Core Support, Bottom Corners Replacements

[Blue666(2)]

Back in Sept., I asked the board if any vender was selling parts to fix the bottom of a core support. This that thread. (http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=794187). You can see that my drivers side was the good side, only mildly rusted & the passenger side was completly gone about two inches up the support.

Captain Fab soon sent me the new bottom channel that he is making. I followed the ideas that Gibson63 lays out on his Youtube channel to figure out how to do this job.

I am closing in on being half way done so I thought I would share what I did & see what kind of havoc might rain down for beginner metal working skills.

[Blue666(2)]

Post #2

After cutting the corner off, I drilled the spot welds and used a small screw driver to pry apart the bottom corner & the interior brace. Like Gibson63, I traced the parts onto cardboard and cut out patterns to trace onto 18 gauge steel. I missed taking a picture of the bottom corner cardboard pattern.

Using my bench vise & two straight sections of angle iron with a sharp corner, I slowly bent the 18 gauge into the new corner piece. The process involved lots checking & bending & rechecking.

[Blue666(2)]

Post 2 pictures

[Blue666(2)]

After lots of bending, checking, twisting, checking again; I tried to fit my new bottom corner into the Captain Fab bottom channel. It was toofat.

The inside of the new bottom channel measures 45 mm, my new bottom corner was 47mm. Rather than start over, I decided to cut my new bottom corner in half.

I used my band saw to cut it into three parts, used the disc grinder to grind out 2mm and then welded it back together. Fit perfect into the bottom channel.

[Blue666(2)]

I spent sometime grinding and checking the overall height of the core support with the new bottom corner. The original height was 495 mm. I kept working untill I had a close fit at 494 mm. This allows the new bottom channel to fit and that thickness of the 18 gauge gets me to 495 mm overall.