Three legged animal...

[1mouse3]

Well counting rivets and going over assembly. We start with this core brace, it was a c channel but cant rivet this centter row. So it is split and adds a row of rivets to be counted, this edge was hard to make and 80% is on. Next is the row to the right, it is a seam that was open that seemed should be closed.

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This batch on the left, was to be one row but wanted to fold on the rivet line. So that become a zig zag, there was failer. So some rivets where removed and replace, by bolts and nut with loc-tight.

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These are of the original count but the cut went through them. Those that are cut screews will be bolt and nuts. Im not pulling the door to rivet there, so save on some there.

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These are in the original and those at the front lip will be bolt and nut. I need those pull tighter than the rivets did give.

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This seemed like a good count, so went for it on this strip. The screew will go when I install the seat belt, and ignore the extra holes.

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This piece is complex and was molded into place, so wants to curl up. The tabs on the top and bottom, get rivets as well. So rivets all over the place, even a inner point that would stick to the other side. This all has me on to the second bag of 50 rivets and there is more to go. Also added support was needed for the lower piece of the post, it dose not have much metal to hold on to.

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Also dont stick the rivet in with out the tip on.

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[1mouse3]

This was brushed sunday and dont want to do it again, so it get the rust treatment before install.

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Well 100 rivets down and need more, these are the points I got the seam to form as one. The 2 screew shown are for the end patch, and why a lot over the top there

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This is the underside of the two halfs of the c-channel and shows that end patch.

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[Scotty4]

As for your water intrusion, I had three areas on mine causing the rust that you have. 1 was the seam beneath the hood cowl allowing water to sneak inside around the steering column to firewall area. 2 was a section of windshield seal that was rotten, that went away when I replaced windshield. 3 the toughest to find was a small crack in the sealant on the roof, the corner above the passenger door was letting in a ton. I dug all of it out and reused 3M black seam sealer. No more leaks.

Depending on flooring, the insulation foam could have held moisture from leaks and any wet feet too.

Edit: the crack in the roof seam would leak water by the passenger footwell vent and if the truck was not level, it would run through the metal moulding at the front of the headliner and drip just to the right on the ignition and land on the floor making me think it was still the windshield.

 

[1mouse3]

Did get some more rivets the other day...

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And today I relised, that I got the wrong rivets last time. These ones I got now send better than before and do better at crimping the metal.

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Today was about cleaning up to get the last piece in that I have ready for the post.

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The count of rivets used, now gose up and this did not need a lot extra

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There is a few rivet hidden up here as well.

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Also smeared some glue all over, so that it flow as one. So am now on to the floor pan and cab mount about. The skin will go on latter when I am shur the rust is tamed.

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I did try something the other day before the rain and the can failed, it only shot a few time then clogged. Even at that, it was struggling to shot and a lot worse than some high build paint.

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Also did not take well to some brake cleaner.

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[1mouse3]

The weather has been against me, so have not got a lot done. I have cleaned out the back and had to remove the rest of the back seat to be able to get at the rear mount bolt.

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This lets me shove the seat back fully, so that I can peal the mat up further.

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In doing so, found some bolts that found there way through the floor.

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The next step in the journey is to get this patch panel attached...

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and have cleaned the pan up some so can see how much metal I have to work with.

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Also found means to recycle the bag the rivets came in, now the screews cant run away.

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[1mouse3]

If that’s from LMC I remember thinking, this isn’t even close when it showed up.

Yea, not even close and had me making stuff work. This show the piece with the jam switch I had to cut out vs the patch I made so can use what I had on the post.

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Even with the extra patch, there was limited area for it to attach to the original post.

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Then there is the area it is supposed to attach to the the bridge piece, this join the rocker and outer skin. This ate more time reshaping it to work out and have the skin sit where it should.

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The lower edge of the outer skin had to be fixed as well, the piece was not stamped square.

