Body work advice needed

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

yep Doug...dad was a decent welder back in the day....it was on his 57 IH 4x4....I think they stamped those things outta 1/8" sheetmetal...I didn't know what he was doing at the time but he had a copper bar he backed it up with when he welded it...
on a side note I'm secretly trying to resurrect his 57 IH 4x4 without him knowing....it hasn't run in 30yrs...I've already got a donor truck hid at a friends and am in the process of "stealing" his old one....ill be doing a build thread in alternative section soon...dads 83 so I've got to hurry...

My dad missed seeing his 55 F-100 he bought in 1966 restoration finished by only months in 2004. This article when it was in Rodders Journal was so damn cool because it was more of a celebration of our family than the cars. That's him on his Harley around 1939.

Brian

[mongocanfly]

that's both sad and cool at the same time Martin

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

yep Doug...dad was a decent welder back in the day....it was on his 57 IH 4x4....I think they stamped those things outta 1/8" sheetmetal...I didn't know what he was doing at the time but he had a copper bar he backed it up with when he welded it...
on a side note I'm secretly trying to resurrect his 57 IH 4x4 without him knowing....it hasn't run in 30yrs...I've already got a donor truck hid at a friends and am in the process of "stealing" his old one....ill be doing a build thread in alternative section soon...dads 83 so I've got to hurry...

Awesome plan and look forward to the he build thread!

[MARTINSR]

I just realized that black 39 Ford Coupe that is above the photo of my dad on the Harley, that was my brothers. I also had a Nailhead in it. He sold it around 1985 and he just bought it back a month ago! Found it on ebay in Georgia as I remember.

Brian

[Hampshire]

Late to this thread but back to the OP's original post and advice given: X 2 on the advice to tack the panel in place on the truck & absolutely to planish the welds.

...on Planishing: Back in the early 70's I got my first real education on butt welding at a new job. The first project I saw my boss do was butt weld all the major body panels repairs on a very rusty Porsche 356. Though we had a Miller 35, He did this all with an oxy-acetylene rig, steel rod, and hammers/dollys. After completing each 1" of butt weld he would "pin shrink" the weld...first heat, then hammer/dolly and finish with a quick press of a wet rag when done. The area where the seam was would end up perfectly blended into the panel(usually curved). This was time consuming and fussy work. Many more steps to complete but suffice to say that just prior to the first primer, there was no Bondo (some leading, though - in areas with complex shapes, etc.).

I ran on that first "demo" for many years after. Never achieved the level of skill my boss had, but developed a healthy respect for that level of craftsmanship. Having somebody do that type work for you today is very $$$. Fortunately the forums, local trade classes and Youtube have made access to these techniques more widely available to the DYIer.

[Crash0637]

Guys, I am blown away at the responses! I made this post last week and due to work have not really had any free time to come back and take a look at the replies.

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to give advice to a noob. I think this is the first thread I have never started that made it to two pages!

I will look into that thread on garage journal and spend some time planishing my welds before giving into the bondo gods.

It's been an extremely long time since I updated my build thread, I am overdue. I will post a big update in the very near future.

Thank you again!