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I think I am going to clamp up my floor panels and inner cowl panels to see how they fit together. I did not plan to replace the inner to outer cowl panel because mine are generally solid except for the bottom end where I plan to fabricate a patch on my own.

I don't believe that the short panel which you received are made any different than the full panels at the bottom. It has to do with the front-to-back taper which you refer to. I wouldn't use them.
I believe that I found mine at Jim Carters and based my purchase on the picture on his website. I could make out the tapered bend in it.
Kevin's pics show what the panels are supposed to look like at the bottom.

The inner cowl panels that I have are not the short ones but they do stop short of being a full panel, for example the passenger side stops short of the top of the heater opening.

I clamped the floor panels to the respective inner cowl panels and the results are not very good.

The passenger side cowl panel needs to shift forward but the radius at the front is too small to allow the flanges to align, with it shifted back to clear I suspect the floor board angle is incorrect. I suspect I will need to reform the radius to allow the flanges to align and then see what else is required.

The driver side cowl panel can be positioned where the flanges can align. However, there is a considerable gap between the panels in the corner.

The attached pictures may not show the challenges very well but it is going to be interesting assuming that I stay with these inner cowl panels. Earlier it was suggested that the short inner cowl panels are formed better, at least the ones from Jim Carter (correct)??

Yep, that's exactly what I had to deal with. Screw the panels in place to match up with the door pillar, then go to work on that corner till you get it to close the gap. You don't want to move the inner panel forward to meet the toeboard. I think a fair part of the issue is the shape of the floor panel. I would get that in place first (again, with sheet metal screws temporarily, if you can do that) and work both panels to close ujp the gap. Also pay attention to the angle of the toeboard as you mentioned. I had to cut and reweld my floor patch panels at the floor/toeboard bend to get the whole floor flat across the cab.
I did not get the shorty inner cowl panels from Jim Carter. I think I got them here.

Yep. Kevin found the correctly bent ones for you.

Thanks, but the link to Carid shows two different suppliers, Auto Metal Direct and Goodmark. Any idea which you may have gotten, or are they basically the same part from different sources?

I believe the ones I bought were from Auto Metal Direct but had TriPlus stickers on them. I think they’re all from the same source however.

I ordered the Metal Direct panels, hope they are much better given the cost but I hate to be spending hours massaging the other panels or welding patches into the patches.

I sent you a PM

I have replaced a total of 4 inner cowl panels. The 1st one was the grotesquely malformed one which brought me to tears beating into submission.
A buddy of mine happened to have one of the shorty panels which are formed very accurately, so I have been using those ever since.
My life was likely shortened from the experience with that first one. I did not want to shorten it 3-fold by beating on another three of those abominations.

I survived my episode with the panels I got. Didn't suffer much, but it was a learning experience.

Sorry it affected you so much, Carl.

I received my latest version of the inner cowl panels. They are definitely formed differently but matching them up against the existing (original) area and the replacment floor patch panels they are still going to be a challenge. For one they appear to be shorter front to back than the original meaning either they will not overlap the door post, or the floor pan flange (forward portion). This raises a question regarding how others have dealt with the windlace channel that is attached (welded?) to the door post. the channel seems pretty delicate so I don't envision being able to remove it and effectively reuse it. I am seriously considering installing the inner cowl patch panel with a seam just forward of the channel as that would appear to resolve the length problem without dealing with channel replacement. The lower front corner also still does not match well with the floor patch panels but that may be a floor panel problem more than the inner cowl panel.

I have not cut out the old floor or cowl panels (planning to do one side at a time) pending the weather improving but I can see where as others have reported this will be a significant challenge to get patched back together. I am thinking that once I get all the material removed it may be easier to see the path forward. In the mean time I am formulating my plans and adjusting as I learn more. Contrary to conventional patch panel butt welding installation I am seriously considering flanging the floor patch panel to overlap the seam with the original in the front and rear. I have tools to form an offset flange that would provide the opportunity to secure the panel with screws for fit up and plug welding. I realize that overlaps can be a problem but I think I can seal the edges sufficiently to prevent moisture from getting in and corrosion starting.

