Avoid the Concrete

[Low68]

Tonight I pulled the cab off the frame again and flipped it on its back. I used some cardboard and cut a template for the general shape the bellhousing cover needed to be. I cut out a piece and then roughly bent it to fit the curve. I started in the center and tacked it working my way out. Once I got it tacked most of the way around, I cut off the excess. At the ends, I had to use a use a little persuasion to get it to fit the floor, but once that was done, I was pretty happy with the outcome. I then flipped it up and started welding the inside. Got part way done and decided to call it quits. Hopefully tomorrow I will make some good progress on finishing up the welding and grinding to smooth everything out. Here's the photos.

[Orangetonicclicc]

This is one of the most incredible awe inspiring builds, I've ever seen! I thought my jaw couldn't drop any further from the damage of your truck. But you ability and creativity has my mouth wider with every page! Great job dude!

[jhama78]

Subd for future updates..

[Low68]

Thank you very much Orangetonicclicc! I appreciate your compliment!

jhama78, here's an update for you.

Here is the bottom side of the welded and ground bellhousing cover.






I also finished the rest of the sides.





I welded most of the outside and trimmed the firewall back around the curved edges. Also, I cut off the support tubes. Apparently I forgot to get a picture of progress at the end of the day. I will get one this week when I get back over to work on it again.

[tinydb84]

Such a great build. Wanna come do my firewall?? How many hours do you think you have in it?

[Low68]

That's a tough one as I haven't really been keeping track of labor hours, but if I had to take a rough guess, I would say between 50-60 hours. That would be cutting the floor, moving the footboards forward, making the bracing under the dash and fabricating the new firewall. This engine recess is taking way longer than I anticipated. I am tired of working on the firewall. I am almost done though and it will go back on the frame and I will put the front clip on and then I will start on the core support.

[BigDaddyV]

WOW killer work bud! Keep it up! Loving the master piece!

[boostedc10]

Nice looking work Low68. I wish I had a dollar for every time I thought something would be quick on my build, I would be rich!

What I have learned over the years is double the time you think it will take, then when you do it faster you are happy lol!

[mcbassin]

Incredible fabrication work on the firewall. Looks great!

[aggie91]

WOW, looks like your fab skill are realy good. Like how you did the engine set back and the firewall to fit around it.

Looking forward to more on this one.

[Low68]

I finished up welding and smoothing the engine and trans cover the best that I could on the outside. so for now, the firewall is done. It still needs a little work here and there, but I will do that later. Next step is to put the cab back on the frame. Get everything level. and start mocking up the front sheet metal. The plan was to build an aluminum radiator support, so that will be one of the next things to tackle. I will need to get a radiator soon so that I can make it appropriately.

Only photo I have for tonight:

[KMC3420]

Cab looks awesome and I concur amazing fab skills, I am looking forward to the core support build.

[CURSED GEARS]

I enjoy watching you fab stuff up. Your going to have a serious truck!

[Low68]

Thank you everyone for all the compliments! I do appreciate it and it is motivating when I get tired of working on it. My plan was not specifically to fab half the truck, but there were ideas that I had accumulated over the 14 years of owning this truck that I have always wanted to do. The drip rails and the rear cab seam I have wanted to do for over 10 years now, but the truck was already too far along to justify it. The firewall was a new idea I got from a build thread on here. I think this has been my favorite build thread to date: CLICK HERE.

Anyways, Thanks again for following along! Back over to the shop to start putting front sheet metal together.

[rincones]

Outstanding. Nice clean work. Keep the photos coming.

[Low68]

I was going to install the doors and then put the front fenders on, but I checked the hinges and they had some play in them, so I decided I would go ahead and replace the pins and bushings before I did the front sheet metal. Also, I haven't picked up a radiator yet and am hoping to see if I can find a good deal at the upcoming Goodguys show in Scottsdale next weekend.

I didn't take many photos of the hinges, but here is what I have.

Hinge pin pressed out and hinge separated:



Blasted:


Hinges reassembled and passenger door installed and aligned.




I have to finish up the driver side still. One of the hinges on the driver side is not original and has a different size pin. I will have to drill it out larger to fit the replacement bushings and pin.

[swamp rat]

Oh well, i would have dug a good write up on the hinge pin and bushing repair. Looks like nice work tho..

[Low68]

I still have the other side that I have not completed all the way yet. Let me see what I can put together for you.

[Low68]

Per Swamp Rat's request, this post will be a photo tutorial on how I changed my hinge pins. I am just going to show you one hinge as they are all the same process. These were already off my truck when I did this and I would not attempt to try to do this with them on the truck. In the past, I have tried to hammer out hinge pins and didn't have that great of luck with that.

