Ian's Tennessee Honey '64 Short Box Step-side - England

[Paul Y]

Didn't realise how far North you were Ian.

Looking forward to your updates.

P.

[Grizz1963]

Ian, At the pace we are all repairing these trucks and all the past 50+ years worth of bodges, there will be a bunch of decent trucks out on the UK roads soon.

I am shocked at the amount of ****e repairs you are finding on your truck.

Guess we all have our own demons to fight with these trucks.

Thank goodness for this forum and the members on here.

[mjh1965]

Looking good Ian . You'll soon have it done at the rate you are going.

[MacQuigley]

Nice job Ian.

Im glad your ahead of me with this. Now I have a good reference for starting the same job.

Seeing as the weather was OK over the weekend I spent it outside working on the chassis. I'll update my thread tomorrow.

Couldn't agree more Rian, this forum is a god send!

[Johnny_Lamebridge]

Ian, you're brave man cutting off the bottom of the pillar... but I see you logic in doing so. I'd be afraid of getting things out of position, but I guess you'll have straight edges to mate up to again. Your repairs are looking good.

[ibrown50]

Before I can finish the passenger side floor I need to deal with the rear cab support first. The tin worm had been gnawing on it a little.



Rather than replace the whole thing I thought it would be better to replace the rusted out bit, that way I could save the mounting flanges which are the datum points for the inner rockers and rear pillar.

I cut out the rusted part plus a bit to get back to good sound steel



And then welded in the new piece in





Next the inner rockers

[mjh1965]

Looking good Ian . I know the pain you are going through , but with your skills it won't be long before you have it all back together

[ibrown50]

I had a couple of jobs to do before I could fit the inner rocker/floor.

The tim worm had been chewing on the bottom of the pillar, I'd cut it off for access so it was easy to repair,



I repaired this with a piece of steel scavenged from something else I'd cut off (it was the right gauge)



I also put a repair section in the bottom of the kick panel

The PO had done the usual fibreglass and bondo repair, The repair panel isn't the greatest fit, but with a bit of cutting and jiggling (that's a technical term ) it ended up ok





Didn't quite get it finished though, my welding mask decided to throw in its hand. Boy that arc is bright when your screen doesn't go dark. So that's me stuck until I can get a new mask next week

[mjh1965]

Looking good Ian . I know this is a silly question but did you check the batteries. I had to change the batteries on my mask the other day , as that stopped going dark one minute it was working then the next ti wasn't , with no sign or hint the battery was going . 2xCR2032 batteries later and it was fine .

[Paul Y]

Add another to the growing list of welding hats throwing the towel in.

Mine did the same thing last week, seems that if you are going to have one that is solar powered it occasionally needs to see the Sun....who would have thought it.....

Keep going Ian!

P.

[MacQuigley]

I've the opposite problem with mine. It wouldn't go light! At the price they come in at these days I may buy another as a spare. I've a LOT of welding to be done!!! Can't risk not being able to weld.

Good work though Ian. This will be my guide when the time comes.

[Grizz1963]

Ian, I feel your pain.

I let Mickey next door use mine before, of course it came back broken, now he only gets that one when he asks.

We all have our rusty crosses to bear it seems.

Keep the faith mate.

[ibrown50]

While waiting for my new welding helmet to arrive I tweaked and clamped the inner rocker and clamped the rear pillar that I had sawn off to get access to fit the inner rocker.



Once my new helmet arrived I was back in business.



I've tacked the inner rocker/floor in place and welded the bottom of the rear pillar in place.



I've also welded the new bottom section of the front pillar in place although for now it's just tacked until I'm happy with the outer rocker.



This is currently held in place with three self tapping screws until I am happy with the door fit.

[mjh1965]

Looking good Ian . I believe you are going to my mates on the 21st to collect your door , are you going to try the replacement door on or use the one you have for now .

[MacQuigley]

Looking good Ian. You should be finished just about the time Im ready to start.

[ibrown50]

As Martin has mentioned above I am collecting a door from his mates home on the 21st, this is the one kindly "donated" by Rian (thanks mate ) and then delivered to the north side of London by Martin to make it easier for me to collect (thanks also) it saves me about 80 miles of driving each way but more importantly it saves me crossing (or going around) London which is easily 2 hours each way.

I still have a 550 miles and about 10 hours of driving to do. Also while I'm that far down I'm calling at Langys Rod Shop to collect some stuff for Bill and me. Should be a Grand Day Out



I have trial fitted the old door, I hope the doors don't vary too much



The gap between the bottom of the door and the rocker should be ok with a bit of a tweak, Next job is to remove the outer rocker and drill the holes for the spot welds

[Paul Y]

What did you go for as a Helmet Ian?

Mine is definitely capote so am looking for a replacement.

P.

[MacQuigley]

Looks good Ian. Wish I was that far along.

BTW Ive been onto Steve re getting some suspension parts in. Would it be easier if I get him to hold onto my patch panels and tie them in with the suspension parts?

[uber cool]

just read your comments re welding mask. That's so funny as mine packed up whilst welding the rocker panels on Mark's 63, I had to get a new one too. When im not using the mask I now leave it near a window to keep the battery charged up.

[ibrown50]

Rather than take a chance I decided to wait until I had collected my "new" door before welding the outer rocker in place.
So Saturday morning up at 05:00 and on the road at 05:30. I drove to Watford to Langy's rod shop to collect some rust repair panels and a (brand new) 67 rear bumper , then across to Welwyn Garden City to Martins friends (mums!) house to collect the door kindly given to be by Rian, then back home, arriving home at around 16:45 having covered just under 600 miles. The things we do for our trucks!



I genuinely love this hobby, it's full of generous, helpful people, always ready to lend a hand, give advice or simply offer support and encouragement. Rian is a great example of this, giving me his spare door, a pallet truck and one of his famous care packages (consisting of a T-shirt a baseball and bat) the door also came complete with a couple of repair panels and in true Rian style he refused any kind of payment. Thanks mate.





I managed to get the door hung this evening, about 20 minutes of fiddling and it's pretty near, a few tweaks and it will be spot on.



I mentioned on Martins thread the other day just how handy motorcycle lifts can be, for fitting a transmission, an axle and when fitting a door on your own they are the perfect tool. And apparently they're ok for lifting motorcycles too

[mjh1965]

Good news on getting the door . Dropping the parts at Dave's mums was not a problem . Dave is a good friend and always ready to help . You are right about the bike lift I use it more than my Trolly jack . Mind you I do still use mine to lift a bike as well .

[ibrown50]

I've not done an update for a while so here we go

The outer rocker is now fitted permanently, I drilled a bunch of 1/4" holes, and then marked the hole positions on the inner rocker so I could sand the minimum amount of the E-coat primer off to allow me to weld. Welds were dressed back with carbide burr as it leaves a little indentation which looks like a factory spot weld when painted.







The door has been on and off more times than I can count but it's necessary to constantly check the gaps. It was back on again so that I could fit the cab corner, you may remember a few posts back I pulled about a half inch of filler out of the passenger side corner. It was pretty much flattened, I had knocked it out as best I could but it still wasn't perfect. I have used the profile of the patch panel to get it better, but it still needs work





I also have this gap to fill where the rot was removed but the repair panel comes up short

[Palf70Step]

Patch work is looking good.

[uber cool]

Nice repair to the rocker and rear corner Ian

[62stepside longbox]

Metalwork looks good