Home Brew Rebuild and Body Work

[hypgnostic]

Ok all, I'm looking for a couple of tips. I'm down at GTMO, and getting parts and service is pretty much like the rest of Cuba, non-existent. Smaller and cosmetic parts I can get, but anything major isn't happening. I've pretty much entirely redone the interior, so if any of you want info on seat re-upholstery, carpet, headliners, dashes, door hinges, window cranks, etc, let me know.

I'm really eager to start on the body. There's some dents I need fix, and rust that really needs to be taken care of. Most of the rust issues I can take care of by sanding and making small body putty fixes, but a few of them are large and need more attention. So my question is this, with limited tools, does anyone have any suggestions on fixing rust holes? I'm not even sure I can get to any kind of welder or cutter, so cutting the rust out would have to be done by hand, and welding in patches may not be possible. At this point, I'm thinking of using a combination of heavy sanding, steel mesh, and body putty. I'm looking REAL hard at using RustBullet...the review I read on another site looked pretty effective to me. At the moment for a band-aid, I'm sanding the rust and using spray paint primer to spot cover it until better work can be done.

I've even considered getting a small MIG welder to do it myself, but getting the gas for it isn't likely to happen either, and I don't want to use a gasless MIG weld as I'm not too sure the weld would be very strong. Maybe it'd be ok?

All in all, this is a mail order job, (no freight), with all labor done by yours truly. Any advice you all have on body work and rust removal would be awesome. I'm doing tons of research, but thought I'd ask for ya'lls input as well...

Wish me luck...

 

[No.2Diesel]

A wire fed FCAW flux cored arc welder is probably the best in terms of value and quality of the weld for a beginner. You can always add a gas hose and change the wire type later and make it a MIG. Stick welding on body work isn't recomended as it is easy to warp and burn through. Eastwood does sell those arc welders with the stitch gun that reduces voltage for thin gage metals.

 

[No.2Diesel]

What kind of car are you fixing up?

 

[hypgnostic]

Much appreciate the info. I'll definitely take a look at the arc...

I guess I should have mentioned that this is my '86 M1028...got all caught up and forgot to mention that...

 

[rdixiemiller]

You can buy cab patch panels from a variety of sources, including JCWhitney. The rusted areas can be cut out easily with a $19 jigsaw and some fine tooth metal cutting blades. You should be able to get them at the BX. The new epoxies are quite the rage for repairing body panels. They are extremely durable, and with properly prepared surfaces, will last as well or better than a weld. The panels are available with a recessed lip that fits behind the cut out section of the cab corner, allowing you to do a good job gluing it in. A little polyester filler (Bondo) and you are good to sand and paint. The panels are available for all parts of the Chevy truck cab, including rocker panels. I saw a thing on TV a while back where they were using glue in cab patches. The best thing is, no welding skills needed, no fire hazard.

 

[xm708]

cab panels

I know of a few trucks they had in the GL yard down there when I was there last. they were sold and put on a one of those army corps flat deck boats and brought it back to Virginia. I know some Coast Guard ships pull in there often you may gety a hold of them or I could talk to a freind of mine and see if we could get you some stuff. Of course that would be hard because of operational security. how about a buddy going home on leave ? gotta be free flights out of there I know the coast guard flys C130's out of there quite frequently go see them do some horse trading ? I have been to GTMO quite a few times chasing banana rats and those chickens gotta love it. Anyways long story short get a hold of the coasties down there they should help you out.

ed
retired Coastie

 

[hypgnostic]

RE: cab panels

Thanks for the info guys. I was thinking about using the epoxies, but was unsure of how good it would work. Sounds like I'll be using that for the majority of the spot work. As for the Coasties, it just so happens that I'm good friends with a couple (always good to befriend the Coasties, they got the viper boats to get me across the bay instead of using the ferry hahahah). I saw a bunch of fitted panels on JC Whitney that I might spring for, since they were cheap and I won't have to spend time getting some scrap metal cut to size. I think I might have solved the major welding issues. I'm also a SCUBA divemaster, and two of the guys in the class this weekend said their shop has all sorts of welders and cutters, and I'm free to use them. I told 'em they're my new best friends. SCORE! It's about time to get Mad Max on my truck...

P.S. Slingshots do wonders on keeping the banana rats at bay ;D

 

[SETOYOTA]

RE: cab panels

nothing to do with your truck bit GTMO is a treasure trove of military hardware. If you get a chance or are able to look around the far reaches of the property. There is all kinds of military hardware abadoned there at least ten years there was.

Chuck

 

[hypgnostic]

Re: RE: cab panels

nothing to do with your truck bit GTMO is a treasure trove of military hardware. If you get a chance or are able to look around the far reaches of the property. There is all kinds of military hardware abadoned there at least ten years there was.

Chuck

I've done a bit of snooping around, and actually today there's a big auction for used GOV's, but I perused the lot and all they had were old fleet vehicles, like Ford Rangers and panel vans. Nothing of note. They've begun to realize that folks are really interested in the old tactical vehicles here, and so they're making them a bit harder to get to (IE more expensive). Supply and demand and all that jazz.

I DID just get info on the scrapyard though, where they take old HMMWV's to die...mainly by cutting them up into pieces. I need to go dig around and see if they'll let me snag parts. I might be able to get some good stuff for anyone doing rebuilds. If they'll let me at 'em, I'll send them for just the cost of shipping, or whatever price they make me buy them at. I'll look into it and make a post if I have any luck...