Once the floor panels are in place the inner cowl, then inner to outer cowl, and finally outer cowl panels can be installed in sequence.

As a novice to this I greatly appreciate the insight provided by others that have survived this process.

Where did you get the latest inner panels? That’s interesting that they’re too short front-to-back. If they’re too high that would make them miss the toe board if lined up to the door pillar like it should be.

I would at least get the outer cowl located on the door pillar before installing the inner-to-outer cowl piece. That inner-to-outer is going to take the most “adjustment”. And it’s important to get the door opening set first.

Pictures please.
The correct ones do look shorter front to back than the horribly incorrect ones. I don't know if it is an optical illusion, or if the horribly wrong ones are horribly too long front to back.

The latest inner panels are from CARiD made by Auto Metal.

When I place the inner panel inside the cab with the back edge lined up with the door opening edge the front edge of the panel lines up with the inside floor (no overlap to the front). This will change as the inner panel is moved lower to overlap the horizontal floor flange so it may be just paranoia on my part.

Pictures in the near future.

I am assuming (always a bad idea) that the door post position will be retained by it being attached to the cab mounting bracket that includes the front cab mount (in and out) and my bracing (for and aft). The bracket appears to be solid and intact, just the sheet metal floor is rusted away. I am anticipating that floor removal will be done without compromising the door post attachment, cutting the replacement floor panel to go around the door post to preserve that connection.

I looked at the inner panels again, pictures attached this time. I think part of the problem is the floor panels are bent at the wrong angle but the fit of the inner panel to the floor panel at the bend is still going to require a fair amount of work.

Is that a floor board/toe board combination? If so, that is where your sheet metal skills will need to come in.
Your new inner cowl looks to me to be correctly bent at the bottom.

I would remove a section of the old floor, and the old inner cowl, then screw the inner cowl panel in place with small self-tapping screws.
After that you will need to message the floor/toeboard to match the new inner cowl and install it

I did something similar, I used the short panel piece , and fitted it to the bottom of the new floor board. And then I put up the new inner panel up, and where they overlapped, I marked it (longer that needed),and trimmed the two to fit, and finally welded them together to make one whole section. It took little time, but the fit was great, and used auto seam sealer to fill in the gaps. (kinda proud of myself, I figured out how to upload pics. Yay !!!). Be safe all , Mike

Yes I have the combination floor board - toe board panels. I agree that the new inner panels appear to be correct, or at least much better than the original ones I received. I like the idea of temporarily installing the inner panel and massaging the floor and inner panel to get the best fit possible.

Bluedot38, your results look great, I can only hope to have as good an end result.

That combo floor/toeboard panel is another one that is often incorrect as well. I replaced both sides on mine, and needed to actually cut a wedge at the bend to get the floor on the same plane on both sides as well as get the reinforcing beads to match up on the toeboard. And the bend will need to be tweaked also.

You'll likely run into the same or similar issues with yours.

I am replacing both sides but plan to do one side at a time to the extent that will be possible. I will not be surprised if the bend needs to be adjusted but I am hoping that I don't need to do more than that to get the toe board aligned. The match line between the inner cowl and floor will be a challenge as has been discussed here before. The more I look at the latest inner cowl panels compared to the current/original the more I think they will be good and the floor/toe board panel is what will need to be modified to match. At least as shown in the picture with the new inner cowl panel standing inside the current it lines up with the toe board angle and door post while resting on the floor along the floor to cowl seam line.

One of these days the weather will break and I will run out of excuses for not tackling this portion of my project.

I sure am glad for you that you found the correctly bent inner cowls. It should add 2-3 years to the end of your life not having to cut, bend weld, recut, bend and weld, cut out and throw it as far as you can, and scare the neighbor kids with loud foul language.

Thanks for the compliment, I found out that it took time, time to look at it, dry fit and trim a little at a time. Then clamp it all up, and then trim a little more ! I used a sanding disc, about 2.5 inches on a die grinder, took off a little at a time. This was my time in the garage on Saturday nite, and afterwards, I enjoyed a few beverages !! Good Luck, Mike

Let the "fun" begin. The door "post" is barely attached at this point.

