46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Desoto61]

I've never been sure about that stuff. The only thing that seems to turn black as described on the instructions is the clean metal. The rust always stays looking rust colored. They did spray the cab with Ospho after it was dipped to prevent flash rusting, and for the most part that has worked well. I have some of the Eastwood rust converter, I've been thinking of spraying it into the pillars and other hard to reach areas to protect the metal.

[Desoto61]

The plan

I spent some time scratching my head and staring at the cab I came up with a plan.

After blasting the patch I tacked it in a few spots just to hold it in place. I then used a straight edge and the original seam and laid out a slot along the seam line. Once I cut the slot out I could tweak the top and bottom pieces to align them with the adjacent metal before welding them in.

I worked in three chunks, saving the curved area for last. The removed piece was helpful for getting the bend close. Then I tack welded it into place working from the inside to the outside of the roof tweaking the metal into shape, then tack welding it and moving to the next area. The edge by the drip rail still needs some work since access is limited.

The final step was to fill the slot I cut. For that I decided to use some 5/16" round stock. I bent the end little by little to follow the curve and fit into the slot. Once I have it fit I'll weld it in place. It won't be a perfect match but it will add strength, maintain the character line, and handle the transition between the two panels.

[Charles Talbert]

I've never been sure about that stuff. The only thing that seems to turn black as described on the instructions is the clean metal. The rust always stays looking rust colored. They did spray the cab with Ospho after it was dipped to prevent flash rusting, and for the most part that has worked well. I have some of the Eastwood rust converter, I've been thinking of spraying it into the pillars and other hard to reach areas to protect the metal.

Eastwood rust converter got us in a pile of trouble on a project a few years back. Huge out of pocket expense to get that one straightened out. I did some reading on their Q-A forum at that time, and quickly saw that multitudes of folks had similar issues. The Eastwood techs offered no sensible answers at all, basically said you are on your own. Obviously they knew their product didn't work as advertised.

Long story short; I wouldn't touch that stuff with a 10' pole. I simply doesn't work as desrcibed in their instructions, and they couldn't care less when problems arise. They are after your $$, not your loyalty.

[gmharris]

I'm at about the same stage of a project as you are. If I had the cab off, I would have the cab primered at the powder coater.

As it is, I don't like leaving metal bare for any length of time. If I could, I would spray the cab with something like House of Kolors KD3000 which is a high-build epoxy primer/sealer. But, thanks to the air quality regulations, we can't get it here in California. So, I'm using an AQMD compliant primer which doesn't have the same anti-corrosion properties as the KD3000.

[Desoto61]

Eastwood rust converter got us in a pile of trouble on a project a few years back. Huge out of pocket expense to get that one straightened out. I did some reading on their Q-A forum at that time, and quickly saw that multitudes of folks had similar issues. The Eastwood techs offered no sensible answers at all, basically said you are on your own. Obviously they knew their product didn't work as advertised.

Long story short; I wouldn't touch that stuff with a 10' pole. I simply doesn't work as desrcibed in their instructions, and they couldn't care less when problems arise. They are after your $$, not your loyalty.

Well that's disturbing, but good to know. Guess I'll need to sand it off of the couple of places I've applied it.

I'm at about the same stage of a project as you are. If I had the cab off, I would have the cab primered at the powder coater.

The thought has crossed my mind. But if I'm going to do that I'm definitely going to wait till all my repairs and modifications are done so that I don't have to sand off and re-prime the areas I fixed/modified.

[gmharris]

"Well that's disturbing, but good to know. Guess I'll need to sand it off of the couple of places I've applied it."

A professional body guy working for me would just wet a cloth with the Ospho and dampen just the discolored area after the rust had been sanded down. I think the problem might come when the area is drenched with the Ospho.

Somewhere, maybe on the House of Kolors website, they cautioned against using the converter under their paint because of it's acidic nature. But, the body guy said it was necessary to "kill" the rust. So, I think it's important to wash, or at least wipe down with water, the affected area if you are going to paint it.

[Desoto61]

After lots of welding the final product seems plenty strong, and once the welds are dressed shouldn't look too bad either. It's not stock, but it maintains the look, at least from a distance.

