Looking good, lots of progress there.

Marten wrote:

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123pugsy wrote:

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Thanks for the update. Fun stuff you're doing there.
Never be nervous about cutting into metal. You can always put it back and get the shape back.

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 Thanks Pugsy.  It never seems to come back the same way for me.  Hoping that as long as it is close, bondo will make it right.  You know lots more about this stuff then me, hoping I am doing things right. 

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The key is to stretch the welds back with hammer on dolly. Just don't over do it. It's harder to shrink back then stretch more.

It never comes out perfectly unless you spend a million hours on it.

Bondo is your friend. I'm at the point where a 1/16 to an 1/8" bondo will be fine for me. Otherwise, my rod will never be done.

 

Glad to help.

You done good.

With this shut down I have gotten a lot more shop time.  Doesn't show but I am working more on it.  That goodness for the internet as well.  Spending way to much time looking up stuff and solving little problems.  Got my peddles and column installed.  The steering shaft was tight between the header and A arms but I did it.  After solving my alignment issue with the steering wheel it all worked great.

You may have seen something similar to this pic already.  I got all the front sheet metal together.  This way I can see what I am missing.  Spent a lot of time sorting out the correct fasteners.  Ended up ordering them locally as shipping was to expensive from the US.  Was watching a show this week that says they had the truck together and apart at least a dozen times before paint.  I can start to see that now.

 

Thin coats.
Use a guide coat.
Long flexible sanding board. I got a set that has removable steel rods for adjusting flex.
Paint stir sticks work well. Dowels for inside radii.
Wear a glove to feel how it's going. Or slide a rag over the area to "feel" it.

The spray gun is a King brand. Comes with a 1.4 and 1.7 tip. Using the 1.4 tip. Whatever that means. He says that a lot of body shop guys use them They are cheap and when they mess up you toss them and buy another one. Not good enough for finish paint though. I have used a couple of different brands of primer. I get the stuff from a company called ABS or Auto Body Supply in Perth. This was the last of the brand Pro Form I have. Next round will be Montana brand. I trust this guy to give me the right stuff. Great guy to talk to. His dad was a body guy. He (Reg) did not want to be a body guy but ended up starting a body shop supply company. Does very well. Operates out of a shop attached to his house in the middle of no where, dirt road and all. May also look at putting bed liner on the insides of the fenders and under the cab now as well. Getting good recommendations for Dominion Seal from Canadian Tire. You can get a special gun,Schutz brand as well.

Been working on the truck slowly. Heat is slowing me down as I have had to do some work outside. Not much to show for the effort involved though. Worked on stripping the cab to bare metal.

After stripping and washing down with Metal Prep.  Leaves a surface coat of flash rust.  That gets sanded down/off with 120 grit.

And into epoxy primer.  Learning how to spray primer.  Figured out that 2 thin coats sprayed 15-20 min. apart are better then one thicker coat.  Getting better but still some runs.  Now I really see where the dents and dings are.  Got some body work ahead of me for sure.  Will work on that but may leave some of it for later.  I want to get the cab on so I can start moving forward on some other work.

Taking shape now with some colour,primer beats rust!  Looking good Maren!

 

 

 

junior

Continue to work away.  Not much for picture though, not very interesting.  I decided to go ahead and replace the passenger side lower cab corners.  After stripping the paint off they were a lot worst then I knew.  Ordered some new corners.  The front one did not fit well but it was close but not close enough.  The top of the panel was wider then the original truck was.  I decided to cut it down and hope it fit better that way.  If not there was less metal to rework.

Worked out better then I expected, happy dance.

The rear was another story all together.  Held the new panel to the old and found this.  It is at least 1/2" wider then the original truck panel was.

After thinking, I decided to cut the old panel out beside the bends and hope I could make it work.  Using tape as my guide, the first cut was the hardest.

 

Cut and shaped the new panel until I got back to the beginning.  Started at the back as that fit reasonably well.  Then I had more problems.  The bottom was larger then the original panel, again.

More cutting, more shaping, more of everything and it finally fits.

All tacked in, ready for final welding, one dot at a time.

Damn....excellent fit.

parklane wrote:

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Where did you get the ill fitting panels, Martin??