I need to do some clean up and decide what I am doing about the upper portion of the inner cowl then start fitting the various patch panels. Based on recommendations here I plan to start with the inner cowl (at least the lower) and then the floor. I was originally planning to keep the brace that secures the front mounting bolt attached to the door post and trim the floor flange around that joint but given the limited connection I may separate them so that the floor flange can drop in between as originally intended.

If that were my truck, I would go ahead and cut out the front support and get a replacement. It looks pretty sketchy, especially where the rocker panel has rusted away in front of the door pillar. You're going to need to replace the rocker panel, or at least the front section of it. I had the same condition and opted to replace the entire rocker on both sides. The other consideration is that you can't really get good welds on rusty metal and will need to grind away the rusty stuff, possibly resulting in some weakened metal as it gets thinner. You can use the hinge bolt locations to establish the correct distance between door pillars (dimensions available in the FAM.) Looks like you've braced the door frame pretty well.

Man, I need to get started back on my '53 truck. I know the floor pans I bought, and the cab mount channel do not have the same angle at the end toward the outside.

Those cab support channels are another repop part that needs to be "massaged." Mine didn't match well either.

The "fun" with replacing the inner cowl comes in to play where you have 3 panel flanges sandwiched together
1) The lower flange of the inner cowl.
2) The side flange of the floor.
3) The side flange of the rocker panel.
To do it correctly (ie as original), you need to first get the floor section out of the way so that you can remove the lower flange of the inner cowl from the rocker panel.
After that, the cab pretty much puts itself back together...
Well, except for rusted out hinge pillar, the rusted out inner-to-outer cowl, and the rusted out rocker panel.
"But other than that, smooth sailing." Just make sure to keep saying that to yourself. It helps.

52Carl, thanks I was not sure if the original rocker panel continued forward to overlap the inner cowl, clearly mine has rusted away in that area. The rocker seems pretty solid to the rear of the door pillar. KLHansen thanks for your insight regarding this effort.

I plan to finish removing the support channel to determine if it needs to be replaced or just cleaned up, and possibly enhanced (repaired) at the outer end. Regardless if reusing the original or replacing I am thinking I would install the support channel to the underside of the floor panel prior to installing the floor panel permenantly.

My current plan is to:
Finish removing, clean up and evaluate the support channel; clean up the floor & firewall cuts, spot welds, etc.
Set the floor panel in place to mark where the cuts in the original are, cut off excess material from floor panel (with overlap flange material remaining), form overlap flanges in floor panel, teporarily install support channel to frame, temporarily install floor panel with sheet metal screws, locate support channel to underside of floor panel and install with sheet metal screws
Fit inner cowl lower panel (this may require adjustment to the floor panel) and temporarily install with sheet metal screws
Fit inner to out cowl panel and temporarily install with sheet metal screws
Fit outer cowl panel and temporarily install with sheet metal screws.

Once all the temporary installations look okay I will remove everything and start putting it back together more premenantly.

One area I have not decided yet is how to address the forward end of the rocker panel. I suspect it basically connected to the back side of the inner to outer cowl panel. If that is the case I may be able to fabricate an extension that could be attached to the inner-outer panel and then secured to the existing rocker panel rear of the door pillar.

I have the first draft of a rough install on the passenger side done, see attached. I have not addressed the rocker panel or the reinformcement issues yet but at least I have something that resembles a floor and cowl area.

The rocker I am contemplating fabricating a piece that will follow the shape of the outside of the rocker with a flange to attach it to the backside of the inner to outer panel. It may be harder than I am envisioning sa it is prettu much a blind area. The rocker panel itself seems pretty solid from the door pillar back. I think I can get it tight to the inside of the existing rocker and plug weld it to the existing rocker.

The reinforcement appears pretty solid except for the end outboard of the mounting hole, the wide flanges that attach to the floor flange are solid but the end flange and the related center of the support are basically gone. I think I an fabricate a piece to replace the missing material and get a pretty solid part.

A lot of work to do yet but it is at least a start.

WOW! I am impressed. What you have done is not easy.

Thanks, I have a long way to go, the panels are only rough fit at this point and I do have more work to do before I can even consider that complete. I am hoping to get some time this week to make additional progress but the weather is not cooperating. the next few weeks I will be traveling so progress will stop for a while.

