My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by nuke1

Looking good so far, I remember the days of starting out. We may have a how to weld series at the shop here soon.

That would be pretty awesome! I am slowly getting the hang of it here. It would probably be a huge help if I had gas for my welder but Im not sure I can afford it right now. We will see what happens here.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Ok so I was welding again tonight and trying to figure out why my welds seemed to be piling up on the surface rather that melting in. So I figured I would give it a little more heat and cranked that sucker up to 2 And next thing you know, BINGO now the welds are heating up and laying much flatter and geting much nicer penetration. I know, I know thats what she said. So Im sure by now you guys are getting sick of looking at my crap welds so after these couple, I wont post anymore till this thing is in!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Well I just found out tonight that I clearly didnt do enough research on flux core welding. If I had, I would have know that the polarity needs to be switched. So I have that done now but before I could grind down my mess that Ive created to try out the welder, my compressor started to sound a little off. So I glance over to see this mess. (Picture 1) So then I decided to do a little investigation which lead me to this mess. (Picture 2) Which in the end lead me to this beauty. (Picture 3)

[Kronald_70GMC]

We have some welds that Im finally pround of OriginalThor was out for the evening and we tried the thing out with the reverse polarity and what a DIFFERENCE! I cant believe how much nicer it works, Id have to say that was the vast majority of my problems this whole time. Just goes to show that doing your homework pays off, but you should probably do it before you start I know I said I wasnt going to bore you guys with any more weld pictures but I just have to show the diffrence so here it goes.

[69Tom]

Nice work. Ton of metal repair you're having to do. You may not be happy with your welds, but I'm really impressed with your cuts. They seem super precise. What are you using?

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by 69Tom

Nice work. Ton of metal repair you're having to do. You may not be happy with your welds, but I'm really impressed with your cuts. They seem super precise. What are you using?

Thanks for the compliments. As far as my welds go, Im noticing slow improvment so hopefuly by the time Im onto body panels, Ill be a master. And for my cuts, I am using a Makita 5" Angle grinder.

[Kronald_70GMC]

And we now have a floor pan! I finished up all the prep on my flange and got it fitting the way I wanted and welded her up. Still have a little grinding to do by the transmission tunnel then its on to the next piece.

[ryans69chevy]

Very cool stuff! I like the vise grips! I was going to do that but after looking at harbor freight the price was too good. The progress you are making is making me jealous! At this rate you will be done in no time!!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

Very cool stuff! I like the vise grips! I was going to do that but after looking at harbor freight the price was too good. The progress you are making is making me jealous! At this rate you will be done in no time!!

Thanks! The vise grips are awesome! I realize I could have got them for 20 bucks here in town but these cost me nothing. Now I have 20 bucks for other parts or supplies! I do hope I will be done in no time as well. Just need to get the truck home before that point.

[BIGglaSS]

Your repairs are looking good. Chasing pinholes can take forever. If you didn't hammer stretch out the weld seams, that will contribute to the floor becoming crowned. (Though, I have found that reproduction pieces aren't perfect). The long weld seams shrink along the length of the seam. That causes the metal in the center to buckle and crown, because it has no where to go. You can usually hammer out a seam, and only need minimal shrinking in the center. But hey, I understand, that is a hard seam to reach and hammer out. The more experience you get at working and welding sheet metal, you will learn how it behaves.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by BIGglaSS

Your repairs are looking good. Chasing pinholes can take forever. If you didn't hammer stretch out the weld seams, that will contribute to the floor becoming crowned. (Though, I have found that reproduction pieces aren't perfect). The long weld seams shrink along the length of the seam. That causes the metal in the center to buckle and crown, because it has no where to go. You can usually hammer out a seam, and only need minimal shrinking in the center. But hey, I understand, that is a hard seam to reach and hammer out. The more experience you get at working and welding sheet metal, you will learn how it behaves.

Very true. I have already been learning a ton about what the metal does at the seems when welding. Thanks for the read and the compliments.

[Kronald_70GMC]

More good news! We were tearing out a poorly built mezzanine at work yesterday and I scored 2 new light fixtures for the garage. So I called my dad over last night and we got them up. Almost need sunglasses now Just gotta wait for 2 more to turn up somewhere and Im laughing.

As for the truck, Ive been slowly chasing pinholes from the damn flux core Though I did find some time between letting the compressor rest to strip the e coat off of the bottom of the floor pan. Soon enough Ill be cutting out the rest of that rotten support.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Today was a good day! Got the rest of the pinholes filled! Now its on to bigger and better things, aka cutting out the rest of the rotten support. Also found some more light fixtures in our warehouse and the electrican told me if I need them they are mine. So bright I almost need sunglasses now.

[ryans69chevy]

Nice! I like the new shiny metal... make the rest of the floor look like that! Did you get any "oil canning" on that floor pan after you got it all welded in? What's the process of getting your supports in - are you going to have to reinstall the brace from back of cab to front first? Or weld in your supports first?

Btw did you get another blast of winter up there? We did last week and today was below zero with the wind. Thought we were on to the next season...

[ryans69chevy]

Welcome back! Like they say - pitter patter, let's get at 'er!

[Originalthor]

Well its about time. Let her rip tatter chip!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Well again I haven't gotten as much done on this thing as I'd like lately but I think that's about to change! Finally not working a side job anymore so I should have all kinds of time on my hands right? I've made a huge step in my build today though. The truck is finally home! She is sitting pretty on the trailer right now awaiting me to tuck her into the yard in the morning. Hopefully more to come soon!

[Kronald_70GMC]

All tucked in for her winter nap. Now it's on to cleaning up the shop. That should take about a week with how messy I've got it in there from the summer. Then it will be back to cab repair!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Haha oops forgot the picture...

[Originalthor]

Well it's about time you got it in the back yard. Now just ditch that cap and you'll be off to the races. I would have to say that out of all the gm trucks these trucks just don't do caps. They look horrible.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by Originalthor

Well it's about time you got it in the back yard. Now just ditch that cap and you'll be off to the races. I would have to say that out of all the gm trucks these trucks just don't do caps. They look horrible.

I agree it does look terrible but it makes a nice parts garage for the time being.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Well I'm pretty excited, I finally got my garage back in order and cleaned up. I put up another shelf to make room for more parts! And today I actually found the time to finish cutting out the passenger floor pan! Next up is to fix the small hole in the lower firewall and replace the kick panel. Pretty stoked to be making progress again. On to the pics.

[Kronald_70GMC]

More progress to report. Got the kick panel and small rust spot in the lower firewall all cut out. Now tomorrow I can fab up a patch for the firewall and hopefully get it welded in. Feels so good to be working on it again!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Got my piece made up for the firewall. Accidentally cut too much off of it in one spot by about a quarter inch. But before I scrapped it and started over I thought I would try to weld a little quarter by half inch piece in there. I can't believe it actually worked.

[ryans69chevy]

Kick panel looks good! What's next?