More Adventures in Rust
Well, I got good news and bad news.
First the bad news: A lot more of this truck is rust than I first thought.
The good news: I don’t care.
I’ve noticed something about what makes a fix on the truck successful, versus what makes one seem hopeless. The “really knowing what it is exactly” factor is what I’m calling it. It seems that whenever I start a little project on the truck (like he door pins, for example) it always turns out to be waaaaay more time consuming than I thought at first blush. That is because I haven’t been REALLY looking at a problem before I dive in. When I DO take the time to really strip everything out of the way and really get a good look at what I’ll be working on, that seems to be when things go really well. So from now on, that is my goal: to not get surprised by the work load.
So back to the rust. There is a lot of it. I first took out the seats, seat belt bolts, and the various trim pieces holding down the carpet… by the way, if you ever decide to do this, I cannot stress enough how much you need a 9/16ths box end and a huge star bit for getting the seat bolts and seat belt bolts off. Critical. I had neither.
After the seats and other stuff was out, I stripped up the carpet and nasty moldy soggy under pads and what I assume is rotten Hushmat. I threw it all out. When all this is said and done, I will have a Rhinoliner type coating instead of carpet. After I got out the carpet, I got a good long look at the situation.
The short of it is this: there is damage that will have to be fixed via cutting and welding in the following panels: Both inner rockers, both outer rockers, both floor pans, the driver side cab support, both a-pillar bottoms, the driver side footwell. I will possibly have to repair the passenger side footwell. It wouldn’t surprise me. Now the good news its this: I will not have to replace these panels in their entirety. I can salvage a vast majority of both the inner and outer rockers on both sides – I’d say 60% or so – and I think the passenger side cab support can be salvaged. Of course, I’ve never actually done this, but I’ve done it many times in my head. I have no doubt that I can cut, shape, and fit what I need to. Welding is the only bit I’m worried about really. But I guess this will be good practice.
I’m really really glad I will be able to keep most of the rockers as that will help line everything up a LOT. the bottom of the a-pillars is going to be a bitch. I’ll just have to wing it I suppose. Also fun: I will have to drop the fuel tank to do this. But it is full of rust and needs replacing anyway. I’ll do that at the same time.
All in all I think I’m looking at $750 or so in materials (that includes paint, discs, wire, primer, paint, liner – pretty much everything but the electricity). My estimate is that it will take 5 full days.
As soon as I have the funds, I will begin.
EDIT 2014 Update:
I ended up having a guy do this welding work. I’ll post more on my update on that post.