So I got the swiss cheese firewall out today. Now I'm wondering if I should get this cab stripped before I go any further. It would definitely help with getting epoxy primer into areas that would otherwise be next to impossible to paint. Like behind the cowl sides and under the dash. Areas like here behind the cowl side
It's been a while sense updating this build. When time allows I have been working on the cab floor. I removed the firewall that was full of holes and started working on replacing the front half of the floor. It was a lot of work even after getting the spot welds drilled out. At the front cab mounts I had to get the plasma cutter out and remove the bottom side of the mounts one layer at a time until I got to the inner mount. Then the task of fitting took quite a while. So the other day I finished it up and now working on the cowl sides. and R front of rocker. A little lower rust and damage to the fender mounting areas. I'm thinking after the cowl panels are replaced I'll have the cab stripped and I'll epoxy prime the inside before replacing the firewall to have easy access under the dash and inside the cowl and back of door jambs. I'm looking forward to getting past this stage and get the cab back on the frame for mock up.
Work on the cab has been spotty at best. I'm no bodyman thats for sure. Removed the cheese grader firewall. Worked on replacing the front half of floor. Getting to this point was a bit of a struggle, trying to get the front cab mounts off the floor without trashing the inner mount. The plazma cutter is starting to pay for itself. I bought it to work on damage to racecar. Got the front half of the floor started. This was a lot more work than the floor on the 37 sedan. Almost done with the floor Getting these cowl side panels off takes some patience. I have to dig deep here. I tried to leave org metal where the upper and side cowls meet because of the way the rain gutter is shaped in the door jamb. Didn't work out to well. Had to buy another side panel. and get into that gutter area. Glad the parts aren't expensive. Turned out for the best. The fit is good, not great but it'll work. I need to massage the new part at the upper jamb to get the match line at cowl to fit flush. This is the part that I'll need to work the most on. The gap is too large and there is about 3 areas that interfere When I'm done with this I get to try again on the right side. At 59, I still like a challenge.
Back on this last week. Its going slower than I had planed. Other projects get in the way. I had to do some repair work on the lower cowl area on the inside where the the floor and rockers are. The weld primer is the spot that got replaced and I was getting the lower front cab mounts ready. Both sides needed work here. After getting the inner fender support attached to the cowl I had trouble getting the part to fit . Nothing on the back was interfering, the cowl side was just a lot stiffer. After some very light massaging with a small hammer on the inside of the fender support and a bit of foul language I got it to fit pretty close and clamped it. This pic is right after I got the upper cowl seam nice and even. This is where the cowl and cowl side meet. No matter what I did the side sat high. So I took a chance before cutting any pie cuts, a piece of pine across the offending area and gave it a few light raps with a small ballpeen. It worked great and I was happy and clamped the seam on the inside and welded the spot holes, then moved to the hood hinge area and welded that, Before going down the door jamb I had to make sure the measurements matched (door opening) the original that I marked on the cab in 2 spots. Everything was good and I moved from top down the jamb. At the bottom it took a little persuasion getting the joint tight at the lowest fold under the jamb. I was happy with the outcome. The other side had a nice dent where the cowl vents and hood fit.. I thought I was going to replace the hole right cowl side also. The inner fender brace made it look like I would never get it straight but I tried anyway as I had nothing to lose. The louvers were smashed in and there is a radius where the inner brace sits. A little hammer and dolly work and I was surprised I had it looking pretty good. I"ll get a better pic of the whole right cowl tomorrow. So I ended up only repairing the very bottom where the rust damage was.
