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73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Body, Glass & Paint => Topic started by: nlauffer on July 30, 2013, 09:17:44 am
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I would like some opinions on what I should do about the rust repairs. I have never replaced rockers or cab corners, but do have some welding skills (not much). I bought a driver's side rocker, both cab corners, and lower rear bedside patch. I'm thinking about getting footwell patches, fender lip panel, and something for the floor pan edge.
In the photos, I was curious about the drivers side rocker panel, should I replace the whole thing or just the areas of rust. Which is easier?
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Two more
Front Passenger side fender and Rear driver's side lower bedside.
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This is a cab floor outer section. Where does it actually go or replace. Is it what I need for my floor sections near the footwell.
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That is the Lt. inner rocker panel. It goes just like it's sitting...closing off the floor straight down to the bottom of the pinchweld of the rocker. That one does not go all the way to the front, it stops @ the front cab mount. Lorne
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Well I have removed drivers door and fender. I have new hinges to install. Should I do that before replacing rocker so I can get it lined up?
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weld a piece of metal from front to back of the door jam, this will hold it in place while you cut and should keep everything lined up like it was
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What about cab corner? Should I replace it before, after, or at same time as rocker? And I was thinking about rocker alignment when I mentioned hinge replacement. What I meant was get the hinges aligned so the door hangs correct so I can make sure the door will shut and is even on top of rocker before welding it in.
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well the doors are adjustable so as long as they are close now and you keep everything square you should be good. and do it all at once
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I have new hinges to install. Should I do that before replacing rocker so I can get it lined up?
Yes, you want to have good hinges (good used, new pins & bushings or new) so there is no movement. Next, you want to install the door your going to use...align to get proper fitment around all of the areas not being replaced (& preferably whats left of the rocker, cab corner, ect. fits as well).
As Irish mentioned, I like to weld a piece of angle iron on the inside of the door opening on the cab...just below where the door trim panel would be. This allows you to open & close the door while fitting & welding while being sure you will end up where you want. This is not needed if the floorpan & understructure of the cab is still ok...it will maintain the proper location while the rocker is cut off.
Words of caution: If the floor is bad, most cabs will need the cowl/windshield area jacked forward to get the door to align properly.
What about cab corner? Should I replace it before, after, or at same time as rocker?
It needs to be replaced after the rocker so you can completely weld the rocker to the inner cab structure & inner cab corner. Do not worry if the back vertical of the rocker is long to the original grooves & place where the original was (virtually every one I've done is this way), but some where short & needed "manipulated" back to allow for a proper gap for the cab corner. The cab corner in the area where you'll be fixing has no effect on strength of the cab...it's just a piece of metal covering the opening. Hope this helps, Lorne
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I've decided to not remove the entire rocker. I am taking out most of it but leaving the back part where it starts to curve up. The front I'm gonna cut about a 45 degree angle through the curve. I'm just worried about messing it up so I'm going a little at a time. The good thing is that most of the rocker and corners are solid so I have plenty of metal around the edges where everything attached before.
I have a Dewalt battery powered cut off saw. Is this ok to use or should I be using my die grinder and little skinny wheels?
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I drilled out the spot welds and some of them are coming loose. I had a city council meeting and then got paged out on a chest pain call. Needless to say, truck didn't get anymore attention. What is the best method for removing the metal after drilling spotwelds. I am just using pliers and prybar. It works but is slow. Am I missing something. I have read and watched about every post on here and youtube about this, but none document the actual removal process. my guess is that it is such a pain in the --- that pictures are the last thing on anyones mind.
I am bad about taking during pictures. I never think about it until after. I'll try to remember and get some up tonight.
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I use an old, large flathead screwdriver as a chisel. Pound it between the two panels near the spot weld with a hammer and the spot weld should pop apart.
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I am getting better at the spotwelds and just ordered more patch panels. Unfortunately, not from this sight, as I didn't think I wanted to wait. Should have. Bad times have come here at work. Looks like I'm the new Director, but under bad terms. Don't think I'll be getting much done for awhile. I'm still gonna try to do just a piece at a time here and there. Again, I suck at remembering to take pictures and the last ones I took you couldn't see because of garage lighting.
Anyone want to do some sheetmetal repair.
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Here are some of those pics. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/09/hyduga5y.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/09/ydu9a6u8.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/09/e6y8a6az.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/09/7uvaqyha.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/09/jemequ8y.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/09/te9ada6y.jpg)
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(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/09/10/y7ybejem.jpg)
I got one of the last pieces in today. I just need to finish getting the old stuff off.
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I've got o do the samething on my '76. I have a bit more to do on the floor pans as well. I be following your thread for good ideas! Thanks for posting.
