Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[Vic1947]

OK, here's what I'm thinking on the bumper. No scoops, spoilers or bug deflectors (sorry, Chip). Looking at the blue truck example photos I have, it would appear the builder raised the bumper which likely entails cutting up the frame horns and other mods I'm not willing to do. Sooooo.... I think a more modest knockoff is in the works.

I picked up some 18ga. sheetmetal strips from the metal store this morning and made a couple of patterns to see what might work for me. A 1" wide strip with 3/16" folded back on one side and a 9/16" right angle on the other side will lay into the grille shell and follow the angle of the top of the bumper. I'll have to trim the bumper edge to match the new pieces and end up with a 1/4" gap. The edge of the bumper is somewhat irregular, so trimming it will get rid of the bugly.

More to come...

[knomadd]

If you're going through all that trouble to fit the bumper, are you going to peak it along the front edge like the grille? In other words, make the soft rounded center mimic the sharper pointed grille and hood?

I like your idea for making the valance more flush with the bumper.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

If you're going through all that trouble to fit the bumper, are you going to peak it along the front edge like the grille? In other words, make the soft rounded center mimic the sharper pointed grille and hood?

I like your idea for making the valance more flush with the bumper.

Yes, that's my plan. I'd like the dimension between the valance and the edge of the bumper to be consistent instead of narrowing in the center like it does. Only way to make that happen is to massage the center of the bumper to peak it more. it will take some finesse, as I want to send it out for chrome when I'm done... and I hate whoop-dee-doo's in chrome pieces.

[sduckworth13]

Interested to see what you come up with Vic. I know whatever you come up with it will look perfect.

[Vic1947]

I began work on the bumper today and made some modest progress. I probably should have searched for a thread where someone had already done this, but I decided how I was going to do it and forged ahead. There's a lot of curve to the bumper in the middle, so I started by laying a straightedge on the raised rib to see where the main curvature began. I then estimated where the center was and laid out the cut lines. To minimize the chances for error, I'm doing this a little at a time.

After the cuts were made, I lifted the cut sections in the center and gently worked the metal by hand until it was pretty straight. I then welded the center cut and let it cool.

[Vic1947]

After welding the center cut, I tweaked the sections a bit more until there was almost no gap left. I clamped a piece of 1" square to the face of the rib for support while I tack welded the side facing the license plate mount. Where the opening gets larger, I used a bandsaw to cut a wedge shaped piece to fill the gap. Right now I'm just tacking everything and will come back later and fill with silicon bronze as it doesn't draw the material like ER70 does. The only downside to the silicon bronze is that it can leave pinholes, so I'll have to inspect carefully after grinding.

When the license plate side is finished, I'll move to the top of the bumper. For that, I'll have to make three cuts. A pie shaped cut in the center and straight cuts outboard. This will allow me to move the wide sections into place and more or less retain the faint line that runs across the top. I also prepped the valance area for the filler piece that gets welded in. So far so good.

[Elliot949]

That fricking looks awesome Vic...

[GR8-68]

I am tuning in for this bumper mod, I have had thoughts for awhile about shortening mine to tuck the ends in closer and somehow getting rid of the center license plate mount. I see what your trying to do now also is tighten that bumper to grille margin and make it consistent from end to end.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Elliot949

That fricking looks awesome Vic...

Thanks, Dan. Hope to see you on the 20th.

Originally Posted by GR8-68

I am tuning in for this bumper mod, I have had thoughts for awhile about shortening mine to tuck the ends in closer and somehow getting rid of the center license plate mount. I see what your trying to do now also is tighten that bumper to grille margin and make it consistent from end to end.

Welcome and I hope I don't lead you astray! I narrowed the bumpers on my '57 Ford, but didn't french them into the fenders. Even at that, it made a big difference.

Today's update on the bumper...
I got the bottom edge of the rib tacked into place and turned my attention to the topside of the bumper. Thinking I'd need to pie cut the center, I mocked up some paper templates to get an idea of how much. Turns out, I didn't need to do anything but make a straight cut in the center. Some funky 3D geometry at work or mysteries yet to be revealed. At any rate, I have a bit bigger gap in the middle than I would have had otherwise. I'll just make a slightly larger patch.

