Cab rust repair.

[Mike_The_Grad]

I'm sure this is trivial to some and I'm not the first person to ask these questions. But this is pretty new to me and looking for some advice on how to proceed repairing rust on my 72 c10 cab and doors. First off, I have rust bubbles and holes through the outer roof skin on both sides of the cab above the windshield pillars. Passenger side is worse than drivers side on the actual outer cab skin, but the driver side has a good size hole in the windshield pinch weld area that is covered by the windshield seal. I have patch pieces cut from a complete outer roof skin that are about 6" wide from the drip rail all the way to the seam at the back of the cab for both sides of the cab. I don't need to use the entire section to repair the rust I have, but I also haven't started digging into the extent of the rust yet. Which leads to my next question. How to remove old drip rail sealant. It's got to be the original factory stuff still on there. But I also don't have anything on hand to replace the sealant with. I do have a 220v mig welder with a bottle and .024 wire on hand. Which I've already been using to weld up the antenna hole in The cowl and a small section of rust close to the hood seal.

The rust goes down from there, both bottoms of kick panels leading into floor boards and obviously rockers. In addition to both doors having rust bubbles both front and back of outer door skins. Passenger side rear cab corner also. Floor pan has rust at intersection of pillars and kick panels. Driverside being worst of the two sides.

Now, I do have 19 gauge sheet metal on hand I got for free from a buddy that works in a machine shop. It's just flat sheet stock. I also have Passenger side rear cab patch panel, new cab supports (not slip on), and new outer rockers for each side.

Truck is my daily driver but has be out of commission since May due to snapping #1 piston wrist pin in the 388 stroker motor I had in the truck. That's a whole nother situation in itself. But it will be at least another 2 months until it's back up and running. So why not take this opportunity to tackle the real damage and rust while I can. I am familiar with spot welding on the truck as I have welded up at least 75 holes in the bed of the truck.( longbed that used to haul fifth wheel probably had bed liner, and had tie downs bolted on. Plus the bed rails looking like Swiss cheese. All of that work went well and I have since rolled on bedliner with good results. It's one thing to weld up holes that are perfectly round from a drill but totally different from rust repair and patching with long straight butt joints.. especially in round and irregular shaped areas. With low and high crowns.

So my doors are still bolted to truck and complete with all internal parts as is the cab with cheap old carpet but my nice bench seat and complete new dash parts and steering wheel.

Should I remove doors to tackle the rust in the corner door skins?
I realize I need to protect glass from sparks from grinding and spatter. What can I use? Any advice on where to start and best practices for achieving successful results any products to use for drip rail sealant. Etc. I am not really concerned with the process on rocker repair and replacement as I already have plenty of info and web pages book marked for when that time comes. Thanks for your input and experience to all who can help me out.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Going to try my luck in bodywork section where I probably should have posted it in the first place.

[Roostre]

I just replaced my outer roof skin. Check out my build in my signature for how I did it. The roof seal will come out with a hammer and sharp chisel and a wire wheel. The seam sealer product I used is from 3M and the number is in my build, I don't remember what it is right now. Make sure you do correct prep work before you put in the sealer, I ended up redoing mine because I forgot to scuff the ecoat primer on my new outer skin. That was a $50 reminder that body work is mostly prep!

As far as the rest of the patching, be ready to cut out more than you think, rust has a way of being worse than it looks. It may be just as easy to remove your glass as to trying to protect it adequately.

[68 C10 Driver]

Go here: https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...play.php?f=115

There are a lot of builds, mine included, that will show you how to deal with the rusty areas you have. YouTube is also your friend, I learned a lot by watching PaulkC10's videos.

Just do some research on these two sources and you will be ok.

[May70]

I have how to videos on all the bottom end metal. Corners, pillars, kick panels, rockers, rear pinch weld seam etc. Link below.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Another reason why this site is awesome. Thank you guys for your input.

