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Just some pictures.

Story in the next post.

Steve

Hello all;

So, picking up where I left off last weekend, I finished welding in the patch on the other fender. I then hit the sandblast bay to “tickle” the fenders to rough up the finish so the epoxy will bond. I also took the time to prep a tractor grill that I am working on. Once I blasted the parts, I sanded them with 180 grit. It was then I noticed a few pin-holes in the welds so it was back and forth to the welder, sandblasted and sanding a few times to get everything sorted out.
Once the sanding was complete, I washed everything with degreaser then hung the parts and washed and blew them down again with degreaser to be sure they are clean. A couple coats of U-tech 250 epoxy and I was done.
So writing this down took about 10 minutes, hard to believe that in reality I had 12 hours into all that.

The tractor grill in black looks pretty sinister and has a Darth-Vaderish.

Stay well, stay safe,
Steve

Just picked up on your build. Your fabrication skills are impressive. Its too bad (for me, not you) I’m located over 2,400 miles away, because like Fox, I’d be asking for the keys!

Thanks Phil;

I consider myself extremely lucky to have access to the shop and tools. With out it this dream would still be just that.
I am just an almost 50 teenager livin the dream!

Steve

So today I sold my 1946 Chevy truck. It was with mixed feelings that I let it go. I bought it February 2018 with the intention of making a restomod of it as it was not running. I thought I would see if I could get it running and use it for the summer to see what I wanted to keep or change. Something funny happened though, I kinda fell in love with the thing. Talk about a 4D experience driving that truck...
The smells of gasoline and oil mixed with the musty tinge of age. The shimmy of the old bias ply tires and an 72 year old suspension. The sound of the valve train tapping away, the "occasional" grind of a gear on a missed shift. The creaks and squeaks of a 72 year old body and frame. Seeing people do a double take, then wave and smile as you putt, putt by.
Talking to them at a stop light or a car show and hearing about the one they learned to drive in or drove on the farm and seeing the warm and fuzzy smile as they remember.
Yup, pretty easy to like that. The "all original" of that truck forced me to slow down and appreciate the drive, the time spent getting there. Focusing on driving, as you must, rather than the radio or worse a phone.
But, change is constant and I was ready to pass it on to another who appreciates the "all original-ness" . Still a bit of a moment for me, I was glad to steward a piece of automotive history and send it on in better condition than I found it.
Cheers all, Merry Christmas!

Bittersweet. 😎😃....😕

Hello all;

Thanks Fox, bittersweet for sure, but I was ready to let it go and not forced so it is a good thing. My love was conflicted, the 40 or the 46???
I spent the day in the shop, which was good, the plan was to get the box trim sorted out. Well, plan the work, then work the plan. All well and good that is until I was drilling out a spot weld, sitting kinda twisted and I felt a "something" between my shoulder blades. Seriously, like 15 minutes in and I strain my back???
Well poop.

Anyways, I did the best I could, slowed down a little but still got some work done. I started on the passenger side and drilled out the spot welds which were holding the box side trim on. Most of it was removed when I installed the mini-tubs, there was still a little over 1' of trim on either side of the wheel openings. I was a littler surprised at the number of spot welds that each piece had. I think there was 6 at the front and 7 at the back. I was not expecting that many, I figured 3 or 4?
Once I got the trim off I removed the mini-tubs as it needed a bunch of work. The tubs were one of the 1st parts I was welding on and there was some issues I wanted to repair. I split the ends and straightened the back edge as I realized the tub was warping the box side when the 2 were bolted together. Splitting the ends I could straighten the edge and eliminate the warpage. I had also cut away the tub along the bottom where I thought it would be covered up by the trim pieces. That is the case, but there was a little of the cut visible so I added some extra material to fix it up.
This sets me up the next time I am in the shop to complete the trim work, at least for the passenger side?
Best of the season to you,
Steve

Hello all, Happy New Year's!

