57 Chevy truck

I resumed working on the truck last month after my winter hibernation. Started by fabricating the radiator support and fan shroud.

Layout on 18g sheet


Ran it through the bead roller


Beat into submission to bend into a box. (I don't have a sheet metal brake).




Mocked up, ready to prep for paint.



More parts coated with epoxy
 
Wow, you are good at fabrication. When doing this '55 I figured the aluminum radiator was oversized enough and the electric fan surround would be adequate.
Yours looks much more professional!
Electric Fan installed.jpg


Installed this overflow reservoir as well.

Coolant Overflow 1.jpg
 
Thanks guys.

Sanding all those round bulbous areas has been a nightmare. I kept adding filler to shape, and then sanded flat spots back into it. I hope it turns out OK. Going to spray slicksand this afternoon.
 
Slicksand sprayed. Looking at the picture shows a big low spot in the roof. :mad: I hope it is just a camera illusion.
 
Coronet, how did you sand the cab corners without making flat spots? Every time I think it's perfect, I find another flat spot. :(
 
You should stop by and give me a sanding lesson. ;) I'm getting really frustrated. I'm using durablocks, motorguard flex blocks, and a soft roller block. Every layer, the shape changes. I'm making the first cut with 100-150 until the gloss is gone. Then using guide coat with 150-180 evenly until the guide coat is gone.

Here is a flat spot between the window and the hump that I must have sanded flat previously. Need to add shape again.



I'm at a dilemma. The black spots is epoxy that was sprayed 1-3 years ago. There are some tiny metal spots. There are still some low spots. Folowing the rules says don't put anything over epoxy more than a couple weeks old. But another round of slicksand in this area should fill these lows. When I was doing filler and had small low spots, I would skim with more filler. Then sanding it out, I created more adjacent low spots, resulting in more filler. Again and again. That's why I moved on to slicksand hoping it would correct those issues.

 
Here was another flat spot after working on the slicksand. I added more filler to create shape. When feathering it in, I tend to create more low spots around the repair. As you can see, my filler spreading skills are terrible. :eek:
 
I have a set of these for sanding complex curves like those

www.autobodytoolmart.com

Style-Line Soft Sanders

The Style-Line Soft Sanders are a pack of six blocks that with varying densities. The sanding blocks are flexible enough to be compressed or distorted to fit into places that are hard to sand. You may use the sander blocks with adhesive-backed sandpapers. The soft, rounded edges eliminate...
www.autobodytoolmart.com

Don
 
One tip I can offer: You need to spread your filler a few inches beyond the low spot so as to allow for feathering.

Sanding is the worst but also the most important part of the painting process IMHO.
I had many panels with cracks, rust holes, bends and dents in them. Some required patches and others just needed cracks welded.

As for getting the panels right, I deal with them one at a time and use 3M dry guide coat. On these older vehicles it can be a tedious project and you just can't be in a hurry.

Some of the stuff just never lined up right from the factory. Others were damaged.

This truck had been dismantled and all the parts painted before it came to me. So it was a jigsaw puzzle from the start.

Whoever did the work took this guy for a lot of money since they never assembled, aligned and then repaired the panels. Had some with screws/bolts broken off and left in the holes when painted.

Grill support poor fit upper right 1.JPG


The left front fender had a crack in the metal that they painted over as well.
FenderDriverSplit.jpg


How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
Looking forward to seeing your progress.
 
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Those were all the same areas I had to correct. I had everything straight and aligned before I resumed on the cab. Now that I've changed the shape again, I'm worried that the doors wont line up right again.

I'm also using the dry guide coat. It helps me get flat, but not the correct shape.

Yes, that was a huge low spot on the roof. Added more filler. I have probably spent 100 hours in the last 2 weeks just sanding and shaping filler on the cab.
'68 Coronet R/T said:
Looking forward to seeing your progress.
Click to expand...
Me too! I feel like I'm going no where. But, I'm down to only a few problem areas left...
 
I fought hard with door alignment. They were never that great to begin with as the factory tolerances were not like they are today.
If I remember correctly, I had to make some slight modifications to the hinges/mounts to get a bit more adjustment.
 
The doors weren't too bad. The fender to door match was terrible.
Before:


I opened up the flange and stretched/reshaped the metal on both fenders.


After:
 
You are on the right track, it just takes a lot of time. This is why I NEVER quote a job anymore, everything is time and materials or I don't touch it.
Wait till you see this 1969 GMC Pickup a guy brought me to "remove a few dents."
 
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