The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Taa Daa!

Hard to believe but after almost 300 hours of cutting, welding and cursing that %$#* cab I finally have my clip test fit! It took some doing but I'm thrilled with the result. Now I can get the cab painted and hopefully sealed up with glass and doors before the cold weather moves in.
PICTURE!

Lookin good ,Woody

Pete

Wow, that looks just great. Those fenders and hood look so straight and fit better than when they were first put together at the factory. You're doing a superb job, congratulations!!!!!

How did you resist painting some eyeballs on your "windshield" ala "Cars" ?

Looks like you've got perfect fit. Great job!

Yep, ya know ya got it right when the seam where the hood meets the fender is straight. Taint many of them that have it right either. ya got 90% of it behind ya now Woody. Better make room for her in the garage cus your gonna spend this winter detailing the old gal for her comming out party next year.
Great work buddy.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Woody, darn good job my friend. Since your getting so good at it would it be possible to get you to drive down and put my clip on? I'd buy you all the hot dogs and Pepsi you can eat/drink

Say, when it gets a little cooler I'm gonna drive up there and see ya! I'll be in Winston before long for a day and can come on by your place!

I am envious, wish my panels fit that well.
Nice job.

Woody,

You amaze me! I've followed your restoration every month by looking at your beautiful pictures you post as you go along. I marvel at your metal skills and your sense of perfection. You don't do anything half way. Your work is absolutely beautiful and it's fun watching you fix problems you have to deal with. Your old truck will be the envy of us all out here when it's done. Can't wait to see it finished. I'll drink an ice cold one when it's finished to help you celebrate. Good luck as you near the finish line my friend!

Spot

Thanks for all the positive comments. I did have some problems around where the fenders curl under the cowls and I actually had to take a pie cut out of that part of the fenders to get them up far enough to close up the gap, but considering all the panel replacements I had to do on the cab I got off real lucky.

The easiest part was the hood. I had a friend help me get it on but getting it down and evening the cowl gap didn't take that long at all and I did that by myself, but I did have help from a good sized shot bag. No radiator shimming at all.

For anyone doing this my suggestion is to just be patient and think logically. Another thing is the hood flutter gasket. I'm replacing those sheet metal screws with machine screws so I can leave the gasket off until I get the hood flush with the top of the cowl. The gaskets hold the hood at the proper height but I found I had to go a little below proper height because no matter how hard I tried the hood would raise up a little (1/8 inch) after I tightened the hinge bolts. Maybe my hinges are worn... don't know, but my hood is now where it should be.

Spent the day snaking my driver side fender brace around the Holley. Once that's done the fenders and hood are coming off and the cab gets block sanded.

I'm feeling pretty relieved.

Woody Did you happen to document how you corrected that problem?(Pictures)

Your Pbase site has been like a repair how to site for me. Thanks for all the photos. They are very helpful. I would like to see how you fixed that.

Heres the problem I have to correct

The lesson I learned here is that the repair panels are not very good. I should of fitted the doors and fenders before I final welded the lower cowl.

Your truck looks great!!

Thanks

The fenders and hood fit beautifully, and I know how much work that can be, you are a magician with metal.

DADS50,

Mine wasn't quite that bad but same problem. Make a cardboard template of the shape of the cowl. Measure how wide the gap is and use the template to mark your cut on the fender that far below where it's touching. Don't cut the flange, make a curved pie-shaped cutout on the exposed part of the fender and then bend the flange to the contour of the cowl and trim the fender to fit. It takes a little shaping the flange so be patient. Once you finish all the cutting and bending weld it all back together.

No doubt that you have to fit the cowls to the doors but it looks like the contour of your cowl matches the contour of your door so that is good. If you made it to match the fender it wouldn't match the door. It's a lot easier to reshape your fender than it is to reshape the whole bottom of your doors and cab. Your fix is relatively simple.

You've come a long way. It is going to be a beauty. Great job.

Thanks for the tips Woody. Ive bookmarked this.

Woody, is there any sheetmetal left from the original? Was there any time that you thought you should have bought a replacement cab? You are certainly qualified to teach classes on bodywork.
Good work, keep the pics coming.

Not really, but there were many times when I asked myself "WHAT were you thinking?"

Woody, I'm amazed.....Considering the amount of 'surgery' your cab has undergone,the panel fit is fantastic.

I tip my hat to you Sir!

I too have the fender to lower cowl problem the same as DADS50, and my cab hasn't even been touched there.
I assumed they were all like that.

That's a possibility I never considered.

In my case the fender needed to go up to get the gap even so I just assumed the replacement cowls were wrong and so I cut. Some minor gap irregularity will be hidden by the welting but DADS50's gap isn't something I could live with, factory or not.

LATER EDIT: DADS50, If you don't need to raise your fender just make a cut along the flange bend and shape it to the cowl and then fill the gap with a piece of metal. I assumed you had to raise your fender.

Beautiful! All hoods should fit that perfectly -- even mine ---- but it doesn't. Congrats Woody --BTW --what's a shot bag? Dale

A shot bag is a bag of lead lead shotgun shot. Mine is leather and weighs about 20 pounds. Very handy.

In that pic nothing had been bolted sung or fitted. I’m sure the final gap won’t be as bad as it appears in that pic. I definitely need to correct it. That will be a crud trap for sure.

I just fitted my Hood yesterday. I have a little bit more of a gap on the passenger side fender. I’m hoping to correct that with the fender braces.

This was my first ever attempt ant any sort of body/weld repair. Since this was my Dads Old truck I’m determined to do as much of the work myself. Live and learn.

When I fitted my hood I was working by myself. What I did was place a ratchet strap from Fender to Fender over the hood just over the hood seal. snugged it down just a bit.Got my gap where I wanted then went inside and tightened the hinge bolts. Worked out OK.

What color/make is that primer? The green tint stuff. I guess it is primer. Looks good. Keep up the good work.

Kenny Broomfield

That's clever! I just might try that when I put mine on for good.

That's Nason etch primer that I used when I first started and those parts are stripped to bare metal. If I had it to do over I'd just go directly to a 2K high-fill primer after stripping. Plastic filler and etch primer do not play well together.

Woody,
What a perfect fit. You should be very proud my friend!