I spent the day in the shop, I am still working on the box trim. I had finished the prep work on the passenger side so I moved over to the drivers side to get them both to the same state.
Besides skinning 1 knuckle, the day went well. This side was in a better state than the passenger side so I didn't have to spend as much time reworking the tub, etc.

That was the day, I cut out a little early as the rest of the shop crew had gone home at noon. Time for a clean up and then some excellent Thai food with the family. I am currently watching the world Juniors hockey, Canada vs Finland. A good day, all things considered.
Have a great night,
Steve

I was looking at your pics, how much travel will you have on the rear coilovers and axle? Are you going to need to modify the bed floor? ... I got into hockey when stationed in Boston, use to watch the Bruins all the time, we have the Jacksonville Ice Men here. "Happy New Year" to you and yours.

Hey there Craig;

Great question, and one I have been mulling over as well. I was looking at it the other day going over the to-do list and bouncing ideas off a friend. I have the suspension currently set really low as I love the look. I have a few wants for this truck as to what it will be used for. I want a daily driver and possibly even for travelling too. That off course depends on how comfortable it is once it is all said and done. I also want to be able to haul my motorcycle I with it, the main reason the box has been beefed up and the tie down set up added. To balance the comfortable ride and the load capability, I have adjustable coil-overs. That said, I don’t really want to be crawling under the truck to adjust them on a routine basis.

The suspension is going to be really tight, from the underside of the bed to the diff housing I will have around 3.5” of travel. The way it is currently set up it is low, with almost 3” of clearance. I have 3 set points for the shock mounts and I am in the middle one now. I still have to C-notch the frame, the boxing plates have the notch profile, but I have not modified the frame yet. I figure if I shift the shock mount to the furthest point and complete the C-notch I can get away without bottoming out the travel for 90% of the time. I will add a snubber/bumper to limit the max travel, which will stop the pumpkin from punching through the bed, the other 10% of the time??
I have a couple of options, but will have to play that balance game between the “killer ride” look and practical functionality.

Thanks,
Steve

I was asking because you had said you wanted to haul your bike and did add the tie downs. 3.5 inches seems tight, after all of your mods I'm sure you don't want to stiff of a ride. .. I have about 5 inches after moving the axel to over the springs, with my 310 lbs brother-in-Law aw and my 220 lbs on the frame it compressed to about 3.5 inches. I haven't added bump stops yet, still debating that, I don't want to "C" notch the frame so where it is is where it going to stay. I haven't mocked the shocks or mounts as yet so that will need to be determined. Like you you it would be great to haul my Dyna with no issues. Great work.

Hey Craig;
I agree that after all the work done it would really suck to have a rough ride. I really do not want to raise the bed height though, so for now I am going to leave it as is. I am 90% confident that it will be okay... famous last words?

I was at the shop today working on the box side trim. I made some good progress in that I got the pice all fit up and tacked together, on the drivers side anyways. I started on the corner pieces, figured out 1 way that wouldn’t work so I tried another route. I was going to make the pieces from scratch and try to angle them to match the wheel tubs. I tried using the press and 2 different sized pipes to form a cone which would match the curve and angle of the tub corner.
I struggled to figure it out, I got as far as creating the cone, but got stuck on how to form the bead at the top. I wanted to make some progress though, so I wound up using some left over bed strip and going with that for now. I cut some relief slots in the bead to allow the piece to be bent around the curve. Once the curve was matched, I welded the cuts, then ground them smooth. This worked alright, but they are a straight bend and not a cone so they don’t match the tub. I will need to add in a filler piece at the top to get a nice gap around the tub corners.

I will stop in the shop after work some time this week and see if any of the guys have some thoughts on how to form that bead. I would prefer to go with the first design as I think it will be much nicer looking, wait and see... a teaser of things to come?

