Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[Elliot949]

Your hand forming and vision is astounding...

[ken4444]

Originally Posted by Elliot949

Your hand forming and vision is astounding...

The effort required to let a C10 carelessly decay over the decades is a million times less than what is required to reverse the deterioration.

[Vic1947]

Thanks, guys, most of my misery is self inflicted. Starts with, "Here, hold my beer and watch this."

Few more progress shots below. The hole is slowly closing, but the hard part still lies ahead. I'll need to trim some off the bumper where it curves around the end to make the sheetmetal patches look less severe. What I've noticed as I stare endlessly at the bumper corner from various angles is that the factory contour seems to droop, sag or look bulbous over the lower half. (See red arrows.) From straight on, it's not noticeable, but is from almost any other viewpoint. Close examination of the truck I'm using as a pattern reveals the same issue on it. I'm leaning toward making several vertical slices around the lower half of the corner and drawing the slices back and up to excise the fat. Or then again, maybe it's just me.

[jeh]

Vic, just when I think you've quit cutting things up , look what you've done!!!!
It's going to look awesome man, keep at it. I really enjoy reading and watching your build on here.

[knomadd]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

What I've noticed as I stare endlessly at the bumper corner from various angles is that the factory contour seems to droop, sag or look bulbous over the lower half. (See red arrows.) From straight on, it's not noticeable, but is from almost any other viewpoint. Close examination of the truck I'm using as a pattern reveals the same issue on it. I'm leaning toward making several vertical slices around the lower half of the corner and drawing the slices back and up to excise the fat. Or then again, maybe it's just me.

I hadn't really noticed it until you pointed it out. But now that you say it.... I have a feeling you're going to be opening a major can of worms if you go that route. Or, maybe you've already opened it, but now you're realizing just how big that can is. You're doing great, keep it up!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

I hadn't really noticed it until you pointed it out. But now that you say it.... I have a feeling you're going to be opening a major can of worms if you go that route. Or, maybe you've already opened it, but now you're realizing just how big that can is. You're doing great, keep it up!

Nope, haven't made that commitment yet, Duane. Still deciding whether it's worth the effort. I've probably said it before, but years ago when I was fretting about some detail on a project car, an east TX chassis builder buddy told me, "Nobody looks at your sh!t more closely than you do." Sometimes I have to remind myself of that.

[Vic1947]

More piecework yesterday and today sandwiched between errands and phone calls. The guy doing the ceramic on my exhaust won't return phone calls, so I guess I need to go over there one day this week to see what the heck is going on. Hopefully it will be done and I won't waste a trip.

The hole is steadily closing up. I need to do some trimming and remake the short upper curved piece out of wider material so I don't have to scab extra metal on it. In order to fit the bumper up and make more measurements, I had to put some of the clecos in from the backside... regular barrel of laughs trying to locate 1/8" holes while flying blind.

Still thinking on how to handle the area where the fender overhangs the curved piece. Kathy seems to think Bondo would work great, plus it would speed things along.