The large flat sections had some curvature I needed to remove so I marked a line on them (red arrow) and hit them with the belt sander. Next up was tacking the flat pieces in place. This was the most trying part of the mod so far. Even with magnets, clamps and fat fingers it was tricky getting the pieces to fit together. I ended up tacking both ends of one piece closest to the edge of the rib. Then used a deep, Vise Grip c-clamp to make the middle of the cuts line up better. Repeated the process on the other side and made ready to mount the bumper on the front end.

I had to open up the holes in the frame horns slightly to get everything to line up in the up and down direction like I wanted. Still, the edge of the bumper extends 2" from the fender on the passenger side and 1.75" on the driver side. I'll make another run at adjustments tomorrow, but the problem could be in the bumper itself. I know one thing... when I cut the flat section out of it this morning, I had the bumper clamped in the vise and as soon as the bandsaw hit the long cut, it went SPROING!! and twisted slightly. However, when I began to piece it back together, there wasn't any twist I could see.

You can see in the last photo that I've laid out 2" wide tape as a guide for my cuts to narrow the bumper. I'll make the inside cut first and overlap the cutoff piece to mark the fender for where I'll cut it to recess the edge. More later...

[Elliot949]

[QUOTE=Vic1947;7819698]Thanks, Dan. Hope to see you on

We won't have the truck in the show this year... when I went to register it I was informed that the show was full... But I plan on going and seeing some of my friends.. Are you and Chip coming??? And what day are you planning... the 20TH?

[swamp rat]

The bumper looks great Vic!

[knomadd]

Nice work with the bumper! I'm glad you're going this route. I've been wanting to do this, but have been afraid of the amount of work involved and the chrome cost. You're making me rethink it.

[Low Elco]

Sadly, Chip won't be going. Combo of Family and a big project at work got me. Hoping to come down for the Swap, since the Chill is no more. Good excuse to drink beer with my friend and see my old truck again.

Nice work, Vic! I'm hoping to see a splitter/air dam on the bumper leading to a vacuum effect tunnel under the truck and a diffuser at the rear. Lip angles automatically adjusted based on speed input from the ECU. This is gonna be killer!

[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Picked up this short stepside on January 13th in 20 degree weather. Drove it about 15 white knuckle miles to get it to the house where it now sits awaiting some sort of rebuild. I'm determined to use it as a daily driver and not over restore it like my other truck. Like many 40+ year old trucks, it has lots of problems. My goal is to address the safety and reliability issues as well as the sheetmetal shortcomings. I doubt it will get anything other than a good coat of epoxy primer and I currently have no plans to convert it to discs or 5 lugs. I will post progress reports as they occur, so follow along if you like.

Sure glad this hasn't gotten out of hand!

[Elliot949]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Sure glad this hasn't gotten out of hand!

LOL Chip...

[jlsanborn]

The custom bumper is going to be cool!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Nice work with the bumper! I'm glad you're going this route. I've been wanting to do this, but have been afraid of the amount of work involved and the chrome cost. You're making me rethink it.

Well, the work's not too bad... more thinking than doing up to this point. I did talk to the chrome shop today and they assured me they could tidy up any imperfections. I asked him about using lead to fix any contours, low spots, etc. and he stated NO! quite emphatically. They use silver braze for their fixes. No idea about the cost, but I'll post that info when I find out.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Sadly, Chip won't be going. Combo of Family and a big project at work got me. Hoping to come down for the Swap, since the Chill is no more. Good excuse to drink beer with my friend and see my old truck again.

Nice work, Vic! I'm hoping to see a splitter/air dam on the bumper leading to a vacuum effect tunnel under the truck and a diffuser at the rear. Lip angles automatically adjusted based on speed input from the ECU. This is gonna be killer!

Thx, Chip. We won't be going to Starbird-Devlin either since Dan's truck didn't make it into the show. We'll go to one in the spring instead. Told him by PM to keep me posted when he shows it later on. As for the ECU controlled splitter :emoticon with raised middle finger:

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Sure glad this hasn't gotten out of hand!

Originally Posted by Elliot949

LOL Chip...

You guys are killin' me!

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

The custom bumper is going to be cool!

Thanks, John, hopefully I don't hit the wall midway thru this.

Today I got more of the welding done and started filing some of the welds. The silicon bronze works pretty easily and I like using files instead of the grinder for this kind of thing. It's much more controllable and you have less chance of removing material other than the weld itself. I use three files for the most part. A heavy crosscut meant for aluminum, but works equally well on SB, a medium flat 80 and a flat smooth for finishing. I'll lightly dress the surfaces with a blending disc as the last step.

