The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Fitting cab corners

Hello!

I just finished the pass side inner and outer cab corners on my '59 Apache. This was my first attempt at major body work, and I'm happy with the way it came out. There's no warpage, and I can finish things off with maybe a skim coat of bondo (1/8" at most).

What was the most work, and the hardest part, was getting the inner and outer panels to match up where they join each other along the edges and bottom. It took a LOT of massaging to get things to match up. Unfortunately, there's one part where I CANNOT get the two panels together, the bottom most corner where the panel bends 90 deg to transition from the side of the cab to the back of the cab. There's a 2" long gap, about 1/4" wide, that I just can't get together.

Should I leave the gap open to act as a drain? It's completely invisible unless you crawl up under the cab to look at the underside of the cab corner. I've also coated the inner and outer panels with Zero Rust, so I'm not really too worried about rust developing, since I don't plan on driving the truck in the rain anyway.

It's just frustrating to not be able to get the panel that last small distance.

Thanks...

Chris

a drain is a good thing in that area, and it saves you having to drill a hole! you might also note that the problem there is not rain causing rust but the condensation that will form inside and drip into that cubbyhole over the years, being held by the dust that invariably collects

Bill

I would not worry about the gap. A lot of people don't even replace the inner when they do the outer. My last truck I cut the inner 1/2 way up from the bottom and replaced the outer, then welded a plate over the top inside to keep road noise down. Worked out fine and like you said, no one will see it anyway.