Chevy pick up restoration

[tech69]

It's factory interior color.The dash is black and textured. We used undercoating. I think the colors are gun metal grey and a silver. They used single stage. The grey is mainly the floor and silver above. The inside of the cab looks really good.

[icrman]

I would like some numbers for the paint. And how did you get the texture on the top of the dash? It looks real good in the pics.

[tech69]

we used undercoating for the dash. I'll find out about the paint.

I thought this would make for a cool pic.

[tech69]

These pics don't even show you the half of this cab. It is HAMMERED and I'm just speaking on the welding. I've been eyeing it for a couple days here and there and today put a good hour on it since the welder was out and real close to it. After I get done with the Hudson bodywork I will get this thing done. The guy was offered a better cab for cheap but he wants the original. When you see all the repairs I do to it you're gonna ask yourself why and the hell did he try to polish that turd.

The easy stuff...


I was excited to break out my new 5/16th's rotabroach bits for these cab mounts. They're pretty hammered. Whatever caused this damage also broke the two top spot welds.


Good to know we have an extra cab to swipe some patches from cause although I've recently learned how to hammer form these lines I'd rather not and spare me some time
elsewhere an unforeseen problem WILL occur.



Boss says we'll probably fiberglass this one but that will probably depend on how long this cab takes.

[tech69]

This pillar looks interesting. We have the pocket patches for the hinges but it looks like swiss cheese in there. I have to get a real close look at this but from a glance looks like the outer pillar has to come off temporarily to fix what's behind it, then put back on, and then weld in the pocket after it's screwed in and door fits. There's also a couple other rust spots I'll need to address in this pic


Just a bunch of spot welds to cut and of course fitting the door to them. Never did one before but it looks easy enough.

[tech69]

looks like something you'd see in the Iraqi desert.


Frankencab


I will most likely have to recut that top line after I set the other piece in and scribe a cut line. I made a mistake of flanging this so now I have to cut into another spot weld cause the space between the spot weld isn't enough for the edge and a new flange to be flanged. Maybe I'll get lucky with my cut line I currently have. Who knows? That was a good lesson


there was lots of these sized holes everywhere on the cab. I developed a quick way for the tools I have. I first find a washer that matches, then scribe that onto metal. I then cut it into a square with some snips, leaving the corners to be rounded with a die grinder. Works fast. I see with the one on the right I need to plow right over the initial tacks when hot. I stopped at it and it's noticeable. The one on the left I welded thru it on the left side. The left and right side on the right one show that I stopped at the tack.

[MARTINSR]

we used undercoating for the dash. I'll find out about the paint.

I thought this would make for a cool pic.

That IS a cool picture, I like it.

Brian

[tech69]

That IS a cool picture, I like it.

Brian

My tool box is behind the red truck and I was rushing along getting a tool and turned around and pretty much saw that same view as the camera and grabbed my camera.

[tech69]

Here's what's on the menu tomorrow. I can't wait! I still have a few holes to weld up and then it's patch panel time! The fender also needs a lower patch panel and support. I threw a few tacks on the supports and first thing in the morning I'm going to mount it to make sure the welded on nut lines up. If it's ok I'll complete the welding after I cut off the fender bottom, then open butt weld on the patch. Alot of work for this thing.

[tech69]

These were fun to do. Weird though to get the right angle. Seems like no matter what I did the edges were sunk in, maybe it was the support. The setting for the welder are the same I use for plug welds so I'm kind of disappointed the welds didn't disappear when grounded down but think that's the angle. Still looks great and only a little bondo will be needed. To get the wheel lip lined up I had to pull the fold over flange away from the support so that was fun hammering the flange over. Didn't think there was another option. In the end it won't be detectable.

[tech69]

The cowl is nearly done.


This took a good 30 minutes just fabricating. Little bugger was hard to get lined up right but it's good now and will only need a super tight skim coat.


The outer and inner hinge pockets. The inner is a pain to cut out and if you have rust on your inner it's hard to gain access to patch it up. Due to the cracks, rust, and room , I decided to replace the whole thing. You also have to grind off a few edges here and there to get the aftermarket inner pocket to fit but will weld in with just a few plugs. The outer isn't so much of a pain at all.


This one is a pain, or shall I say the way I decided to tackle it made it a pain. On the other side I think I'll try a less evasive way but it looks like there may be rust behind the hinge pillar like on this one. I scribed lines where the captive nuts are and also measured from the bodyline on the pillar to get my up and down specs and the wall on the step to get my side to side specs. Monday I weld it in. I'm hoping a measurement is enough cause I'd like to not mount the door. Anyhow, if anyone has done these for a 58-59 Chevy I'd love some tips!

[icrman]

Looks good. What size spot weld cutter do you use? All I can find is 3/8. Is that the right size?
Curious what the cleco's go into to hold that outer front corner on? Did you just over lap it?
I haven't done mine yet, but I have an idea for support and measurement system.
I'm one that doesn't want to weld a bunch or braciing etc. It would be a bolt in jig arrangement.
So are you going to replace the inner running boards? On mine I'm looking and all corners, running boards and passenger side floor.

I would like to know how much you guys are charging to do those repairs? Also are the holes that have been welded in the fire wall just ones that someone added, or are you welding up the factory holes too? Please keep the info and pictures comming, I'll be doing this same thing soon.
Have you ever used magnets to hold the parts into position rather than screws or those cleco's???

Also on that one floor piece it looks like it doesn't have the same size lip the stock one does??
After the plug welds to the step how do you make it look like a factory spot weld? I'm going for as close to factory stock look as I can get.
Thanks

[Len]

Tech69 won't be posting anymore. He abused his privileges by registering as several different members which included surfin and mobilemike so he won't be around for a while.

[rancheroo]

Len, I really don't know any of the history, but to the ignorant & casual reader it seemed that tech posted a lot of good stuff. He's obviously learning & is excited when he comes across something that works. If (IF) all he's done is created a cocuple of different id's then give the buck a break.

If I told you that I was also known as Mooch, would you go ahead & ban me too (mooch that is)?

Rick

[Len]

Len, I really don't know any of the history, but to the ignorant & casual reader it seemed that tech posted a lot of good stuff. He's obviously learning & is excited when he comes across something that works. If (IF) all he's done is created a cocuple of different id's then give the buck a break.

If I told you that I was also known as Mooch, would you go ahead & ban me too (mooch that is)?

Rick

Here's a little history Rick.
Tech69 is probably the third or fourth membership for this guy. In his earlier lives he came on and adds to the car forums but also went into the other forums and became quite disrespectful of other members. He was warned several times before he was banned as one of his other identities. He then came back as tech69 because I didn't ban his IP address but that soon became more of the same and he got banned again. Then, after he promised to behave himself, I allowed him to come back into the auto body forums but removed his permission to post in the Break Room and he posted regularly for quite a while until recently when I checked his IP because of a pattern of behavior that is now familiar and found it to match other similar posts (mobilemike) in the Break Room. Again he asked to be reinstated and I did it then I found another matching IP address (surfin) which was finially the straw that broke the camel's back. And I banned all his personas as well as his IP address.

I may allow him to post again because now, with the ability to ban his IP, I can stop him from adding memberships from his computer but he'll have to wait until I can get past his disrespect.