LFD's project white lightning -- 1968 fleetside "basically stock"

[Rokcrln]

LFD's

Project white lightning

1968 fleetside "basically stock"

A fellow board member 1971short4x4 got a hold of me a few months ago with an interesting project and wanted to know if I would help him out. It is a 68 SWB BB truck that he has had almost 20 years and is in very good shape but has some standard rust issues in the cab starting at the drip rail and working down to who knows were. What made this interesting is he lives past down by San Diego and I am several hundred miles up North so logistics would play a big part in the build. Also 1971Short4x4 still is driving his truck to local shows and gatherings so he did not want the truck to be down for 8 months or more while work was being done. So what we ended deciding on was to use a 69 cab that I had been keeping because of how clean it was and get it all ready for body and paint so when the time came he could just swap this cab out for his old one and be back on the road in a matter of weeks not months.

I wish I could say the cab I had was "Rust Free" but I have done enough rust repair on rust free vehicles to know better than that. What I did know was this cab was one of the cleaner ones I have seen and that is why I was keeping it for a future project. One thing 1971short4x4 wanted was as little filler to be needed as possible, this meant if a small dent could easily be filled or spend a few hours working it out to almost perfect he opted for spending the time and money to get it almost perfect.

So this build started off back in September when he drove up from the LA area with a clean passenger door he had been saving for about 15yrs and with NOS rockers that he wanted used on the build. The rockers on this cab looked perfect but we know how that can be a bit deceiving. So anyways he got here around 10am with a car load of parts and we started in the tear down of the complete cab. After about 4 hours time, a good lunch next door and we had the cab that was down to an empty shell. Then out came the cut off wheel to open up the rockers since we were going to replace them regardless of how good they looked. Yep their was rust just like we thought, but as we all know, I know a guy who knows a guy who can fix this kind or problem.

But first step was to take it all to the blasters to see just what we had. When it all came back the only surprises was a little bit more damage in the cab corners from the top of the bed hitting the cab and being filled during a previous paint job. Their also had been trim that was removed and filled before that paint job as well. So the first thing I did once it al came back was to soak everything down with Gibb's brand oil and let it sit for about a week so it really would soak in to the metal. Gibb's is not like other oils, it can be painted right over if you want or in our case it is their to keep flash rust from starting or finger prints from leaving marks in the fresh bare metal. Then once all the work is done and 1971short4x4 comes back up to look everything over and approve it, I will wipe the metal down with a prep wash then epoxy coat everything. Of course as needed I will cover or treat any areas that will be covered ( like rockers, A-pillars and wire rail) by any work that we are doing before the finished product can be sealed up.


Ok so now that you have some back ground on what we are doing lets see some PIC's!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

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[my67chevytruck]

subscribed

[72BlckButy]

[lolife99]

Signing up again,... for another sweet build thread.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

sWEET ANOTHER BUILD...

[Rokcrln]

So the first order of business was to get the doors taken care of and ready to hang on the cab so I could do the A-pillars, kicks and the rockers. On the drivers door it just had trim holes and mirror holes to fill and work. I started off my drilling out each hole to the next size up so I had a good clean and round hole. Then I punched out coupons using a roper whitney punch that was close to the right size hole but just under sized. I then took these pieces and with a hammer and dolly I tapped on them to enlarge them just enough to be snug in the new hole and tacked them in with the tig. Then once they were welded and smoothed I hammer and dollied them to as close to a perfect finish as I could do with out removing the door skin to get full access. I checked the worse ones and they are within .020" of flush with the surrounding areas.

Then after filling the old mirror holes on the passenger side door I started on the rust in the lower corners. Now keep in mind this door looked perfect with no signs of rust before blasting. So again just what is this "Rust Free" I keep hearing about? After opening up the back side of the door I cleaned everything out and prepped the area with a rust converter before coating it with a weld through primmer. Then I made patch panels since the pieces I cut out were beyond re-use. The small pin holes in the door skin I drilled out and plugged the same as the trim and mirror holes listed above. Then after welding in the patches and grinding them down I was ready to move onto the rockers and A-pillars.

I sure wish I had doors this nice back when I was building Low Buck!

Kevin
LFD Inc

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[Rokcrln]

And the rest of the door pic's.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

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Yea they would have been nice!
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[LooseCannon]

Nice patch panels!

[Rokcrln]

Now for the fun part, the rockers and A-pillars. I was looking forward to doing these (yea I know that really shows just how sick I am) because I recently picked up a nice 220V spot welder so I can achieve a more stock finish for different projects I am working on.

First let me just advise if you are doing this and do not have a good cab Dolly or Jig that holds the cab in the stock position so it does not get out of whack then you want to make sure it is level, square and solid before cutting or welding on it.

