I have spent the last several weeks ripping out rusted out panels in my 50
Deluxe. The entire floor, toeboard, inside cowls, inner cowl supports and
floor supports needed replaced. This was one rust bucket of a truck. The
trick to doing all this is to take your time and just be patient with the
problems involved. Add to all this rust was a few weld nuts missing from the
inside door jamb that holds the door hinges on. It was a mess and at times I
didnt know what to do next. But its almost done and its looking really good.
So far I have gone thru 3 two-pound spools of welding wire and about 10
grinding wheels. What a great feeling knowing all the rust is gone and it
actually looks as if nothing happened to a decent truck. There is no decent
way to get to the weld nuts on the door jamb. Its a particularly bad
problem, but not impossible.
If I were to do my normal thing and whine about something, it would be the
patch panels that are available thru our vendors. Its probably not anything
they can do, but then again, if there is, they need to get it done.. for
example, the floorboard panels are approx 3/16" too wide across. This is a
BIG issue because if you install it that way, you cant bolt the center
floorboard panel in because its too big. Also, the inside cowl panels (kick
panels) are not cut at the exact proper angle to just use the angle as a
guide. You end up cutting both the angled side and the straight edge to get
it to fit properly. Also, that kick panels curve at the bottom ends in a
bend that makes no sense. Also, the floor panel support thats available is
drilled wrong (Both sides). The frame bolt hole isnt in the right place and
on the drivers side this is a big deal since the e-brake linkage goes thru
it at a specific place that is not negotiable. In defense of the maker of
these panels, all these trucks (AD's) were all stressed differently over the
years and also between assembly plants probably had slightly different
dimensions. Also, replacing these panels isnt for the casual truck
enthusiast. If you arent willing to learn metal working really well, you
need to pay someone who does. Nonetheless, I have done two of these trucks
now and both had the same dimensional problems with the new patch panels.
All in all, its been quite an education and I have learned alot. Its not
over yet. Some (nice person) took a pair of tinsnips and cut a huge radio
hole in the dash that needs repaired, and a few other metal related jobs.
Its finally starting to look like I might see an end to all the metal work.
Hope this helps and if I can be of assistance to anyone attempting this for
the first time, just let me know!
Deve Krehbiel
Hesston, Kansas
1950 3100 * 1949 3600 * 1948 4400 * 50 3100
www.speedprint.com/Deves50/index.html
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
|