[eventhough]

More pics.

Pic 1) Front bench seat mount cut out flush with floorboard
Pic 2) Rust at seam under rear bench - not too bad.
Pic 3) Cut out driver's side floorboard - still more to cut out futhur up front. Had to cut out one support - will weld in a piece of angle iron for support.

[eventhough]

Few more pics...

Pic 1) Hole in door sill - driver's side. I will tackle this too this weekend.
Pic 2) Body mount @ driver's side A pillar. Not in too bad of shape - plan on cutting out rust from floor, cleaning up body mount, and coating in something.

I cut out much more metal than what was probably required. I wanted to make sure I had a good surface to weld to.

The frame looks in pretty good condition. Within the year I will do some sort of cleaning on her and the underside followed by a coating of some good stuff...

When I am done with the floors all bad rust will be cut out and replace with new metal and all surface rust ground off. I will then prime and paint the floor probably with just Rustoleum since this is a trail truck, and then will apply many liberal coats of bedliner. I would like some sort of sound deadening material along with the bedliner. Does anyone have any suggestion?

PS: I am not done with the rust in the pics...there is much grinding and wheeling still to do.

[clemson55]

Looking good now lets see the fix That body mount doesnt look to bad though. This is the part where I got bogged down fixing rust over and over just wears on you eventually.

[eventhough]

I understand about the rust. My goal is by the end of the weekend to have all of the rust cut out of the floorboard area and as much clean-up done as possible. I think I should be able to get all the rust cut out plus all clean-up and prep done for welding in new metal...then there are the fenders, rear quarters, roof......

[eventhough]

So I feel bad about not giving any text...here is a little...

I spent about 10 hours this weekend cutting out rust so I can weld in new metal, install bucket seats, and lay down a bedliner. I didn't get as far as I wanted to but I am pretty happy with my work. Some areas look better than I expected and some worse but nothing I can't deal with.

Pic 1) Shot of the inside at beginning of work this weekend. At the end of the weekend I pulled out the rear wood panels, speaker boxes, speaker wire, wheel well covers but didn't get to the heater. It will come out soon.
Pic 2) Before shot of rust at rear seam under rear bench. I have cut all of this out but didn't take a pic - will add later.
Pic 3) Front bench pulled out.

[eventhough]

Pic 1) front bench mounts after being cut out. Both were cracked in the rear but that's OK as I won't need them again.
Pic 2) Rear quarter inside w/ wood panel removed and rear wheel well cover - some rust at wheel well...still to be fixed.
Pic 3) Passenger A pillar body mount before work started.

[eventhough]

Pic 1) A pillar passenger body mount during work - I thought I could save some of this mount but it all had to be cut out.
Pic 2) Body mount removed.
Pic 3) At rear passenger door - still cutting out more rust - this will be tricky to replace.

[eventhough]

Pic 1) Rust ontop of rear wheel wells - looks the same on both sides. I hopefully will be able to just grind this off but if not I will cut it out and replace.
Pic 2) Mrs. Eventhough after she arrived back from a trip. The look on her face is her declining to help cut out rust.
Pic 3) But she did want to take a picture of me working. I don't have eye protection and fase mask on in the pic but I wear them along with ear protection always.

[yooper]

Is this underneath the rear seat? I never even looked there.





What are these? Nasty cracks.

[eventhough]

Originally Posted by yooper

Is this underneath the rear seat? I never even looked there.

What are these? Nasty cracks.

Yup, under rear seat. It wasn't too bad. I cut out all the rust and will weld in some new metal. The only place that I am still figuring out how to fix is between the rear passenger's door and the bed hump.

Those cracks are on the old front bench mounts that I cut out. No worries though as I don't need them for anything.

[yooper]

This looks really good.




Yeah that rear door/hump edge is a complex shape. That's gonna take some finesse. Maybe save it for last after you get some metalwork experience!

[eventhough]

I thought I could salvage part of that front passenger body mount - one light wack with the hammer proved me wrong.

I have to get the floors fixed soon so I can install the buckets so my wife will go with me on my next trip. I am going to bedline the interior also so I have to do a good job w/ prep so the liner will stick...I don't really care much about a perfect match on that tricky spot...as long as the rust is gone and the door closes.

I hope you are happy with the progress on your X!

[LC_Hamma]

Good god man, you gots way more patience than me. Right when you think you got some *good metal to weld your new panel to, you start chasing new burn thru holes If the rust is that bad already, Wait till you get to the area under the rear tailgate. Mine was so I cut it all off. Is the GF okay with your time spent on the PIG? Mine wasn't, so she got the boot

[yooper]

Originally Posted by eventhough

I hope you are happy with the progress on your X!

Oh most definitely. I'm loving watching this, even though I cringe and feel guilty at every rust picture. It's always fun to watch somebody else do all the work though!

She's going to be super solid when you're done. What a great truck.

