MY build thread...

[shortbed70]

Thanks alan yea it went well and she was sitting up the next day and just came home to a hospice today. This weekend my time to work... Time to get down to buisness again.

[shortbed70]

Well reduced some primer to shoot the whole truck to 400 sand and got the pass side fender done and primed and started work on the drivers fender. I welded the seam and good thing because those aftermarket fenders have a crappy gap. Alls to do now is pull off the hood and inner fenders and prime firewall. Heres a couple pics.

[LILRED66]

Looking good. How did the tilt column work for you? I hope things are looking up health-wise. Keep those pictures rolling.

[shortbed70]

Good so far its still standing on the floor. I might be pulling the cab off.

[shortbed70]

Heres a couple more and how it sits now. About 20 mins to take it apart and 1.5 hrs to scrape undercoating off...

[shortbed70]

Well got the cab,hood and cowl panels done yesterday. Satin black ext with flat int and firewall and floor. I had a resperator but when I was doing touchups is when he snapped the pic with me in it. Enjoy

[Alan's Classic]

It's always fun spraying, it makes you feel like your getting something done. Nice work!!

[Captainfab]

Looks great!

What are you using for the satin black exterior?

[sams60gmc]

Your truck looks great man! Nice work.

[shortbed70]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Looks great!

What are you using for the satin black exterior?

It is eastwood's urethane rad rod paint. Lays out nice too.

[shortbed70]

Thanks for the looks and kind words of insperation guys. I made more progress tonight. I didnt like the way the fender sat above the front panel so I proceeded to cut and weld. I'm waiting for pics to load from my phone. Also I cut the front section of the inner fender off on pass side because PO decided to "cobble" some metal in and bondo over it so I am making one tomarrow or friday.

[shortbed70]

Finally got them loaded. Here you go.

[ruffrida2005]

Man i dont see how I missed your thread. It's looking good. Cant wait to see how the paint lays out.

[shortbed70]

I need to rename it but dont know how. Thanks for the comment and its going to be a while before paint thats why I sprayed the satin urethane so I could work on the rest of it and get it going again and drive for a while...ALTHOUGH if I can get at least a gallon of paint I might jam it and spray the firewall and back of cab so thats done but thats only if the wife lets me.

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by shortbed70

I need to rename it but dont know how.

If you need to rename your thread PM one of our mods.

Nice pics and work. Making it right takes alot of time and patience. But it is worth it.

[shortbed70]

Its all the small stuff Im tinkering with now. I will have pics of the inner fenders tomarrow if I can make the piece and if I have enough gas in my bottle at home. I am trying to save money thats why I'm trying to fix and fab anything I can. So I figure if I use some scrap metal from work and a few minutes of my break time and save about $100 once you figure what I spent on supplies.

[shortbed70]

Heres what I made today. Old on the left new on the right

[shortbed70]

Heres some pics right after I ran out of gas...

[markeb01]

Very impressive, I wish I had your metalworking skills.

Regarding the factory failed design which guarantees rust, I concentrated on keeping crud out rather than on the size of the drain hole. It’s hard to believe they provided so many places for leaves and dirt to enter and be trapped by the fender brace. By the way my new GM replacement fenders were also poorly made. The gap in front was so bad it had to be filled, along with the spot weld dents shown below. The 2nd circle shows the upper entrance to the fender support.



I made this patch, and sealed it to the area with urethane windshield adhesive.

URL=http://img291.imageshack.us/i/fndr002.jpg/][/URL]

On the backside, I formed another patch to seal the upper flange. This was pop riveted to the flange and also sealed with either urethane windshield adhesive or permanent seam sealer.

URL=http://img264.imageshack.us/i/fndr003.jpg/][/URL]

I also sealed the vertical seam with the same adhesives, and made a plug and filled the end of the upper flange shown as circled. Then the backside was coated with 3M Body Schutz undercoating.



With all these repairs in place, there’s plenty of room for drainage and no place for debris to enter. It’s been 10 years and the fenders still show no signs of rust.

And please wear at least a respirator even during touch ups. Anything with isocynates can kill you. It’s even absorbed through the skin and eyeballs, so anytime it’s sprayed a full bunny suit should really be used.

[shortbed70]

I have the whole suit with elastic hood but there was just a few spots I missed and wanted to get bfore it dried too much and rashed up. I wasnt in there long trust me That stuff stinks and I learned my lesson along time ago when I first started teaching myself these things..Thanks for checking out the build. I havent made it as far as to mess with the fender drainage yet but I will have pics when I do. Its takin me 5 yrs to get to where I've learned what to and not to do when working with metal. I made the whole panel out of a manilla folder and measured all my points of refrence then lightly scored each line with a razor and bent then transfered that to 18ga metal and started there and the tricky part is figuring out where to start bending. I had to do some hand bending with angle iron,chisle and a hammer to get it bent enough to go in our brake we have. Turned out ok but I was alittle short on the slanted side so I had to fudge a piece in there.Just twice I have to weld the same seam....North resperator and tyvex suit.

[markeb01]

Outstanding, that's part of the metalworking talent, being able to make what you need out of what's available. I've never had welding skills and admire those that have learned the art form. It can sure take a long time when you're doing everything. Ten years ago it took me an entire year just to paint my truck with all the disassembly and reassembly. There's no substiture for the pride of ownership that comes with building it yourself.

[shortbed70]

I think you hit the nail on the head. There's the pride of ownership that comes with building it yourself. Theres some things that money cant buy...
THANKS markeb01

[Captainfab]

Nice job on forming that inner fender panel. You must have a sheet metal brake at work?

[shortbed70]

Yep 10 foot box pan. Ancient but works,also have a 8ft hydraulic brake,metal muncher rotary punch any mmiller welder you can imagine (even a suitcase). I supply my hand tools. I need one at home to do small things like this but cant afford a decent box pan for the house in the 4 ft range. I would love to be able to start a buisness like that but cant afford or find the tallent here. I also need a tig welder for home. Thats all I've done at work this week was tig aluminum stuff togather and man aluminum is fun to work with and SO much more forgiving than metal. Lets see christmas list?????

[shortbed70]

Well guys not much to post lately Ive had family issues and holiday things but today I got the front fenders primed for the last time and my powersteering box adaptor made. Heres the pics.