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Following this one might take you awhile. I am bad at getting in progress pictures and am working on a motor at the same time. Money going different directions and 3 kids make this a slow build. But, I will try to take more pics knowing you are watching.
I know there are not a lot of perfect how to's out there, as I have looked, but one on here is a great start. It is where I got most of my understanding of this from, but none of totally made sense until I actually started cutting.
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Make sure you look through this one about a hundred times.
http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php/topic,5661.0.html
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I ordered inner and outer rocker, but then ordered an outer cab floor. I like the outer cab floor better than inner rocker. It is a better help for me than the inner rocker. I will try to get side by side pics. Also, I wish I would have cut more of my outer rocker off so I could get to the inner rocker better. I still have the pieces I cut from all my patch panels, but I don't know if I want to try to patch to pieces in to the same one or just order another outer rocker and start again.
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I fully understand the time and money issues. I have two older kids at home and hold down a 45 plus hour week job. I am ready to replace my rockers and floor pans, but I have never welded before. I got a Lincoln and some shielding gas but have not had the time to practice on scrape sheet metal. Thanks agian for posting our work. I agree there is not a lot ino on the web that explains what you are looking at when you see the parts. I downloaded the body manuals studied the parts and still am not sure about the inner, outer, OEM and universal rocker panels.
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No more pics just yet, but I did get the drivers side footwell panel removed and more sheetmetal cut out. Still cutting and fitting. I did acquire a passenger side fender for free this evening. So I no longer have to fix mine.
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(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/05/ereze6e4.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/05/y7apetum.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/05/za6uvata.jpg)
Here are some more pics if the progress. No real progress just more cutting and removing. I am close to getting the footwell patch and floor support welded in.
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I did my cab corners before and it bugs me because they ended up slightly skewed. but you wouldn't know unless you looked at the bodylines of the box and cab corner; so I was going to say try and align the cab corner along the rocker and up to the box bodyline before removing the box....i'm too late. lol
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(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/05/ama2a7um.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/05/ynapu4em.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/05/9ebavu4a.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/05/8areqe5u.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/05/5u3a5e8y.jpg)
My wife always tells me I get too many projects going at one time. I don't want to make a liar out of her, so I've added another project to my pickup build.
It took me awhile but I rounded up the gauges that I want to use. They are Autometer # 1499 5" in dash tach and # 1489 5" in dash 120 mph speedo with Hall effect switch adapter. I don't remember which line they are from. I am using Equus fuel, volts, temp, and oil pressure. I still need to cut out the bezel to fit the gauges and remove the clear shield and gauges from the back green piece. After that I am going to fix a few cracks with epoxy before I reliant it. I want to use the aluminum bezel but I don't think it will fit with my Auto meter gauges. They seem to want to sit on the surface. So I'm not sure exactly what I'll do about that yet. Last I am going to wire up a nice connector to attach to the stock wiring harness. I might use a weatherpac type connector to do this. I don't know how many connections I'll need yet, but I think it might be somewhere around 8 connection connector.
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Nice looking guages. I thought about going that route but did want to give up the $s. How do they set in the dash. What Im trying to ask is does the angle of the surface mounted guages make them harder to see? When I was thinking about adding a tach and moving the fuel guage, but I was worried that the placement angle might make them hard to read. Keep us updated.
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its does mess with the angle that you can see the gauges. when looking at it head on theres no problem but if you are only 3' tall this would be the only time you can look at the head on. you can still get a ideal of where your needles are at but the gauges will be staring down at your lap
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Here are a few more photos. These are the frame paint. (http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/11/uburudet.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/11/u5e2adun.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/11/abegaby4.jpg)
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Couple more. More painting.
(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/tavate3e.jpg)(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/18/teny4ery.jpg)
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Looking Good! Give us some details on the frame painting. What prep did you do? What paint? How did you apply it? I really like the motor mount treatment.
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I scraped and wire brushed the big stuff. Then I sprayed it with Napa brand engine degreaser. That worked great. Then used a pressure washer and let it dry. I sprayed duplicolor undercoating on everything. It gave it kind of a rubbery coating and looked dark brown. So I used black spray paint and coated it.
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Another thing I wanted to mention and I can't figure out how to start a new post from tapatalk.
I had a high school student do my sandblasting of small parts for me. This worked great. I gave him $20 to do them. I don't know if I should have given it to the school or not, but I figured he did the work. And it's way cheaper than buying the stuff.
Something to think about with some of us is don't forget about local high school shop class or community colleges. I know as a high school student I would have loved to have someone ask me to do some of this work during shop class.
I think I might ask the shop teacher if he has a student that would want to build a speaker box for behind the seat. I'll buy materials. Just a thought.
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