My Sisters 40

[nuclearlemon]

wow....beautiful work

 

[nakman]

well done, keep at it!

 

[subzali]

love it Kurt.

 

[kurtnkegger]

Thanks for the positive comments!

Trying to get pictures, and work completed to current...so....heeereee weee go!

After the rear sill was welded in it's time to cut out the rear quarters. I welded support steel to keep the quarter panels frames square while the sheet skins are gone. Took measurements of where the holes are in the panels, and took pictures for future reference.

 

[kurtnkegger]

Started taking the top off after the support was installed. I sprayed PB blaster on all fasteners last Fall after the 40 was returned from Classic Cruisers, so the penetrating oil had plenty of time to work...everything came apart without breaking any of the small bolts!

The fiberglass top had the wall to wall carpet as a "headliner" installed with screws and nuts. I'm hoping to repair...my sister might buy a replacement...

 

[kurtnkegger]

Removed the doors, rear seats, rollbar, and the two spare tires that were in the tub. Also welded in the corners to the rear sill. made sure the mount holes measured up.

 

[kurtnkegger]

Removing the rollbar revealed gaping holes where rust ate it's way through.

Here's what kind of confuses me....The rollbars were installed by CC in Salida, but there was no mention of the cancer that was there. With the reputation they have (or had) in the cruiser community...why would they simply install the rollbars over those areas without saying anything about the condition of the metal under? One side, they put a 16ga piece of sheet to cover the hole the rust made. The mounts for the long seats were cobbled together with cut angle iron, and plate, but nothing was painted or finished. SAE fasteners were used rather than metric.

Maybe it's just me, but I think the quality should have been better. My sister threw Merle a lot of coin for the shabby worksmanship here.

I'm still trying to figure a way to incorporate the long jump seats and the rollbar. I don't mind adding to the tube of the rollbar to get the seat to fit, maybe cut the arm off of the seat to get a little extra room? If anyone has done this mod, please send pics, or let me know what you've done.

 

[kurtnkegger]

I took the new quarters, and clamped them to the sides of the 40 to get the right height. Marked the top with soap stone for a nice straight line.


Anyway...I tried to get measurements for the top rear wheel well in case I had to repair the rust spots, and started cutting away at the quarters. There was a lot of my wheel diving straight through bondo. It was tricky not cutting in to the sloped areas of the top wheel well.

 

[kurtnkegger]

I talked to my sister, and she agreed to buy the new top wheel wells. Got the right measurements, and ordered from CCOT.

I bought a spot weld cutter from Harbor Freight, and cut the welds out. I got the cutter on sale for about $4, so I bought two, since some reviews said the blade didn't last. One did all the spot welds for both sides. A great tool for the money for sure. I used PB Blaster for the cooling oil to make my cuts. I don't know if that helped the tool life...

 

[kurtnkegger]

Cleaned up the cuts, and sanded off the rust with flapdisk, and primered.( I had to remove the front seats to get the clearance for the cutting wheel on my grinder to remove the top wheel well)

The mounts on the tub were rusted out at the bolts, and needed repair. I cut out the bad parts for repair, and noticed there was a lot of rust sandwiched between the two pieces of 16ga the whole way across the tub. I cut the piece all the way across for replacement. Instead of doing the two pieces of sheet, I hammered out a piece of 1/8" thick piece of flat stock to weld in instead. I welded on a 1"X1/8" flat for a ridged support on the tub bend....

Pictures...

 

[kurtnkegger]

OK, thanks for hanging in here with me....

Now you're all caught up with all the pictures I have saved. I have a couple of days still to post, but will get them posted soon.

Still a lot to do....Stay tuned!

 

[kurtnkegger]

I made a little more progress this weekend. Had a nice little trek up to Leadville for Friday, and Saturday night...so I just had a little time Sunday afternoon to work on it.

I got the pieces inside the tub welded in. Thought I would show the piece that I previously described with the stiffening piece from the back side. I welded in the piece from the top side, then went under for more welding before I grinded off the top bead. Still need to drill the holes for the body mounts.

 

[kurtnkegger]

This truck doesn't have a skidplate. Since there's the Chevy conversion, does it matter which one I use? There are two offerings on Craigs List, one for an older rig, and one for a newer. The newer style is less money, so wondering if we could go that way. She is getting a new exhaust installed, as the current has two short pipes ending in mufflers at the footwells.

Thanks for the information....in advance

 

[SteveH]

I believe that 3 speed skid plates are a bit thicker than 4 speed skid plates. Neither are exactly 'dent proof' if you start banging into rocks. Not sure if one is better than the other, as far as exhaust routing.

 

[subzali]

Ige had some good comments about skid plates here:
http://risingsun4x4club.org/forum2/showpost.php?p=285484&postcount=13

 

[Rzeppa]

Kurt, just catching up on general RS threads since CM. Three comments...one is that BTDT on my 76 (which isn't finished yet but have already done the work you've done so have a frame of reference, in fact I did some of this stuff on my 71 as well).

Two is that my experience with the CCoT quarters is that I agree, they rock, and 3rd hit me up direct or refer to the resto section my website on some of the approaches I have taken.

Third comment is that only guys like us who have actually done it have any flipping idea of what goes into this work. People reading this - you know who you are!

On my 76, my next step is to get some RS guys over to help me flip my tub over so I can do some underside welding (nice job on the upside-down stuff you did on your sister's! That's harder than heck, BTDT!) and do sealing and coating before I take the whole tub down to my local body shop for a professional paint job.

Keep up the great work!

 

[kurtnkegger]

My plan is to start on the rockers this weekend, and replace the rust spots with new metal.

I want to keep the momentum going toward completion, so thought I could work on the vent by the windshield. The vent hole was covered by (you guessed it) thin galvanized sheet, skinned over with bondo to hide the "work". I removed the plate, and chipped away at the sealer that was dried, and baked in the notched vent hole. Made some measurements to fabricate a cover plate.

I subtracted a little from the over all hole size to make room for the rubber gasket I plan on installing, and added in a little for the 1/8" edge I want for rigidity for the plate.

 

[kurtnkegger]

I used a screw to scratch the measurements on the sheet, as the soap stone pencil just doesn't give a fine enough mark, and easily rubbed off. I cut and ground down a couple of 1/8" flat stock to hammer the 16ga around to get a decent corner

 

[kurtnkegger]

I'm happy with the results. The gap seems nice to get some good amount of gasket in there, the plate still allows for the vent to be installed if they ever want to go that way. once the bondo was removed it looks much cleaner to me.

 

[nuclearlemon]

pretty sure i have a cowl vent grill if they ever want to go back