My 1961 crew cab- XRMYCRU

[jonzcustomshop]

Originally Posted by CHIZZLER

I will be doing the same thing to the back doors very soon.

I think it helped immensely that I cut all the little tack welds off the center post inner panel, and got access to the threads and nuts (the nuts are welded to the floating plate) of these screws.

If you have an oxy/acetylene unit, it is much easier to use and control the heat.
I was using an old oxy/propane torch, and it is pretty clumsy.

you want to try not to heat up the pillar metal that is behind the lead seam on the edge, and if you can, just heat the nut, so that you don't melt the threads.

[jonzcustomshop]

well, there is a lull in progress right now...
yesterday I wrote down a big list of what needed to be done for the entire build, so now I need to get it in order and and start crossing stuff off.

I am thinking that I should probably do the frame out at the yard, since most of that stuff is still out there, and then finish the cab up at home so that when it's ready I can just drop it on and go!

so with list in hand I figured I would spend the day shopping at the local wrecking yard....
got a bunch of cool stuff-more than this one build, but stuff I wanted.

I have a decent 60 hood, but I really like the 61 hood better (it has a hard defined edge connecting the "pods" at the back, while the 60 is kind of a soft roll) so I got one for this , and 1 to replace the 60 hood that is on my 65 too!
also scored a set of emblems with each one: "apache 10", and "apache 20".

I grabbed a couple of fenders that aren't too rusty in the back, patch panels will fix 'em, and I will either use these on this build, or steal the ones that are already done that I have for my suburban , and use these on it.

got a nice little pile of parts: a couple cowl extensions without holes or dents, a whole pile of front end bolts, door panels, glove box door, 2 heater controls to make 1 good one, heater deletes 60-61, and 62-66, 60-63 radio deletes, a 62 washer wiper switch, gas pedal , throttle knob, ash tray, headlight rings, and 1 (wish there had been 2!) apache 30 emblem.

[65sub]

Nice score on the parts. Wish we had junk yards like that around here

[CHIZZLER]

If you have any pics of where the bottom of the doors line up and meet the rockers that would be great. I got both front doors today fitting pretty good but both of them are short about 3/8" compared to the backs. Mat have to re-skin a portion to make them line up better. Thanks

[piratexpress1369a]

nice find ...what happen to all the snow you had ...looks like a spring day lol

[jonzcustomshop]

Originally Posted by CHIZZLER

If you have any pics of where the bottom of the doors line up and meet the rockers that would be great. I got both front doors today fitting pretty good but both of them are short about 3/8" compared to the backs. Mat have to re-skin a portion to make them line up better. Thanks

here is what I have:
I measured from the jamb to the edge of the rocker and got 50 inches, this is also the same measurement on my 63 which is as it left the factory...

looks like the driver rear door is a tiny bit low, but it is all dented up too!

couldn't get a good shot of the pass side, because it is not bolted on , when I push it up the gap lines up, but it is real close at the top... will have to find a happy middle ground....

[CHIZZLER]

Thanks for the pic. I wll check it in the morning. I see your front door is also shy of the rear just like mine. Im not expecting everything to be ridler award winning gaps but pleasing to the eye. CHIZZLER

[jonzcustomshop]

I made another parts run, this time it was from my yard, so it didn't cost anything!
all the windows from the crew were broken or shot out, except for the right rear door.
my "new" front doors were stripped 62/63's , so I had to source parts out of all my 60-61 doors, luckily I had just enough. (62-63 have the tempered non metal frame side glass)
at some point I will need to get a 60-61 glass weather strip kit for all 4 doors...$$$
So, I grabbed 3 or 4 of everything, and got to work putting the doors back together. there were a few broken screws that I had to drill and tap, and then I have been running a tap through all the threads, and keeping them all lubricated so that I can pull it all apart again without any trouble..

I discovered the window mechanism down/stop under the door control on the rear door, it is intertwined around the vent window/window track as well, and I might say quite sloppily done too! The screw was long enough that it had pushed into the window track, so I used a shorter screw when I put it all back together.

sooo lucky that I found the passenger side door stop in the bottom of the passenger door, it fell through the rust hole in the bottom corner when I had it off, and must have been laying down there for years. As you can see it is a bit longer than the front , it shows no signs of being spliced together, so it is either custom made , or sourced off another vehicle.

the door side of the door stop mechanism is pretty crude: looks to have been cut in with a torch, and just left that way.

I was able to unscrew the mirror bracket off the yellow truck. I have another left hand one of these, and the bottom is universal, the top is left/right only, so I am going to try to reverse engineer the top left piece and make a right.
these brackets aren't as aesthetically pleasing as the standard 60-61 bracket, but I like the different rugged look that they have....usually they had a mirror arm that was about 2 feet long, they were used on big trucks and stakes mainly... both of the ones I have came on cab/chassis trucks, so maybe they were standard on them?

[hotrod66]

Wow never realized the 60 hoods are different from 61!would you post pictures for comparison?

