I worked all day to clean and primer the bottom of the cab. Tomorrow I will make a few spot welds. When my bed liner kit arrives in the mail I'll spray it on and then flip the cab up onto the frame. From THIS . . . . . . . . to THIS!
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Using a polycarbide disc on my grinder, a propane torch and putty knife, and a needle scaler, I am gradually removing the undercoating. The bare metal is bright and solid = no rust. Yipee!! So you might ask, why remove it at all? Well, I just can't bring myself to apply bed liner on top of undercoating that is caked with dirt.
When I bought the truck, I discovered a big hole in the PS floor. Not a rust hole. Just a hole - and covered with an old license plate beneath the floor mat. Not real sure how it got there. Anyway, I cut out the hole several months ago and tonight I did a patch repair. I am fine tuning my welder and my welding skills and I can actually say that welding is not a daunting task anymore.
Tonight the cab was emptied of seat and other stored items and then flipped over onto its back so I can remove the undercoating with my needle scaler. The objective is to remove all loose undercoating, then media blast the worst areas before applying a bed liner type undercoating.
Went to a car show today until noon, so I wasn't sure how much I'd get done on the truck today. The weather cooperated and I got a lot done.
Since there was no way to save the DS rocker, it was easier to cut it off and then peel the remaining edges up to find the individual spot welds. Removing just the front 6 inches would have been an option, but I wasn't sure how well the new rocker would match the old one. As expected, the PS door pillar was rotted at the bottom. The inner cowl kick panel had already rusted through. There was a small pin hole in the rocker but overall, it really looked good. I'll apply POR-15 tomorrow and then cut the patch pieces to fit the areas needing repair.
A previous owner cut holes in the cowl to install an antenna and that allowed water to get into the cab. Tonight I shaped patch pieces for the holes and that went a little better than expected. That left a little daylight to start cutting off the DS rocker panel. It's a shame to cut off a perfectly good rocker, but I need to repair the bottom of the door pillar and the inner kick panel on the DS just like I did on the PS.
Trial fit, cut a little, fit again. Tack weld, burn a hole, bang it with a hammer, clamp it, tack weld some more. I'm proud to say that I've finally installed my PS rocker. I must say that all of this has given me great respect for the guys who make a living doing this. They are true artists. After shaping the ends of the rocker, I crawled under the cab tonight to tack the inner rocker to the lower lip of the outer rocker.
I prepared my PS outer rocker for installation but decided to do the welding another day. Then my buddy stopped over and convinced me to at least tack weld it into place. I'm glad I took his advice. It only took a few minutes and has me motivated to finish it this week. He helped me get the settings on my welder adjusted and my spot welds look a lot better.
I own a nice air tool the punches holes for welding. It also makes a flange but so far I've only used it to punch holes. It made the preparation time much shorter. |
See my BLOG entries from prior months below:
March 2024
My Hobbies are:Auto Restoration Categories |
- Main BLOG Page
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T5 Info Page
- Thinking about installing a T5? READ THIS FIRST
- My T5 videos
- Making a Custom Shifter
- Complete T5 Driveline - Installation from Engine to Rear Axle
- S10 T5 Transmission Jeep Shaft Swap - DIY and skip the adapter plate.
- Camaro Drive Gear Relocation
- T5 Tail Stock with a Cable Speedo Connection
- World Class and Non-World Class versions of the T5 - How to tell them apart.
- How to determine the T5 gearing
- A possible solution for cable speedometers.
- T5 Transmission Identification - What the Tags and Markings Mean
- What's the difference between a Camaro T5, an S10 T5, and an Astro T5?
- T5 Transmission Tear Down
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- Stripping Paint - Polycarbide Abrassive Wheel
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- Keeping the hood aligned
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- Alignment Tools - Easier than you think
- Conversion to dual master cylinder brakes 1963-1966 C10.
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- A simple way to remove old control arm bushings.
- An easy way to adjust brake shoes
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- Cutting spot welds
- E-brake clip removal made easy
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- POR 15 with less mess.
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Other Projects
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Random Pics
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