Sarge's rattle-can rebuild

[buffydores]

I'd still love to see some cool updates on your rig. It's such a tight utilitarian approach.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by buffydores

I'd still love to see some cool updates on your rig. It's such a tight utilitarian approach.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I'll have some updates soon. I had some patch panels out yesterday measuring how much I'll need for some floor repair. Honestly I've been waiting for it to cool off some, the last six or eight weeks have been brutal!

[68Timber]

Fellow board member made2drag stopped by today, the plan was to take the seats out and the tailgate off so I'd have good access to the floors for some rust repair and freshen up the 'gate internals while it's off and replace the hinges. Pics below of the rear floor rot.

[68Timber]

Instead he says 'go get me a grinder'. Never mind access, next thing I know we're cutting the rear floor.

[68Timber]

There was some rust on the rear floor brace but nothing bad. In the last pic the left side is marked and drilled for the body saw to cut the rust out.

[68Timber]

I had rear floor replacement panels from LMC, so while I was cutting patches for the rear floor brace, DJ cut patches for the bed floor.

[68Timber]

Yeah, I know this is starting to read like a kid's bedtime story, two sentences and two pics at a time. My pictures are too large to upload more than two at a time and I'm too tired to resize them. My apologies...

Here's the patches cut and ready to be welded in. He did a great job and I got much further along today that I'd counted on. I have the patches cut for the rear floor support but we ran out of daylight before I could get the rust cut out there. That needs to be done first then I'll POR the repair before welding in the patches he made for me. Good day though, good progress and good fun. And good work! Thanks again for jumping on it like you did.

[68Timber]

The next several weeks (weather and life permitting) should see good progress on the truck. Once the floors are repaired I'm going to get it clear coated with some low-gloss clear, paint the top inside and out as well and replace the seals on it. Then we'll lay down some sound deadener and new carpet and get some better seats in. There's several other things to do as well, but nothing expensive or flashy, my only goal now is to get it more presentable inside and out and shed the beater look.

[made2drag]

Originally Posted by 68Timber

The next several weeks (weather and life permitting) should see good progress on the truck. Once the floors are repaired I'm going to get it clear coated with some low-gloss clear, paint the top inside and out as well and replace the seals on it. Then we'll lay down some sound deadener and new carpet and get some better seats in. There's several other things to do as well, but nothing expensive or flashy, my only goal now is to get it more presentable inside and out and shed the beater look.

[68Timber]

Almost done with the brace on the left side. I have some welds to smooth and pinholes to fill.

[68Timber]

When we cut out the rusty pieces of bed floor, there was something like RTV or seam sealer between the top of the bed brace and the bottom of the floor. Anyone know what it was? Or what I should use to replace it when the patches are put in place? Thanks.

[MTCK]

Good work. I used a seam sealer from 3M on my crew’s door jamb where the pinch weld comes together. Got it at the local paint supply store.

[68Timber]

Thanks Marcus. The stuff that was there is more flexible like RTV but I think seam sealer will be fine. I need it on top and have to buy some anyway. I got the right side looking much better today. I still have some welds to grind on the left and check for any pinholes, but I expect to POR this within a few days and start burning in the floor patches.

[made2drag]

Looks really good. I'm looking forward to seeing the patches burned in.

[made2drag]

Im guessing you have that shade of green to blend everything in after the floor patches go in?

[mickeykreg]

Not sure where you are with seam sealer, but I thought I'd mention I had a decent experience using these two products. Some of the reviews say that the viscosity of the Eastwood product is a little thin, but I used it on a 55 degree day, which probably helped alot.
I used the 3M down inside of larger gaps, then 2K over the top. Pretty hard to go wrong with 3M stuff.

Also, awesome work over the windshield, that's a tough area.

[68Timber]

Thanks Mickey. Years back the PO of a house I bought left several boxes of that 3M strip caulk in the shop and I ended up giving them to a friend of a friend that owned a body shop. Guess I shoulda kept it.

The rear brace is finished and has a few coats of POR on it but I haven't welded in the floor patches yet. I'm going to need some more MIG gas soon. I'll order some of the Eastwood stuff, that looks like what was under the rear floor lip. Thanks again.

[SeventyOne]

This is a great build. I've always liked these CUCV Blazers and occasionally see what's for sale locally but alas I already have other projects

Keep up the good work!

[68Timber]

The rear is done, but I don't have pics of them welded in. I've been dragging ass on this because the next part of the repair is beyond my comfort zone. The outside edges of the floors, next to the front part of the door jambs, have rust through on each side. made2drag gave me a set of new floor pans that came with a 2wd 77 he recently bought, but the cutting and welding to get them in? I'm nervous about it so I've been putting it off.

[68Timber]

But, it ain't gonna fix itself and it's not in the budget to pay to have it done. So Saturday morning I took the seats and console out to make room to work. Here's where things got worse. I found about five or six more spots of rust. Small, maybe the size of your thumbprint, but dang. If someone had drove up with just a little bit of cash while I was stewing on that, I'd have made them a heck of a deal on two K5 Blazers.

I got busy cutting and grinding out the extra brackets that come on the military trucks while I was stewing on it, and made2drag stopped by. After talking it over with him I've decided to go with panel bond. I can grind out the rust and use rust converter and/or POR15 to stop the rust, but panel bond will be more forgiving for fitting the remaining patches. Bottom line is I can't let this part drag out any further. I want to be done in a few weeks.

Sorry for the crooked photo. My sons were out of town this weekend so I texted this to them captioned #DownForRepairs.

[48cj2a]

Nice work!!!

[made2drag]

You'll get there, just keep on truckin'

3M 8115 is the go-to and they say shine both pieces shiny and squirt it on...press the pieces together and the next day it's a permanent strong-as-weld connection that will never rust. It acts like a seam sealer at the same time.

[68Timber]

Thanks! That's what I bought, it arrived yesterday. Hopefully either this weekend or next I'll be done with floors so I can start putting an interior in this thing. After 8 years of ownership I'm ready for just a little more creature comfort than it came with!

[68Timber]

I made a little time for the truck this weekend, but not much picture-worthy. I got the last of the extra brackets cut off the floor and ground smooth and vacuumed all the dirt and mess out. Oddly enough, this was the only piece of civilian floor trim in truck. For all the other stuff that gets deleted it's kinda odd this piece is there. The screws were stuck but a 3/8" manual impact driver did the trick. Good thing it was there, that would have been an odd piece to track down. I thought I had the trim pieces rounded up but I've gotta find the chrome bezels that trim out the floor latches for the passenger front seat and rear bench seat. I got started on the rust in front. This is the passenger side foot well.

[48cj2a]

John,

The CUCVs came with a floor mat in the cab area that slightly went up the riser and this piece of trim secured it.

There should also be the metal pieces in the door openings that secured it there too.