I used a shop press, bench vise, hammer, punch, cut off wheel, and flap disk to change these.

I purchased generic pins that came with a pin and two sets of bushings.


Here is the hinge before starting:


First step is to flip it upside down and set up the press to press on the bottom of the pin. To support the hinge, I used two 1 inch plates to support both sides of the pin. If you can not get very good support, you can also cut the head off of the pin. This will give you more area to support the hinge, but still allow you to let the pin push through. If you do this, make sure you are still pushing the pin out the top of the hinge as the portion of the pin directly under the head is a larger diameter than the rest of the pin.


Using the press, I applied pressure until the pin broke free. It was seized up in the hinge pretty good.


Next step is to take it to the bench vise and open the jaws to suppot the hinge, but allow the pin to slide through. Take the punch and hammer and tap the pin out the rest of the way. This was not too hard to do as the press has already broken the pin free.




The punch I had did not allow me to push it out all the way, so I did it as far as I could and then I clamped the pin in the vise to hold it and just twisted the hinge back and forth applying side pressure to work it out. Again, this was not that difficult.




Once the pin is out, separate the hinge.






Next up is to remove the old bushings. I used a utility knife to get it started and then used a small flat blade screw driver to work them out. You could also use the punch and hammer to tap them out.





At this point, I sand blasted my the hinge, but obviously this is not a required step to replacing pins and bushings.



The reassembly begins by pressing in the new bushings. I used the bench vise to do this. You want to be careful to not crush the bushing as they are brass. I opened the vise and carefully lined up the bushing on one side. I did one side at a time to minimize the chance of messing up the bushing as it went in. If is starts to go in crooked, stop and get it straight. Don't just smash it in there. The bushings did seem to compress when pressed in, but once started, they were very easy to tighten in with a vise. I did not clamp the vise down really tight, just tight enough to seat the bushing. Again this is brass and easy to deform. Once you have the first side done, repeat to install second bushing.







Next step is to cut down the pin to the appropriate length. This was a universal GM pin set and the pin was significantly longer that what is needed. Place the pin on top of the hinge and mark how long you want it. I left them about as long as the old ones as that will give something to press on to remove them if the need every arises again. Then proceed to cut them. I used a flap disc to bevel the edges and clean up the end.





Next up is to reassemble the pieces of the hinge. The two friction pieces are sure to have fallen out by now. I did not see a difference on mine that would indicate which way the were in there. Put the friction pieces in the hinge and then slide the stop through those.



Line up the two halves and press the pin through. You may need to tap it with a hammer to persuade it through. If it takes much more than tapping, make sure everything is lined up. Take it back to the press and support the bottom of the hinge with the plates leaving a gap for the pin to go between.



Press the pin in until it is seated firmly and you are done!



Finished pair of hinges:

[Low68]

So I have finished all the door hinges and put the doors on. I aligned them as best as I could. Then I started on installing the front fenders. There are two bolts to mount the fender at the top. The rear bolt has a nut welded on the inside of the door pillar. On both sides, the force from the accident pulled these bolts outward and deformed the pillar. I decided it would be worthwhile to cut out the nut and put in a plate behind there and tack weld it in. So I cut out the nut and drilled some spot weld holes. I cut a piece of metal and drilled and tapped the hole. I fished it up from inside and lined up the hole. I then welded it in place. I tapped the metal down so that it was flat again and welded around the hole.






Here is the driver side fender put on. I still need to do some fit adjustments. Another problem I noticed on both front fenders is that the rear brace where you put the lower mounting bolts is twisted. When you tighten them down, it wants to pull the front of the fender inward. I have not done anything to remedy this yet.

[BigDaddyV]

Awesome write up, thank you! I'll be doing that soon

[Blown06]

Making good progress, I have a similar issue with my upper front fender mounting holes. I haven't even begun to address them yet but after seeing what you did I have a pretty good idea should my plan A not work out.

[mcbassin]

Nice work on the hinge rebuild. I remember that part of my build well. You are smart aligning all the metal before you finish the body work. I wish I could make a suggestion about fender alignment. I Had a bunch of problems trying to get mine and it's all original GM sheetmetal.

[Low68]

Went to the shop and played around for a while before work today. I didn't want to do any more on the fenders yet, so I started looking at getting the steering column in. I put the dash in and lined up where the hole should be in the firewall.












I have the rest of the week off for Goodguys. I will be going over to the shop tomorrow and will either help my Dad get his truck ready for Goodguys or work on mine.

[swamp rat]

Thank you for taking the time to do the write up, somebody told me that the hinges needed to be drilled for the bushings, in otherwords from factory there was no bushings, i hope that is not the case, they look pretty easy after seeing how you did it, Thanks again, and great work!