Another COE project...

Hi Folks,
I just ordered rocker panels and cab corners from Dennis Carpenter. That was a quick way to blow $200.00. So, let's see, so far it's like this. $500.00 for the COE cab, $500.00 for two good doors from AZ, plus $200.00 for the shipping, about $90.00 for the platform and the big caster wheels, $50.00 in fuel to bring the cab home plus the $200.00 I just spent. Now I'm up to $1,440.00 and all I have to show for it is this pile of rust in the shop. I must be insane. On top of all this I can think of another $800.00 that needs to be spent on it just to get the cab in primer and ready to paint. Since there are no COE cab specific parts being produced as there are for the conventional cab, with exception of cab corners and a few parts that normally aren't subject to the rust bugs. The rest of the sheet metal I have to fabricate and that isn't all. I also have to restore parts of the front fenders and make all the side steps from scratch. I can see three grand going into just the cab. What was I thinking???

Later Folks...



Darkside Dave

wow you sure keep busy. I'm juggling projects too. Rebuilt the 48F1 steering box last month and replaced the tie rod ends this weekend. The steering was good after rebuilding the box and now a even moreso with the pasenger side tie rod end having been bad. But as long as I was there I replaced both tie rod ends.

Had to replace the one wire 60Amp alternator on my 58F100 last month. It sure didn't last long:). Those things can be kinda tempermental i guess. But they don't cost much. That's the good part.

Weather is getting often spring-like around here and been driving the trucks more.. Although continued gas price hikes are continuing to make the trips shorter and less often. $$ Infrequent but still fun, or maybe even more fun.

My spring/summer/fall part time job will start up again soon--probably Mayish--Looking forward to some cash.

Thanks Tom,
lets hope I can keep things rolling at the current pace. If all goes as planned my doors from Phoenix should be here tomorrow. I expect the stuff From Mid Fifties to be here possibly by Friday. It would be great if they are her by then because I can start on putting this thing back together. The sooner it's back together, the sooner I can send it off to be blasted.
Later Man...



Darkside Dave

Hi Folks,
After all the problems with the board and and going to the Ohio state vehicle auction, I finally got back on the COE project for a few hours this afternoon. I had to go up to the auction place this morning to pick up the snow plow I bid on for my friend but I made it back in time for some serious work. I also got a delivery from the guy with the brown truck. It was the other parts I ordered. Now I can finish cutting out the old stuff that I know exactly what I need to leave. Tomorrow should make some serious progress and maybe there will be more pictures.

Later Folks...



Darkside Dave

Hi Folks,
I finally got back on the project today. I stripped down the rear cross member today and started to put the new stuff together. It was welded to the rear floor section. I had to cut out the old floor and welds and then weld on the new section and then start positioning the inside corners. Toward the end of the workday I positioned the floor and cross member in the cab to see how the left inside cab corner lines up. I temporarily fastened it on with self drilling screws. If everything lines up OK I will weld the inside corner on and take out the screws and then weld closed the screw holes. Below is a series of pictures I took today as the work progressed.

Later Folks...



Darkside Dave

Dave,

Do you know if you can sand/shape the epoxy squeeze-out and then topcoat with primer or do you have to topcoat with some other filler prior to priming? I have contemplated on bonding the tonneau cover sheet to the frame with epoxy on my project but I am not sure I can get the corner fillet they way I want it were the edge of the sheet metal meets the tonneau cover frame. Because of this I have been planning on welding it on solid and then grinding the corners down to create the fillet I want.

As of now I have not tried but I should have an answer and maybe some pictures this Sunday. As of right now that stuff is pretty damn hard so I suspect you can work it. It may end up being micro porous and in that case would require a thin filler coat. All my base filler coats are going to be All Metal filler.

Later Man...


Darkside Dave

Have you ever used USC duraglas fiberglass filled filler? It is what I use when I need something heavy duty. I have never used all-metal but I also haven't heard anything good about it.

No But My neighbor has tried the USC stuff. He seemed to like it. As I understand, there are two varieties of it, one course for deep filling and another finer grade for finish work. I have been a fan of the All Metal stuff since back in the late 60s. It works well in seams and does not crack out if you prep it right. As with any filler, surface prep is everything. I have even seen it drilled and tapped for screws. Originally the stuff was called Alumalead. Downside it that it costs a lot more. It's about $30.00 a quart. I only use it a base and then go with standard 3M filler for the finish coat. Personally I like the all Metal stuff but some folks don't. It works a bit different than the regular filler. But then again, I'm not building show trucks. I intend to use these things and most of the time a 20 footer is good enough for me. With me it's a matter of structure, strength and utility over appearance. That's not to say I don't appreciate a great looking job.

BTW, I did sand down some of the panel bond adhesive and it appears to work well. Looks as good as any filler. Here again though, it's high dollar stuff.

Later Man...



Darkside Dave

Hi Folks,
Finally back working on the cab again... It's not really much to show for the time involved. I spent a lot of the time cutting out cardboard patterns and then transferring them to a sheet of 16 GA. steel and then cutting it to fit. I find that if I limit myself to doing just one part or piece per work session, I do a lot better work. I still have to cut and weld in two more ribs under the floor before I weld in this piece.

Tomorrow I'll be going to town with the wife so not much will get done on the cab once again.

Later...



Darkside Dave

Dave, I'd like to share with you some of the ideas I put together for my L-700 Dodge project before that fell through and it left town. I was going to use a school bus chassis, the kind with the flat nose and front engine. That would give me a 2.5 ton chassis, diesel power, allison automatic, power steering and brakes. The later models all have the Bud style rims instead of those darn Dayton split rims. Also the steering geometry is already located correctly for the column to line up. It has straight frame rails so the engine could be scooted to the rear to line up wherever you needed it. Same with the rear axle, just a matter of sliding it forward to where you need it, drill new bolt holes and cut off the excess chassis. My plan was to use a wrecker body without the hoist. I was going to use the kind that had the toolbox in the front of the bed and mount the engine at least partially under it. Access panels could be made in the top and sides, (inside the tool boxes), for engine maintenance. This would avoid having to tilt or remove the cab for major repairs. It all looked good in my head and on paper, but I never found out for sure.
Maybe some of this info will help you or give you some ideas.

Bill.

Hi Folks,
I finally got to get back on the project for a day. I worked until I ran out of shield gas and got this far. I started on what I consider to be the worst part of the cab which is the lower left front part of the cab and front floor section. There are no replacement parts for this section of the cab. Al you can get is the stuff that is the same as the conventional cabs. As you can see, all the stuf has rusted away or previously has been cut out and replaced by a hack job which was no good at all. I'm kind of flying by the seat of my pants on this one. I am trying as best I can to duplicate in a reverse image the right side but there are still differences. It still looks pretty rough but first I'm going for structural integrity and then cosmetics. Below are the latest pictures.

Since I am going to roll the cab over on it's back later to do all the welding on the underside I decided to just tack the underside for now. The problem with welding the underside now is that the sub frame that is holding everything in place is in the way. When all the work topside is done I can remove the cab from the sub frame. Next I plan on getting the rest of the left front floor and lower firewall in. I'm doing away with the through the floor pedals and going to firewall mounted swing pedals. I don't need all the holes and removable floor sections.

Later Folks...



Darkside Dave