46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Desoto61]

Great job! I don't know if these repro corners would help you out or not?

http://www.powerwagonparts.com/repro.html

Interstingly enough those aren't the corners I need. Mine are in good shape. My cab has the relief along the back of the cab over the frame. So the rear skin has a "notch" in it that goes from those cab corners up to the cab floor.

The corners I have to work on are the ones between the sides and the bottom of the floor. The factory bent the metal 90-degrees and then spot welded a piece of steel bent into the shape of the corner to the inside of each end of the rear panel.

So the strip actually creates the corner bend and the rear skin is just bent over it at each end and cut to match the curve in the middle. I'm thinking I can try and do something similar with the patch.

[Desoto61]

While the panel lined up thanks to the intergrip clamps, I didn't set up the panel alignment very carefully with respect to the shape of the rear skin. After welding I ended up with a low spot at the weld site. After welding the bottom to the floor I could use a hammer and dolly to try and work at the seam from the inside to help push it back out. It's a little awkward reaching through the door opening, and I learned to be careful since it was easy to dent the rear skin if you didn't hit it square.

In any event the result wasn't too bad. Only problem areas left are where the inner support structure at the ends and in the middle prevent me from getting to the back side. Probably going to need to look into a puller for those areas.

After finish welding the bottom lip I cleaned up up a little but since it won't be visible I wasn't horribly concerned with appearance of the welds here. That left the corners.

I lucked out on the passenger side, the stock panel had a strip of metal welded to the upper and lower end of the curve and bent to the contour of the corner and the skin of the cab essentially was cut to follow in that corner. The cut line of that metal strip was essentially right against the bottom of the patch panel. So I just welded the two together and then smoothed out the bend with a sanding disk.

The driver's side was not as kind. My experience is that I can't really remove the strip without damaging the panel, so I took a small strip of metal, and bent it around a small pipe to the radius I needed to make the transition. I clamped that into the gap between the original corner and my patch panel with a pair of vice-grips. Then welded that in place and smoothed with the sanding disk.

[Desoto61]

The final result of the corner. Not quite factory, but no close enough, and it's basically invisible behind the cab anyway.

Used the time under the cab to clean up a few other weld areas and pin holes too. Having the rotisserie helps a lot, especially with all the detail work. It also allows access to fix things differently than I would probably attempt were it just sitting on some stands.

For instance I have two rust spots on either side of the hood mounting point. The depression where the hinge sits is made up of a lower stamping welded to the cowl of the truck. Water had worked in between and bubbled through.

I cut out the area and slowly enlarged it until I had gotten to clean metal, which took a good portion of the lower stamping. Since I could access the underside of the dash where this panel was fairly easily I built a patch panel of the bottom piece first and welded it in from below. Then I can weld in the top piece after applying some primer to protect the two surfaces.

My alignment wasn't as good as I would have liked. It sits a little high which means the outer skin will be harder to install correctly. When I do the other side I will have to work a little harder at that.

[Desoto61]

I hit the inside surfaces of both patches with some high zinc primer and then fit the new outer patch and welded it into place. After some love with a sanding disk in an air grinder the end result isn't too bad. There is high spot at the bottom as I expected, but it's not too bad.

The opposite side of the cowl had the same problem. A cutoff wheel opened up the area to clean metal and essentially repeat the process, just without making the same mistakes.

I used magnets vice the intergrip clamps to hold the patches which did better at maintaining the right alignment as long as you are careful about which surfaces you bridge.

A coat of primer on the inside surfaces and the outer patch can be installed.

[Desoto61]

I'm not as motiviated to do the body work as I was the mechanical stuff. Not sure if that's the weather and short days or just because it's slow and never quite as nice as I would like.

In any event, I finished the other cowl patch, which came out better though I still have a low spot along the inside lip.

Since this used to be a tow truck there had been at least one yellow emergency light on the top during it's life. The last one was a 12-volt affair that was run off a separate battery (the truck was still 6-volt). This meant there were quite a few holes in the center of the roof. There were also some pitted areas around some of the holes. I decided that it would be better to replace the whole section vice just trying to patch the holes.

After laying out the area I cut out a template from some cardboard and then used that to cut the patch panel. I used my hands and a knee to try and make the new patch sit flush against the original roof. It's not flat but not far off either. Once I was happy I cut it with the plasma cutter and then cleaned up the edges with the grinder and a flap wheel.

Many trips back and forth to the bench grinder slowly got the patch panel fitted to the opening. Then there was some final tweaking of the shape so it was flush with the surrounding metal. Then the clamps were installed and the area prepped for welding.

I'm getting better at the welds, but I did have some distortion of the roof. I attempted to get most of it out with the hammer and dolly, and for the most part I think I did OK, but I'm sure it could use a little more finesse.

[Desoto61]

One other area I managed to work on was the passenger lower trim panel. This area was rotted out, and because of the bad floors it had also cracked and the front corner area had some stress cracks forming.

The lower section seemed solid other than the very top lip area. I cut away the rotted area and opened up the cracks with a cut-off wheel. Then cut and bent a strip of metal to replace the removed section. Then I could slowly stitch everything together. Due to some thin spots it was slow going, but the end result looks good and is at least as strong as original. I also went back and did a more thorough job of welding the panel to the floor. I have a low spot at the cracked area, but should be able to work that out hopefully.

[Desoto61]

While I didn't make as much progress (on the truck) as I had hoped over the long weekend I did make some.

I decided to attack the cab light mounting areas. They were badly pitted on both sides. The passenger side still had its re-enforcing plate behind it, which worked well as a template for the new patch panel. I cut out a patch and drilled the holes based on the plate, then used that to mark out the cut lines on the cab. A cut-off wheel opened the area up so I could fit the patch.

There is a slight curve to the top front corner of the panel as it starts to curve into the cowl area. The back, bottom, and part of the front side seemed straight, so I tacked those sides in first and then used a hammer and dolly to slowly bend the top corner over till it matched the surrounding metal. Once I was happy with that I finished welding and then cleaned up the area.

[Desoto61]

The other side of the cab had the same issue, and the repair went along the same lines but I ran into a few issues, probably mostly due to my welding skill and setup, though I'm sure there are some other factors, but I tend to have issues with blowing out around the weld area at times. The driver's side was one of those areas. Once I finished welding and ground everything down I learned that I pin holes where the welds didn't get through or cover the whole area.

A light behind the panel really helps to show these as they tended to be very tiny. My solution was to take a small drill bit and open up the area. Some areas were thin and I went through, others were better and I could just use the tip of the bit to create a divot. Then I went back and filled those areas, re-grind, re-check, and repeat if necessary.

Outside of these areas there were a few other small patches, and some time spent with the hammer and dolly trying to get a better shape around some of my patches.

I'm procrastinating though as other than a few minor holes the next real repair is the seam above the windshield. That one is going to be a real test, not only is it very visible, but I also need to figure out exactly how I want to replace it since the seam also provides some strength beyond just the appearance.

[Desoto61]

One of the few modifications I wanted to make to the outside of the cab was to add a center mount stop light. I ended up finding a unit from Watson's StreetWorks that I liked. It's an LED strip with a chase feature so it sequences from the center out when applied then stays on steady.

It is designed to mount flush with the body though they do sell a billet cover if don't want to sand down and polish the lens flush with the body. The instructions that come with the unit are pretty good and their web site has a decent video outlining the steps too.

First step was to lay out the lens opening. I used a piece of tape for the layout so I could see the marks easily and if I mess it up I can just peel it off and start over. I used the window opening for position both vertically and horizontally. To get transfer the center line of the window up to the tape I used a plumb bob line. From there some careful measuring and a straight edge marks out the opening.