One problem area was the end by the drip rail. I couldn't get into it with the welder so reluctantly I decided to cut out the portion of the drip rail for access, finish the area and then re-weld the section of drip rail back in. However this revealed a new problem.

The drip rail moved more than I expected, which ended up being because much of the metal it was attached to was gone. After drilling out all but the last one or two spot welds I found the extend of the bad area. This is the portion of the roof that rolls under and attaches to the door structure.

[Desoto61]

In for a penny...

While I wouldn't call myself good at this body work stuff, I'm not afraid (or not smart enough) to start cutting metal. So I took the body saw and cut along the edge of the roof, then used a chisel and the drill to remove the edge attached to the roof pillar.

Once I cleaned up the exposed area I hit it with a coat of weld-through primer. Then I bent up a small strip of steel into an L. A HD shrinker stretcher would probably be the best tool for this, but I don't have one, and not sure it's justified for the small amount of curved work I've needed. So my solution to get the bend was similar to my other repairs and I cut some slots in the piece to make it flexible. It will mean additional welding but should do the trick.

It will take some more grinding and fitting before it's ready to weld in, I also have to repeat the roof seam repair on the opposite side of the cab.

[Alxj64]

Wow! That is great! I love this thread! Thanks for sharing SO many details. I really need to get over and meet up with you one of these days so that I can drool over this thing in person!

[Doc Dave]

Good work!
You mentioned a shrinker stretcher .
I bought one on ebay during the build of my truck, then realized it could not handle 16 gauge or thicker steel. So I re-sold it on ebay.
These tools work well on thinner metals, but with the PW not too handy.

[cj7ox]

Desoto...

Your truck is coming together! It's amazing wathching it step by step.

[Desoto61]

Good work!
You mentioned a shrinker stretcher .
I bought one on ebay during the build of my truck, then realized it could not handle 16 gauge or thicker steel. So I re-sold it on ebay.
These tools work well on thinner metals, but with the PW not too handy.

That has been the rough part of the sheetmetal work. Same thing applies to metal brakes. Most will do 18 and 20 ga but you start looking at very small sizes or big price tags if you want to go thicker and wider. I did see a heavy duty shrinker-stretcher somewhere that said it would go down to 16 ga, but naturally it was quite a bit more expensive than the ones you see everywhere. And again while I may find a future use right now I'd rather spend that couple hundred dollars on parts for the truck.

Of course the other issue is big tools require big room, and I'm already out of space.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. The comments and discussions help me since for the most part I've never tried any of this stuff before either. I know this is the kind of information I like to find as I build my truck: The Idiots Guide to Building a Power Wagon. Of course I always thought those titles were because they were written for idiots, in this case its probably the reverse!

[Desoto61]

Wow! That is great! I love this thread! Thanks for sharing SO many details. I really need to get over and meet up with you one of these days so that I can drool over this thing in person!

Any time, misery loves company! I'm probably going to need your services before too long anyway. Once I start on the inside of the cab one of the early tasks will be to cut a new panel for the new guages, which a plasma table will be perfect for.

[Alxj64]

Any time, misery loves company! I'm probably going to need your services before too long anyway. Once I start on the inside of the cab one of the early tasks will be to cut a new panel for the new guages, which a plasma table will be perfect for.

Sounds good! Gimme a shout and we can get it done!

[Desoto61]

Busy weekend, but only some of it was PW related. I managed a few hours in the garage today. Managed to finish fitting the piece over the door. Drilled a few small holes so I could plug weld it into place, the original was spot welded so this will duplicate that attachment method.

Welding in the lip was a little tougher due to the way the two pieces meet. Also welded in the slots I cut to bend it. Then went after it with the grinder to clean up the welds. Have to finish the area at the end of the roof seam. Meanwhile I drilled out the remaining spot welds on the drip rail and hit both surfaces with the weld-through primer.

During my pauses to let the weld area cool I worked on completing the other side of the roof seam. Have one last piece in the driver's corner, I have a feeling that drip rail is going to need the same repair though.