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Thread: The longest build thread ever, at least it seems like it!

  1. #141

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    That looks great. Very nice. It is cool that you can mount it up on the cross member pieces and just lift it into place. Weird how the NP200 gets so hot. They seem so similar. The 205 will run all day long and serve you well. Thanks for posting!

  2. #142
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Washington State
    Posts
    1,652

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    Whew, finally had to get an M truck fix. Happy New year Al and everyone on the Zone. Things are coming along perfectly. I can't wait to see it again in person. I will check in a little more often, so it doesn't take me so long to catch up. I think though if I wait a few months you work much quicker. If I can get through the winter and accomplish a few things here a visit this spring is in order. Trying to figure out what suspension parts I want for the Tundra. Probably order this next week. Keep up the Great work Al. Take Care everyone.

  3. #143

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    Hey stranger Good to see you here. Thanks for helping me find the truck. A very nice distraction to what I should be doing. All that stuff can wait.
    I will be back on the metal work in a week or so. I need to sew up another soft top. Come visit when you can. I know you will remember what it is like here. It is quiet. Not even an airplane above. I will help you move.
    Thanks for checking in.

  4. #144

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kaiserjeeps View Post
    Hey stranger Good to see you here. Thanks for helping me find the truck. A very nice distraction to what I should be doing. All that stuff can wait.
    I will be back on the metal work in a week or so. I need to sew up another soft top. Come visit when you can. I know you will remember what it is like here. It is quiet. Not even an airplane above. I will help you move.
    Thanks for checking in.
    I see what you did there. "Come visit when you can" and a couple short sentences later, "I will help you move".

  5. #145

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    Ha ha.. I had to throw that in there. Todd grew up over here. So he knows what I great place this area is. He has mentioned moving back here several times. I mentioned moving for several years to a different friend also. That friend and I always talked about how much we disliked where we were. (Portland OR) When I finally took the plunge and did it, I absolutely wondered why I did not do it sooner. I know Todd will feel the same way. So heck yes, I will help him move.

  6. #146

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    Well after a month away making tops and plowing snow, I managed to remove the rocker. Bummer as I have misplaced my camera. I took all the pictures on it. Granted it takes grainy pictures, but it was my dads. I am sure it will turn up. So I used a cheaper camera that puts a sort of fish eye effect in the shots. It will have to do. I removed the rocker. I left most of the top to keep the door sill plate screw slots. Then cut it all out up to the floor pan edge because 20 some odd spot welds is better than 2 plus feet of TIG welds. I will not be able to plannish the welds when done because I can't reach the back side. Plannishing stress relieves the metal and levels it. This should be interesting.

    Since I did not want to drill spot welds in the door pillars, and remove the rocker metal under those, I made my graft lines around them and will fill any small holes with the TIG and colorful language. I sanded the entire inside of the rocker and after masking off weld zones, painted a heavy coat of internal frame paint. When welded up I will shoot the paint wand in the two 1 inch holes I cut in on the back wall of the rocker. I have 1 inch rubber plugs coming. A Ford part. Don't tell anyone. Those holes will allow me to paint inside the rocker, plus have a look every couple years for corrosion.

    The rusty rocker. Totally hidden till I hit it with a wire wheel on the outside. This cab is still in what I consider superb condition. Easy peasy...



    The floor is in great shape.



    Cut lines waiting for part fitting. Everything is painted. I lost all the other pictures.





    Melnick's rockers. Very accurate. The lower crease is a little sharper on the new panel. Moving the bending brake fingers back 1/16 would make a gentler bend. But hey, this rocker is darned accurate compared to the gross garbage others are selling. I will take it!



    More soon. I just got a lot of parts orders. I have a couple weeks of parts to knock out. Maybe I can complete this rocker replacement in one day.
    Last edited by Kaiserjeeps; January 29th, 2021 at 01:02 AM.

  7. #147

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    The rocker is done. Only one burn after trying to bore a hole in my ungloved thumb with a freshly heated filler rod. Actually that is really good considering I had a very long row of overhead spot welds under the rocker lower edge. One of the things I did to keep the spitting metal to a minimum was mark the old spot welds and punch new holes so the welds would land on fresh non rusty metal. That made a huge difference.
    So the Melnick rocker skins were the best fitting aftermarket panel I have ever worked with. The most accurate and the best part, they kept the original body lines unlike the others (all of them) that change features sometimes grossly.

    Were they perfect, No... But they were darn close. Close enough to work with and not spend an hour wondering how to fix a really poor panel. There was a bit of this going on. Minor really. It is near impossible to get bends in exactly the right spot with out the factory dies it was produced on.
    The front wall is shorter.



    Best thing to do was make two cuts to bring the OEM edge down. Cut it, close it up, cut it half way again. Close it and tack it. The minor valley will go away with a very thin layer of spot putty. There will be some of that going on all over.



    It took 9 hours of fitting. The cleco fasteners make sure the panel lands in the exact same spot every time. This lets you fix gaps once. Remember you never let the weld joints touch. If the patch panel touches the parent metal, it will buckle when welding every time. With an exception of spot welded seams, nothing should touch. I had to run the body saw down one 5 inch cut line after getting half way done. Just slip the saw between the panels by prying it open, and relieve the contact. Metal moves with heat. Heat happens.



    This is one of my corner driver chisels. It has a very flat ground edge. Probably 3/32 wide. Tack weld around the area to be moved, them drive the edge or corner where you need it. Blend forward an inch or so and keep on welding. I weld with one glove most of the time. So I can drag a finger across the deburred weld gap to check level.



    And lots of this. Everything is a compromise. I favor the most visible areas first.





    Continued...
    Last edited by Kaiserjeeps; January 31st, 2021 at 12:47 PM.

  8. #148

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    Once it was fitted as best as it could be, time for marking old spot weld areas and a hole punch. And masking the weld zones to keep paint away.



    Eastwoods internal frame paint. This stuff better be as good as it claims to be.

    Sprayed and an overnight dry.



    On it goes..





    This 6 inch area kept me chasing holes for two hours. I elected to leave a semi pitted area. I should have made the weld seam in the 1/2 inch wide upper edge. The other side will get that. I can't plannish so it did not matter.
    Old habit of where to cut I guess.



    Some minor spot putty blending. The Melnick panel had no curvature on the lower section. I ended up gently bending the panel over a large pipe to put a ever so slight curl to the new part. I still had compromise end welds. It is not a Porsche.



    It will do. Still waiting for materials for other work. So today I will tackle the other side. Dragging a wire wheel down the other side revealed I need to replace it also.
    Onward.

  9. #149

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    I am currently looking for cool mirrors. I don't want small wagoneer like mirrors, or giant western style mirrors. I am considering these. Knowing I would need to make a beveled angle mount correction probably. And suggestions?

    https://www.summitracing.com/parts/p...SABEgJUJ_D_BwE

  10. #150
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Fernandina Beach, FL
    Posts
    3,689

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    Looks great! And, I love the Clecos.

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