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This piece leaves me short a inch of usable metal on the radiuis to easly make something work. Also this should attach to the side of the rocker and not the top, can make that work tho.

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This is how the radius is on the pan, you can barley see the spider web cracks that are the issue. Unsure at the moment how Im going to resolving this issue.

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On top of that, this channel for wires was omited and another hurdle to jump over. I have not even got to the cab mount to see how bad that is and should be there by now.

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[Rdnck84_03]

If that’s from LMC I remember thinking, this isn’t even close when it showed up.

Yea, not even close and had me making stuff work.

I had the same issue with the LMC panels I got for my 84 k10. The fitment was terrible, thankfully most of what I had to replace were in hidden places.

 

[1mouse3]

I had some time today to test fit the patch. This is how bad the fit was at first and did not get it much better.

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I marked it and cut out as much of the bad metal as could off the floor...

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and cut some off the patch that was fighting me and sank more screews in it.

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Im going to have to think on how Im going to get this to work out and form to the floor. I tried to shape it with the air hammer but there was too much movement in the metal to get it to shape up.

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[hacked89]

Once you complete this if you ever miss poor fitting parts just get the lmc carpet to ice the cake

 

[1mouse3]

Once you complete this if you ever miss poor fitting parts just get the lmc carpet to ice the cake

I would want to fix the water intrusion first before I think about carpet over the rubber mat that came with the truck, so unsure on the time when will cross that bridge.

 

[1mouse3]

Well I started by scrbbling out a plan...

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Then I cut a slit in the base metal...

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Then stuffed a c-clamp in to flatten it up some...

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Then with the further cut patch back in place

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I can further flatten the base metal with the air hammer. I dont have time to try and make the cannel in the patch, so it just going to be close up.

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Now I have all the rivet points ploted for the floor pan to this patch. Im going with the large overlap at the rear section for some rigidity.

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Now for doing something about the rust. That spray stuff I was trying, did not seem to show any reaction to the base metal and rust would come back. So I went back to a brush on stuff that is listed to have phosphoric acid. I will be finding a white fuzz that will have to be delt with next time I see it.

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[1mouse3]

Now about this fuzz...

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It just needs another aplication and a light brushing...

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Then after some minutes can wipe extra off and get to heavy brushing...

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One round is not enough, so another aplication...

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Then many rounds latter, the rain is telling me to stop. So have got it a fair ways in getting rid of the rust. Now, I remember why I was looking for something easyer to use.

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Also have been playing with the metal on the post, seeing if can save some metal that is a bit far gone.

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[1mouse3]

One more round and thats it...

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This is as good as it will get and Im not going to fight getting rid of the last many black dots. So this is it cleaned up and painted. Used some tar remover first to try and neutralize the acid, then some parts cleaner since dont have mek on hand. Im ignoring the insturctions, since dont want to deal with the chance of flash rust using water.

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Im finding the glue is mostly just wasting my time, so just some rtv to attemps at sealing it up.

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Now with it assembled, Im on to the forth bag of rivets.

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As for the post, this how its going to be sent. Would need something stronger to deal with the depth of this rust. Its killiing my back trying to brush it for hours, so this ends here.

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[1mouse3]

So now on to the mount...

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So that means the cab needs proped up...

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It dose take a few precarious placed pieces of wood...

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I only have two large stands, so the axle is precarious set on blocks to get the tire out the way..

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Now for the autopsy...

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I am counting three pieces of metal in the old stack...

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At first glance of other side, I dont see the other piece off hand. So may be sending it with out that layer.

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I see as well that two rivets missed the base metal...

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So they have been ground out and will be replaced latter.

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[1mouse3]

Did some digging and the grave yard has a differnet cab mount piece that is different. It has a added support piece, also is missing the ebrake cable hole and stamped different than oem. That piece that lcm shorted me on, is like 10 or 12 gauge and I dont have means to bend that up. Im not sure how that is going to play out and $hit creak just keeps getting deeper.


cab mount bit

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