There is no shame in buying what you need from Horrible Freight.
The 1/2-inch box end wrench from HF gets lost/stolen/walks-away just as quickly as a Craftsman...
There is no shame in buying what you need from Horrible Freight.
The 1/2-inch box end wrench from HF gets lost/stolen/walks-away just as quickly as a Craftsman...
Beautiful work, gmwillys!! Not sure I'm ready to jump off in the deep end and go to that extent, yet. I'm the same as you as far as tools. I can't see spending crazy money when I can get functional for less. I spent the day working on the passenger floor pan. Got the old cut out and assessed the extent of damage from the old rust worm. Looks like I'm gonna have to do a bit of work on the floor riser. The flange is pretty eaten up. So is the area where they put the doubler. Feels like eating an elephant, lol. One bite at a time.
"Feels like eating an elephant, lol. One bite at a time."
Or, as Ira/Pelago taught us; "Just one bolt at a time"
That's right Cajun, one bite at a time. You are making good progress though it doesn't feel like it. Yes the flanges for the riser are usually in tough shape. I've had to cut it out completely and weld in new with some scraps I had on hand. The wagon project will need new flanges formed for the tool box walls. I need to invest in a shrinker/stretcher to form the curve at the corners of the tool box.
gmwillys, I’m scavenging too. My original tailgate is past being repairable, so I’m cutting out all the good metal. It’ll go into repairing the riser. I think I even have some usable metal left from the floor pans I cut out! Gotta make good use out of what you have!
Ira/Pelago and GMWillys have commented that the original metal is easier to work with than modern metal. It may be something to do with being very similar alloys from the same time frame.
That is a true statement about the metal. I much rather use donor steel from the '50s. It takes heat better than modern steel without warping. The second picture was of a floor replacement on a M151A2, using some vintage steel to form the complex curves to match the original contours. On the M38A1 project that I had posted some of the pictures from, I was lucky to find two donor tubs that were too far gone in the areas that I didn't need. We did get a third, but the body was too nice to cut up. I did use the frame from the third to set the repaired body to verify the body mounts were correct, while the original frame was being rebuilt.
Last edited by gmwillys; 03-25-2021 at 05:53 AM.
Every time I see that body hanging on the engine stand, genius gm!
A better trick was the wagon body. That was a bit more work. Hopefully by the end of this year, I'll have a two post lift to aid in dropping the body back on.