Project Big Red

laserjock

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Alrighty today's update. After a lot of pondering, it hit me. It's the floor pans stupid!

If anyone goes to do this and buys floor pans from LMC, I hope you read this first. There are two problems. The first problem is the shape is really bad. The bend at the toe board where it slants up to the fire wall is no where near sharp enough of an angle. Once I figured that out, the fitment problems all but sorted themselves. I had to make relief cuts on the tunnel side to keep from distorting it as I bent it. I consider that one on me and chock it up to a rookie mistake. The second problem is actually a problem.

See this ridge I'm pointing to?
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Notice how far across the panel it comes? Yeah, that's a problem because the support crosses it right about at my finger. The pan can't set flat on the support with it like that. So it's either notch the support, or cut that out and flatten it. I went for the latter. It made more sense and I don't have to be as precise.

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Cut out with flat piece sitting in place.

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Welded around to the ridge.

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And with the ridge pieced in. Little one was asleep so I didn't get it ground down flat, but it looks pretty darn good for a noob job.

Here is the panel re-fit on the drivers side.

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I had this lap jointed all the way around when I discovered the problem. I got lucky. After the re-shaping, I found that if I left the top in place, the bottom was essentially a perfect butt joint. With a little massaging, I can easily seam weld it all the way around leaving it flat with no gaps to catch and hold crap. It's more welding, but it will be a nicer job and lots of good practice for the cab corners.

I got the A pillars pieced together. You can see in the background the drivers side. Here is the pass side.

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I think I'm going to put weld through primer in all the hidden areas to take care of some of the welding corrosion then I'll seam seal and epoxy prime the crap out of the rest of it.

Tomorrow will be fitting the pass floor pan for the last time and putting the last pieces in there. It's a short work day as I have some other business to deal with. Maybe I'll get a little farther. :dunno:
 

junk

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Yeah No surprise about the panels being flaky. Glad you made them work. Looking good. I like weld through primer for all the hidden areas that get welded together.

Looking forward to the next update.
 

Greg5OH

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niiice. I picked me up some weld thru primer as well, for the A B and C p[anels where they join the rockers. Thats some serious surgery you are doing too.
 

laserjock

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niiice. I picked me up some weld thru primer as well, for the A B and C p[anels where they join the rockers. Thats some serious surgery you are doing too.

I just hope the patient makes it off the table. :D

Back at it after while.
 

laserjock

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I wish I could tell you I did great things today, but all I have is okay stuff. :D

Here's the pass A pilar just before final cutting.

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Here is a pick of the straightened. Finally took a pic of it.

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Here is the drivers pilar with the weld through on it.
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That's pretty much where the pictures stop. I got the pass floor pan all fitted and started welding the APilar on that side. Then I hopped over to the other side and welded it all up. Seam welding all this stuff is killing me but I think it will be a better job. Running short on vacation time, so I think I'll tack the foot wells in, and move on with the other big sections. Dad has made a lot of progress with the wire wheel. He's about half way through. This is taking way longer than I wanted but it's coming along better than I thought quality wise anyway.
 

junk

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looking good from here. In the one picture i can see the fuses. Ought to change them while they're easy to get to.LOLLOL
 

laserjock

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I did several things with it laying this way. For example, without a doubt, the easiest I have ever pulled a steering column and pedal box standing on the back of the cab. Luckily I'm not all that tall. :D

Well, it ended up being a short day today but progress was made. I finished piecing the APilars in. A piece on each side that I didn't realize was missing. Finished welding all those repair parts in. Then we started sticking in the foot wells after cutting the holes for the cab mount bolt access. Little tip. Don't wait until final install to do that. I ended up warping the panel a little which resulted in more pounding than should have been necessary.

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Pass side. I decided I'm going to seam weld these on the outside then smear the welds with seam sealer just to make sure. I may take either some weld through or just enamel primer and squirt it in the cracks on the inside in the places the panels overlap. Not sure what I'm going to put down on the inside floor. Maybe just roll on something. Maybe shoot epoxy on it. Haven't decided yet.
 

laserjock

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Premature send...

Anyway, lots of hammer and dolly work later, the pass pan was in. I took a pic of the inside but it's too blurry to tell anything.

Here's a shot of the pass APilar repair. I turned out really good. Always better on the second one.

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Got the drivers side in as well. Here's a shot of the tough seam welded up on this side. I ended up with a pretty good gap and really thin metal leading to me having a really heavy ugly weld.

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And there you have it, no more giant holes up front. Next is on to the back. That will pretty much wrap up this concentrated work period. Real life will be in the way for a few days. Stay tuned as I finish welding in the floor pieces and patching holes here and there on the way to getting it sitting upright again.
 

laserjock

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Time to get rolling again. Had an hour or so. I filled in a couple rust holes. Here's one example.

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These are spots where the trim was screwed to the floor. It ate out around the screws leaving holes about the size of 50 cent pieces. So I cut it out. Took a piece I had hammered into a piece of angle and then didn't use, traced the hole on it. Cut to the outside of the line and you get this.

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Welded the outside and a little on the inside to catch any pin holes.

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Then ground them down decent. Not perfect but good enough for a floor pan repair.

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And there you go. Two more holes down, a bunch more to go.

So new plan is being formulated (big surprise to anyone who has followed this for a while). I'm going to try to get the floor all patched, cleaned and painted before winter sets in. Once it is, the rest of the repairs will actually happen sitting upright. I can go ahead and set it back on the frame. I can run lines, fit all the panels and do the engine and turbo work over the winter and if I catch a few decent days, I can prep the panels and get at least epoxy on them so I can do the remaining body work on the doors and such. Let's see how long this plan holds. :D
 

Danielle

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Awesome! Cannot wait til i have some space to do something similar!!
 

laserjock

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Well, little more done tonight. Not much description. Cut. Weld. Grind. Repeat.

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The good news is no more rust holes from the front seats forward. Still lots of welding to do. Starting to rethink the epoxy primer on the floor. I just don't know if I can get it clean enough even with the ospho. Maybe POR 15. I don't know. At least I can brush it on if need be. Anybody ever use the Eastwood stuff? It's supposed to be less finicky about surface prep. I don't know. I do know I'm getting tired of patching little bits of floor pan. I've been through a 2lb roll of wire already.
 

Can30Diesel

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I've been following this thread since the beginning. Big thumbs up for your commitment to getting the work done. Replacing little pieces of floor has to get old fast. Keep at it and make sure you have a good pic a few steps back so we can see the entire jigsaw puzzle completed. Looking forward to seeing this one progress to completion!
 

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