1956 International Restoration 120 Series: Bed and Box repairs

To get the new floor mounted properly, there's quite a bit of prep work to do. Because the new floor needs to be trimmed to fit, it will be missing the edge-flange that normally gets welds to the box sides. So, first up was measuring for angled pieces that will be installed to support the floor perimeters in place of those edges.

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With the new metal measured and drawn out, I got out the sheer to cut the metal into the pieces needed.

                         Once the pieces where all cut out, I prepped them with 80Grit on the DA.

Each piece was then bent to 90 degrees in the brake -

Next up was to drill holes for the rosette welds that will attach them to the box sides.

The new pieces where then treated with Rust Bullet 

to make sure they last longer than the original metal did.

With that done, I turned back to the box, to prep all the areas

 that needed attention prior to the floor going in.

 The areas that will accept the angles pieces were ground to bare metal and treated with Rust Bullet.

The weld-areas will be marked and the Rust Bullet removed to ensure metal-onm mtal weld penetrration is possible.

The box's rear cross member needed some more work before being welded back on 

and this pounding kit was just the ticket - 

One side of the box required a patch panel, which was cut, drilled for spot welds and treated as well.

As I mentioned above, the Rust Bullet is removed in the weld-zones - 

If you look closely you can see the spots where the welds will be have been marked in order to clean the Rust Bullet from them prior to welding.

The patch, welded on and ready for finishing.

The box is now very close to being able to get the new floor installed.

Using a mask in the shop really shows how dirty (bad) this hobby can be! Oh well, I've been sucking it in since I was a kid in my Dad's shop. Its good to know that guys like George Barris (Batmobile, Beverly Hillbillies car, etc) lived to be 89...  

 and one of the Gods of rod-building, is still at it - at 83!

 


                              

1956 International Restoration 120 Series: the beautification process begins

The large body panels and shell were not sandblasted - due to the damage that can happen, so I carefully stripped the original paint form the areas needing repairs to start.

The top of the cab had a large dent that was never properly repaired, just filled.

Of course it's double-walled on the inside, which explains the lack of effort in the original  repair

Passenger lower door will have new metal spliced in - 

Let the SPARKS fly!

Under the cab the transfer case was still packed with a cement-like mud substance - which took nearly an hour to remove :(  Below you can see the area the sand- blaster couldn't penetrate.

Ford Runabout Rod Build: Front-end and cross member

Sourced a decent 221 Flatty and crank for the E-rod and brought it home:

Being a one-man show is hard on the back!

Working hard to get the front end situated... here I'm going to cut off the existing 

front cross member - with the downward bow in it, and replace it with a straight 

piece I fabbed from a F150 tyranny cross member.

With a temporary hold made of some old angle iron to hold the frame rails in place,

 I ground out the factory rivets then drove them out with the air-hammer.

The cut-down F150 cross member fit like a glove - 

And the leaf spring set-up slid right in - 

The angle finder helps keep the frame rake in check.

However, the rear-end as mocked up with drums on the axle-ends, 

so I'll have to make allowances for that once its on tires and wheels.

1956 International Restoration 120 Series: Box and Frame repairs & E-rod Front end mock up

Via www.E-tekRestorations.googlepages.com 

After removing the box from the truck - using the lift - it was time to get to some of the repairs that where hiddne, or just hard to get to with the box still on the truck:

Including the rear frame member, which had taken a SEVERE beating over the rears....

 

Once I finished beating on that for severla hours, I switched to somethig a little more mechanical: mocking up the front suspension and axle on the E-rod. 

The single front leaf connects to the axle via this shackle, 

which will get cut down to just the bit that holds the shackle.

 

In the rear, its a similar set-up: a single leaf holds it all up: