A100 Refresh

I got it back from the soda blasters and the rust was about what i expected but holy crap is there a lot of dents. the last body guy was a artist with bondo not so much with a dent puller though

Dadgum....

being involved with the rebuild of my truck at the body shop I had enlisted the services of a very good couple guys and one could make a Cadillac fender from a v-w roof panel. but when it came to saving the panels on my truck he  said it was like trying to straighten and oil drum because of the metals thickness. I took a lot of extra time but it worked out and the finished result is worth it. all those holes are because they used an old style screw in dent puller. and mig welders weren't all that common 20 years ago in bodyshops to fill the holes.

this is a pic from after we repaired it. the bondo was about 4" thick in places and the original door was just a mess. replaced it

I had a problem trying to pull out the lower panel in the corner because the metal is thick, I used a stinger that welds a pin to the metal you can pull on, I popped off several pins, used a screw type puller and a hook. It moved some but not as far as I wanted and I have several holes now to fill. I think it might be easier to cut around the dent then straighten the piece, (or replace) and weld it back in.
Thicker is stronger!

Russell wrote:I had a problem trying to pull out the lower panel in the corner because the metal is thick, I used a stinger that welds a pin to the metal you can pull on, I popped off several pins, used a screw type puller and a hook. It moved some but not as far as I wanted and I have several holes now to fill. I think it might be easier to cut around the dent then straighten the piece, (or replace) and weld it back in.
Thicker is stronger!

this style of damage will need to be relieved or sliced open to repair. the longer the dent goes without repair the more the metal wants to conform to it's "new" shape. 30 year old damage will be a lot of work.

this style of damage will need to be relieved or sliced open to repair. the longer the dent goes without repair the more the metal wants to conform to it's "new" shape. 30 year old damage will be a lot of work.

Good tip jkr

got the floors fixed up this weekend i forgot how long it took to do this stuff lol.

Nice!

I'm in on this one, thanks for the posts

Nice work...

Thanks, still plugging away at panel replacement, being a novice its slow going.

Looks like someone plans on adding some extra wide tires back there!!!

i finally got back to working on the truck

on your side panels, did you buy preformed ones or make yours. i keep thinking i'll make my own up out of 18 ga,and i can make them longer [to catch  a little more rust] if you bought yours did the have the pinch weld flange on them? most that i have seen in the replacement panels make that bend under but then stop there and you use your old pinch weld?

your doing a great job on fabbing and welding this truck together.larry

i bought mine, i believe they are 18ga and no they didn't come with the pinch weld. But i thought considering the price compared to the time it takes to make them that was the way to go, i bought an extra one and joined them together over the wheel well.

Where did you buy your sheet metal panels? Haven't seen ones as large as you found.

i bought them from surplus supply, on the driver side i used 1 and half panels.