Wampus Cat

[TxCajun]

Rear cab passenger side rust repair

After removing the gas tank and doing more cleaning/inspection, this area looked suspect. When I removed the paint and scale it turned out to be perforated, so I cut out the area, made a patch using the metal brake, and welded it in.

In retrospect, I should have made the patch taller so that I would have had more access to the back of the weld in order to planish hammer the long portion of the weld. However, the seam is pretty flat after grinding, so a little body work should make it ready for paint.
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[TxCajun]

I have a few more cab rust areas to address in the rear corners and on top of the dash just below the windshield, but I was feeling kind of burned out on all of the stitch welding and grinding for the sheet metal repairs. I decided to take a break from sheet metal, and work on a trailer hitch.

A while back I had found a $15 receiver hitch on Craigslist that I thought I could modify to fit. It was originally from a 90's RAV4.

The first thing I did was modify the "leaning Z" shaped brace that is riveted as part of the frame a few inches from the rear ends of the frame rails. I turned this in to a "C" channel by bending the top flange to 90 degrees, and cutting off the bottom flange, flipping it around, and re-welding it to make the bottom of the "C". This channel is then bolted to the back of the frame to box it in. (I didn't really need to do this to support adding the trailer hitch. The modification is to make way for either a rear gas tank or a rear spare mounted on a cable or chain hoist. Direction is still to be decided.)

I then modified the receiver hitch by reducing the width about 6 inches, and adding a 4 inch wide plate to each side to lower the receiver 4 inches and move it rearward about 3 inches. I also added a 2 inch wide plate to the top of the receiver for bolting to the bottom of the rear bumper. The modified receiver hitch has two bolts per side through existing holes in the frame rails and two bolts through existing holes in the rear bumper.
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[88Stanger]

damn fine work there. Thanks for posting. Ill be doing similar very soon.

[Duncan K]

Nice job on that door patch!

[TxCajun]

Driver door

Hammer and dolly work done with my brother; an extra set of hands really helps.

Weld-filled about 32 drilled holes from old mirrors and previous body work (left the stock mirror mounting points but had to ezy-out a couple of broken mounting bolts).

Patches created and welded in for rust in the inner and outer lower corners.

Weld repaired cracks around the latch mounting holes and at the bottom of the window opening.

The first picture is the door when I picked it up from the media blaster. I had no idea that all of those holes and dents were lurking under the bondo and paint. The remaining pictures are prep work and epoxy primer.
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[pdxhall]

Thanks for all the pics of your hood, fenders, and doors. They look great. I've been body working the same parts right now so they'll come in handy.

[88Stanger]

Damn fine job so far! i learn so much watching you guys do body work.

[TxCajun]

The A-Pillar Drip Rail looked rusty, so I drilled out the welds with a spot weld tool and removed the Drip Rail pieces. It was pretty nasty underneath.

I was going to just buy reproduction Drip Rails to install, but they were out of stock when I went to order them. So, we made some new pieces using a bench top metal brake to form the initial bend, and then using a vice to clamp the piece to a flat bar while using a hammer and a piece of plate to slowly work in the "back" bend.

[TxCajun]

I decided to attach the new Drip Rails with some of the panel bonding adhesive that I had left over from attaching the outer roof rather than spot/plug welding. (Evercoat FIB-816 Maxim Large Panel Bonding Adhesive (see entry #43 above).

I think this product creates a very strong bond while also completely sealing and filling the area between the drip rail and the A-pillar to prevent future water incursion and rust.

I cut some scrap wood in to a 3/4" wide by 1/2" thick piece to use as a backing piece for clamping while bonding. I used duct tape (with flames of course) to cover the wood backing piece so that it would not stick to any bonding adhesive that oozed out during clamping. I also used the duct tape to mask areas where I did not want excess adhesive to stick.

Clamped it in place for a 24 hour cure, then removed the clamps and trimmed away any excess adhesive with an Exacto knife.

Now just need work on the passenger side.

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[Grizz1963]

Every time I look at your work and build thread, I have to pick up my jaw.

Absolutely love your build and attention to detail.

[TxCajun]

Grizz1963, thanks for the kind words. I enjoy following your build thread also.

I've had a number of British motorcycles and cars over the years, and learned a lot keeping them on the road.
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[made2drag]

Very nice fabrication!

[TxCajun]

I wasn't very happy with the look of the fuel tank lower brackets after I initially trimmed off the front lip. I thought about filling the front of these in with some fabricated plates, but ultimately decided to do a little more trimming with a side grinder and cutoff wheel. I also added some plug welding in place of the bolts that previously secured the front of the bracket.