Either you have done this before, or you are a good listener. That particular part of cab repair was very intimidating for me my first time.
I was ready to quit until I sought advice from this site years ago.

WICruiser In another discussion bolters talked about the value of a clean rust-free cab,then put everything back on it, If you could find one it would certainly save a lot of time. If you can do your own body work that's great if you don't stall-out on interest. My experience has been it's best to keep it driveable.

My perception may be wrong but I don't image finding a clean rust free cab for a 70 year old truck is really an option. I bought the truck in Arizona thinking that it was made in LA (based on the S/N), resided in the desert southwest (at least recently), and the apparent rust did not seem to bad. When I started to dig into it I found that most of the cab, fenders, and running boards were in decent, but not great shape with more rust issues becoming apparent as work progresses. The bed floor is a total replacement and the bed sides have a few rust areas that need to be addressed.

My goal is to have it roadworthy within 3 years (December 2024) so I have a long timeframe but I also know that ia have a lot of work to do. Bodywork is not my first choice but my goal is for the truck to be solid and functional, not a garage queen so I am hoping that my body work doesn't detract from the goal.

Once I get the floor and cowl panel areas reworked so the cab is more stable I plan to remove it from the frame to allow the underside of the cab work to be done. However, one of my thoughts is to get the mounting frame I plan to build for the seats (1999 Chevy 1500 with integrated seat belts) done before I pull the cab because there are seat mounting related aspects to the underside of the cab.

I understand the concern about stalling out on such a long timeframe project but hope that I can stick with it and apprecaite all the support I have been getting from the SB community.

Finally got back to working on the truck yesterday. I had rebuilt the under floor reinforcement/support and removed all the screwed in panels to install it. I also fabricated an extention piece for the rocker panel that was rusted away forward of the door pillar.

Now that I am trying to get all the pieces to work together I realize that the reinforcement can not be attached to the floor panel prior to installation because the rocker panel is sandwiched between the floor and the reinforcement. I would appreciate any suggestions regarding the sequence of assembly.

With the floor reinforcement roughly in place and the floor panel screwed in place the inner lower cowl does not fit as well as it had previously so I am still fiddling with the inner cowl, inner to outer cowl, and outer cowl pieces to get the fit I think is needed.

I have the door opening braced but wonder if I need to remove the brace and hang the door to check the fit before I go from screwed in to welded in panels. I am also wondering if there is any reason to check fit the fornt fener (iiner and outer) before welding things in place.

That's not a bad idea, although I think you could measure the doors and openings without removing the bracing. I would try that first and see how close you are. If you remove the bracing, things might get real loosey-goosey and be tough to get it back in alignment.

WICruiser Have noticed over the years and several AD trucks that the drivers door hole always seems to be kinda tight. Also seems like the bottom of the drivers door wants to hang out sometimes as much as 1/2 inch. I hate to hear that door crash into the hole !! Have seen nice (expensive) builds that suffered with door hole tight. Now passenger often nice fit close right up !!

You definitely want to install your doors before you do any welding. Lots of screws will hold everything in place as good as the original spot welds did.
The number one reason to screw the panels in place is so that you can move things so that the doors will fit.
One would be wise to adopt the notion that in the process of replacing cab sheet metal, one should start with the doors and build the cab around them.
As long as you have a solid "ring of death" (as I like to call it), that is, a sound door opening comprised of the rocker panel, hinge post, lock post and top post, and your sheet metal panels are screwed into place, you really don't need bracing any more.

Thank you all for the insight and recomendations.

I was able to screw the floor support to the floor panel and install the rocker panel extension with some effort so I think I have a plan of attack. I still need to re-fit the upper portion of the inner cowl but I think once that is in place I will remove the bracing and check the door fit. The panels reinstalled seemed to fit much better, or at least more consistantly this time.

Once I check fit the door I will reinstall the brace and remove all the panels again to drill holes for the plug welds and prep the overlap surfaces prior to "final" screwed assembly prior to welding. Depnding on how the initial door fitment goes I may recheck the door fit one last time before doing any welding.

The good news is the weather is finally starting to get warm enough that it is reasonable to work in the unheated space.