60-65 Cab Floor Rust Repair - My Journey

[BillyFrank]

So I thought I would document my journey of finding, removing, and replacing all of the rust in the cab of my 1965 C20. Boy was I in for an adventure!


(My Story)

I'm currently 16 years old, and have owned my 1965 Chevy c20 for some time now. This is my first classic car, or any car that is, that I have owned, and my plan with it was to get it reliable and somewhat comfortable to drive, and then well, drive it... I've already done some things to help the cause, like new bed wood, shocks, seat, exhaust, etc. But now i've committed to tackling with the rust in the cab. I'd like to add in a carpet with some insulation underneath to help make it quieter and more easy on the eye, but can't do anything until the rust holes are taken care of.

I have NEVER done any rust repair or body work of any kind before. Thanks to this website and my knowledgable and encouraging Grandpa, I gained enough courage to give it a go. Any criticisms, tips, and help are welcomed!

Well, here we go.


Here is the truck as it stood before I dug into it.




As you can see, The area around the rocker panel is pretty bad, although I was hoping only the rocker panel would have to be replaced.

Either way, I knew the rocker had to come out. To do this, I used a special bit to drill around the spot welds, and then used a grinder and air chisel to get the remaining pieces off.







Removing the Rocker Panel left me with this




Yikes! Not what I wanted to find. But hey, I honestly was expecting it. It could always be worse!

Because I did not want a display of sunbeams shining through the holes, illuminating the underneath of the cab, I had to remove much more metal than i planned (called it). So on I went.

I continued by removing the lowest portion of the door pillar by cutting a line across and drilling out the spot welds. This revealed the true extent of the rust damage.





Time to order some panels!










I ordered these panels from ClassicParts and am pretty impressed at their quality. The A pillar (I think that's what it's called) seemed a lot different than the original, but should work fine, as it is hidden underneath other panels and will be virtually invisible. What truly surprised me however, was the inner rocker panel, which appeared very well stamped and detailed.The true test will be fitting them in when the time comes.