It’s Just A Pickup

[Average Joe]

This build thread is worthy of publication. Thank you for going to such detail. I am now subscribed. Happy days.

[Bruce88]

Looking for the right angle
Bringing small parts together to reach the end desired goal

I haven’t had good experiences with the stock washer nozzles used on these trucks. Plus the ones on the truck had been bent and hose added by the previous owner in an attempted to create a wiper arm spray nozzle.

I picked up some more modern type universal washer nozzles that are found generally mounted in the hood. I didn’t want to mount them in the hood so I set about to create a bracket to hide them under the cowl close to the stock nozzle location. With this idea in mind you can fallow along as I figured out what angle to mount them at.

Using the spray angle nozzle adjustments and mocking up a bracket to see if it would work.



The forward area under where the cowl mounts to the cab is small and cramped to add a bracket; modifications will be needed to the cowl seal for clearance. The new nozzle bracket dimensions and bend angle was determined from the mocked up bracket.



Decided to use 8-32 SS screws with 8-32 rivet nuts to mount the new bracket, the screws have to be as close to the aft edge as possible for clearance to the cowl. Could have used sheet metal screws or welded the bracket to the cab. Also drilled a .5 DIA hole in forward surface below the new bracket location for the hose.

The fwd area of the cowl is normally attached with sheet metal screws I’m going to replace them with 10-32 SS pan head screws and 10-32 rivet nuts (you can see one of the 10-32 rivet nuts in the picture below)



See next post for continuation and more pictures

[Bruce88]

Continuation of above post

Hears a couple of pictures of the brackets installed on the right and left hand locations without the cowl hiding them.



Right and left washer nozzle shown with the cowl installed. Also the hose elbow used to keep the hose close to the wall at the new location plus its relationship to the old hose location.



Another picture of the nozzle at a different angle (all that’s left is to disassemble and paint the new brackets).

Was down at Pep boys Auto Parts just wandering thru the store and found some new stile 15 inch frameless wiper blades for the truck. They seem to be the only ones making the newer stile blade in a 15 inch size.

The new windshield washer pump came in and installed it on the wiper motor.



One small part in making the truck my own, fallowing in the line of innovating Hot Roding. May all your innovations work without problems and if problems exist they are corrected easily. Enjoy your build

[poway]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

This build thread is worthy of publication. Thank you for going to such detail. I am now subscribed. Happy days.

My sentiments exactly! Thank you for documenting the build!

[VA72C10]

Very nice writeup as always. Good info and a small mod like you said in the scheme of things, but something very useful for a truck that will see a lot of use.

[Bruce88]

Time to start putting some of the puzzle peaces together
With all the patch panel items involved with the rocker replacement definitely want them in the right place in relation to one another.

There wasn’t any damage to the cab from an accident just plenty of rust and cancer in the metal. Before starting to cut in earnest I took some measurements to make sure everything is put back in the right place. Even checked the measurements against the other door opening and another cab that I have and all the measurements where very close. At the door opening where the rocker is attached, seal area to seal area is 35.75 inches and top seal area to bottom seal area in the middle of the door opening is 74. inches.

When positioning the Outer Floor Extension there where a few things that didn’t line up. The forward edge had to be cut back about ¼ inch to get it to sit right. The four holes in the forward end of the extension that are for the bolts thru the support where about ½ inch forward of the support holes. The hole location will be worked out with test fitting of door and fender to find the lower fender attach point prior to welding in the lower pillar panel. All the rest of the Outer Floor Extension lined up very good with existing floor and panel contours.

Reminder to self buy some more cleckos, I used all the cleckos I had to locate the panels and could have used more. I definitely like to have every thing cleckoed in place to keep everything in alignment prior to welding. They take a little longer time to use with drilling the holes but I definitely prefer them compared to clamps.

I took a lot of pictures as I progressed thru this portion of the rocker replacement now to figure out which ones to use and what notes to add to them. I think if you go thru the pictures you can see how I’m progressing up to this point.











A few days work and more to come on the rocker replacement, enjoy your build

[my67chevytruck]

great work Bruce!

[VA72C10]

Nice work, pictures, and write-up as usual.

[Bruce88]

The puzzle peaces are beginning to come together
Starting to resemble the original floor before all the rust

Many pictures taken and only a few will be posted, as I’m including the maximum number in this post. Hopefully you will find them interesting and as you progress thru them see how I’m progressing. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words but just felt the need to add a few words to mine (smile).











