Shaving drip rails?

[hotrodrookie]

My 59 apache has some rot through the drip rails and Im thinking about shaving them, but I havent seen what they look like all shaved and painted and up close before. If any of you guys have pics of 55-59's with shaved drip rails please post em.

[Kim57]

I don't have any pics but have seen it done and I'm going to do mine. I really like the clean look. Be forewarned though the door gaps will probably need some work to fit evenly. These trucks had terrible gaps from the factory.
Kim

[nuke1]

take alook at our build, it is a 58, not painted or anything yet, but it givves you the idea, check my sig

[Kabwe]

Here you go. This is a picture from a car show. He also changed the door at the rear also.


And here is a link to the thread I when I did mine. Kim57 is right you will have to do something about the gap at the top of the door. The drip rails hide that gab. I added more metal there.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=230619

This is how I dealt with the gap between the door and where the drip rails use to be.



I hope this helps

[hotrodrookie]

Thanks for the responses guys, It looks like im gona have to mount my doors back on before I try and tackle doing it myself. For the extra metal you guys added, did you just take a long stip of sheet metal and put a 90 in it and use that to weld to the drip rail and the top of the door jam? And another question.. Im thinking about cleaning up the firewall and making it smooth, anyone have any preference on cutting the stamped portions out on either side of the trans hump and butt welding in new flat pieces? Or like i'v seen welding the flat pieces right over it..... And any suggestions on how to trim the lip that runs around the firewall? Is it the same approach as the drip rails?

[Kabwe]

Originally Posted by hotrodrookie

Im thinking about cleaning up the firewall and making it smooth, anyone have any preference on cutting the stamped portions out on either side of the trans hump and butt welding in new flat pieces? Or like i'v seen welding the flat pieces right over it..... And any suggestions on how to trim the lip that runs around the firewall? Is it the same approach as the drip rails?

As for the door gap I put the door on and welded a sheetmetal just as you said. As for the firewall there are many ways to do it. I've done mine two ways go look at my build thread. As far as welding I butt weld everything. The only lap welds I have are from the factory.

[BIG CHEVY 3600]

It looks smoother however those rails are like your Gutters at home. They protect you from the water running off your roof.