The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Rusted 46 headlight housing

I knew this would be an issue when I first found my truck, but I'm finally getting to it. Snapped off the three bolts holding on the housing, and took it inside to get a good look.

Well, it was better then I feared, but still not great.

the outer shell is still in good shape, but the brace/mounts inside are heavily pocked and weak. Those are mostly flat so those are easy enough to make new. The big problem is the panel behind the headlight bucket, the one that the adjuster screws and springs are attached to.

How should I go about trying to fix this part? I have some metal the same thickness to work with, but I'm not sure if rivets would work, or should it be welded? Should it be butt welded or lap welded? Cut out the bad material, or cover over it?

This truck is my first real body work project, so repairing rust is fairly new to me.

Anyways, the album:
46 Headlight Housing

With so many trucks being modified and headlights "frenched" in I believe I'd give the swap meet a shot by posting in the Parts Wanted Forum if you have not done that.
Your to be commended for wanting to fix and do it yourself but sometime there is a better or faster way. Maybe some bolters have some spares around. I believe there are some bolters in Wis. that part out trucks?
Good luck and thanks for the pictures.

There was the part your looking for on ebay under 46 chevy truck today.

Apart from the minor rot at the bottom, the whole assembly is in rather good condition. I have a lot of spare time and scrap bits lying around, but not much in the way of money. As long as the outside looks nice after I get it painted, it doesn't need to be pretty on the inside. I guess my biggest concern is not having it rust out again too soon after getting it done.

I'll try working on it some more, and post some more pictures.

i would cut out the rust and butt weld the new metal in place. then there is a set on pensacola craigs list for sale now

I am not a body man, but I remember when I had the rusted headlite buckets on the trucks We serviced, we would go and get a complete lite and bucket assembly at International harvester and it would replace them ,some of the State trucks were a lot worse than the one pictured, I believe you could try that and it would be a complete lite assembly and I believe it would fit. Should possibly be an easy fit as you could weld a piece of metal to the back of the bucket, then to the outer assembly from the inside, and have a new assembly, complete with adj screws and springs, that's how I did it. pat

I had one that look pretty close to this, I found a replacement from one of our fellow bolters. My plan when I put my truck back together is to por15 all the internal areas to avoid any rusting in the future.

Ed