Happy New Years everyone!
Steve

Hello again, thanks for checking in and following along.
I was back in the shop again today. I was there from 9 to 4 and it was one of those rollercoaster days. I believe it was Edison who said; " I didn't fail 100 times, I learned how not to build a light bulb 100 times." That sums up the last few times in the shop for me. I have been trying to finish the box trim pieces and have been struggling with the last pieces, the tub corners.
I tried 3 times on my own, then I asked for help, and was successful on the fourth try. The first try, I was using scrounged bed strip pieces left over from someone else’s build. They were okay, but did not match the angle of the tub sides and IMO looked out of place. I had prepped those the previous time in the shop, so with those as a back up , today I wanted to try again. I had been planning out how to build the corners the way I wanted them. I got to the shop today eager to get started, with my planning I thought I would be able to get the pieces built in about 3 hours. Ha ha ha!
Try 2 overall, which was try 1 for the day, went okay but I did not leave any extra material at the top to be rolled over when the bead was added. So that led to try 3 when I added the extra material, which again went okay. The problem was that I couldn’t get the material to shape to the compound angle of the tub side. I was pretty much ending up with the same shape as the scrounged bed strips.
Okay, so I was frustrated and ready to call it a day; go home, re-group and try again either tomorrow or the following weekend. One of the of shop guys showed up to work on their project, so I asked for their help. That is such a sweet perk, sorry if it sounds like I am bragging, I meant to be appreciative. So, just to lessen the hurt to my bruised ego, I had the right steps but in the wrong order. I was putting the bead into the strip before shaping it which made it too rigid to shape the compound curve. I needed to shape the piece, then roll in the bead.
This actually worked pretty great, I had the 1st corner piece done fairly quickly. But by then though I was pretty tired, so I figured I would get 1 more corner done and get a side all tacked together, then call it quits for the day.
Mission accomplished; and while I had a couple of low points to the day I finished on a bit of a high, even if I didn’t get everything I intended getting done, done.

That is how it goes, stay safe..
Steve

Hello all;

Not much to report, I was in the shop for a 1-1/2 hours. I got the pieces tacked together and then started to weld them out. This is going to be very time consuming but I am confident that it will look good when I am done.

On another note, a 1947 cab-over is in the shop to get completed. I believe I have mentioned it before, but thought you might enjoy a picture or 2. The build is a restomod as the body is on a 1997 Chev 3/4 ton truck chassis. The owner want to haul his Ford hotrod with it. Isn't that perfect, the Chevy hauling the Ford!

Later,
Steve

That a really unique build. How do they plan to load and unload the Ford?

Hey;

Where the truck is sitting is tilted up by hydraulic rams, and there are ramps that must be assembled/attached.
The towed truck is then winched into place, though I guess you could drive it up if you had oversized testicles.

Stay safe,
Steve

Hello all, thanks for checking in and following along.

So I finished up the last of the welding on the box trim. That feels really good to say...

I spent about 4 hours today welding out the drivers side piece. Once that was done and test fit to be sure it was good, I used a round ball carbide burr to contour all the seams so it looks pretty. Some grinding on the flat surfaces and voila!
I am very happy with the result, and once the truck is completed I am sure I will appreciate them. A boat load of work for a couple of pieces that will blend in once everything is done.

This week I start a new shift at work, I will get every 2nd Monday off. I am looking forward to this as I anticipate getting some good work done. I have to work an hour later each day, so I won’t be going to the shop after work anymore. I think I can get better momentum working the full day rather than a couple hours in the evening so I am looking forward to the change.

Stay safe,
Steve

Dang that looks factory stamped. Your skill is really shining through on these small pieces, incredible talent.

Those tubs look great! I love the rolled detail. I can’t wait to see it painted! Fabulous work!

Fantastic!

Hello all, thanks for checking in and following along.

Today was a productive day in the shop. I was able to get the cab stripped down, removed and mounted on a cart. I did get the cart to the sand blast bay, but stopped there as I did not have the time nor the stamina to get the blasting complete. I do have Monday off, so I am intending on getting it blasted then.
I had removed the dash prior to removing the cab so once the cab was dealt with I spent the rest of the time stripping the dash, sorting, marking and putting all the parts away.
Thanks again for the positive comments, they really do go along way to keep my spirits and motivation high. I am a little nervous that I will get a surprise when the paint comes off the cab. I probably shouldn't be though, as the worst damage found should have been on the front fenders. I guess we will see...

