[landarts]

For the weekend I worked on getting all the metal trimmed and ready for tacking in on the rust repair on the cab. Below are pictures of how I tackled the firewall stress cracks where the parking brake mounts. Top and bottom mount holes were both cracked and need repair before I can scuff and repaint the firewall before the engine goes in.

Pict 1 - Shows the damage and after I used a grinder to cleanup area around the cracks. Originally thought I would just weld up the cracks but after cleaning it up I thought it would be better to cut out and replace the metal. the black marker marks are so I can line up the holes properly after I get new metal back in place.

Pict 2 - Shows where I cut out the metal and also shows how I taped card stock to the inside and outlined with a pencil.

Pict 3 - Shows the use of a spray adhesive to stick the template to the metal to be cut and the other is the tool of choice, a 4.5" grinder with a Lenox metal cutting blade. Clamped down with a large vise grip C clamp on the back of the truck frame with a 2x6 for support.

Pict 4 - Chows the metal cutout and fit to hole. I did have to do a little bit more grinding to fine tune it and make sure the fit was good for the welds. Also shows it tacked in tacking my time to jump around from corner to corner so it does not get heated up to much in one location.

I will follow up with the rest of the pictures of the welds finished and then ground down. Also the metal prepped for finishing and drilled for the parking brake to be remounted.

Will also have a few shots of the other areas on the cab like the rocker, kick panel and the passenger cowl repair. that will do it for the cab then onto minor door repair and then the replacement of the middle section of bed floor.