[jonzcustomshop]

Originally Posted by hotrod66

Wow never realized the 60 hoods are different from 61!would you post pictures for comparison?

first pic is the 61, second is the 60... 61 has a sharp defined edge, while the 60 is soft and smooth...

[jonzcustomshop]

got the roof panel today, not much to look at, it is just a flat piece of 20 gauge , we rolled it through a roller, and then spent a couple hours doing some bends on the edges to get the right shape for the drip rail.
the piece is the right size and shape, but it will take some massaging to get it together.
the factory inner headliner holds up the factory roof in the center, the stamping and ribs in it hold it rigid.
since this can't be used in the crew conversion, they formed some bracing to hold up the roof.
the bracing in the yellow cab is a little beat up, the front one is bent from something heavy on the roof, so I might have to figure out how to make a new piece, but for now I will need to use them to support the center of the roof.

[jonzcustomshop]

I needed to make the part of the inner headliner that goes in between the doors.
I thought the flanging tool would make it , but the bend is much deeper than that.
So I got out an assortment of metal and made a poor mans metal brake.
first I clamped it with some vise grips in between some angle iron, and then put that in the vise. then I got out the Bfh. and bent a 90 degree bend in it.

[jonzcustomshop]

next I got another piece of angle and some square tube that was laying around, and clamped it together with the vise grips. then put the whole piece back in the angle iron/vise and bent it over.
pulled it out and did a little straightening with pliers and a hammer, and done!

[66-PMD-GMC]

I'm really enjoying this thread

[flashed]

Me too and constantly amazed at all the fab skills .

[jonzcustomshop]

so, yesterday was pulling the old roof off without damaging the structure.. I worked on this for about an hour and a half, and I recommend this for those that are pulling a bad roof skin, and replacing it with another.


this worked for me since I am using the front section of the green roof, as the orange roof somehow had a mouse nest right in the center between the roof and headliner, and both pieces were rusted through!..

first I cut around the perimeter leaving about an inch of the old roof.
next I went over the top and bottom looking for evidence of the spot welds: I was able to run my finger underneath the drip rail, and whenever I felt a divot I would mark it on top, then I looked around the top near my marks, and could see about 75% of the spots.
another method that works is to sand under the drip rail, or brush the paint off with a rotary wire brush to find the spots.

next I grabbed the pliers and started at one end and started wiggling the piece back and forth. as it loosens up you can see the spot sticking as the surrounding metal rips away, as I was able to see the exact locations of the spots I ground a little metal away with the cutoff wheel to make it break apart a little easier. when I got to the corners I cut some vertical cuts so that I wouldn't bend the lower metal.

the middle 2 photos are staged: I didn't take any during the progress

then after it was all off I ground off what was left of the spots,, and had to spend some extra time in the corners, since they are kind of double spotted where the little gutter joining clips are welded on, and now have a nice clean unbent surface to work with, most important no holes!

as I was pulling the green skin to use on the front I was trying to save the lower metal, (practicing!) and inadvertently at some point you go too deep with the spot weld cutter, and leave a big hole, or the pilot bit catches and pulls through before you have a chance to stop.

[jonzcustomshop]

ok: back to work!
welded in the inner headliner side panel sections, and got the B pillar upper plates welded back on.

I had to make a template for the front roof support since it was bent down on the passenger side.. I traced the good side, then flipped it and traced it again, then used the vise and knee and about 10 bends and I got it back in shape..

got the inner structure all clamped in.

you can see in the last photo right next to the ear protection the rust holes that I have to fix before I can put the roof skin back on-previous mouse nest location....they look like 2 little black dots... about 8 inches of the metal is very scaly, there are about 5-6 holes, so I am going to try to weld them up, but I might have to just weld in a patch panel if they are too hard to weld up.

[jonzcustomshop]

inner structure is in and I set the front skin on to see how the fit is:

[DakotaKid]

wow, alot of work going on here, i love it.

[CHIZZLER]

Looking very good.

[1963c-10]

Nice addition Jon, sorry I'm so late to the party, but just caught up on the thread!!!

[piratexpress1369a]

great work

[rwade]

I like your method of getting the old roof panel you are replacing off. My question is how'd you go about getting off the "good" donor section your going to use (the green one)? I've got a 61 I need to do this to.

Thanks, Wade

[jonzcustomshop]

Originally Posted by rwade

I like your method of getting the old roof panel you are replacing off. My question is how'd you go about getting off the "good" donor section your going to use (the green one)? I've got a 61 I need to do this to.

Thanks, Wade

The green one I used a spot weld cutter, however if I was to do it again, I would cut the roof off at the posts, and flip it over and drill all the spots from the bottom with the spot weld cutter..., this would give you a nice clean smooth surface to work with , then you could glue, or punch smaller holes and plug weld, or even re-spot weld it- this is if you had 2 roofs to work with...

[rwade]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like what we NEED is for the aftermarket folks to start making a lot more sheet metal for the 60-63 era trucks! Anyway, I love the work your doing, keep on keepin on

Wade