Where most of the welds will be hidden under the floor mat, I just did a quick knock down with a sander not looking for visual perfection and keeping the welds as strong as possible. Possibly a little more fine sanding in the mid kick panel area and bondo before painting.

For what my opinion is worth, I’ve found the FWD Foot Well panel, AFT Cab Mount support, & Outer Cab Floor Extension very good quality and fit, a rating of 9 out of 10. Even with the minor short comings noted in the prior post that can be overcome relatively easily and the added benefits of the dips & drain provisions that possibly would not be found in another repair panel. Where there is always trimming and bending of repair panels the closer they match the original the easier it is to have a good build. Thanks to Wess at Classic Heartbeat Pickup Parts for supplying the Triplus repair panels of good quality. You may have noticed that the FWD support shown in the prior post is not a Triplus part and where it’s fit and quality is acceptable, it’s finish and material thickness is of a lower standard I have no doubt that the Triplus part would be better.

Now it’s time to move onto the cab corner panel and FWD pillar repair

Have an enjoyable thanksgiving with family & friends and throughout the holidays, I also expect you will always make time to enjoy your build during this time of year.

[VA72C10]

NICE work. And as usual, very informative writeup. Thanks for taking the time.

[vk_chevy]

looking good, I really enjoy reading about your build...

[mcbassin]

Very informative thread!

[gcburdic]

Bruce, it must take you weeks to get this all organized and up on the site....fantastic job as usual, and I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

[Bruce88]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

Bruce, it must take you weeks to get this all organized and up on the site....fantastic job as usual, and I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Some time it feels like weeks of work. But in reality I’m just slow, a good thing that I’m retired and definitely not trying to make a living at working on cars and trucks (I would go broke). Also thanks to digital cameras relatively new to my generation, I never go out to the shop without the camera and definitely take more pictures (two or three of the same item at different angles) than I would with film and generally being able to preview the pictures on the camera helps a lot. For example the above work and post took about 20 hours of work and composing over about a week (did I mention that I’m slow [HA HA]). Just a guess on my part but an average person would be able to accomplish it in 10 -12 hours.

I know that you ( gcburdic ) was not asking for this response, just thought that others might be interested into a little insight on how I put my posts together and why they don’t progress as fast as others.

I know I don’t say it enough on this thread (thank you all) for the encouraging and complementary posts. Enjoy the holidays.

[lax54650]

bruce i must admit your skills and attention to detail FAR exceed mine. keep up the excelence. i will be watching

[Byronic]

This is the most detailed write up I have seen on this site. The only question I have is what are the cleckos? Are they magnets that hold parts together for welding? Your build helps me in so many ways.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by Byronic

This is the most detailed write up I have seen on this site. The only question I have is what are the cleckos? Are they magnets that hold parts together for welding? Your build helps me in so many ways.

Clecos were designed mostly for aircraft skin but work great for sheetmetal in general. They are spring loaded and keep the two pieces of metal clamped together through a hole drilled in both halves. Here:http://www.skygeek.com/ats-25cl-3-16.html
Here:http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pro...sp?Product=645

[Bruce88]

Originally Posted by Byronic

This is the most detailed write up I have seen on this site. The only question I have is what are the cleckos? Are they magnets that hold parts together for welding? Your build helps me in so many ways.

(mcbassin) & (lax54650) are right
Cleckos come in many different hole sizes, I tend to use 1/8 inch size the most and they definitely help in holding all the parts in alignment before I start welding. In general I put them in where I’m going to create a kind of a spot weld using a MIG welder. Since I don’t have a spot welder to create the nice factory style spot welds after all the metal seams are welded up I pull one clecko at a time and drill the hole up to ¼ inch and weld it up with a copper backing plate and if possible go to the other side of the metal remove the copper backing plate and put a small button weld on the other side. I’ve found that any hole size smaller than ¼ inch does not have a good weld thru to have a solid simulated spot weld with a MIG welder. Grind the welds smooth on the finished side and possibly a little bondo and it’s ready for painting.

There are many different uses other than welding metal together and a nice tool to have in your arsenal to accomplish a rebuild or modifications. They can also be found at Summit Racing or Eastwood Company. (note spelling of the work could be different with different suppliers)

You might have also noticed that I’m also using Panel Clamps to aid in butt welding two panels together and help in keeping everything in alignment and with a proper gap for welding, they can be found at the Eastwood Company or Harbor Freight.

Hope this gives you a good idea of what cleckos are and how I use them

[lax54650]

think of them as reusable non perminent pop rivets

[VA72C10]

Cool!

