking for a break from cutting and patching, so I got out my hammers and dollies to see if I could make this better. Keep in mind I've never been trained in body work and am just an idiot with hammers and patience. It still has a ways to go, and I'll still have to put some body filler back into it, but it's about half a large as it was when I started. I will keep working it, but I thought I'd share some progress. The pictures are before, about 30 minutes in, and where I'm going to knock off after about an hour. Enjoy.

[raggedjim]

Great work you are doing. I have repaired a few cabs that anyone else would scrap and buy another, and at times it is very disheartening. But it always worked out for me in the end.

By the way, I may have done some very poor bodywork to trucks back in the early '80's... I was young and poor!

Good luck, Rg

[HO455]

Originally Posted by Roostre

I bought this truck with a flatbed on it. At some point, something shifted and smashed the passenger's side cab corner. Someone filled it with bondo and carved the body line back out. Over the years, the bondo started cracking and peeling away. I was looking for a break from cutting and patching, so I got out my hammers and dollies to see if I could make this better. Keep in mind I've never been trained in body work and am just an idiot with hammers and patience. It still has a ways to go, and I'll still have to put some body filler back into it, but it's about half a large as it was when I started. I will keep working it, but I thought I'd share some progress. The pictures are before, about 30 minutes in, and where I'm going to knock off after about an hour. Enjoy.

Good work! I like things I can fix with a hammer.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

Great work you are doing. I have repaired a few cabs that anyone else would scrap and buy another, and at times it is very disheartening. But it always worked out for me in the end.

By the way, I may have done some very poor bodywork to trucks back in the early '80's... I was young and poor!

Good luck, Rg

I too did some very poor body work back then but I haven't inflicted that damage on anyone else as I still have that bad bodywork in my garage.

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by HO455

I too did some very poor body work back then but I haven't inflicted that damage on anyone else as I still have that bad bodywork in my garage.

Some I still have, other shoddy workmanship has found new admirers!

[Roostre]

Thanks everyone! I don't plan on passing this questionable body work on outside of the family, I plan to keep the truck and eventually my son will have to deal with it. And while my body work may be questionable, it's 100 times better than what is on the poor old girl right now!

[HO455]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

Some I still have, other shoddy workmanship has found new admirers!

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by HO455

Good work! I like things I can fix with a hammer.

I too like things I can fix with a hammer!

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by Roostre

Thanks everyone! I don't plan on passing this questionable body work on outside of the family, I plan to keep the truck and eventually my son will have to deal with it. And while my body work may be questionable, it's 100 times better than what is on the poor old girl right now!

You are doing great work. I'm talking about beer cans and bondo, with a touch of roofing tar. Classic!

[Roostre]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

You are doing great work. I'm talking about beer cans and bondo, with a touch of roofing tar.

That sounds like what I'm finding on this cab, but roofing tin instead of beer cans.

My coolant overflow tank is a beer can zip tied to my battery tie down, nothing wrong with beer cans!

I did work on the dent a little more today. I was able to smooth out the crease. Now I just need to get the dent worked back out. The trouble is I can't swing the hammer inside the cab, it's behind the interior panel. I have to do all the hammering on the outside with a dolly inside. It's coming, just slow. I'm also not going for perfect, it will mostly be hidden by the box.

[raggedjim]

I have a Uni-spotter for those types of things. You could go old school and drill some holes and use a screw in slide hammer to help pull the dent. Then weld up the screw holes. Last resorts kind of thing, but it works.

Good luck, Rg

[Roostre]

I was at Harbor Freight today and broke down and bought a slide hammer. Didn't take long and the dent was pulled out to good enough. I could have put some body filler in there and shaped it out perfectly, but the spot is mostly covered by the box and now it doesn't have a big puck of body filler in there anymore to come loose and hold water against the metal. This also isn't going to be a flawless truck, just a driver. Here's a couple of pictures.

[dmack91]

While my bodyworking skills are way behind most here, they are better than the PO. When I got the truck, it was missing both the inner and outer rockers. Fortunately, the PO replaced them with 2x4s. He did color match them though.