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[TxCajun]

I decided to put the bed back on the truck and figure out mods required to accommodate the rear fuel tank and fuel filler.

I needed to trim the rear bed brace to clear the fuel tank and the upper tank supports. The bed on my truck is steel tread plate which is skip welded to the braces, so I don't think that the notches to the brace will have much affect on bed floor stiffness.

[TxCajun]

I started a mock-up for the fuel filler in the rear corner of the bed.

I found an old piece of tread plate in a junk pile, so it has some nice patina to match the existing bed. This tread plate is tough to bend, so I used a side grinder and cut off wheel to cut the plate to size, cut a relief line of the back side of the bend, and then used the torch to heat the area while bending it using a vise and a hammer.

The pictures show the first pass at the mock-up, but I think I will shorten it a quarter inch or so to match the top plate height with the body line on the inner bed wall. The fuel filler it self is a 316 SST marine piece; White Water Stainless Deck Fill, Gas w/Vent 1-1/2" Hose #6005S-SCV.

When I sent a picture of the mock-up to my brother, he commented: "Should easily sustain the sliding cargo test." :-)
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[SCOTI]

I like it. Function & form.

[cwcarpenter98]

That looks really good. The diamond plate ties in well with the bed floor

[LT7A]

I enjoyed reading up on your build. You seem to be matter of fact and take most things in stride. I respect that and like the straightforwardness of your build.

[The Rocknrod]

Very good, thanks for sharing.

[TxCajun]

I had been thinking for a while now that I would like to find a late 60's Saginaw 3 speed manual with R10 Borg Warner overdrive so that I could keep the three speed column shifter, but also have better gearing for cruising. I finally found one about 100 miles away. The owner said he had bought it 20 or so years ago with intentions to use it, but it has just been sitting on a shelf.

The transmission itself looks pretty clean inside, so for now I'm just cleaning it up and replacing gaskets/seals/tailshaft-bushing. However, the governor cap was loose and there appears to be a lot of gunk inside, and the solenoid that actuates the overdrive was not operational.
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[TxCajun]

I cleaned up the internals of the governor, lubricated the moving parts (pivot points on the centrifugal weights and on the "trip switch"), filed the electrical contacts, and installed a replacement shaft seal. The old seal was marked C/R 07412 M1; I found 330385 listed as an interchange and purchased that.

The cap on this governor was originally held in place with some swaged pins but those had broken and allowed the cap to be loose and allowed assorted gunk to get in to the mechanism. I drilled out those pins and tapped the body for 4-40 screws to secure the cap.

The pictures also show the rubber cover that I purchased.

The last picture shows a range of actuation rpm's. I can spin the governor with my drill and it appears to be opening and closing the contacts, but I have no way of measuring the actual rpm. Once I install the transmission in the truck, I'll have to play with the screw adjustment for the switch actuation to approximate the 28mph that is recommended.

[TxCajun]

I disassembled the solenoid, cleaned it up internally, filed the points, and lubricated the moving parts.

After some investigation and poking around, I was finally also able to remove the shaft seal for replacement. This is rather difficult because there is no access behind the seal to drive it out because the coil assembly is in the way. I fashioned a small chisel from the hardened shaft of a small screwdriver and gently tapped away at the metal housing of the seal until I could deform it sufficiently to pull it out. This seal is apparently the same shaft seal as is used to seal the shaft in the transmission tail-housing so I ordered a second one of those and installed it.

The solenoid bench tests ok now, but it will be awhile before I can test the transmission in the truck.
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[TxCajun]

Cleaned up the OD transmission, replaced the gaskets/seals/tailshaft-bushing, added a coat of paint.

Ready to go in the truck when I get to that point. This OD transmission is the same length as the current three-speed and I think the input shaft and tail shaft are the same so it should be a bolt-in; plus wiring and OD control cable.
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[TxCajun]

Scoti,
This 1300 lb hoist set me back $107.07 with free shipping in late 2020 on eBay.
Before buying, I read a lot of the reviews on this PA600 on eBay, Amazon, and elsewhere, and they weren't too bad.
The paint and plating finishes are not very good, but I've been using it off and on for several months now and it continues to work fine.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by TxCajun

Scoti,
This 1300 lb hoist set me back $107.07 with free shipping in late 2020 on eBay.
Before buying, I read a lot of the reviews on this PA600 on eBay, Amazon, and elsewhere, and they weren't too bad.
The paint and plating finishes are not very good, but I've been using it off and on for several months now and it continues to work fine.

Good to know. The reviews seemed to be hit & miss on the units I looked at but there's much interpretation from one mind/opinion vs another's when you can't ask specific questions.

Thanks. I'm diggin' that 3spd/OD set-up. Never really even knew about them.