46 Power Wagon Restoration pt. 2

[Desoto61]

Special Delivery

There are a few options if you want to get away from the original BUDD wheels and their split rings. While there is nothing structurally wrong with them, working with them is tricky, and finding shops that can can be even harder. Then there's the issue of tube and flaps, and fitting modern radial tire sizes which want a wider rim then the 6.5" BUDD.

A few places will build you new wheels by taking a steel wheel of your desired size and style and welding in a flat center with the correct lug pattern at certain back-spacing, but they can't replicate the dished profile or look of the BUDD rims.

I looked at a few of the aftermarket dually wheel companies, since they already produce wheels with similar profiles, but most deal in huge sizes and don't have anything in the 16-18" range.

A third options was to find someone who can cut the center out of the BUDD rim and weld it into a modern rim. A few have done this into 16.5" rims, but that size is unusual and tire options are limited.

VPW recently sent out an e-mail about their new rims. They have the BUDD centers cut out and welded into a modern 17x8" rim, so you get the look and back-spacing of the original rims with the size and capability better suited to a modern radial truck tire. They recently had a new batch come in, and while I don't need them right now one advantage of body work is it's cheap, so I have the resources to pick up a set.

As a picture is a better descripter than I I'll let them do the talking, but I will say that I'm happy so far, my only misgiving is that they are 8" wide with an 8-1/2" backspacing, which puts the extra width inboard, add in a 37x12.5" tire and it raises some clearance questions at full lock.

[Desoto61]

Spent quite a few hours cleaning and sanding the inside surfaces of the cab with 180 grit. There are lots of nooks and crannies to get into so it's a slow and tedious process. Wiped down all the surfaces with some lacquer thinner, sand, then wipe down with some Eastwood afterblast, which cleans the surface and leaves a protective zinc coating till I'm ready for paint.

Unfortunately there are many areas I can't get into with sandpaper, so I'll have to hope that the protectant is intact and figure out how to try and get some paint in there.

One thing I can't stress enough is building a rotisserie for the cab. It's pretty simple, and makes life so much easier. I have mine hanging off my lift which lets me adjust height as well, but a set of stands (even of wood) with some rollers would work just as well and would make moving the cab around for cleaning, paint, or storage possible too. It's so much easier to sand the roof when it's the floor. It also allowed me to rotate the cab so all the grit and junk fell out of all the various hiding places where I could suck it up with the shop vac.

Then it was time to clean all that sanding dust (and general dirt and chaos) up from just about every surface of the garage. It's still too cold for painting, but with a clean garage I can powder coat. To help with that I re-purposed some PVC pipe to build a stand to hold the oven racks that the parts hang from while being coated.

[Desoto61]

I've been making progress over the holiday break, but it's not much to look at. Spent many hours cleaning and then scuffing the primer on the outside of the cab so I can spray a seal coat once the weather gets warm. The top side is easy enough, but the bottom and firewall has lots of nooks and crannies to get into. It's also a good time to find any missed areas. A few low spots meant more filler and sanding.

Then it was time to move onto the inside of the cab. There were a few areas that needed a little metal work. A small area at the lower rear door jam, a small patch piece closes it up. The other was to close the hole around the steering shaft. I had built a template while the new steering column was in, it was just matter of cutting and installing it. The weld isn't pretty but it also won't really be visible, so strength trumps beauty.

The inside needs to be cleaned, and then gone over with some sandpaper to key the metal for primer, then cleaned out again. Then move onto cleaning all the sanding dust out of the garage so I can be ready to spray primer once the weather is right. In the mean time I have other parts I can use the powder coating kit on.

[Desoto61]

Hard part is not to try and rush to get there. I'm more interested in getting it right than getting it done, and the more I go over the cab the more little things I see I should take care of now. Need to start making a list.

I wouldn't complain too much, don't need 70 but some 50s would do nicely. The plus side is that I still have plenty to do elsewhere if the weather stays cold. I can work on using my Eastwood powder kit on some of the small parts since I don't need the ventilation I would with paint and running the oven in the winter is actually a good thing.

[Tom Petroff]

You'll get there. We all go through motivation problems. I know I have.

For what it's worth the weather people have all along talked about a nicer than usual January thaw.
Now there saying a warmer than normal Jan. for most of the country.

TGP

[Desoto61]

My motivation to make more dust hasn't been all that great, most of the rough sanding I think is done. I have a few other areas that need some attention. I need to close up the steering shaft opening a bit since the steering shaft is smaller then the old tube setup. Not sure if I'm going to use a screw-in panel or weld something in. Otherwise I'm going over the whole cab with 120 grit to smooth out my coarser sanding scratches and scuff up the primer for the seal coat.