So I start by mounting the cab to my Dolly then I remove all rusted metal for one side only (I find it helps keep the cab more sturdy and no need to brace it depending on the level of rust) and complete that before moving on to the next side. So once all the metal is removed I clean everything off the remaining metal like rust scale, body seam sealer, oil and under coating so it is ready to prep and weld to. On this one I had some rust in front of were the body mount is located so I cut this open and checked the inside for rust (non to report) then after blowing it out I sprayed 1/4 of a can of rust converting primmer inside the body mount and let it dry. Then I cut a piece of metal to fill the hole and coated the back side of it with a weld through primmer before welding it in place. Then the next step is to cut my patches to size and dry fit everything for a nice tight fit. After that I covered the area with Kleen Strip rust converter in the areas to get spot welded (I have done some testing and found this product allows the spot welder to work with out burning off as much paint as some other brands did) and start tacking the Kick panel in first. As you can see I drilled out all the mounting holes for the cab support to bolt back into place. Some guys just weld it all together but I find this way works better for me plus it makes it real easy to hold the pieces in place. Next I put some 3m seal sealer down for the kick panel to sit in before spot welding it in place. The factory did this but they used more of a foam caulking that I think over time holds water and helps the rust along. Then after it is tacked and checked I put a few spot welds in the section that wraps over the floor. I have another set of spot welder tongs coming that will allow me to spot weld the rocker covers in place up by the carpet molding for a real factory look. Then the inside of the kick panel is finished off before putting the outer A-pillar cover on. This way after the kick panels is ground down I can still hammer and dolly as needed for the smoothest finish possible. Next I coat the entire area with a good rust-inhibiting paint before covering it up. I start with out outer side were the hinge bolts to (note if you cut up as high as I did make sure to spot weld the hinge retaining plate to the cover) and work my way around adjusting the metal as I go for a good fit. Now it is ready for the rocker covers to go on as soon as my new tongs get here. So next will be a few misc holes in the body and the gas filler hole then on to the fire wall work.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

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[Hart_Rod]

In....again......

[sleepertruck72]

Subscribed !

[vegaschevy]

awesome work, awesome project!!

[mcbassin]

You have some skills! I like the spot welds! Do you know if I can use my standard 110v spotwelder and just leave it on longer to do this kind of factory looking spot welds? Keep the pics coming.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

You have some skills! I like the spot welds! Do you know if I can use my standard 110v spotwelder and just leave it on longer to do this kind of factory looking spot welds? Keep the pics coming.

It is possible but depends on the rating and duty cycle of your machine. Mine is rated for a total thickness of 3/16" combined and does 3 sheets of 19ga real easy and will do 4 sheets stacked if the psi is turned up and left for a few sec longer. It also depends on the tongs you have and what kind of reach you have. Also when I was looking for special offset tongs I found the longer your tongs the weaker the machines output will be. I found I can do up to 18" on 2 sheets of 16 ga but that is max. So I spent a good amount of time finding 8" tongs with a 6" offset on one side and 1" on the other so I can reach around the back of the rocker and get the top carpet edge (I hope).
I did not buy mine for this kind of work but it seamed like a good place to use it and with the caliber the customer is looking for I need all the help I can get I plan on producing bodies in the near future and will be using it mainly for that.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[VA72C10]

Watching you work

[SmokeShow]

sweet!!

Producing bodies? What kind?

[kev2809]

as always, the work looks good. whats the black stuff you sprayed in post #9 in the last couple of pics, and, out of curiosity, what did you use on the inside of the areas to prevent rust? thanks

[*Dylan]

Count me in!

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by kev2809

as always, the work looks good. whats the black stuff you sprayed in post #9 in the last couple of pics, and, out of curiosity, what did you use on the inside of the areas to prevent rust? thanks

The black stuff in the last few pics is a Rustoleum (SP?) product Rust Converter that I use as a top coat over Kleen Strips rust converter product. Reason for this is the Kleen Strip products product bites into the metal and turns any rust to a black phosphate (or what ever it is) but it is a very thin product with out any build. The rustoleum is a thick paint that seals off the metal and stays soft compared to regular paint. But the Rustoleum does not do as well when Spot welding so in those areas I will use the Kleen strip and then a weld through primmer that has enough metallic to still start the spot weld process. Seams like a lot but after several test panels I found this worked the best for how I do things.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[68 short step]

im in, nice work.

[RJGeister]

Subscribed.

[kev2809]

ive been using the rustoleum rust converter too but nothing else underneath it. where did you get kleen strips? so your not using any por 15 or something similar? i ask because on some of the panels i replaced already i didnt spray anything back there and now im worried something will come back. i want to cut the backsides off now and spray in there, then weld em back on.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by kev2809

ive been using the rustoleum rust converter too but nothing else underneath it. where did you get kleen strips? so your not using any por 15 or something similar? i ask because on some of the panels i replaced already i didnt spray anything back there and now im worried something will come back. i want to cut the backsides off now and spray in there, then weld em back on.

Well the factory did not use any protection on the inner panels so anything is better than nothing. I found the Kleen Strip at Napa and also now and then at Wall Mart. If your panels are in good shape and you don't leave the truck out all winter it should be fine as is but if it is out in the elements then you may want to try and pump some stuff in the cavities. No I am not a big Por 15 guy, I have read a lot on it and other brands and they all have their place but for areas like I am doing I don't like them. One problem is por 15 is best over rusted metal for a good bight but on clean metal it does not adhere very well.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Twisted78SS]

Subscribed ! like the rest, good info and right in line with what I am attempting to do.

[CheyenneShop]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Signing up again,... for another sweet build thread.

I've got my kettlecorn, Junior mints and Redvines - oh ya and a sixer