Re: Bear's 65
 

Many moons ago, the truck was t-boned. The driver's door is a mess. I've heard about a lot of "fit" issues with donor doors, so we thought we would try a new skin.


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Re: Bear's 65
 

Door skin was cheap, so we thought we would give it a shot.
My brother is a welder, but he usually works underground in tunnels and explosives. He REALLY wanted to try the door skin. Free labor= go for it.




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Re: Bear's 65
 

It's a cheap fix in theory.


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Re: Bear's 65
 

Thanks Bomp. We are definitely trying. My dad keeps screaming "I'm not a body man! I'm an engine man!"

Re: Bear's 65
 

Thanks ClemDaddy. I think we are doing a good job, but we find ourselves staring at stuff and "looking" for problems and issues. It's like we expect to make mistakes (see body work).

Re: Bear's 65
 

There is a chance that we spend too much time, put so much work in to this truck that we won't be satisfied when it's time to paint and end up getting a new door. As always, fingers crossed.
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Re: Bear's 65
 

Did I mention this is a daily driver? The roof was "oil canning" (if that is the correct term). We tried welding studs, but it kept collapsing with very little pressure. I could not think of a reason NOT to do this. Worked like a charm.

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Re: Bear's 65
 

nice idea... i'm guessing you are filling the void between top and ceiling with expandable foam, to prevent oil canning. used that stuff for lots of things but never thought about this... hope it works out.

i think you did a fine job skinning the door. keep up the good work.

Re: Bear's 65
 

Exactly. We pulled it up with studs, but refused to stay. There is not much room up between the ceiling and the roof-only one place for the foam to go. Looks good and it's definitely sturdy.

The door skin was easier than we thought it would be. Although, we still have to prep it. I think we got a little warpage with the thin skin. My brother is used to welding heavy, heavy stuff. He can be a little heavy-handed when he's had too many Mountain Dews. He's learning. Free labor, so I'm not going to complain. If I let him, he would Z the frame, etc.

Re: Bear's 65
 

Work looks good!

Re: Bear's 65
 

Great idea for the roof. Do you mind going thru the process you used? How did you keep from using to much foam
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Re: Bear's 65
 

The roof had identical dents/low spots on the left and right sides-like there was an overhead rack for tires, etc. The left side reacted well to our homemade stud gun, but the right refused to cooperate. Sounds like a typical issue with these trucks. The right side was far more "oil canny" for some reason. I could press a large portion down with two fingers resulting in a rather large, but shallow crater/saucer.

Whatever I did, I knew I would need to clean up the mess from the studs, so I drilled a hole just big enough for the straw, fed the straw in to different areas and let the foam work. Like I said before, I couldn't think of a reason not to do it. The void between the interior and exterior roof is shallow, but expansive. I wasn't worried about too much foam. The foam will follow the path of least resistance. I dont know if it matters, but I released the foam in incrimates. I would dump some in then wait a few minutes and repeat. I used 1/2 to 3/4 of the can over 30+ minutes. In my mind, i wanted it to set up a little each time. I do not know if it matters. Thats what i did.

I probably used more than necessary, but I wasn't afraid of it seeping out. Besides, it's hard to save a can of foam for another day. Maybe it will help insulate? Stop rust? Slowly poison me?
It helps having a plumber in the family. Those guys always have expanding foam in their vans. What he doesn't know won't hurt him.

I let it sit til the next day. Worked well.
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Re: Bear's 65
 

Do it!

Re: Bear's 65
 

Just so you know, the PO of my rig used that foam in the door rockers, literally filled them, and the cab corners with the stuff.
What we found when we pull the foam out of the corners and cut out the rockers was that the foam retained water, and was rusting those areas from the inside out.

In my truck it was being used for winterization insulation and filler.

There is a method of correcting oil canning using a propane torch and wet rags. All you do is heat up the edges of the area of interest, and fast cool it with the wet rags. You work your way around the area giving you trouble and towards the center until the metal has shrunk enough to regain its surface tension.
Pretty good YouTube video on the process if you want to look it up.

Looked fairly easy, though I have not had to do it yet.

Re: Bear's 65
 

Ooops. live and learn. Thanks. I'll try the torch on the left side. I'm not going to worry about the foam too much. It will always be garaged and I don't plan on driving in the rain-California. If I do have problems in the future it means I'm still alive
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Re: Bear's 65
 

Maybe on my next project-if I survive this one. This truck has only known one family. I used to sit on my dad's lap and drive it around vacant parking lots. I don't want to change too much. I might even keep the dent in the dash where my mom liked to slam her fist when she was angry.

Re: Bear's 65
 

Took the bed apart. I'll probably replace the front bed panel, because it's bowed from cargo slamming into it. Everything looks like it can be saved except the right rear fender. Apparently, they don't make one-piece replacements, so I'm hunting for a donor bed. Please let me know if you stumble upon one in the NorCal area.

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Long story short-slow progress, too much work, life got in the way. Finally putting things back together.Attachment 1434261

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Re: Bear's 65
 

ok

Re: Bear's 65
 

looks like we missed a post or 3 :lol:Nice work!

Re: Bear's 65
 

Wow. Nice

Re: Bear's 65
 

OMG
It's been...something.
Did not think it would take this long.

Re: Bear's 65
 

thanks J
I really put Pop's patience to the test.

Re: Bear's 65
 

I think we missed a few years :haha::haha:

Re: Bear's 65
 

I have some pics here and there. I lost some when a tree fell on my house in a rainstorm and my phone was in my jacket pocket when I was running the saw.
Not my tree!
Someday, I'll go back through and try to touch on everything. Right now, just trying to get it finished before my pop disowns me. :flagw: