Rust repair help what first?

[1971c10La]

OK I have a 71 c10 with rust problems but don't know where to start first here's what I need if y'all could just tell me what to do first so everything is easily lined back up I need - front bottom rear fender panel / rockers in and out / passager floor pan / bottom of door both in and outside door / cab corners - don't think I'm missing anything I know theres one to start with just don't know what line up it is any help really appreciated thanks also well post pics of progress if anyone is interested

[Elliot949]

when you are talking about replacing floor pans you just took it out of the home do it yourself unless you have alot of experience... that my friend is ALOT of work and it is real easy to screw up the whole cab.... a body shop should be able to do this for around 800.00 labor... That is where I would start with this project....

[1971c10La]

Originally Posted by Elliot949

when you are talking about replacing floor pans you just took it out of the home do it yourself unless you have alot of experience... that my friend is ALOT of work and it is real easy to screw up the whole cab.... a body shop should be able to do this for around 800.00 labor... That is where I would start with this project....

I don't have 800 for labor and I think I could do it just need the order of replacing the parts my guess is 1.fender panels 2.rockers 3.floor pan then 4.cab corners 5.doors am I rights really wanna do the work myself any tips in replacing any of it well help also thanks

[hugger6933]

Floor first I suppose that with the parts your needing you have bought the cab"kit" it comes with the rockers[outer] cab corners, A pillar, B pillar and floor pieces with inner rockers attached. You will also need foot well patches to easily install those parts.After bracing the cab properly then cut the outer rocker off then the a and b pillars and the edge of the cab corner. You need to do that all to slide in the floor piece straight from the out side, then lay it over the rotten floor marking where it fits best [with seat belt hole lining up and stuff like that.]Mark the floor and cut them the same [new and old] then you will have the gaps fit to weld back up.
After the floor piece is in then you can fit the pillars and then the outer rockers. Cab corners go on last [in this situation]. After the cab is done move on to the doors and then the fender patches

[hugger6933]

here are a few pics

[dfwright]

Originally Posted by 1971c10La

OK I have a 71 c10 with rust problems but don't know where to start first here's what I need if y'all could just tell me what to do first so everything is easily lined back up I need - front bottom rear fender panel / rockers in and out / passager floor pan / bottom of door both in and outside door / cab corners - don't think I'm missing anything I know theres one to start with just don't know what line up it is any help really appreciated thanks also well post pics of progress if anyone is interested

There's a good thread called "Rocker Replacement 101" which is a good read with lots of pictures to show the process.

Rocker replacement 101

There are also some good video's on youtube if you search for "67-72 chevy truck rust repair" you'll find several you can watch to see how it's done

[snipescastle2]

Well, guess I'll start with a few picture requests first. Knowing now, what I didn't before I dove into this aspect of my build, I would have replaced the entire cab floor. Why? Because, like many other Midwest trucks, they almost always need cab corners, rockers and cab mounts.
I had already purchased all the repair patches for the mounts, not the "slip on" ones either ( you are better off with the full weld-on's) reason being, when I went to trial fit mine, the rot was beyond the area that the new metal would have been welded to. I also bought new floor pan patch panels. Since my rear cab mounts were so badly rotted out, I ended up buying the full rear cab support. So, With that said, after I drilled out a billion spot welds, (Ok ,more like 80 or so) I would have been much better off cutting out the entire cab floor, probably would have been much less grinding too!
So, depending on how bad your rockers/cab mounts/cab corners/floor pans are, I'd say weigh that cost over a complete floor replacement.
One thing I did, that another board member suggested I do before anything else, was to make a "card board template" of the door opening pinch weld perimeter (this is the area the door weather strip attaches to) the idea is to Make a "gauge" or "reference" to check the fit of the cab sheet metal as you go.if you had any misalignment, once you checked the door template inside the pinch weld perimeter, you could make your adjustments before making a bad mistake. One more important thing to do before starting a job like this, is to brace everything up, front to back, side to side, so that nothing can flex, (or minimize it anyway) or get out of shape. I used a bunch of the harbor freight spot weld cutters at first, then I bought a set of "Roto-broach" hole cutters(basically a larger set of spot weld cutters) some guys use those "Uni-bits"(step drill bit) either way works great.
You will want to use a mig welder with shielding gas (Argon/CO2 mix) and .023 wire ( much less grinding)buy several small pairs of vise grip C-clamp pliers(welding type). You should probably remove the cab and mount it on some sort of dolly or stand to do most of this type of work too.
I bought one of those portable Harbor freight Soda blasters, I'll tell you this much, once you use one of these blasters to remove the paint from the cab/body panels, the Spot welds really "stand out" meaning, you can see the "Burn marks" or discoloration from the weld, makes drilling them out much easier!
Well, hope that isn't too much info at one time!
Ben Smith

