1954 Chevy / S10

[xpickup]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Shannon,
Nice job on the door edges. The door gap looks perfect, very nice work. I love the way you repaired the beltline, never have to worry about the two panel rust again, very very nice......Jim

oldman3, Thank you. The door gaps were to big with the drip edges off so I made them like the rest of the doors about 3/16 and you are right no rust below the beltline.

Shannon

[xpickup]

Originally Posted by Groyd

How tough was it to get rid of the drip edges. Are they just tac welds or are they on there pretty solid? I'm not sure if I want to tackle it or not.

I'm having fits with my door gaps as well. Not quite sure where to start with them.

Groyd, The drip edges are just spot welded to the door opening but they were just about rusted off and the sheetmetal behind them had alot of holes. The gap was large too. I cut out the bad metal and sheared 1 inch wide strips and bent them a little over 90 degrees with a 1/2 leg on both sides. I did the opening in 3 sections. So I mounted the door and used a strecher/shinker to fit the door. Sat the new piece with the gap I wanted up against the cab and scribed the cab the cut it out with a 4 1/2 cut off wheel. then welded it on the outside and inside on the door opening. I skipped around so it didn't worp out and ground it up. It wasn't bad to do just took time. If you need anymore pictures let me know.

Shannon

[xpickup]

Originally Posted by Fat Mike

Interested in dimensions for the front fender brackets and how they mount. I am missing one and would like to mimic yours

Fat Mike, They will mount to the edge of the fender were the factory ones mount and will also mount on the radiator support. I will work on them this weekend and will give you the dimensions and pictures when I am done and have them mounted. I figured it would be easier than finding old ones.

Shannon

[xpickup]

Originally Posted by Kabwe

Really nice work my friend. Really nice.

Kabwe, Thank you. I really do love doing metal work like you do too.

Shannon

[xpickup]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

are you going to leave the drip rails off? I personally like them alot, I don't think they would be too bad to make. The belt line looks great.

99 to Life, Thank you. Yes drip edges are gone. My buddy didn't want the on so I said no problem and the metal was bad behind it. Belt line worked out pretty well at least it will not rust at the seam.

Shannon

[xpickup]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

Can you tell us more about how you did the beltline, and some more close-up pics? How bad was the rust inside there and what did you do to mitigate it?

BlueJeep, I made a die for my beadroller for my panel truck and it was close to the bead on the back of the truck. The back of the truck was a little wider. On the corner I put a flat piece of paper on the cab so I could figure out the radius. Once I figured that out, I cut the paper and transfered it to the sheetmetal. Then beadrolled the radius. I only used half of the beltline bead that was about 3/4". The upper part of the bead was alright. I left about 3/4" on below the bead because that was below the rot. I then put the flat edge of the sheetmetal (non beaded edge) and ran it on the beadroller. Because it was radiused too. If you looked at the edge it looked like a flattened W. If the beltline edge didn't look crisp I changed the dies and ran the tipping die over it. I then put the piece on the cab and scribed the panel on the cab. Then welded it in. The rust wasn't to bad behind the beltline. I will post more picture for you when I do the last piece.

Shannon

[xpickup]

BlueJeep, Here are some more pictures. The first picture is the piece that I beadrolled. The second picture is the edge shot. The third picture is with it cut down to about 3/4". The forth picture is where I cut out the bad and the fifth picture is with some cheap primer on it so it does not rust. It has been a 100 degrees here for a couple days and today we finally got rain.

Shannon

[Kabwe]

You the man Shannon, you the man.

[BlueJeep]

Thanks for the additional detail! When I finish mine out (I already welded it) I plan to match the profile of the doors as best I can.

Now that I know what a pain that seam is, I check them out at shows. Most I see are half filled with paint and half not, and I just wonder how much water seeps in there and stays wet....

[xpickup]

Kabwe, Thank you

BlueJeep, No problem on the pictures. If anybody ever needs more pictures just ask. I know what you mean about that seam. I think that welding it up helps to seal it better so hopefully it will not get water behind it and then rust. When I did it I took out both of the returned lips out and the whole back of the cab is now all one. There was not any rust back behind it except a little surface rust up in the inner cab panel.

Shannon

[kustombrad]

Im diggin' all the great fab work! Very cool stuff!
Posted via Mobile Device

[xpickup]

kustombrad, Thank you . I am hoping that that gets ride of some of my buddies rust problems.

Shannon

[chevyrestoguy]

I can't believe that I've missed this thread. I am blown away at your fab skills. You do very nice work! I am really impressed at your enthusiasm to tear into stuff that most guys run away from. I won't overlook this thread again!

[xpickup]

chevyrestoguy, Thank you very much. My buddy bought the 48 truck and blasted it and was surprised at the rust and I told him that almost anything can be fixed. I was never afraid of tearing into anything and learn alot from just doing it. I was on your thread earlier and I am in the same boat as you on the car show thing and not having mine finish. I am hoping to aleast have my panel at least driveable next year.

Shannon

[oldman3]

Shannon, computors been in the shop since Monday, see you've been busy, nice job....Jim

[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.

[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