My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

[trukluvr]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

Thanks man, I love it. I think it has a killer stance and the blue is even growing on me a bit.

I ended up having to have a driveshaft made for it and as soon as I have that back in the truck she'll be ready to roll.

That means video of big smokey burn outs are to follow.

[NITMARE]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

Remember this thing?.....well it hasn't been totally forgotten. It got put on the back burner as much more important projects needed to get done but I am back to getting the ol truck back on the road. One of the things that stopped the progress in it's tracks was discovering quite a bit of rust in major structural parts of the cab. And the more I dug into it the more I found. So the once seemingly to good to be true deal was in fact not too badly priced.

Here are some pics from the past couple days of work. As you can see the front cab mounts are 100% gone. most the sheetmetal forward of the seat was gone. And the steps inside the doors that SEEMED solid were a couple layers of sheetmetal pop riveted to the remaining metal. So I've been making new panels. Cutting, grinding, and welding away. I didn't get before pics of the passenger side but it looked just like the driver side with the exception that the bottom of the hinge pillar had to be totally rebuilt as the doors weight was making it sag. So here's the pics of what I've been up to since Sunday. Going to get all the sheetmetal work done this week and hopefully get some paint laid down and get behind the wheel.


The driver side as it sits now



Here's part of what was cut out of the passenger side. Note, the cab mount laying there. They do sell new ones....for $210 a side! So I made mine.



New side step







New floor board ready to be welded in.



Once side almost done.....now I get to do it all over on the other side.



This is all the junk removed from the cab so far. Rust, tin cover panels, and the styrofoam was glued inside the doors for sound deadening :roll:

[DanStokes]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

Nice job! What do you use to roll the beads? I'm stuck with using van roofs and the like that come with beads rolled in.

Dan

[NITMARE]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

I just use a slightly modified cheapo bead roller mounted to an old grinder stand. I will post pics tomorrow.

[milner351]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

nice work, I especially like the "tubular" cab mount! Well done!

In general - do you try to match the sheet metal thickness of new to old so the welding goes smoother?

[NITMARE]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

Generally that's the idea. When working with this older steel the stuff just welds better in general. So I usually focus the heat into the original steel and let it "work it's way" into the new patch.

[trukluvr]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

Lookin good. Nice to see you were able to get back to her.

[milner351]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

Thanks for the tip and the inspiration. Yesterday on my way home before I picked up Lee from daycare - I stopped at the local steel place and they happened to have a 17"x59" cut off of 20 gauge for the princely sum of $10 - that should be more than enough to patch the rockers in the daily driver, and make a few patches required in the ranger.
Please keep the photo's coming - I love this truck of yours.

[rightpedal]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

yup this truck! I didn't want to garbage up the camaro thread. Could you please post a picture of your mods to the bead roller?

Thanks
Steve

[Huskinhano]

Re: My first "garage find" project '57 F-100 big back window

Wow a blast from the past. I was just wondering what happened to this truck.