[landarts]

So I decided to salvage what was good from the two cab tops I purchased last week. The one had a really clean and dent free skin so I thought I would attempt to remove the skin from the cab and save it for future use if needed. The repop skins are about $250 plus another $100 or so for freight. It took a while to drill out all of the spot welds and get it freed from the cab. After I removed it I knocked down any sharp edges then wrapped the edges in masking tape to avoid any sharp edges.

Then I brought the other cab top in the shop which was not as good as the first but the top skin portion I needed was not rusted up or dented so I marked out the same location as the cut out portion from the 71 K20. Cut it out with a 4.5 grinder and a metal cutting bit. Once it was cut out I did a little touch up grinding on the sides to get the fit ready for welding in. After that I flipped it over and cleaned of any debris that was there with a wire brush and gave it a good coat of Ospho to convert the surface rust with phosphoric acid.

Then I moved back up to the top of the truck to finish scrapping the tar solution off the metal and give it a full coat of Ospho and lay down some insulation that I use on the floors before installing carpet. Got the welder hooked up and did a few tacks and ran out of gas on the welder. To be continued after gas bottle is changed out.

Pict 1 - cab top number 1 skin removed and saving for future use
Pict 2 - under side of roof skin from cab top number 1
Pict 3 - Cab top number 2, cutting out replacement piece for 71K20
Pict 4 - Under side of replacement piece before Ospho treatment
Pict 5 - After treatment