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Who turned off summer? It was in the high 90's and wham... Low 70's and we had a night of 39 degrees. There is a lot of talk that this will be a bad winter coming up. Conditions exactly like the winter of 96. There was 9 measured feet of snow on the ground. Mkay... I see fearmart is having some sales right now and people are buying. I guess we will see when it happens.
So my wifes brother was here for most of July. I did not get much done and honestly the change of pace was welcome. We were sorry to see him depart for home in Alaska. What a great visit. First in order is to get Glenn his cab and data plates back. I swapped cabs with him but mine needed some repairs before taking it to him. Again, thank you Glenn for reducing my cab work.
Two issues needed fixing. One was later model door latches were welded to the body. Even the screws were welded over. I did some careful grinding and facing and presto, gone...
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Both sides cleaned up and painted to protect the metal till Glenn gets to his project.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
Next was a hole in the floor at the back of the trans hump. Here it is covered with a rivet attached cover.
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Drilled the rivets and punched them to the floor with a drift. So cut with tin snips and edges were as bent as heck. Can't weld a patch to this so there was a lot of edge work first. Then minor clean up for a patch. Oh yes, lots of degreasing underneath first.
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Straightening using what ever worked.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
I use thick fiber board for patterning. It is great stuff. Like the back of a note tablet but a little thicker.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
Continued...
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Your patch panel should never touch the edges in any spot. If it does than it will buckle when welding it up. There should be a very slight gap and the panel should fall to the floor if let go. No touching anywhere. I also use magnets for a handle and to hold it in place for bending to shape. I also used a big contour gauge to check the contour with the good cab Glenn set me up with. Glad to have the straight cab so handy.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
Then tacking it in. Every weld checked beforehand with a finger drag to make sure the panels were level. I used a piece of welding filler rod hammered flat for the back edge. Not much metal exposed and I did not want to sand it back to clean it up. None of my clamps would fit here. So the rod worked well.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
Getting there. The numbers are for my wife to hold a dolly on while I drove a body hammer from underneath. I had some leveling to do along the way. It was difficult since I could not reach both sides for plannishing. My wife is very helpful.
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More plannishing. The method is to sand back the weld till it is just above the parent metal. Avoid sanding the surrounding area. Using a body hammer and not anything else and a dolly, you strike an on dolly strike to stress relieve the metal and level it flat at the same time. On dolly strikes can be distinctly heard with a definite "chink" and not a thud with an off dolly strike. On dolly strikes stretch metal as the metal wants to move in all directions away from the point of contact. So minimal strikes and just enough to stress relieve it and get some leveling. Then once level you sand off the remaining weld material level with the parent metal. To many on dolly strikes makes a stretched hump that will only go away with shrinking the whole area. Twice the work. All butt welds should be plannished if possible.
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All done and coated to preserve it with satin black. Nothing shows flaws like black paint. It looks pretty good from both sides.
Before paint.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds
I am headed out to remove the windshield and nit noids followed by removal from the frame. I will get it on a trailer and give Glenn a shout.
I would like to be also moving forward on my soft top project. I still have not received my three seam rippers. I am starting to see big impacts to shipping with the covid garbage. Some stuff does not show up and I can't get a response or a refund from the company. This is an unsustainable situation.
So happy Saturday. More coming up hopefully soon. I hope to land the running gear, motor, trans etc. I lost three weeks but it was a nice break.
It's gonna snow any minute now...LOL
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Great work Al.
Send some of that cold air down here please.
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I could box up some cold air and overnight it to you Tim. :D But it might not get there very quick. I suspect this weather is temporary. Kind of like our typical January thaw. About two weeks of above freezing. Then right back to the 20's or lower. I am glad it cooled off some. I slow down in the heat. Not by choice. I bet Texas is pretty darn warm. :)
EDIT: I noticed your post count is 7777 !! Thumbs up!
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Cab is off and will be on a trailer in about an hour. It finally feels like I am getting something done. I had better call Glenn.
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Dang you are good!!
Thanks for not only posting before and after but the steps to get there...that is great learning material for a person like me who used to think it was part magic and part voodoo to do this kind of stuff and do it this good!!
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That patch was pretty easy. I am and always will be an amateur. When I watch you tube and see what some guys can do, it humbles me. I got some formal training but am mostly self taught. I just keep at it till something fits. :D But thank you though.
This part did make me sweat some. :D
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...IMG_2602-1.jpg
The red cab from Glenn has a small area of repair that I will also detail. I do enjoy metal work. So that helps. My first M715 I regretfully sold helped me buy the older TIG welder I use for this stuff. It will fuse two razor blades together. Providing I have not had to much coffee. :lol:
More as soon as I can get to it.
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Still trying to get back on the truck work. I was hoping for a painted frame by snow fall. 35 degrees at night and today will be mid 90's. I am still trying to get a clean unbranded title for the truck. I just made my 5th trip to see why it keeps getting held up. The three brands were removed and I got a letter saying a clean replacement was on the way. No title showed up. Found out someone in the main office attached yet another brand out of Oregon. The truck never went through Oregon. So trying once again to get a clean unbranded title. That is what I submitted when I bought the truck. They say it is resolved and one will be on the way in a month or so. I will believe that when it happens. Crazy eh?
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So a clean unbranded and even correct title showed up!!:eek: What in the heck is the world coming to?;)
I hope to move the buick 350 and transmissions to the shop today. The jet black cerakote showed up two days ago. A new color to try on the frame and I like it because you don't need primer or a catalyst. And it is strong as heck.
High hopes for some progress.
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Congrats! One down, a million to go!
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Well shucks.. An hour here, an hour there is not cutting it. I can say this summer has not gone to plan. I am on a generator and have been for 4 days. We had a what I would call a mild wind storm. Only 50 MPH winds. It downed a tree on a line up the road 500 feet and started a darn fire. With a tinder super dry forest we almost had a very bad situation. Myself and a neighbor got it put out fortunately. So I will post a picture or two of truck progress when power comes back on. It is to much work and I still need a nap. I ended up finding some really old wheels and tires to put on the truck chassis so I could do all the needed work and not worry about messing up my new stuff. Bought cheap it worked out great. So I carefully cut the 230 I-6 frame horns off the frame. I had two sets of Buick motor frame horns and got the best pair bolted on. I lowered the motor with new motor mounts in place to find that the motor won't seat down all the way to allow me to put the bolts in. So somehow the frame rails have gotten narrower and I have not been able to investigate yet. I have two J trucks here to compare frame width's, but I had to go do other things. I hope to solve that mystery and get the frame pressure washed very soon while it is still almost warm out. We are dipping below freezing at night with close to 85-90 during the day. All the gear boxes and crossmembers I got from Glenn are standing by. I hope to also fit everything and then remove it all for paint. Snow is going to fly soon. Our garden shut off and died almost a month early. Pictures of the truck stuff coming soon.