1956 Ford F100 Panel Truck Build (dial up warning)

General Discussion. Make yourself at home...read, ask and answer!

User avatar

Top Contributor
Posts: 2206
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:25 pm
Location: Culver City, CA
PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 2:37 pm
So, you're all sick to death of me and my projects, right? TOUGH.

Image


Here comes the one that I've been waiting to do for a looooong time. I've owned this truck since 1995. Here's a pic of how it looked (roughly) back then (photo is actually circa '99):

Image


And this is how it looks now, after I dragged it home almost a year ago after it sat for two years at a friend's place about 60 miles North of me, in the high desert of Southern California:

Image


I started tearing into it, and unfortunately got busy with other folk's projects. That's it, this is the year to get it started and get it done.

Anyway, here are a couple of shots of what will probably be the most challenging body repairs on the truck. This is the roof line at the gutter. There is no patch panel available (the gutter itself is fine), I don't want to shave the gutters, and I'd rather not do a lot of cutting in this area, anyway:

Image


Image


Luckily, I can get a little access to the back side:

Image


Image


I know that there are a few sheetmetal surgeons here. How would y'all go about repairing this? I'm completely open to suggestions...



Settled In
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:17 am
Location: Warsaw Poland
PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 3:02 pm
Just my suggestion:

get a flat piece of sheetmetal. bend it to 90 deg.to get and "L" shape
stretch the edge if needed. to make a flair i would use a hammer and dolly or use a rectangural piece of wood and shape the flair or is it called a drip rail or agutter( don't know the right name of that part) :shock:
Cut the old piece out and butt weld in the new one

that's the way i'd do this

hope it helped

Mack

User avatar

Top Contributor
Posts: 2206
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:25 pm
Location: Culver City, CA
PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 3:58 pm
Thanks for your response, Maciek!! The problem with doing it that way is that the sheetmetal on the roof line there isn't a single stamped piece. It's actually three pieces, layered (or "sandwiched") together: the roof, the drip rail, and the inner cab lip. If I cut it, I'd be opening a whole can of worms that I don't know that I'm prepared for...



Settled In
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:17 am
Location: Warsaw Poland
PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 4:42 pm
Hmmm... they probably they're spot welded. What if you cut the spot welds with the drill bit or a spotweld cutter and remove the rotten section of the drip rail from the roof.
make a new patch, plug weld it on the old spot welds and then butt weld to the roof.

The low quality method is to back the holes with a flat piece of sheet and then tack weld it, and throw some bondo in front. rust will show very quickly if poor protected

Mack

User avatar

Top Contributor
Posts: 2206
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:25 pm
Location: Culver City, CA
PostPosted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:05 pm
It's not the drip rail, though. It's the area just behind the drip rail. Here's another picture from the side and a little above:

Image


This angle has a little more depth to it:

Image


I *could* cut all the spot welds, and probably shape a replacement, but was hoping that I wouldn't have to. Because, you know, what a pain... :D

There's NO WAY that I'll tack weld sheet behind it and throw filler over top of those holes. You're right, the rust will just come back.

Hmm. Looks like I'll be ordering some more spot weld cutters.



Settled In
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:17 am
Location: Warsaw Poland
PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:00 am
thanks for the better pics Jack.

Yup cut the spot welds and "L" shaped patch will do the trick, if the panel is curved just stretch the metal a lil' bit on the lower edge. I think you'll have a problem with cutting out the lower section(where the spot welds are) cause it seems to have a rough acces to cut it out

Post some pics when You're done :wink:
Good luck

BTW: that's a neat truck

Mack
Last edited by Maciek on Thu May 10, 2007 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.



Settled In
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:17 am
Location: Warsaw Poland
PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 2:07 am
Creepy Jack wrote:There's NO WAY that I'll tack weld sheet behind it and throw filler over top of those holes.

Yeah that's the spirit!!! :roll:
I know that kinda work suks cause it takes time. but it's worth the effort:D

don't forget to rust protect it very good. You guys have in states somethin like " weld thru primer".
Maybe you should throw it on the drip rail- roof connection and then plug weld. Ya know just for better protection

User avatar

Top Contributor
Posts: 2206
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:25 pm
Location: Culver City, CA
PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 7:23 am
Thanks, Mack, for the compliment!! And yeah, it'll take time; but if it's right, then it's worth it.

I think I'll wind up doing this repair dead last, so I can think about it. Luckily, the weather is warming up quite a bit, and will probably stay that way, so I won't have to worry about additional rust.

One of the front inner doors has some rot, there are various spots of rot that need to be repaired (the biggest are about 3"x3" section in one of the rear inner doors, and in the cowls), the wheel houses in back need to be de-tubbed (the truck was Pro-Streeted when I bought it), and there are a few dings here and there that need to be straightened out. The fenders will need some work, the rear pan needs to be ground and straightened, and of course, everything needs to be sanded down.

The firewall has been smoothed, but not how I would have done it. The stock holes were filled by tacking sheetmetal to the back of the firewall (inside the passenger compartment), and then covering the holes on the front side with Bondo. I'm going to undo those and weld the holes shut to re-smooth the firewall.

Since I have all that "easier" work to do on the truck, I'll do all of that first and get it out of the way. Usually as I'm working some other part of a project, the more difficult parts of a project will work themselves out in my head.

I'll post pix as I move along...



Settled In
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2005 8:17 am
Location: Warsaw Poland
PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 8:09 am
Sounds like a lot of work in front of ya Jack. If anything will cause ya a problem go to this board www.metalmeet.com the crew will surely help ya out.
Same here
I have a '67 Dodge... man that's a junker. not that bad with rust but dents, ding ,creases and poor gas welding performed in 70's i think,are all over it.
Did i say poor? Man those welds are F*&^#@ UP big time.
Some autobody dude hammered the 1/4's so bad that they had a 1/2" layer of bondo and lead :D nice Huh?
Mack

User avatar

Top Contributor
Posts: 2206
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:25 pm
Location: Culver City, CA
PostPosted: Thu May 10, 2007 8:27 am
Oh yeah, I'm all about the Metal Meet!! Metalshapers, too. :D Sheer brilliance on those two sites. They've both taught me a lot.

I know what you mean about the bad repairs. Several years ago (the last time I got any real work done on this truck), I was sanding the cowls down, and my little 2" pistol sander actually fell through a hole in the passenger side cowl. It was covered in filler. Really well done (to the naked eye) filler, but it was a hole that was repaired with frickin' Bondo. Driver side, too, only the hole isn't as big.

Here's a shot of it partially sanded, before I cut it out:

Image


And after:

Image


This is probably where I'll start...

Yessir, this truck will now be known as Jack's Effed 100. :lol:
Next

Return to Body and Paint

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: amsetikas, Drew, ratherberacin and 161 guests