No pictures today

Today I turned out the drum brakes of the Chevy.
They are pretty worn.
I had to make special adapters to align the rotors of the front  drums , otherwise they would not spin in center.
Even for the rear drums I had to make an adapter.

In the end I was able to turn out the drums all 4 of them.
They were pretty oval.
To be on the safe side I looked on the Internet for tolerances.
At one side I found drums new and they gave a maximum internal diameter of 281 mm.
The rear drums are just inside that dimension and the front drums are over the top.
I think to be on the safe side they all should be replaced. That way the diameters are about the same and that will give less brake force difference left to right.

I did not make any photos of the progress. I this time tried something else. I made a video.

The video is about 10 mim long. Hope you enjoy.

Chassis work.

A few days a go the pickup bed , rear fenders , running boards and some other small parts arrived at my shop to repair and inspect them.

 While I'm waiting for some time to work on those parts an other crew is working on the chassis.

 They installed new bushings for the rear springs . New shock absorbers are installed and new breaklinings and brake cylinders. And not to forget the brake lines.

 Wheel bolts and nuts are ordered today as is the brake cylinder for the rear right side.

 On the front new springs are installed and the axle itself is completely overhauled.

 They are now waiting for the brake drums to be redone. And the steering box is being overhauled as we speak.

Soon we will update on more items that are done.

Cabin? Done

Today I started fabricating the new piece to weld in in the left rear corner of the cabin.
I was so eager to get it done that I forgot to take more pictures.
But here are a few pictures when I reminded myself.

 In this picture the part is welded in place.

And in this picture the part is ground and worked on some more to get the last bumps out.
Then I walked around the cabin and did a final check. A few small dents in the roof drip rail were repaired and a small piece on the edge with the door that was ground trough was welded.
This means that the cabin is completed.

Finishing the rear right corner

I could not resist working some more on the car.
So I did.

 And I started with some more work on the piece I started yesterday. Hammering, shrinking, bending, cutting and comparing it against the old part.

 Then some more and some welding and voilà a new part is finished.

 Next I drilled some holes and painted it for rust protection.
Then the welding started.

 After the welding was finished I did some grinding and some final shaping to get it near perfect. Then some paint was sprayed on to protect it.

 So next I started with the left corner.

 After cutting the outside part away you are able to see what damage the rust had done to the metal behind.

 I cut out the bad part  and made a new piece that fit right in.

 Welded it in place and ground the welds flush.

And then painted it.
Next time I will make the last part for this cabin.

Dashboard.

At last I had a day to do some more work on the car.

 So I prepared a good part of the piece that I cut out earlier to get access and welded it in place.

 Then I made a new part to replace the bad part of that piece and tacked it in place.

Then I ground all welds flat and applied some protective paint. This is looking much better than it was before.

 Some time before Christmas the new dashboard arrived. So I prepared it and held it in place with some vise-grips and some bolts to check the fitment of the part.

  And then I welded it in place and ground all the welds. On to the next thing.

 In the picture above you see a rail on the edge of the door opening. That rail was straightened and welded back in place. It was previously removed to get out the side panel.

 Same thing with the other side. After welding the welds were ground flush.

 Next I started with the rear right corner of the cab. A piece was cut out. It was badly pitted and full of tiny holes.

 First I selected a piece of plate big enough for making a new part.

 It was cut to shape and then I started with the rough shaping of the part.

 After some time pounding shrinking and stretching the part is taking form.

We are not there yet but we are getting close. It will take some more time working the metal to have it like the original but we are getting there.

The chassis

Today I transported the Chassis of the pickup to an other location.

It is sandblasted primed and painted black.
Waiting for the next step.

A-pillar nr 2

Today we first started with Welding in some struts to hold the car together.
Then a large piece of metal was cut out to get access to the parts behind it.

 Next we cut off a bad piece of rail ( rusted trough) and replaced it with some new plate.

 Next a piece of the floor that has holes in it was cut out and new plates ar made and tacked in place.

 Then a piece of metal was formed bent cut and welded to extend the lower part of the door rail.

 Then we tackled the part that was cut out. We cut the larger piece up in small sections to be repaired. and this parts was first. On the picture below the new parts of metal are tacked in place.

 Then the big sheet with the holes in it.

 We cut it in pieces and kept the good part. Then we cut a plate and formed it into a new piece and that was tacked to the old one.

 Then the seems is fully welded ground a painted and put aside.

 We the welded the part we made earlier and finished it an painted it.

 Then the part that is part of the A-pilar where the bottom hinge is mounted. The lower portion was repaired and new metal welded in place.

 After The paint had dried we mounted all the pieces together and tacked them in place. We've taken some measurements to be sure everything is in place where it needs to bee and started the welding process.

 The inside and the outside.

 We are now ready to do some grinding and make the last part to put in place.

But that will be for another day.