The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1949 Cab Repair

I installed the upper inner cowl panel and hung the door.

The edge gap between the door and the cab is pretty consistant all the way around which seems good. However, the lower rear door surface is outside of the cab more than I would like. I am wondering if the lower end of the door hinge post moved out as a result of my work to install the floor, inner cowl, etc. making the door farther out at the bottom (although the front looks good). The front of the door lower shape also is lower than the cowl but I can not see any reason that would be related to my work as the outer cowl follows the door hinge post which has not been altered.

I located dimensions for the cab in the factory assembly manual that show the hinge bolt positions relative to the cab centerline. I did not try to find the centerline but did measure from the driver's side bolts. Based on the upper bolt measurements my cab is wider than specified (57.5" vs. 57") but the bottom is off more than the top (59 5/8" vs. 59").

If I need to move the bottom of the door hinge post inward I am not sure how I am going to accomplish itas there is a lot going on at the bottom of the door hingge post connection with the rocker, inner cowl, floor pan, and floor reinforcement.

It is hard to tell with my old eyes but it looks as if your entire door might be a little low. Raising the door so that the belt line matches will help the bottom of the door match up better. Could you also drop the outer cowl panel just a little to help that all match up?
I am going through this same process now with a 47 panel. I found that when test fitting the doors, all hinge bolts need to be tight. I started out by just tightening 2 of the 3 or 4 present at each hinge end (upper hinges at pillar have 4 bolts on 47-48). I then found when the last bolts got cinched down things had shifted just a touch. Securing all bolts helped much more than I thought it would. I also found that I could get more movement on the door vertically by having all bolts loose, lifting up on door and then tighten all. At first I was only doing the ones on the door separate from the pillar bolts. Doing all bolts on all positions gave me the vertical travel I needed. I had the lower rear corner of my door sticking out also. The front was flush with the lower outside cowl panel. I brought the top of the door out some to be a smidge above flush and it brought the lower rear corner in some. After that did not fix it completely, I tried another door. It was worse. I gave up temporarily and moved to the rear barn doors.
That has been a learning experience. I have 3 left hand doors and all fit different. I settled on the one the truck was born with as it fit best. It needs more work than the others but fit counts too. I could not adjust that door to fit well to save my life. I am using different hinges as mine were worn out and I secured a good tight set. The manual says to bend the hinge to get it to fit. So that is what I did. I heated it until reddish with my torch and gave it a few raps with the sledge. Bingo. Fits like a glove. I tell this story as it shapes my thoughts on the front door. Originally I was thinking the same as you stated. Uh oh, I got the bottom of the pillar too far out when I put in the floor and toe boards. Now I am going to have to take a slice out of them to bring the pillar in and in turn the lower rear corner of the door. Well, now I am thinking of taking the lower hinge and putting a slight angle to it to help the rear corner come in. It should not change to position of the front of the door being flush. Not sure if it will work or not. I certainly am enjoying your posts and progress. I will be waiting anxiously for your resolution.

Once you get your doors where you want them, I recommend that you do not remove the panels prior to spot welding. You don't want anything to move even slightly.
I drill the panels in place. I use a regular drill bit big enough (3/16" maybe) to allow me to reach the inner panel through the hole to get that underlying panel red hot to start the weld and them move it toward the outer panel for a sound plug weld. I use a TIG welder, but the same method works for MIG.
As far as where your screws are located, you can remove one screw at a time and drill your 3/16" hole in the outer panel and weld it up the same as above. The weld will fill that tiny screw hole in the underlying panel as though it wasn't even there.
Be careful not to drill through the underlying panel when drilling, as the drill bit likes to grab that tiny screw hole and keep going.

I agree that my door is a little low based on the belt line but it appears pretty close at the top so I am not sure I can raise it enough to get the belt line to match. I did have most, but not all of the hinge bolts installed so I will do that when I fit chech the door again (I removed the door and reinstalled my brace to continue working on my panel fits). There does not seem to be much, if any movement in the hinge mounting to adjust the door and my hinges seem pretty tight but I realize that a small amount of movement at the mounting point can move the far edges of the door a fair amount.

My current plan is to remove all the panels so that I can prep the overlap areas with weld through primer (weather will need to improve) and while the panels are off drill holes in one panel in the overlap areas for the plug welds. Then reinstall all the panels and test fit the door again, make any additional tweaks, and then start welding. I anticipate that I will remove the door and install the brace prior to welding just to improve access.

Knowing what I do from working on the passenger side I am not sure what to expect on the driver's side. Initially the driver's side appeared to have less rusted out areas but I am not sure how good/bad the rocker, floor, floor reinformcement, and inner cowl joint is. One thing at a time though (I tend to get ahead of myself).

Matching the belt line across the body, door and cowl is EVERYTHING when it comes to the doors fitting properly.

I worked on welding in the passenger side panels. I still have some work to do but decided to move on with the driver's side work. My welding technique leaves a lot to be desired and I was fighting a wire feed problem with my welder but eventually it will be functional.

When I removed the reinforcement under the floor that attaches at the mounting bolt the driver's side door hinge pillar dropped (seemed a lot more "flexible" than the passenger side was). Based on my experience on the passenger side I plan to fit the floor panel roughly and then get the reinforcement installed to the underside of the panel. I anticpate that will position the door hinge post vertical location correctly but will fit check the door once the panel is screwed in place to confirm.

Body filler and paint will cover what a welder ain't! You will get there. Looking good so far. Why do I see that tan color in the fender mount bolt hole? Did you just lay the patch over the original metal or did you cut them for a butt fit?

