Quote:
Originally Posted by dsraven
i'm sure you are on this already but when doing the hinge pillars it is always a good idea to have some fresh hinges and hang the door first, then x brace the opening once the door fits to your liking. then take the door off and cut stuff out as required. test fit the door periodically to ensure stuff still fits. also, check the front cab mounts that weld to the underside of the floor since you're there anyway. lots of parts go into making the hinge pillar solid so the door fits consistently time after time.
nice find and hey, they all need a good cleanout when we get them, at least ALL mine do. wife would like me to find something, just once, that we could just drive right away. whats the fun in that, i would have to strip it just to make sure it's good, haha.
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Thank goodness I have at least one truck that needs only many thousand$$ in paint and body but I don't have to touch a welder. Unfortunately, it also allows me know what a door should feel and sound like, and I'm nowhere even remotely close to that feel/sound with today's project.
I finished it up mostly today, and before I saw your comment. Fortunately I know all about bracing and the importance of fitting the door. I proceeded to toss all of that knowledge out of the window and slapped it in without doing either.... I mean the door was a disaster before so it can only get better from here, right? Also it didn't make much sense to brace a cab that was already damaged and probably not correct anyways.
I separated the patch into two pieces, and welded the jamb piece in first that holds the captive nuts first. Since it has the formed indents where the ID plates go, I was able to position it based on the measurements of indents. Once i had that in, I could fit the other piece. It was very apparent during this step that I would not get it perfect as the cab was deformed slightly, but some solid steel is better than what I started with. I accidentally sanded one section a bit thin so I overlapped a small piece of sheet metal scrap to strengthen it a bit.
The front mount and step are definitely off...pushed down. This is a driveway job, so there will be no cab mount repair, I'll just be thankful if I can get the door to correctly latch and not swing open while driving.
It's supposed to rain tomorrow so I sprayed some primer on there for now, I may go back and clean up some welds, tack in some spots. You can see how straight the door edge is, which is due to damage on the door. Everything on this truck is dented, damaged, or rusted except the bedsides and the hood!
I cleaned up and rebuilt the carb, one more item off of the bring-back-the-dead check list. I use this old metal hardware holder to separate and organize the little carb parts, and it really helps quite a bit.