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 These panels came from MidFifty. The ones on the drivers side were from LMC. Those fit much better. However, the driver's door gap is to big for my liking. I'm not sure if it's the truck or the panels. All the reading I've done says it's the panels but I have no way of checking that. I know that these older vehicles all have the same issues. Could be older technology versus today's technology. A great way to test my skills though. 

Nice work Marten

 

 

 

 

junior

Looking good. The console could use a little more defining. You could build it right up to the dash extension and put the radio there. You won't have to cut the nice smooth dash that way.

Got the condenser mounted along with the dryer. Everything fits, just.

Been working on a lot of little things.  Hard to take pictures of some stuff.  Had one of my kids over for a few days, so put them to work.

A few years ago I picked up some trees from my father in law that he was cutting down.  Had them cut into boards and left them to dry.  So I took these ones

Cut them down.  From here they will sit for a bit to allow them to detension.  Sometimes after you cut wood, although it has dried it will still warp.  So now they look like this.  Some interesting markings in them. Not sure what I am going to do yet.

You will be cruising before you know Marten!!! Nice work 

 

 

 

 

junior

With the AC system almost done it was time to move to the wiring. Bought a kit from Speedway, their 22 circuit one.   Because I could not figure out how to mount in my gauge panel that I built earlier it turned out to be a bonus for the start of installing this.  Mounted the fuse panel and then needed a way of installing the relays.  Made up a bracket and welded in to the fire wall.  These pictures are taken through the hole where the gauges will be.

What a jungle of wires.  Not sure what to do so I just picked on a couple of wires and started moving them around.

Hoping this works out when things are done.  

Kind of looks like a truck now.

Will Ford guys get mad at me?

Waiting for a couple of AC fittings and then I can finish off the hoses.

So apparently I can mess up just about anything.  My lack of knowledge came back to bit me again.  The plastic crimp on connectors are not good to use.  Future knowledge for someone I hope.

Anyway, my brother came up a couple of weeks ago to give me a hand and show me a better way to make connections.  He helped me rework most of the wiring.  Great help for sure.  I have been chipping away at it and got it 95% done now.  Need to pick up some wire to finish off the power seats and windows.  Connected the battery, put in the fuse for the lights only.  You should do this one fuse at a time.  Another thing I learned.  Opps butterfly moment, lol.  Back to it, fuse in and pulled the switch for the lights and got this.

What an incredible feeling of success.  It worked no problem at all.  Yes called my brother right away, lol.

Tested the signal lights, brake lights , electric fan, 4 ways, and bumped the started, all working.

 

My kids surprised me as well.  It has been a running joke that the truck is as much a Corvette as an old Ford pick up.  They sent me this.  It was always in the plans to do something like this but down the road.   For now it is on with tape but will become permanent once the truck is painted.

Thanks for peeking in.

So with 4 years of high school drafting, 4 years of high school woodworking.  2 years in collage for a technician degree. Been woodworking since we got married, 31 years ago.  A son that spent 3 years in collage for architecture.  Access to all the free software and graphic design I could ever need to design stuff I use....................................cardboard to design my running boards and center console, go figure.

With this as a plan, I will order up material and start building.  Space between shift and arm rest is for 2 drink holders.

-- Edited by Marten on Wednesday 17th of March 2021 08:41:44 PM

Waiting for some parts to come for the outside so work continues on the inside.  Picked up some 3/4" plywood and transferred the cardboard design to wood and started cutting.  then along comes architecture son and says "you should build it out of cherry to tie in the box to the cab".  So a small change in plans and the top part where the shifter and cup holders are became cherry.  Need to pick a spot for the window switches and power outlets.  Everything is tight but fits.

Happy to help Marten.
Some steps are small, some are big, some are very steep. But as long as you're moving , you're making progress.
Thanks for the updates, keep up the good work.

You're really moving along Martin.

Pics; if you're running Windows and saving to a folder: Rotate the picture in the folder and then close the folder. The next time you open the folder it will be "stuck" that way.

Got my bed wood into clear finish and started the install.  5 coats of gloss spar urethane thinned about 30%  4 coats applied with a cotton rag, light sanding to remove dust nibs, etc. and then a final coats.  Smooth like glass.  Needs to be completely bolted down but will not change the look from this.  Really like the way the wood came to life after the finish was done.