Stay safe,
Steve

Hello all;

Another productive day, I spent it in the sand blast bay as advertised in my last post. I am very tired as it was a long day. When I got there one of the other guys who is working on a 53 Chevy asked me to blast a few parts of his. Since he really hates to blast and I don't mind it, we agreed to swap labour. I would blast his parts and he would repair my rear cab mounts.
I did his stuff 1st and it took me until noon. I had a quick bite to eat and then got started on my cab. I called it quits at 4:30 as I was spent, so after a few minutes of clean up I took a few pics and headed home to a hot shower and some time on the couch!
I got the front, sides, back and roof done. I am about 3/4 done the interior, but have not started the underside. I figure I have another couple hours of blasting to do to finish it up. I did find a bit of perforation in the front cab corner, on both sides. But beyond a few other small dings and dents I really didn't find anything too terrible so that is a win...

Until next time, stay safe
Steve

Whew! 😎

It’s always a bonus when you uncover things like that and the damage/rust minimal.

That is solid cab for it's age, my 59' looks like swiss cheese. Think I'll see what it would coast to FedEx my cab to you...

Send it up!

Hello all;

Well, another busy and productive day. If I can keep stringing these together, productive days that is, I might just get this thing done. I started by moving the cab back over to the fab side of the shop. I knew I had a bunch of metal work to do. I eased gently into the day starting with some hammer and dolly work. I filled few holes that were not required, and then got into some of the bigger stuff. The mounting holes needed some work, the set in the middle of the cab were cracked and in bad shape so I cut them out and welded in some new metal. The back ones are really bad and will require a much larger patch. I had traded some labor to get those done so I left them, but made a template.
I realized that the cab firewall had been damaged on the drivers side. On the side where the hood side drops down to the metal was bulging out. It took about an hour of straightening to massage the firewall straight again. The holes in the cab for the radiator support were also pushed back so I got those straightened out as well.
To round out the day, there were a few pieces I could still get off the cab so the remainder of my time was spent wrestling with rusty bolts. I got a few loose, but I was not feeling exceptionally patient so I wound up grinding the heads off a lot of them. I am not really liking the original screws and I am using a black allen headed style screw in the box so I will use them in the cab as well.

Stay safe,
Steve

Wow, for being this old your cab is in great shape, I would have expected much more rust and rot.

Hello all, thanks for checking in and following along.

I had another good day in the shop. It started out shaky as when I went to start up the main shop compressor it ran for a bit and then shut down. When I went to see what the issue was, the compressor room was smoky and I could tell that something was not right.
I figured with the main compressor out, the day would be a write off. As I contemplated jobs that I could do without air, I got started cleaning out some dried up edge sealant and such on the cab interior.
Tim, one of the full-time guys, came in to work on his 1949 5 window GMC sitting on a S-10 chassis. Anyways, he knew how to switch over to the backup compressor so we were off to the races.
The original plan for the day was to get the rear cab mounts repaired. I didn’t get it all done, but I got the original mounts welded up. The passenger side was in better shape, I drilled out the end of the cracks to stop further propagation and then zip cut the previous repairs and cracks so I could then re-weld them. Once I moved over to the drivers side all my momentum was lost. Inspecting the mount and building my repair plan, I discovered that the center part of the mount was missing and a new piece was welded to the bottom. Seeing the terrible state of the mount overall I decided that I needed to replace the cab mount. Breaking out the template paper I built a new mount. I used so 14ga sheet to fab it up and the cut it in and tacked it up. Double checking my measurements and checking the underside reinforcing plate still fit. Once satisfied all was good I welded it up. Lucky you guys the backup compressor doesn’t have the same CFM so the air tools were not as powerful as normal so you get a picture of an unground weld...
To finish up I need to flip the cab so I can grind and paint the underside where the reinforcing plate fits. I need to fabricate a 2nd reinforcement plate for the cab interior and once all that is ready I will look at how I want to secure them all together. I am leaning towards the epoxy so that all the voids are filled and I don’t have to worry that crud can get in there and corrode.