[Elliot949]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Sadly, Chip won't be going. Combo of Family and a big project at work got me. Hoping to come down for the Swap, since the Chill is no more. Good excuse to drink beer with my friend and see my old truck again.

Nice work, Vic! I'm hoping to see a splitter/air dam on the bumper leading to a vacuum effect tunnel under the truck and a diffuser at the rear. Lip angles automatically adjusted based on speed input from the ECU. This is gonna be killer!

Sorry to hear that Chip... BEER????...LOL..... maybe I will see you at the swap meet...

[Xeen]

Oh hell the bumper looks great, they won't have anything to fix when you hand it off to them for chrome.
How would you rate your experience with the eye surgery now that they have had some time to heal up, are they as good as new now?

[Elliot949]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Well, the work's not too bad... more thinking than doing up to this point. I did talk to the chrome shop today and they assured me they could tidy up any imperfections. I asked him about using lead to fix any contours, low spots, etc. and he stated NO! quite emphatically. They use silver braze for their fixes. No idea about the cost, but I'll post that info when I find out.Thx, Chip. We won't be going to Starbird-Devlin either since Dan's truck didn't make it into the show. We'll go to one in the spring instead. Told him by PM to keep me posted when he shows it later on. As for the ECU controlled splitter :emoticon with raised middle finger:You guys are killin' me!Thanks, John, hopefully I don't hit the wall midway thru this.

Today I got more of the welding done and started filing some of the welds. The silicon bronze works pretty easily and I like using files instead of the grinder for this kind of thing. It's much more controllable and you have less chance of removing material other than the weld itself. I use three files for the most part. A heavy crosscut meant for aluminum, but works equally well on SB, a medium flat 80 and a flat smooth for finishing. I'll lightly dress the surfaces with a blending disc as the last step.

I am SOOOO watching this Vic... we are considering building custom bumpers for "PAPA J".. It would be great to have somewhat local Chrome shop to deal with when we get to the point of Chrome Plating...

[Low Elco]

LOL!

Your work looks killer as always. I have got to take a class or something on Tig welding.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Elliot949

I am SOOOO watching this Vic... we are considering building custom bumpers for "PAPA J".. It would be great to have somewhat local Chrome shop to deal with when we get to the point of Chrome Plating...

Well, Dan, this could either serve as inspiration or a warning depending on how things go.

Originally Posted by Xeen

Oh hell the bumper looks great, they won't have anything to fix when you hand it off to them for chrome.
How would you rate your experience with the eye surgery now that they have had some time to heal up, are they as good as new now?

Thanks, Brian. The best way to insure the results match my expectations is to do as much as I can myself and not depend on the shop to pick up the slack.

I'm glad I had the eye surgery. My eyes have healed up nicely, although I still have a few vision problems. Seeing things up close can be a challenge depending on the time of day. I'm getting a third replacement lens for my glasses because the prescription changes so much from week to week. I have an appointment at the end of Feb. and hope to get a final exam for a really good pair of HD spectacles. Main concern at this point is that the growth is trying to come back in the right eye. Doc's fighting it with chemo injections, so we'll see how that works out.

Originally Posted by Low Elco

LOL! Your work looks killer as always. I have got to take a class or something on Tig welding.

I never took welding classes, just a trick photography course.

Today I welded out the backside of the bumper and continued filing the front. I have some low spots I've been using the hammer and dolly on, but some areas will have to be built up with weld. All this filing is wearing me out, so I sneaked in a couple of easy passes with the cutoff wheel and flap disc.

[Low Elco]

I always wondered, how bad is the suck-in on the bolts when you weld them in like that? It's not like you can planish them flat.

[Vic1947]

I actually turned a bit of the top off the bolts for the four recessed locations. I'll build up the SilBro where needed. Just looking to avoid an island of steel surrounded by a donut of weld material. Suck-in was non-existent.

[Elliot949]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

I actually turned a bit of the top off the bolts for the four recessed locations. I'll build up the SilBro where needed. Just looking to avoid an island of steel surrounded by a donut of weld material. Suck-in was non-existent.

Nice work Vic...when are you going to chrome with it...