Front Nose Replacement Questions

Hello,

I am new to the forums. I just purchased a 1967 Dodge A108 that has a rusted
front floor and a damaged front nose. I also have a parts A100 that has a good
nose and floor. (The rest of the body on the A100 is rusted out.) Is there
anyone on the forum that has switched out the nose and front floorpans that
could offer some pointers? A friend recommended cutting the entire front end
off of both, swapping them, and re-welding them back together, however, due to
the unibody construction I am afraid this method would not be safe. Any
recommendations on removing spot welds would be greatly appreciated. I am not
really sure where to begin and what steps to take to remove the nose. Would
the dash need to be removed to reach the spot welds on the back side of the
nose?

Thanks so much for any help,

Mike Wooden
Chattanooga, TN

Welcome to Vintage Vans Mike. I also have the same task ahead of me sometime. I know there are a couple of us that are thinking about trying the same thing. One thing that would help would be a manual, it shows alot of the panel replacement stuff, it would guide you somewhat anyway on how they are built. Dodge uses alot of seam sealer along with the spot welds. Lets see if any of the Dodge Boys have any input here? Oh and do you have any pics of your project? we love those.
Joe

Disclaimer! I have not done this!
I did discuss it at length with a metal guy because I have a worn nose and a good replacement.
He suggested cutting the windshield posts on the donor above the seam, the reciepient below. You should be able to trim so they fit together (hopefully one into the other) and add a short section of tubing to increase the strength since this is many layers that cannot be fully welded.
There is a seam at the floor where the angle and the flat meet. Since mine is not rusted on the flat, this would have been kept, yours will probably be cut further back. This will add complexity, since the rails angle down going forward behind this floor seam, making it easy to separate there.
The bottom door pockets will have to be cut so you can replace rusty sections. Look carefully at this, and again trim the donor further back so you can trim for fit.

Make sure that both are marked in the exact same places for the cut, top and bottom. It might help to make some braces that align on both bodies in the same place so that when fitting, they will show when the nose is positioned right and can hold the parts together. Cut the donor further back, and the van on the line or forward. It will be a bit more work, but allow trimming to fit.

Measure at many points to make sure the new nose is in the right place when fitting. Bottom door opening, across the bottom of the side curve at the door opening, and the top or the curve. Also diagonal from one side to the other, an example would be the door latch to the opposite headlight bucket. The windshield area also needs a few, to make sure it's returned to the original shape. A short section of angle iron can be clamped across the flange here to hold it in place.

Welcome to the site!!!!

If you go to dodgevanman.com he has the crash sheets under TECH data and you can blow them up to see the different parts. Use a drill bit on the donor vehiicle spot welds and save the spot weld cutter for the one you are going to keep. It will make welding all the holes easier and make the spot weld cutter last longer. If there are 2 spot welds over lapping use a drill bit or it will dull the cutter very quickly.

Dash removal (caution: it's going to be rather disturbing)

http://www.vannin.com/threads/ubbthreads.php/topics/338879/53.html