[eventhough]

Originally Posted by LC_Hamma

Good god man, you gots way more patience than me. Right when you think you got some *good metal to weld your new panel to, you start chasing new burn thru holes If the rust is that bad already, Wait till you get to the area under the rear tailgate. Mine was so I cut it all off. Is the GF okay with your time spent on the PIG? Mine wasn't, so she got the boot

The area under the tailgate looks good except on the corners. I am going to order some patch panels from Australia to fix these areas.

I am cutting out more metal than I probably need to so I will have good metal to cut to. I could probably get away w/ cutting out 30-40% less metal but I would rather cut out more now than deal w/ burn through.

The wife is very happy w/ my work on my Pig. My other hobby is training mixed martial arts (think Ultimate Fighting). I am nursing an injury that hasn't healed well enough to go back to fighting (broken arm and torn up ligaments in a finger) so the Pig is taking up my time now. The wife likes me coming in dirty from gringing metal rather than with black eyes and broken bones!

[clemson55]

Mine was just like that under the rear seat only a little worse. Holes you could put a pen through. Looks like your making some progress Steve.

[Wayneraintree]

looks good man, keep it up! Sounds like your approach is giving the results so good job.... 'nother pig passed to the right person for rejuvenation.

[Kaderabek]

Have you found that quarter I lost in 2001 yet? I need to make a call.

TJK

[eventhough]

Originally Posted by Kaderabek

Have you found that quarter I lost in 2001 yet? I need to make a call.

TJK

I did find a quarter under the driver's side floor mat...dated 1966 - do you want for me to mail it to you? I haven't found anything though along the lines of what Trollhole found in his Piggie.

[Kaderabek]

I believe Yooper found my Leatherman. Casey should have been more observant.

Was there a crescent wrench in the passenger rear quarter panel? I dropped one in there and never could get it out.

TJK

[Wayneraintree]

oh now we see TJK is true to form, he misses his piggie! the pig fever is not easiy curable ; )

[Kaderabek]

I do not wish to be cured. Swine fever suits me just fine.

TJK

[eventhough]

Originally Posted by Kaderabek

I believe Yooper found my Leatherman. Casey should have been more observant.

Was there a crescent wrench in the passenger rear quarter panel? I dropped one in there and never could get it out.

TJK

I think the rear quarter panel is too holy to hold anything! I just pulled off the exquisite wood panel so I'll take a peek inside. I had hoped to get a bunch more work done this week but have been working way too much. 90 plus hour weeks .

[Kaderabek]

Dude, the entire truck is holy, as in Jesus, Mary and Joseph -- it's a miracle!

TJK

[eventhough]

Originally Posted by Kaderabek

Dude, the entire truck is holy, as in Jesus, Mary and Joseph -- it's a miracle!

TJK

Its extra holy now w/ all my work - but she has gotta look worse before she looks better.

[eventhough]

I was able to work on my Piggie for about 4 hours Sunday afternoon. I will post pics in a coupe of days. I cut out the top of both wheel wells where rust had taken hold under the rear bench seat catches, cut out some more rust on the passenger rear wheel well where the metal was real thin, and worked on a few more areas. I'm getting a little concerned with the amount of metal I have cut out. Most of the areas will be very simple to recreate with simple rectangular pieces of sheet metal, but some are fairly ornate eventhough I tried to keep everything simple. I ended up getting rained on so I'm getting flash rust everywhere but POR will take care of that. I also have to fab a body mount for the passenger A pillar.

Speaking of POR - can anyone tell me the difference of the POR15 Putty (4 ozs in a tube) and the POR Epoxy? The Epoxy is a good bit cheaper but is it made of the same stuff as the POR Putty?

When I'm done welding in new sheet metal I'm going to paint the interior floor w/ POR15, then apply Durabak (color undecided). After that I have to fix a leaking drum cylinder, some oil leaks, and it will be off to the front fenders.

Oh, and I've chosen my paint colors, all Rustoleum - Royal Blue and Canvas White. Raddle can, wet sand, buff, and it doesn't look too bad!

PS: Rust sucks, and that dang factory sound deadening material sucks too. Some places it comes up w/o any effort, and other places I have to grind the off.

[Kaderabek]

The putty is basically POR 15's version of bondo. It's a water soluble brick that you mold to your liking. Then it dries hard. In your case, I'd recommend stacking the bricks until they are basically the size of your 55's body, then molding them into the previous shape of your 55. Take off the old body, mount the putty body. Voilà.

TJK

[eventhough]

I need encouragement! - not a bat upside the head!!!

Does the putty/POR bondo have the same "I hate rust" attitude as the POR15 paint and putty?

Originally Posted by Kaderabek

The putty is basically POR 15's version of bondo. It's a water soluble brick that you mold to your liking. Then it dries hard. In your case, I'd recommend stacking the bricks until they are basically the size of your 55's body, then molding them into the previous shape of your 55. Take off the old body, mount the putty body. Voilà.

TJK

[Kaderabek]

Not sure.

TJK

[eventhough]

OK - this rust has P*$$@^ me off. $200 in POR products are headed my way.