So, and please forgive the bad pun, but it turned out to be a fab..ulous day!
Heh heh,
Stay safe,
Steve

Hello all;

I was in the shop again, did not spend too much time on the truck though. The weather here has been -35C for a couple weeks now and it is having an effect for sure. The biggest thing I have seen is that the weather will bring to light any equipment issues you may not be aware of. Battery a little old, no problem -40 will kill it dead and you can replace it in the deep freeze. Hydraulic hoses getting old but not leaking yet, -40 will solve that...
Work has been challenging, the daily battle to keep areas of the plant running while heaters fail. Conveyors and product elevators are having weird issues as the cold messes with sensors and such. Fun and games...
Anyways, at the shop the main compressor which had an issue last weekend... apparently it was a catastrophic failure and the compressor is beyond economical repair. A new compressor has been ordered but it will likely be a couple of weeks before it is installed.
Since shop air is at a premium I tried to limit my usage. I got the rear cab mount interior re-inforcing plates made up. I am 2nd guessing my initial plan though. The exterior re-inforcing plates are held in place with screws and the cab mounting hardware itself. I was planning to use a modern epoxy glue to permanently fix the new plates in place. I thought this would be best as I could fill any voids so as not to make a new place for corrosion to start and to get the most contact for weight transfer/dispersion. I am thinking though that since the old mounts had such a tendancy to crack there, it would be good to be able to inspect for cracking if there was ever a concern???
I was of the frame of mind that the cab mounts had cracked for several reasons.
1. The roads were pretty basic and rough back then.
2. The truck was a 1.5T and the suspension was pretty stiff.
3. Being a military vehicle who knows how much off-road use and abuse it may have seen.

I figured if I repaired the damage, then re-inforced it as well to spread the load it should resolve the issue. Considering the truck has a modern IFS and will not see any off-roading, I figure that should be the end of it??

What do you guys think, is it safe to permanently install the interior plates or should I bolt them so they are removable?

The drivers side cab sheet metal has been replaced, Tim was going to work on the passenger side today.

The last picture is the 1945 five window GMC of Tim's that I mentioned in my previous post. He is making good progress, yesterday he was making the front bumper brackets and pan.

Stay warm, stay healthy
Steve

Well first off, I would like to say thanks for sharing. Second WOW amazing, self taught work, but very handy having people to confer with. You're very fortunate to have access to all those amazing tools and equipment, as others have mentioned. Keep up the great work.

Hello all, thanks for checking in and following along.

I am a tired camper today, I spent 7 hours at the shop, then went for a 5 KM walk with the wife. She has been fundraising for the local food bank and today was the walk for it.

It was worth it though as I had another productive day at the shop.

The weather has warmed up, which is nice. 3 weeks of bitter cold was not fun, just sayin’
The shop compressor was replaced as well which is nice, back to full power on the tools which saves time.

I hit the shop without a real plan for the day, I figured I would just see where things go. I am still working towards getting the cab finished and in epoxy primer. I started filling a few small holes and grinding them down, working my way around the cab. I then discovered, well re-discovered as I had forgotten that the sheet metal spot welds on the rear edge of the passenger door frame were popped loose. It was an “oh yeah, we did that” moment... before I removed the doors we did a bit of alignment work getting the door straight. Using a hydraulic ram we pushed on the bottom of the door frame to the upper hinge and in doing so broke the spot welds. Clamping things in place, I drilled holes every couple inches or so and then welded them up. Once ground flush they look good and will be much stronger than the original spot welds. Then over to the drivers side door and did the same thing.
Moving on from there I filled some holes in the firewall, found some cracks and cut them out, welded and ground flush.
Pretty much rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat...

