Projects 41 Ford pickup finally got it home and pictures pictures

I was just about to say exactly the same, one piece at a time. (Except not stolen parts from the Cadillac plant).
Once you get back to something solid you can build from there. You're making great progress.
Mart.

 

That's the goal and I have tacked the piece in and rehung the door.
You can see the 3 small tacks which I hope will keep anything from moving while I check out the next repair.
It's hard to see, but I was able to close the gap at the cowl/door . That was the purpose of the bumper jack. Thanks for following.

 

Great work and problem solving! Keep the lessons coming.

 

I decided to finish up a couple of things ; the firewall patch and the hole where the pass. fender bracket bolts to was cracked in several places.
After some careful consideration, I chose to replace the rusted toe-board area with panels I purchased. After trimming, this is my test fit. I still have to trim the cut a little. You can see the " stiffener" grooves in the panel. The original floor stiffeners were rounded and I bought a small bead roller from Eastwood to reshape and make deeper the channels that the trans cover sits in. Maybe I'll take a crack at making the panels appearance more authentic.

 

There is a delay on the toe board patches; if I'm going to rework the beads in the panels, I'm going to have to make a set of .500 R bead roller dies.
I decided to fix the rust in the back of the cab ( I already have a piece for that) .
Here's the patch

Here is the hole. No problem. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be fair, so I can do some blasting here and on the firewall area.

 

I haven't worked on anything for more than a week, however, today I started tacking the the panel into the back of the cab.
I trimmed the hole and sprayed weld thru primer. At the top of the pic, you can see my converted bumper jack holding the upper part of the opening where I think it should be.
weld thru on the panel and the magnet I use for a handle.
Started tacking in the middle and went out. The magnets hold the sides flush pretty well. I haven't figured out any other way to hold the bottom.
Inside the tie down and magnet are holding the lower part in place.. sort of.
I'll take a fresh look in the morning. I had a good Christmas and I hope All of you did also.

 

I'm not proud of this, however, I will post the pix. I cut this out for access in fitting the toe board patch. I started thinking maybe patching pieces back together would be easier and faster than making a set of dies. The piece on the left is left over from the heater hole path in the firewall. I inserted it in the replacement piece I had. A lot of welding to do , but still possible. Maybe.

 

The toe board wasn't coming out as good as I hoped, so I went back to the cab insert. It's mostly tacked in. I have to take out some "oil cans " because the skin was pretty stretched. they are on the lower corners and I think I can get them out by shrinking the original metal.

 

I'm not done welding the back of the cab patch, but I'm getting close. I have to stop once in a while and straighten out the metal a little.
I stopped to work on the right side; I've been using my stud gun to shrink the " woobahs" as I go. Also I needed the hammer and dolly on the right side especially. The back of the cab was really stretched in from the bed hitting it over the years. I used one big patch with a weld flange around the edge to hold (hopefully) the edges of the cab metal. I don't think I've lost control of the metal yet. We'll see.
Pretty good penetration in the weld. I figure to grind the weld before I try to completely straighten the back of the cab.

 

That panel repair looks like a real bear due to it being almost flat. You are taking the slow sensible approach so you have the best chance of it coming out good. I await the outcome with interest.
Mart.

 

Thanks, Mart. As most are aware, the original metal was 19 ga. and my patch is 18 ga. . They react to the heat in different amounts and the patch may not react much while the original can move a lot. That's my theory anyway. So far I have been using my stud welder gun to shrink and it is a small spot, which makes a slow process.

 

The back piece is welded in. I've been grinding and straightening the back of the cab. Tedious. I took a break and pulled a crimp out of the cowl on the drivers side . This was due to the hinge mount mirror and broken door check strap.
the first pulls using the stud gun and slide hammer.

Finished. Below are thumbnail pics of some of the steps. I used at least 30 pins/pulls. There was no access from the inside.

 

Looking good! I didn't have much patching to do other than floor pans and a cab corner. Slow and steady wins the race!

 

Thanks, Billy. I've been checking back to your truck thread to see what you decided about the front fender mounting.

