[Chaparralman1974]

8/11/2023 - 12/1/2023
Continued work on the cab
The past four months have seen me hip deep into metal and body work on the cab. To date, I have 163 man hours into the cab and that number actually eclipses any other single work effort to date. I have actually learned a lot during this phase of the project. I have begun to realize that I have been spending way too much time focused on areas of the truck that, quite honestly, will never be seen. For example, I have spent many hours trying to make the welds underneath the truck look somewhat decent only to realize that it doesn’t matter since I have covered them up with seam sealer anyhow. I guess it is just to be seen as a learning experience.
My plan of attack was to begin with the driver side rocker replacement to learn how to graft in the new metal. Several key things became apparent during this part of the project. First off, I learned that the inner rocker / floor sections that are reproduced just plain suck! The drain channels, bolt holes, and contours just don’t line up correctly with the original floor. I made the mistake on the driver side of cutting through the contoured radius at the forward edge of the seat, thinking that the patch panel would line up. Unfortunately, it wasn’t even close, and this required additional manipulation of the metal to get it to mate up. For the passenger side, I cut around this contour and all was well. The stamped in drain channels in the floor (not sure what else to call them) were also way off. The stamping was not even close. I had to slice and dice quite a bit to get them to line up. They are not perfect, but it will be hidden anyway. These are just a few of the examples by the way of the things that I have spent way too much time focused on. The reality of it is that the inside of the cab will be covered in dynamat, and the bottom outside in raptor liner.
I ended up replacing the driver side cab corner as well. This was another mistake. The cab corners are formed wrong and are not even close to the original body lines. Thankfully, I was smart enough to stay away from style lines at the lower portion of the cab. I only replaced the corner because there was a dent in the bottom and a small section of thin metal that had pinholes in it. In retrospect, I would have only replaced the thin metal and worked out the dent vs. replacing the corner, but lesson learned….
For the most part, the outer rockers were easy. I did end up redoing the driver side rocker and replacing it (and the passenger side) with rockers from GMC Pauls. These rockers are definitely of decent quality, but even these required some manipulation to get them installed. I also made a few mistakes here that need to be noted. First off, I initially used spot welds close to the edge of the rockers that line up on the B pillar side. This was an issue after grinding off the welds during test fitting of the panels. I know that some folks like to blend in the seam where the rockers meet the door jambs, but I wanted a factory look and needed the seams to be visible and crisp looking so that I can do seam sealer here. It is a preference thing, but I want it to represent a factory looking truck and not a seamless show look. This is what caused me to have to rip and replace the driver side rocker out. I learned that a better option for temporary rocker fitment is with the use of self tapping screws. Once the screws are removed, then you just weld up the screw holes.
For the most part, the floor in the cab was in good shape. The only areas of rot were in the kick panels. I was able to get these cleaned up satisfactorily. I will be applying filler over the seams, and the carpet kit that I plan to install will be one that goes all the way up the kick panels anyway.
Additional metal work so far has included welding up a bunch of screw holes, and other mounting holes that were drilled into the cab over the years. This included several smaller holes in the dash and inner cab. Also there was the receptacle plug on the passenger side of the cab that had to be filled in as well. I also had to do some rust repair in the firewall where the blower motor was. Regarding the blower motor, I will not be filling in these holes. Even though I plan to install a vintage air system, I plan to use the block off plates that are designed to work with that kit. Once again, I want the metal to look factory here. This also gives me the option to just go with a heater only setup.
After getting all the metal work done, it was time to strip the cab down to bare metal. I began by gutting the dash, removing all the wiring, insulation, instrument cluster, etc. Once having everything removed, I used a combination of methods to strip the cab to bare metal. The majority of the work was done with fiber stipping wheels and the Harbor Freight version of the Eastwood SCT. This tool by the way, is AWESOME! It made short order of removing the paint down to bare metal. I also have been using various grit sand paper on a DA as well as a pressure pot sandblaster to get to the hard to reach areas.
My plan has been to start with finishing the bottom of the cab. The logic here is that if I can get the cab bottom done, I don’t have to keep flipping it on its back. As I am pretty much a solo act here, It is becoming more and more difficult to keep moving it back and forth. I was able to get the bottom of the cab completely stripped down to bare metal. I then applied an Eastwood rust encapsulator to the entire surface. The main reason for this vs. epoxy primer DTM, is that there were pits of rust all over the place that I felt would better be dealt with via encapsulation first. So, I covered the entire bottom with a rust encapsulator first, then applied 3M seam sealer over the welded areas, and then applied Eastwood Epoxy Primer over that. Finally, the plan is to top coat all of that with UPOL Raptor Liner.
Regarding the seam sealer, it didn’t quite turn out the way I envisioned. That stuff can be a challenge to work with if you don’t know what you are doing. It was difficult to get it to lay down in any kind of a neat and good looking way. Oh well, it is the bottom of the cab, and this is for functionality rather than aesthetics.