Moving on to the bottom of the cab, I flipped it onto the firewall.
Rinse and repeat.... found some more cracks...

The pictures are kind of lame, it is kind of hard to capture the sheer scope of ALL the fantastic welding I did today.

Stay safe,
Steve

I've been enjoying your posts. It looks like nice work. I have to say that it is nice to have so much room to work. You are really moving along making quick progress. Keep the updates coming

Steve

Thanks for the kind words 20Mercman.

I don’t think I will get into the shop this weekend, it is a get-away weekend for us. We celebrated 24 years marriage on the 15th and it was her 50th on the 24th. We are off to the mountains to spend a little time on us. Snowshoeing, hiking and tub time in our own cozy little cabin.
Thanks for following along, if I get any good pictures I will maybe post them.

Stay safe,
Steve

Congratulations on 24 years! We won’t tell your wife that you told us her age.

Enjoy your getaway!

Enjoy your time away.

Hello all;

2-fer time!

We had a wonderful getaway in the mountains!
The weather was pretty much perfect, we got 4 hikes in and one was on snow shoes.
We stayed at Castle Mountain Chalets, very nice individual log cabins. The hikes and scenery are all around the lake Louise area in Banff National park. From our home in Spruce Grove we are about 3 hours to the mountains and Jasper National park. For a change in pace though we went to Banff National park, which is about a 6 hour drive.

The picture with the train is at Morant’s curve, don’t ask as I don’t know how it got its name...

Don't worry, the next post is truck related!
Steve

All right back to business...

Today, Monday March 1st was supposed to be my day off, however I was booked into a confined space course which ended about noon. I did get to the shop about 3 and was able to get a couple hours in. I am getting near to being done the cab, but it was a rinse and repeat of the previous day's. Hunting out cracks and welding them up.
I also took the opportunity to re-weld the transmission tunnel from the underside. Going back to an earlier comment regarding the improvement of my welding skills...when I welded on the tunnel I did not get through penetration and could see the 2 pieces from the back side of the weld. I think it was from not having enough of a gap between the two pieces and the weld didn't flow into the void and instead built up on the surface. Anyways, I zapped it from the underside and then ground it smooth.

I will be attacking the roof next and then I will be back in the sand blaster. After that, I will give the whole thing a good blow out, run over all surfaces with the orbital sander and then coat it in epoxy! That will be a big milestone reached.

Stay safe,
Steve

Hello all, thanks again for checking in and following along.

Today was busy, I negotiated with wifey to split my time today. We have started to repaint the master bedroom and bath. I had to get my chores done at home before I could go and play...
It wasn’t until about 2 PM that I could get to the shop. The grand plan for the day was to get some holes in the roof welded up, which I think actually completes the repairs on the cab! I got them done, then spent some time straightening the drip rails over the doors. Once those were looking good, I moved the cab over to the sand blaster area so I could reblast the underside. I wanted to be sure the metal was clean whether it be welding slag or any oxidization from sitting in bare metal. I am going to epoxy the underside and then get it back upright so I can finish the rest of the cab. I am not worried about the underside getting scratched as I will be using the truck box liner stuff on the inner fenders and underside of the box and cab.
Anyways, back to the story... I got the blasting done and all the dust/debris blown out. I ran out of time and energy, to get the epoxy sprayed though.
The good news is though, I have already secured permission from the boss to get it sprayed tomorrow!

Just a short one today, I will post again tomorrow when I get the underside sprayed.
Stay safe,
Steve

Looks good. I hear you about keeping the ling haired sherriff happy. Wr are getting new counter tops in the kitchen. Then new back splash.......etc.

I wanted to ask you, what are you using for primer? It has been so long since I painted that my last can of primer was "Ultrafill". That was back in 1985. I keep hearing about epoxy primer. Is it a surfacer as well?

Thanks for any advice.

Steve

Your cab mount patch turned out great.