 

Joel, I forgot quite frankly. I haven't working on my truck for a couple weeks due the FluRona and I forgot about those holes. I need to add them prior to paint. I need a rubbing of where those holes are in a 40/41 cab. Something I can tape to my cowl and drill em out accurately. Is that something you can do for me and mail them to me? I'd take care of you for it

 

I'd love to ,Billy, but I'll have to get my cab lower cowl areas patched and assemble the front fenders and running boards so I can trace the bottom hole off my (luckily) good fenders.

 

Try" 58ducknut" or "40FORDPU" from your thread. They both said they have the bottom hole in their cabs. I hope you're are over the virus.

 

Small update.
I went back to the toe board/ firewall repair. The right side is tacked into place enough to match up the left side with a seam in the middle. I had to buy another right patch, due to messing up the other one. I debated making the .5 R bead-roller dies to make the repair look more like original ,but to hell with that; too much time required. It's just an old farm truck. The juice just ain't worth the squeeze.

 

Funny!

 

Here is a picture of the left side toe board.
Once again, it's just tacked . The next thing is to check the fit of the trans cover AND match up the relief that the trans cover sits in. After these pieces are welded in completely , I feel that the cab will be strong enough to remove the bars across the door openings. That will make it a lot easier to work inside and finish the repairs....Fingers crossed

 

I have the pieces mostly welded in but a lot of weld dressing to do.
I cut the left side because I tried to just partially cut and rotate that corner. I couldn't make it work. The 2 panels overlapped in the center and that gave me some extra to cut and trim and fill the gap.
grind and fit
The structural rust is pretty much gone. Hooray.

 

Hooray! indeed. I couldn't believe how much rust that old truck was harbouring. You've done a great job in getting rid of all the rusted areas. This will be an excellent truck when you've finished with it.
Mart.

 

Nice work Joel! Congratulations!

 

Thanks, Mart. There is still a long way to go; the doors are more of a problem than they appear. I'm looking for another pair where both hinges are solidly attached. I swapped some machining for the use of a rotisserie when the weather gets better.

Thanks, Sam. I plan on using a rotisserie to install the cowl and cab corner pieces; so, I think I'll get the Flathead to the machine shop. I want to get it assembled and installed in the chassis. If nothing else, it'll free up some garage space.

 

The truck had a big hot air leak where the steering column passed through the firewall. Since I had to remove a section of good metal to fit toe board pieces, I worked out a modification to allow a seal to be installed . Here are some pix of the changes.
The hole with threaded inserts to locate the pedal stop cover. There was additional trimming required from here.
The modified cover in position. I had to move the cut for the column up about 3/16 " and I cut the cover depression around the column and flipped it over to allow for a foam type seal to be trapped between the cover and toe board.
I have 3 ,at least, more threaded inserts to install. After I finish dressing the welds, I'm going to use 1/4-20 inserts to fasten the trans cover.

 

Well done! I wish I had your energy on mine. I’d be driving.

 

^^^^Good One and accurate in my garage as well!

Keep at her Joel. After seeing all the repairs you have made, work and time it has taken I swear to not complain about sanding primer on mine ever again as I have it easy in comparison.

 

This was supposed to be a" fix while you drive" thing. I sure missed the goal posts on this one.

I remember the block sanding on my avatar and it sucked. I think I'd rather cut weld and grind. I think you're getting close to color; hang in there. I'm retired and I have 3 choices on any given day; watch TV, play with my grandsons,or go out to the garage. Two out of three ain't bad.

 

Here is a small update. I took a break on the truck to do a quick repair on my coupe front brakes, but I'm waiting for parts.
From crawling around on the inside of the cab, I created a bow in the floor with a low spot right behind the trans. cover opening. It makes sense since there is no support under the floor from side to side. My first thought was to bash Henry engineering, however later I thought " the seat riser provided a stiffener for the floor" . Mine is in need of repair and can't be used right now, so, I tacked a piece of angle iron in it's place. The trans cover fits better now.

 

BTW I found an adapter for my T 170 trans on epay. I can use the stock cable and speedometer.