C20 to K20 Conversion "Simply Toxic"

[72 tigger]

Nice work- do you think you should take the cab off the rotisserie and mount the doors before you weld the outers on? Just to make sure everything lines up? Just my .02

[JustToxic]

Originally Posted by landarts

Floor patch looks great, keep up the good work on bringing it back to life.

Thanks

[JustToxic]

Finished up the Driver side last night, now just have to seam seal and grind everything smooth. Should see the new passenger side floor board before the weekend, hopefully be able to get that started and finished in the next week.

[JustToxic]

Normally I would say yes to taking the cab off and fitting the doors first. But in my case the bottom of the doors are rusted out and I have all the metal to fix them, so I'm just going fit the doors to the cab. Kind of a backwards way of doing it.

[franken]

Looks great!
Can I mail you my truck?
Mine's slightly better to start, but even southern ones rotted.

[JustToxic]

Thanks, I don't think there are too many of them that don't have rust on them.

[JustToxic]

No pictures to post today, but after having to wait to get a second passenger side floor board shipped to me, I got the passenger side installed last night. Got both in from Fedex damaged so I ended up using the one with the least amount of damage.

[JustToxic]

I got the passenger side floor board welded in and the passenger side rear cab cut completely out this weekend. Was only able to work on the truck here and there as the wife wanted to go to IKEA and furniture store. But first couple pictures are of the completed driver side I forgot to post. Then some in process of the passenger floor.

[JustToxic]

Shows how much I had to cut out of the passenger side cab corner. I have to remove the plates that are in the back of the cab too and weld in some new metal under them. I followed a bunch of rust the more I cut into it. Since the new rear cab support isn't exactly the same as the original, I decided to put the cab corner on first and make sure that is all lined up before I messed with the floor and brace.

[JustToxic]

Almost forgot to post this. Decided to scrap the Dana 44 front axle, went and bought a Dana 60 king pin axle. Came out of a '79 Ford F-350.

[JustToxic]

So this passenger side has been fighting me the entire way. The lower A-pillar and B-pillar are completely different then stock. To the point I had to cut the B-pillar apart and add metal to it, and on the A-pillar I'm going to have to modify the outer rocker. Once I figured that part out I ended up building a piece for the rear of the cab and modifying the inner rocker piece. Still need to grind the welds and do a bit of metal finishing and it'll be all good. Have I said how much I like this re-stamped metal yet?

[landarts]

Looking good, a little grinding and paint and she will be like new again. Nice job saving this one!

[Ol Blue K20]

Subbed

[JustToxic]

Thanks guys, don't have any updates after the weekend. We decided to get new furniture a few weeks back and that showed up this weekend. I did however get to put my step dad's '71 to work on Saturday. The county highway department came down the road cutting back all the trees and left a mess in their front yard.

[JustToxic]

Don't have any pictures for the update, just sitting here grinding all the seams smooth. Seems like a never ending step.

[72 tigger]

How's the grinding going?

[JustToxic]

I'm about 3/4 the way done. Since its on the rotisserie, I decided to order the inner roof panel and replace that while I can put the cab upside down. Problem I ran into is UPS lost the panel in shipping and now it could be 5-7 days until they pay the company I bought it from and then 5-7 from then until I see the piece. I'd like to move on from the chronicles of the rusty cab, but I keep having hiccups.

[72 tigger]

If the inner is shaky, good call on changing it. Stinks that they lost it. You'll have a solid cab when it's done

[JustToxic]

Alright, finally UPS figured out where my inner roof piece was and I got it. I was able get the new one burned in and was able to start shaping some new roof pieces that I found were rusty. I have 4 more pieces of metal I need to replace on the cab before it is finished. Hopefully I can get that knocked out this week.

[JustToxic]

Past few weeks have been crazy around the house. But I've been trying to bend up the upper inner door jam replacement pieces and after a handful of failure pieces. I'm finally putting in the towel and taking it to a metal shop to have the pieces bent up.

[JustToxic]

I finally got time and the few pieces of metal back for the rest of the rust repair on the roof. Had a buddy of mine bend up the upper door jam pieces. The side of the roof piece I was able to use a pipe and bend to the contour of the roof. Like everything else once its all burned in just gotta grind it smooth. Still have the passenger side to put in, should have that done later this week.

[FoxCustom]

Originally Posted by JustToxic

I finally got time and the few pieces of metal back for the rest of the rust repair on the roof. Had a buddy of mine bend up the upper door jam pieces. The side of the roof piece I was able to use a pipe and bend to the contour of the roof. Like everything else once its all burned in just gotta grind it smooth. Still have the passenger side to put in, should have that done later this week.

Lot's of good sheetmetal work - it'll be worth all the time and one tack at a time.

[DWilbur]

That is a lot of repairs on the cab. I had to replace the right A pillar on mine and couple patches in the floor.

[Ol Blue K20]

You're showing those rust worms who's boss. Looking good, keep up the good work.

[JustToxic]

Thanks guys, its been a rusty dream digging into the cab. Something I thought wouldn't take very long turned in to a pretty extensive project. This shows how much I had to take off the passenger side roof. Got all the metal burned in and its time again for grinding of the welds. Hopefully I can get all the welds ground down and the bottom of the cab sand blasted, seam sealed, and a nice coat of primer.