First was to drill the two ends of the openings. The instructions recommend drilling below size and then using a file to open to final size since drill bits don't always give a round opening. Next I used a body saw to carefully cut the slot between the two holes. It provides better control and a very fine curf. I still cut to the inside of my lines so I could slowly work the opening larger.

[Desoto61]

The instructions recommend having a .500 inch measuring block to check your opening size to prevent damaging or breaking the lens while fine tuning the cutout. I bought a piece of 1/2" square tubing, cut it to the length of the lens and rounded the ends to form my template.

I used a cutting burr on a dremel to open up and shape the ends and a 2" sanding disk in an air grinder to slowly work the top and bottom edges open little-by-little till the template fit. Then I used the lens to verify and fine tune the fit.

From the outside it should be fairly low profile while providing some extra visibility and safety.

[Desoto61]

The inside of the system involves mounting the light box which is held in place with two studs and fits over the lens. With the cab on the rotisery it's hard to work inside, so I'll save installing the studs till I move on to the interior modifications. But you can see what it will look like. I wish the wires came out one of the sides but there should be enough room to still fit them under the interior.

I also picked up Eastwood's new stud welder system. The one that uses your mig welder to attach the studs. I have a few low spots in my repairs and a few dents that I can't get behind and the normal electrical stud welding kits are usually much more expensive.

I'm fairly impressed with the welding assembly, it seems to work well, unfortunately the slide hammer assembly they include is junk. It uses a knurled wheel to grip the pins and it just doesn't hold well, nor does it last very long before the wheel gets damaged and doesn't grab at all.

[Desoto61]

The main event

So the job I've been avoiding is the seam over the windshield. After staring at it for a while I started by using some 2" masking tape to lay out my cut lines.

To prevent everything from moving around and make it easier I decided to work in sections. I cut the first one out using the tape to make the cut mostly straight and parallel.

You can see that the seam is fairly complex, and pretty rotten. There are three pieces the top and bottom skins and the center bead. The L shape the lower bead forms provides a rail to collect any leakage and gives a lot of stiffness to the joint. However I replace the metal I need to try and restore that strength.

The simplest way would be to just weld in a patch panel. But while the roof is mostly straight horizontally, there is a curve vertically across the seam that I'd loose, as well as the strength of all those bends. This is going to require some more head scratching.

[gmharris]

I think it's a good idea to clean the seam to prevent rust so that you don't end up having to replace the seam.

I ran a razor knife blade in the the seam on my truck and I was surprised to see how much dirt came out. But, I can see now there is probably a lot more in there.

I blew out the seam with compressed air. Now, I'm considering wetting the seam with rust converter.

Thanks for the cross-section photo. It helps to understand what's going on in there.

[Charles Talbert]

I think it's a good idea to clean the seam to prevent rust so that you don't end up having to replace the seam.

I ran a razor knife blade in the the seam on my truck and I was surprised to see how much dirt came out. But, I can see now there is probably a lot more in there.

I blew out the seam with compressed air. Now, I'm considering wetting the seam with rust converter.

Thanks for the cross-section photo. It helps to understand what's going on in there.

Concerning the use of rust converter; it is a great product to use where rust is significant, however it is by design for use on RUST. If you use it on bare metal or in a place where rust is only minor and not in a significant amount so that conversion can take place as intended; it will actually cause metal to rust very aggressively.

[gmharris]

Rust converter does a good job of stabilizing rust and can be very useful in addressing rust in unreachable locations, however, rust converter is a mild acid (phosphoric acid) and whatever is not neutralized by the rust will remain acidic.

However, phosphoric acid is a very water soluble acid and any excess can be easily flushed away or neutralized. I use Ospho which is very water-like, not the jell or paste type converters.

Phosphoric acid is what gives Coke it's tang and allows you to clean rust off bumpers with it.

So, the key, in this case, is not to go overboard with the amount of rust converter used and to flush out the excess when you are finished. Since the roof seam gets flooded every time you wash the truck, I don't think a little more water will be a problem. In addition, many ordinary (not car washing) soaps are alkaline which will further neutralize any acid.