I just sold a race car and getting it ready to ship to Delaware. I kept the engine, clutch setup and Jerico and had to put a lot of parts back on so that took some time. Also ate up my shop space. I'm on the look out for a 53 to 55 Studebaker for this running gear. I started working on the bed sides 2 weeks ago. I didn't notice how many dents were in the bed sides until I got them back from the blaster. This truck was used in an asphalt plant as a foreman's truck sense it was new. I spent 2 days scraping asphalt off the frame and running board mounts. Kind of funny as I spent my carrier running a motor grader. I think I'm going to call this truck "Blade Runner". Looks like a lot of heavy metal parts were flying around in the bed during its service life. With a hammer and dolly ( I'm a total rookie at body work ) I was surprised at how nice things are turning out. Rail tops had holes from tie down hooks. L R Its all pretty smooth now only a few small ones to chase. I still have some shrinking to do and I'm waiting on a friend to show me how it's done with a torch. I got the lower bed supports from Dan Carpenter last week. I was going to build my own bed front and tail gate but I think it's so much quicker and easier to just buy one from Carpenter. There is a lot of breaks in the forming of the front panel. I bought new fenders for the rear because I couldn't find any real nice originals. The sad thing was that I wanted the U.S.A, made fenders and after looking at a set and comparing them to the Chinese ones I was so surprised to find the quality of the U.S. ones sucked compared to the import ones. Nice smooth edges where the U.S. ones were sharp and not as smooth of radius.
I didn't realize my last update was so long ago. I've been working on this bed for weeks on end, working on the bed sides was very laborious. One thing after another needed fixin, then when I thought it was good I'd notice other problems and the stake pockets were in pretty bad shape so lots of patch repair at the bottom where the tailgate hinges bolt on, oval holes and wrenched in about 1/4". I'll make some spacers inside when I get to making a tailgate. I picked up some rounded stake pocket bottoms but I don't like the results. the fold radius is tighter and they needed lots of massaging to fit the width. It's the only part I'm really not happy with but I need to move forward and I'll address this before painting, or likely just replace the pockets. This is a 3" wider than stock bed so I could keep stock fenders while getting a better looking cab to bed relationship. I found this hood on CrankList, I had to drive up to Clear Lake to get it and its in great shape, only two dents and they both look like an easy fix. So glad I didn't have to get a repop one, they are way over priced. So working on the cab I got the floor all fixed and I'm leaving the firewall off for now so when its media blasted I can have easy access to spray the epoxy. The only damaged area remaining is the rain gutter so that will be coming off.
I'm raising the floor around 3". So I built a frame to take the place of the original wood location, using 1 1/2'x 3/4' x .065 and bolted the bed parts to that. Finally, I get to put a bed back on this truck today. Its nice after all the work to get to see some larger progress. I squared it up kind of quick so I could move on to the fenders. So I pushed it outside to get a better look and shimmed the bed front up a bit to line up with the cab. It worked out great as I was able to close up the bed to cab gap and keep the wheels close to centered in the fenders. A little fine tuning and I'll be able to get the bed mounted to the chassis. Over all I'm pretty happy with the fit. This truck had a pretty hard life in the Pleasanton Asphalt Plant. So I ended my day starting to trim the rear cross sill. I'm leaving some extra material on the ends as I might later replace the bed sides so welding it in will be at a later time. http://i1233.photobucket.com/albums/ff397/sicspeed/56%20F100/C05703C1-60F3-4099-8763-082CFB1ED5D0_zpsdrciqus6.jpg[/I After the rear sill is in I can build a mock up fuel tank and get dimensions for a tank that I'll have Ricks Tanks build. I was going to use a early 70's Suburban tank but its just about an inch too long. I'm wanting a minimum of 35gal but prefer closer to 40. I can also get started on the running boards soon.
I finally have a tailgate built. This took way more time than I would have thought but I'm happy so far. M/C track days have taken a front set to this project right now but there are only 2 track days remaining on my schedule. I picked up these bronze bushings at Ace Hardware. I want the tailgate to be pretty tough for the motorcycles. The tubing here is 1 1/4 x .120 Top tube is 1 1/4 x .095 Stock Ford chains aren't going to work so I'll have to use Chevy chains. I made a heavy construction paper template. This paper is expensive @ Michael's This is some pretty heavy sheet metal 15ga. Extended the bed rails out to meet the tailgate
This is a great project! I saw it in your signature and came to check it out. I was really liking the tailgate you were building and then you disappeared ; ) I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be happy to see you get us caught up.
The Jalopy Journal