[landarts]

Bruce, I want to say you are doing a great and informative build. I like your style of attack on the task at hand you face. You will have a solid beautiful truck when you get it done. Once again you are an inspiration of how I would want my project to be done. Can you let me know where I can purchase one of the rivet nut guns and the threaded rivets when you get a chance. I would really like to try that on my truck.

Jim

[FLDBRED]

I am almost at a loss for words...AWESOME!Please keep posting

[Bruce88]

Originally Posted by landarts

Bruce, I want to say you are doing a great and informative build. I like your style of attack on the task at hand you face. You will have a solid beautiful truck when you get it done. Once again you are an inspiration of how I would want my project to be done. Can you let me know where I can purchase one of the rivet nut guns and the threaded rivets when you get a chance. I would really like to try that on my truck.

Jim

The rivet nut tool that I have, I’ve had for so many years that the manufacturer is out of business. If you do an internet search for rivet nut, rivnut, or nut insert you should be able to compare a number of different manufacturer models (you’re probably looking for a hand operated one). As far as the inserts they come in many styles aluminum, steel, cad plated with flush (countersunk) fit or thin head above the surface fit, smooth finish or ribbed for extra grip. Sizes range between #6 to ¼ inch course and fine thread (probably most used #10-32 or #10-24 size). As you can see there are a lot of choices to make in what insert your planning on installing, some of the insert tools can handle all the different types of inserts (mine can and came with all the different rod/thread pulls for all the sizes course or fine thread)

JEGS, JC Whitney, Harbor Freight and others have the tools and inserts recommend you look around and find one that meets your needs.

Hope this helps you out

[landarts]

Bruce thanks for the information on the rivet nuts -- I will look at those suggested . Once again great job on the truck!

[Bruce88]

Robbing from Peter to pay Paul
A number of times any adjustment to one panel affects others not directly in contact with it

After 35+ years of truck use and abuse the cab is probably not sitting the same as it came out of the factory (twisted, tweaked, sagged) and then add in rust, cancer or damage, its very unlikely that the cab is perfect. The mission I’ve decided to accept (smile) is to bring all the panels together on this truck to be as good as what came from the factory or better.

With all the repair panels and after market doors and fenders that I using, it would be impossible for me to say which ones are a perfect fit and if any problems that exist would be caused by the panel or the factory metal that I’m installing it on. One part installed on one truck could fit perfect and on another truck require bending, forming, and shimming, each truck is different as every build is. So with that being said I’ll be showing the problems that I’m encountering and how I’m working at salving them. Along with throwing in a few of my thoughts in on how I’ll be approaching the task.

I spent a few days fitting the door to what was left of the cab that is not going to be replaced as well as the front fender temporarily installed to bring the parts in alignment and have the door as close to the final position as possible (will show how I temp fit the front fender in the next post). Needed to make some shims for under the hinge to move the door aft to line up with the aft pillar. With the door set I’ll start fitting the rest of the repair panels around it.

The lower edge of the floor extension that I installed is not straight across the bottom and needed to be shimmed out 1/8 inch for the rocker and corner panel to sit right and have a place to weld them to. Welded in a 1/8 inch thick x 48 inch long x 1-1/4 inch wide shim along the bottom edge (will cut the forward end to length later).

Fit and cut in the corner panel then clamped in ready for welding. The more clamps along the butt seam will aid in preventing panel warping during welding (plenty of spot welds between them before I start removing them).



Welded in the butt seam first then the spot welds a long the back side. Then the forward edge and finally the spot welds along the bottom edge to the shim. Not that it was really needed (might say a little bit of overkill) ran a weld bead along the inside of the butt seam after all the outside welding was accomplished. Note welding in the long butt seam first complete before the spot welds because the panel can grow a slight amount a long the seam and if its welded at other locations may create warping in the panel (I’ve learned this the hard way on other welds)



The rear pillar repair panel is not welded in complete at the butt seam or to the floor extension panel (might help in positioning the rocker panel). Note with the corner panel welded in the gap between the corner panel and door is set and will not move.

I was told a number of years ago that using flap discs to take down welds and are more forgiving than stone discs and less possibility of gouging. I have to agree they work great and come in many diameters sizes and grits. I use a 36 grit to bring the weld close then an 80 grit to smooth it out.



The door lines up with the rear cab lines and gap is with in range. Now onto the forward pillar repair.



May you keep track of the big picture of your build and not get what some might call tunnel vision on one area that might cause you problems in other areas. Enjoy your build