1969 Ranger - Project Glory Days!

[sargentrs]

Good job Tyler!

[tylerb43]

Wow guys, thank you very much for the kudos and motivation to keep pushing forward, as many of you know, this stuff feels like an uphill battle sometimes, but ya gotta keep it moving!

I was thinking, some guys have the truck completed by page 11, and I don't even have my cab finished! I guess that's because I load so many pictures. Sorry if that makes it hard for some of you guys with slow connections, but I've always thought the more pictures, the better, right?

Speaking of more pictures, here's your dose of today's insight to my place:

Inside view of the new PS corner.



And here's why the DS isn't finished yet, after blasting I uncovered several pinholes in the lower "boot" of the door jam. I first cut it out with the thought of a patch panel, then I realized how hard that would be to fit, grind, and make look good down in that corner. So back to my Dad's field where I hacked out another patch panel from my parts truck. This joint should be a lot easier to hide - (easier doesn't mean easy), plus - it gives me access to clean and seal behind it.

[67mann]

Done by pg 11 ...I'll be in the high 20's

[tylerb43]

Done by the high 20's Yeah, I guess you're right, page 11 is a small exaggeration, but at the rate I'm going, by page 25, you guys will be helping me with installing the windshield!

Speaking of milestones, a few day ago was the 1 year mark for my project. 11/20/2010 is when I pulled it out of my Dad's barn, where I had parked it so many years before. I thought I'd be much farther by now, but then again, looking at it that day - I had NO IDEA how much time and effort this thing needed to be awesome again. So I'm choosing to find the positive in the time (and money) spent and how far it's come.

[67nukeford]

Tyler, I'm in year two of mine, going on 3, so don't sweat that!!LOL

[F100builder]

Speaking of milestones, a few day ago was the 1 year mark for my project. 11/20/2010 is when I pulled it out of my Dad's barn, where I had parked it so many years before. I thought I'd be much farther by now, but then again, looking at it that day - I had NO IDEA how much time and effort this thing needed to be awesome again. So I'm choosing to find the positive in the time (and money) spent and how far it's come.

This kind of project almost ALWAYS takes more time and more $$$ than expected. I only give myself rough time estimates and budgets when I start in on something like this...I've NEVER come in under budget or finished before I thought I would!

[Ranchero50]

What scares the heck out of me is how long am I going to be able to enjoy it before rust pops out and the seals leak again... My '93 Mustang needs rerebuilt 11 years after getting it done the first time. Everything needs gone through again except the engine.

Jamie

[tylerb43]

Hey guys! Quick update:

Last weekend I got the door jamb corner replaced, and the new cab corner all welded in on the LH side! I didn't like the lines of the replacement panel from DC where it wrapped around and integrated the lower body line. It just wouldn't line up right. So I decided to use a piece of the old corner stitched to a piece of the new, and make that my corner. So in the 2nd pic here you can see the weird seem between the two. Kind of a Frankenstein approach, but it worked!









Spent quite a bit of time with the dolly and hammer to get the seams looking good. My brother the body guy stopped by to give me some pointers, which helped a ton! One seam felt pretty bad (I mentioned in earlier post) so I just cut it open and rewelded it - looks a lot better now. I then got my first coat of filler on, and sand, sand, sand.



NOW - I'm nearing completion of metal work on the cab!! I'm looking around when I say that, because it wasn't long ago I felt like it would never end! Don't worry though, I've gotta tackle the doors and fenders next!

[67mann]

Your makin me want to drag my cab back out Nice work and the rewards will be sooner than ya think

[sargentrs]

Hey guys! Quick update:

Last weekend I got the door jamb corner replaced, and the new cab corner all welded in on the LH side! I didn't like the lines of the replacement panel from DC where it wrapped around and integrated the lower body line. It just wouldn't line up right. So I decided to use a piece of the old corner stitched to a piece of the new, and make that my corner. So in the 2nd pic here you can see the weird seem between the two. Kind of a Frankenstein approach, but it worked!

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Spent quite a bit of time with the dolly and hammer to get the seams looking good. My brother the body guy stopped by to give me some pointers, which helped a ton! One seam felt pretty bad (I mentioned in earlier post) so I just cut it open and rewelded it - looks a lot better now. I then got my first coat of filler on, and sand, sand, sand.

[ Image ]

NOW - I'm nearing completion of metal work on the cab!! I'm looking around when I say that, because it wasn't long ago I felt like it would never end! Don't worry though, I've gotta tackle the doors and fenders next!

If you mind my asking, what kind of body clamps are those and where can I get some? That's the perfect tool for that kind of patching. Btw, don't feel bad, I've been actively working on mine since April and I haven't even touched the cab yet, and I'm up to 7 pages.

[tylerb43]

Well Randy, you spent 4 pages on the rear leaf springs! I'm just kidding ya buddy, I've been following your project and I really admire the detail you've put into it thus far. I'm sure when you get to the body, you'll make mine look like a rush job!

Those panel clamps are from Eastwood. They come in a set of 4, and they go on sale often. They are normally $29 for set, which is kinda high, I believe I got mine on a good sale day for $15 or so. I've gotten a ton of use out of mine, highly recommend them.

http://www.eastwood.com/intergrip-panel ... -of-4.html

[sargentrs]

Yeah, my kids constantly accuse me of being long winded. I only go into such detail because I've contracted CRS in my old age. If this site ever goes down I'll never get her put back together. Thanks for the link! I'm going to get me some of those.

[67nukeford]

I use those Eastwood clamps also, they work great! I bought two sets, when they went on sale for $15 a set. I've got to come back in here when I'm at home, can't see the pics from here at work!

Edit: Came back to have a look at the pics. When I get to that point of installing the cab corners, I'm going to hit you up on what you ran into Tyler. They look great man!!

[tylerb43]

Thanks Pat! And I'd be glad to help anyway I can!

I took a break from the bodywork and did some blasting and powdercoating, you guys recognize all these parts?

This is Eastwood's Satin Black..

[sargentrs]

Looks great! I appreciate you painting all my parts for me All kidding aside though, any concerns with the powder coating causing issues with the o-ring seat on the dipstick or the belt grooves in the crank pulley? I've got a powder coat line at work and thought about hanging a few parts but wasn't sure about those. One of our customer's uses a beautiful high gloss black and we happen to have about 110 lbs laying around wasting