First go at rust repair w/pics + questions

[Smallz72project]

When I purchased my 67, I knew there was rust in the general areas and would need some repair. It was rusted through on the pass. side firewall next to the door and I decided I should fix that first before the clip goes on...but now after this...plans have changed and the cab is coming off for more thorough repair.



This is my first time attempting to repair rust, although I know how to fabricate and weld sufficiently enough. Started by cutting an opening to rid the cancer and clean out the crap that was causing it.



Once I had it open and cleaned out I could see that I had more damage then I was expecting. The metal surrounding the vent was rusted and I was able to poke through it. I cut the metal I had laying around to fit the hole and started to lay down the tack welds, all was fine and dandy until I hit the edge of my repair...the metal was too thin from all the rust that it kept blowing through, so I am going to go back in and cut out my repair plus some and redo it.






My first question is...I want to clean up the engine bay and have been looking for a under dash heater and can not find just a heater. Does anyone have a link or name of a company that would have one? I know vintage air does underdash systems but thats for air conditioning/heater units. I dont need or want air conditioning. If I can locate a heater only underdash unit I want to cut out the vent door completely and weld in a solid kicker panel and also the heater holes on the firewall and the cowl so no more crap will fall down and get trapped. In the picture below...the yellow circle is the area of the kick panel thats rusted and Im thinking about sealing up. My second question is where the green circle comes into play....any one know what this knob is??

[71meangreenc10]

knob looks like a switch someone installed for either back up lights of some other accessory.

Smitty

[lks dcvn]

It isn't factory - are there wires attached to the knob/switch?

[Smallz72project]

Not really sure if there are wires hooked up too it. Just moved my truck up to a buddies shop that Im renting so I cant just run out and look, but as long as I know that its not original..Im good. Anyone at all though know of a company that does underdash heaters only, dont need A/C??? Keep on truckn'!

[Dingfodgy]

Yeah, I would probably pull the cab too, if I needed to get at those areas. Patience is the key to rust repair...keep up the good work. The knob under the dash is definately PO installed- maybe a manual choke cable? Intergalactic Transmorgrifier? IDK.
If you just want a simple under dash hot water heater- Southern Rods has 'em fo' cheap money....I posted a link below. Also I'm not sure you want to delete the kick-panel air vents, they come in real handy on a hot summer day for those of us not runnin' AC. The best mod i've seen for keeping wet leaves and trash from getting down into that area again is to A. Make sure the drain holes in the bottom of the cavity are cleared out. B. install some simple wire mesh under the louvers in the cowl panel to keep junk from gettin in there to begin with!

http://www.southernrods.com/categori...oduct-867.html

[kevmic28]

The green area on my truck is the on off switch for the heater fan.

[tim21391]

maybe it could be an electric fan? or u got a normal fan? and for that kick panel they sell a nice patch for that it think for 15 bucks..

[tim21391]

and i had the same problem on the same side even on your cowl area.. i kept burning through.. but all i did was take time filling the whole and grinding then filling then grinding... make sure you let it cool down after awhile or it will warp on you.. but after i slapped in a new piece it turned out alright.. slapped some bondo on it.. and took out my grinder and grinded the bondo down haha didnt really car what it looked like since it would be covered.. so the point im getting at it dont have to look pretty on that spot either on the kick panel you can fix it then get like a speaker panel section to over on it

[Smallz72project]

Thanks for all the input everyone, can always count on you guys to come through. As far as the rust on the vent area...my thinking on sealing it off is a...I hardly ever use the vent doors, and b.... the rust is so bad that if I just weld in the kick panel patch...everything else is still rusty and will eat away and to my knowledge they dont sell the vent door frame, they might and Im just unaware. But I will reconsider my options...perhaps I will keep the vent idea but just fab up my own set up...that way I can cut all the cancer out and just start fresh

Dingfodgy- Thank you for that link!

[unclewatts]

From looking at your first pic, it looks like your rocker panels are rusted out too. LMC and several other companies make a rocker patch panel for low bucks. Have you checked out your cab corners?

[Smallz72project]

Originally Posted by unclewatts

From looking at your first pic, it looks like your rocker panels are rusted out too. LMC and several other companies make a rocker patch panel for low bucks. Have you checked out your cab corners?

Yea the rockers are pretty rusted...po had done a hack job of trying to fix them once before....used a ton of bondo and caulking...and used empty beer cans as a mold...there were 4 Miller light cans and some steel wool stuffed in there when I started poking around. Cab corners are super bad but the rear floor section has a few spots, the front floor, and cab supports. All the panels are on my wish list..hopefully in the next month I will have them so I can start repairing the cab through winter. At my job we slow down so we all get laid off for X amount of time up to 3 months, so I am going to have tons of time to concentrate on making this truck live once again.

[tim21391]

there is a outer floor extension piece they sell that u go in 4 inches and it goes from back to cab to front then it already has inner rocker attached.. the seam dont have to look pretty since it will be covered.. its 110 bucks.. just thought id throw that out there since the outer rocker u said is rotted