Wednesday, May 15, 2013

crisis averted

well, it turns out the corner not fitting correctly was an alignment issue.  WHEW, dodged that bullet!

  I realized that the clamp that was holding the front edge of the back corner was holding that edge too far forward.  Pushed it back about a half an inch, and the corner fits MUCH better!

Brian had the day off, so he was building this while I was trying to tweak the cab into the right shape.


All I ended up doing was tweaking my back though, UGH.  Brian did an excellent job with the missing body panel though!  We were kinda sweating that one, but it looks great!  I think the a-pillar probably needs to come back 1/16'' by looking at the pic.  I am just happy to have that corner figured out and that panel piece made, such a relief!




Monday, May 13, 2013

snafu

Well, after much deliberation, Brian decided he really wanted to weld the rear panels together where they were orginally bolted together.  This required some brainstorming how to get those seams lined up and clamped.....
The first corner, we used our regular work-bench (grandpa's 6'x6' table with 3'' thick wood that I think is mahogany, my favorite equipment in the shop BTW!).....  and we used some lumber to shim underneath since that lip between panels wouldn't allow them to sit flat on the table.  We were able to use the lumber to clamp the two pieces together so we got a nice tight seam too.
The second corner seam, we had to move to a piece of plywood on a smaller table to allow both corners to hang over to weld.  It all worked out really well.....

Until......

We got the cab roof on, got most of the back tack welded into place.  It was fitting well, drivers corner lined up well, but when we got to the passenger rear corner, we ended up with this:






I remember this edge being particularly difficult to get the nails out of the old oak, and I might have stretched the edge a little.  Or maybe we got the back tighter than original making it that 1/4'' narrower..... I know it was tight when we took it off because it took hours to remove all those nails.

In any event, we have a dilemma and I sure hope it doesn't halt progress!


Thursday, May 9, 2013

more primer

We got more parts back from the sandblasters last Friday, so Saturday we primed.....

Our makeshift primer booth:


 Wish we were competent at dent removal, that dent in the roof drives me nuts.....
 The firewall looks great!

 Ouch, this piece is a bit of swiss cheese - might have to make a new one of these (it's an interior piece by the door)
 The glove box (goes above the windshield and will hide wiper motors)
 This second batch of epoxy primer went on shinier than the first.  Maybe getting that spray gun a little more figured out might have helped.....
I am excited to see it go together now!  We have a little to do on the back of the cab before assembly, but maybe (possibly) we could see the cab together on Saturday (crossing fingers).