Check out my build page " Serious Black
"http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=653816

[snipescastle2]

here's a few of my "Before" pics of my rust bucket.....

[trukman1]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

Floor first I suppose that with the parts your needing you have bought the cab"kit" it comes with the rockers[outer] cab corners, A pillar, B pillar and floor pieces with inner rockers attached. You will also need foot well patches to easily install those parts.After bracing the cab properly then cut the outer rocker off then the a and b pillars and the edge of the cab corner. You need to do that all to slide in the floor piece straight from the out side, then lay it over the rotten floor marking where it fits best [with seat belt hole lining up and stuff like that.]Mark the floor and cut them the same [new and old] then you will have the gaps fit to weld back up.
After the floor piece is in then you can fit the pillars and then the outer rockers. Cab corners go on last [in this situation]. After the cab is done move on to the doors and then the fender patches

Where to buy these "cab kits" you speak of, oh wise one? May find use for soon!

[swamp rat]

Most places sell all the parts individually, some places have pretty good pictures in their catalogs so you can geet a good idea what your buying.

One place is Classic parts, the webpage really lets you see the item

http://www.classicparts.com/Patch-Panels/products/316/

Tabco is the only USA made replacement panels has a pretty good webpage to see the product, Being USA made doesn't mean all of their parts are the best, i do believe they make the best cab corners, their lower A Pillars are good, door skins are good, cab supports are ok but you really need to massage them a bit

https://tabcoparts.com/amfinder/

Try and get familiar with the parts your going to need thru looking at the pictures posted and compare with the webpage.

When i bought my parts, my list below:
Lower A Pillars, R/L. (Tabco)
Inner rockers, R/L. (Classic Parts)
Outer rockers, R/L. (Classic Parts)
Inner kick panels, R/L. (Classic Parts)
Cab corners, R/L. (Tabco
Front cab supports, R/L (Tabco are the same for R and L)
Floor pans, R/L, (Dreamers Hotrod's) Because they are local.

Depending on how bad your floors are you may also need rear cab supports. Once you understand what you need you can call some of the places that use what they sell because they want the best and quickest repair.

There is a vendor page here:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/links/browselinks.php?c=2

Nsanehotrods, Classicheartbeat, Top Banana, are just a few of places that are reputable and stock what they use.

[hugger6933]

The cab "kit" as I call it can be gotten through the fruit place[Top Banana]. They have gone up in price recently but I think everything did. Last time I looked it saved $65.00 over buying the parts in a separate batch order. Jim
Oh by the way thanks for the OH wise one comment

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

The cab "kit" as I call it can be gotten through the fruit place[Top Banana]. They have gone up in price recently but I think everything did. Last time I looked it saved $65.00 over buying the parts in a separate batch order. Jim
Oh by the way thanks for the OH wise one comment

Thats pretty cool that they do a kit and discount it, they don't have the kit itemized in the webpage, that would be nice so you can know exactly what is in it. I just put all the parts i bought in the list above and it was $211, the kit is $195, I also bought a couple lower door skins that i didn't list above. So yes i think the kit is a pretty good deal. But i have seen comparisons on cab corners and i still believe Tabco has the best cab corners.

[trukman1]

Hugger6933 and Swamp Rat,

Thanks for the information. I'm sure 1971c10La and all restorers will benefit from your knowledge (and the links.) I know it sure put things in better perspective for me. Thanks again, Oh wise ONES!