It's home and the rebuild can start

[Crazyguyla]

After many years of waiting, I finally have a permenant home and have my deuce too. It was delivered in March and I have been slowly working on getting her taken apart.


When I was driving her off the flatbed, she had a noticible miss, like the ignition was shutting itself off, so I stripped down the distributor assembly for a good inspection and cleaning.


The feed through capacitor's wire had been pinched at some point and caused an intermentant short. I was going to order a new one, but decided to try to solder a new lead on. It may not be pretty, but it's fixed.


I have the fenders removed, oh the songs of rusted bolts and busted captured nuts. I was able to get away with only cutting off one bolt head and one washer. The rust was bad, but the tar and shells from when the truck did civilian highway work was the worse. Had to chisel it out, but it did preserve the nuts underneath. Time to see how deep the rust goes. Some will say to just forget about the rust and get a new cab, but I need to fine tune my panel replacement welding so my VW Bug doesn't look as bad when its turn comes up.



Anyone have thoughts on what to coat the inside panels with before I start welding stuff back together?

 

[M543A2]

Good to see you are restoring it! Nice thing about these cabs is there is a lot of flat metal involved, not curving fender stampings, etc. Harbor Freight has nice 110 and 220 volt hand portable spot welders. I bought one, have not used it yet, but think it will be very handy for panel work, etc.

 

[NDT]

Yay!! Glad you did not give up. I have been having excellent luck using cold galvanizing spray paint on areas that will not need to be welded, and then to cover welds. Really controls rust well!

 

[Flyingvan911]

Looks like a great project.

 

[glcaines]

If it was me, I'd look for a used replacement cab. Replacing the cab would be a lot less work.

 

[Crazyguyla]

If it was me, I'd look for a used replacement cab. Replacing the cab would be a lot less work.

It would be less work, but it'd be more believable for a MV to have less then perfect welds than a restored VW Bug, my next project. It's more to perfect my panel work, than doing something easy. Welding heavier gauge metal is a cake walk compared to sheet metal.

Also, the toolboxes on the compressor need more welding to than the cab. Feel like I could do expert body work after this.

 

[cattlerepairman]

I was thinking "wow, this dude is way braver than I am!" when I saw the ratty sheet metal. But your explanation makes perfect sense...build your bodyworking skills and restore a truck at the same time. I hope you will keep us updated!

 

[Crazyguyla]

More work done

I have spent the last month fighting with rusty nuts and bolts. I have been able to get the fenders, headlight panels, rear toolboxes off the truck.


Once the air compressor flaps were tied open, I started pressure washing years of wasp nests off the inside. There were a few active nest that are no more now. Once I have the air compressor assembly removed and on the ground, I will start with removing the sheet metal and assessing if the compressor can be repaired. The engine may have water infiltration too.
Engine: Waukesha 195 GLC-5B 4x4 with Fairbanks-Morse magneto ignition.

Joy air compressor, axial vane, two stage.


Air tank and hose reels. Not looking forward to breaking all that piping apart.


Getting it done little by little.

 

[Crazyguyla]

Cab off, swiss cheese

I finally have the cab off. I'm going to have to rethink about fixing the sheet metal over replacing the cab.

 

[cattlerepairman]

You would essentially be building a new cab. Unless you really like endless endless endless repair work, get a good cab, fix THAT one up while it is off and empty, swap it out and be done with that part. I am sure there is more to fix on a truck that has a cab looking like this....

 

[rchalmers3]

I second that. Your replacement cab will prolly give you plenty of repair time. That cab is toast. Or swiss cheese.

Rick

 

[Crazyguyla]

You would essentially be building a new cab. Unless you really like endless endless endless repair work, get a good cab, fix THAT one up while it is off and empty, swap it out and be done with that part. I am sure there is more to fix on a truck that has a cab looking like this....

Besides basically doing a depot rebuild and repaint of the whole truck, not much else to do

 

[clinto]

Holy moly.

I have a friend who does high end metalwork on expensive ($$$$) antiques and musclecars.

This is them and a '69 M-code (440 6 pack) Super Bee. Typical of 50 year old cars:



On something that's worth $150K, you can fix the cab you have.

On your truck? Buy a cab and be done with it.

 

[Crazyguyla]

Stuck pistons

After failing to get the aircompressor engine to turn over, I reluctanly pulled off the head to find a few rusted cylinders. I filled them with a ATF/Acetone mix and bolted the head back on. Hopefully the pistons will release. Google hasn't given me a warm and fuzzy about replacement pistons and liners.

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