[Mike_The_Grad]

So I took the plunge and jumped into where I though was a relatively easy and somewhat straight forward place to start repairing rust. I took the passenger door off the cab and brought it into the garage to begin repairing the rust in each of the corners of the outer door skin. Cut off wheel did the job. And was surprised that one corner was just the outer door skin. While the other(front corner at fender side of door) had outer and minor inner shell rust. Did triangle cuts that are about 4 inches by 4 inches. I left about 3/8-1/2 " of the outer door skin that wraps around the door shell still intact.so I had something to bit into and not have to replace the entire door skin or even the lower door skin. Wire wheeled and scraped out the rusty scale and applied duplicolor rust repair rust converter into the inner shell corners. It turns rust black and then can be painted over.
I wasn't sure if I had to do this step before or after the rust repair?
I'll post pictures of the repair before and after.

[franken]

I promise there's more rust under the black converted rust.

[Mike_The_Grad]

You are correct Franken. I wire brushed the converted areas a few days later and sure enough still rusty almost worse in fact. Oh well. On the next one I'm going to take it down to shiny metal and shoot some rusty metal primer and gloss paint. Best I can do right now. I'll upload some pictures of the repair.


But my next question is, when repairing rust on the cab, where do I start? From the top down to the floor? Or from the floor up to the top?

I have rust at both front outer corners of cab and that continues down both pillars and onto the floor and rockers.

I would think start where the rust did and follow the path of gravity to repair it. But I also thought I should start at the bottom to have a solid foundation to build on and continue up. Any thoughts?

[Mike_The_Grad]

Lower corner door repair.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Other corner of Same door.

[Ironangel]

Repairing the drip edge will do wonders for stopping water from collecting between the roof panels and running down both windshield pillars. Removing the old calking with a sharp screw driver and wire brush and make any repairs. Treat the rust with a converter or zinc primer and then refill the drip edge with 3M self leveling sealer. The sealer in regular calking gun tubes works well for the vertical sections of drip edge, it's the consistency of cake frosting . The horizontal areas above the doors and windshield get the self leveling (molasses consistency) two part stuff. It requires a special gun to apply, no to expensive and you'll use it other places to seal rust repaired areas and pinch welds. Keep an eye on both body joints at the top of the windshield pillars, that sealer will ooze down the cracks in those joints and may require a little more sealer to fill those areas in level. That stuff sets up pretty quickly but does a remarkable job of filling cracks and joints. Good luck! PS Well done on them doors!

[jumpsoffrock]

Make sure you check the door jamb area where the hinges bolt up to, apparently they are known for cracking and when I checked the four doors I own, they were all cracked severely.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Thanks iron angel.
I've heard good stuff about that 3m self leveling sealant and is what I plan on using when the time comes. I definitely have rust issues in the joint where the drivers side pillar meets the roof right above the windshield.

And no cracking on my truck in those areas.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Here's what I found on the roof outer skin. And my plan of attack. I have patch panels cut from a replacement roof skin. They are 6" wide from the drip rail towards the center of the cab and are from the front drip rail back to the seam that runs across the back of the cab. Any input on trying to repair the roof skin this way vs. Completely new roof skin replacement? Other than the price point being the deciding factor. I'm extremely low budget on this. Like no room for complete skin in the budget

[Mike_The_Grad]

Pictures.

[Mike_The_Grad]

I can't upload picture of the other side but it is very similar

[Smitty]

Here's a couple pictures of the way my body guy repaired mine.

[jumpsoffrock]

I stand corrected: My roof isn't rusted bad at all.
Man that's some real bad rust damage!!

[Mike_The_Grad]

So I'm finally getting around to the cutting and repairing. Long delay after covid for the 2nd time in December, plus rainy winter weather and just plain busy with other people's projects. Today is the day because my buddy needs his welder back. So no time like crunch time to get motivated. I just have to remember not to get a head only myself and focus on the task at hand. Which sounds easy enough but I swear as soon as I start to work on my own stuff distractions start popping up everywhere and everyone. Oh well, just gotta push through and focus. Pics to come later..

[68 C10 Driver]

Great work Mike. I learned to weld while working on my truck...just bought a welder and went at it. Very therapeutic.

I look forward to seeing the progress! Hang in there, it will all pay off!