You HAVE to get the door aligned first. Don't depend on installing the front cab mount to bring the door pillar into the correct position.

Twin Jimmys - yes I overlapped the patch panel onto the original a little rather than using a butt joint but what you are seeing is actually weld through primer on the inner to outer patch panel.

klhansen, I plan to screw the driver's side together similar to what I did on the passenger side and fit check the door before doing any welding. I was really surprised how much the driver's side post could move compared to the lassenger side.

As “Twin Jimmys” pointed out, an overlap joint, allows water and debris to accumulate between the joints overlapped sheet metal, creating the perfect environment for rust, the very thing your fighting. Butt joints are preferred.

There are lots of spots where the factory used lapped joints, one being where the outer and inner cowl connect to the inner-to-outer cowl piece. But they definitely shouldn't be used for a patch in the middle of a panel.

I understand the problems with lap joints but find myself using them in places that are not preferred because they provide forgiveness for those of us less skilled and also allows the joints to be fixed with sheet metal screws during the fitment and adjustment process. I plan to spend a lot more time and effort sealing the lap joints than the factory did on the original lap joints but I am sure that like alot of my work those efforts will be less than perfect.

Check this out. I haven't tried it myself, but it's a way to use lapped screwed fastenings of a patch panel and a true butt joint.
One comment I have about it, is that the metal gets deformed as he goes along as opposed to a well fitted butt joint along the whole length of the patch weld.

Interesting approach to getting a smaller gap and I can see how the panel could be screwed in place rather than tack welded for the same end result.

I have the driver's side panels screwed in place and fit checked the door. With the belt line matched the door gaps are pretty consistant but perhaps a little tight on the lower half of the rear. However, the door does not close without pressure from the outside. It appears that the hinges (or at least one of them) needs to flex the hinge post to close the door the last 3 or so inches. The hinges seem tight with the bolts installed but there could be a slight gap against the hinge pillar (not sure what is keeping them from being tight). Given that the top half or more of the hinge pillar has always been attached I assume the problem is that the bottom has twisted affecting the lower hinge. However, the upper hinge is very difficult to get into the pocket due to the torsion spring that serves to hold the door in the open position and so the opening is beat up so that may be part of the probelm as well. Prior to any work the driver's door was more difficult to close tight to the latch post so the problem may stem from it's previous life. One concern is that if I flex the lower portion of the hinge post to address the door closing issue the lower hinge will move rearward making the lower rear door gap even tighter than it already is as the inside edge of the hinge pillar is fixed by the rocker panel and seems pretty solid. I clearly need to do more investigation to detemrine what needs to be tweaked but as I learned on the passenger side door, it is critical to get the door fit correct before welding everything in place.

The concern about the door closing was a simple problem of a rusty deformed section at the bottom of the door hitting the rocker panel. Once the offending material was relocated the door closes without pressure and the gaps look pretty good. Moving on to continue working on the floor and cowl panel replacment process.

Repair project plan for the doors is next winter season. Not to get ahead of myself but I do plan to rebuild the hinges in the process.

I am considering closing up the holes in the floor panel related to the parking brake, brake master cylinder, clutch and brake pedals, etc. and wondering if others have done this. It seem like the opportune time to insert these patches would be before I do the final installation of the floor panel.

I don't have a specific plan for my parking brake but I do plan to utilize a hanging clutch/brake pedal system with a firewall mounted brake booster/master and clutch hydraulic master.

If I were closing holes in a patch panel, I would definitely do it before installing the patch panel. It allows you better access for welding and planishing.

I have the floor patch panels in place as well as the rear cab corners and the fuel filler patch panel. I recently painted the underside of the cab with an epoxy primer (see Project Journal for picture) and plan to apply seam sealer and body filler as needed.

That leads to the next question, what do members recommend for final paint on the underside of the cab, runnings boards, inside fenders, inside of engine compartment, etc.?

I am anticipating the underside surfaces will all be painted black. I am having the frame blasted and painted by a local company that plans to blast, epoxy prime, and then paint the frame with a polyester paint they claim is pretty durable. I could ask them more about their finish paint and use the same for the underside body finishes but I'm curious what others recommend.

I have not determined my final choice for the outside of the truck but I am leaning toward a dark blue such as Mariner Blue.

I paint my inner fenders, running boards, bumper brackets, and upper and lower radiator baffles with epoxy primer on bare metal, them high- build sandable primer, then rattle can Rustoleum gloss black paint. Yes, I said rattle can. It flows like butter and really shines on smooth surfaces. Touch up is a breeze since it flows so nice and Ace Hardware always has it in stock.
I have won first place in all of the major expert judged shows in my area with this scheme.

52Carl, thanks for your insight. I have used rattle can Rustoleum on other projects but wasn't sure it was appropriate for this one.

The one nice thing about rattle can paint is you don't spend a lot of time cleaning the paint gun. I think I spent more time cleaning the gun after spraying the primer than I did applying the paint.

II have used it on 3 different trucks, one of them was 10 years ago and it still looks close to as new.

I used to have that same issue with my old siphon feed spray gun. But then I bought a 3M Accuspray gun with their PPS system and cleaning the gun is a snap. I use a small squeeze bottle to fill the cup port with thinner and spray it out the nozzle. It just takes a couple times and the gun is clean (also remove the nozzle and wipe down the needle. The paint cup liner just gets tossed away. I'd recommend that to any hobbiest painter.

I do use rattle cans for small jobs.