My lack of motivation is coming to haunt me though, it's supposed to be 70 here this weekend but I'm nowhere near ready to lock this cab down in primer. Not sure when I'll have weather warm enough to do that again till spring. A nice winter break should help give me some time to make some progress.

[Desoto61]

Certainly not an expert body man, but I think you could get some good results by taking a pick hammer to some of the high spots. Just light taps all over the high spots, but especially on the "shoulders" of the high spots. The pick shrinks the metal and lowers the high spots. It shouldn't mess up what you've already done since you are just working the exposed metal.

From the photos, it looks like those high spots will always result in the primer being cut through if sanded.

In the end, you want to be able to sand away a guide coat without cutting through the primer.

Thanks, yes the high spots are where I cut through the primer. On the roof I've been weary about playing too much for fear I'll get into an issue with oil canning. With the filler basically level with those spots my plan now is I put a thin coat of cream filler over the areas and I'll sand the whole cab with 120 to get all the little imperfections filled and key the cab for a seal coat of primer so the filler is sandwiched between epoxy primer layers and also to re-coat those high spots, then spray on the primer/surfacer.

[gmharris]

I've been turning a lot of body filler into a lot of sanding dust over the last week or so. The largest area was the roof, it was pretty rough, and I had quite a time working with the metal, but the filler definitely shows you the problem areas, unfortunately by that time it's a little late to take a hammer to it without causing problems. Still it feels a lot better under hand.

Next will be the area over the windshield, which has a very interesting contour.

Certainly not an expert body man, but I think you could get some good results by taking a pick hammer to some of the high spots. Just light taps all over the high spots, but especially on the "shoulders" of the high spots. The pick shrinks the metal and lowers the high spots. It shouldn't mess up what you've already done since you are just working the exposed metal.

From the photos, it looks like those high spots will always result in the primer being cut through if sanded.

In the end, you want to be able to sand away a guide coat without cutting through the primer.

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

In the interim I've been keeping my eyes open for all the other parts I'm going to need. The biggest one being the new motor. I found what seemed like a good candidate last week and just got back from going to check it out.



It's a Cummins 4BT rated at 130HP @ 2300 RPM. Came with all the accessories and parts, they even gave me a few extra filters that came in the truck.

Then when I got home my new fuel tank was waiting! It's a 38-gallon stainless steel tank with provisions for a return line. Chris Case builds them, it's beautiful work! I'll need to modify the tank mounting brackets to fit it in the frame since the original setup had been modified for the wrecker assembly.

Looking at that fuel Tank would it be possible to get the contact information of the gentleman who made it?

[Desoto61]

I've been turning a lot of body filler into a lot of sanding dust over the last week or so. The largest area was the roof, it was pretty rough, and I had quite a time working with the metal, but the filler definitely shows you the problem areas, unfortunately by that time it's a little late to take a hammer to it without causing problems. Still it feels a lot better under hand.

Next will be the area over the windshield, which has a very interesting contour.

[Desoto61]

Thanks, it's definitely a labor of love. Glad you find it useful, I wanted to try and capture the reality of a project like this, so others go in with their eyes open. Plus it's one of the few places you can indulge your obsession without everyone's eyes glazing over.

Good luck on your build, pay it forward and share it with the rest of us!

[bilfman]

Absolutely epic build! You good sir have fully fueled my motivation to really roll on my new 1946 acquisition. It was dead when I got it. But now its all running and functional but planning on going entirely into it in 2014. Thank you for taking the time for pics and the detailed write ups. I have read every word and now am inspired by you passion.

[Desoto61]

Thanks, that area seems OK, but the roof area I think I probably should have spent more time working with the metal, though I'm not sure I knew what to do to make it better and trying to make it better usually just makes it worse if you don't know what you're doing. Worst case it will be a very expensive learning experience in what not to do.

[Alxj64]

Looks really good man! Keep it up! There is light at the end of the tunnel!

[Desoto61]

Body work

With the cab back on the rotisserie one of the first things I needed to do was finish up some welding under the floor where I had tack welded the nuts for the floor plates, and the mounting plates for the seat frame. I also installed some rivnuts for the cover plates I made to go over the access holes in the cab floor.

Next was to put on a dust mask and see how much trouble I could get into with some sandpaper. I decided to start at the back bottom of the cab, it was one of the rougher areas and will not be as visible should it not turn out well. A couple of rounds of sanding and filler and I think I'm starting to get an somewhere.