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Old December 16th, 2018, 07:50 PM
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Default Re: '64 3/4 305V6 fleetside rebuild

Good advice from FMAP. Good news is sheet metal repair is not too difficult and is done by us all. (thin metal welding, however, does take a lot of practice). It's just cut out the old and weld in the new. Bad news is the windshield brow is PITA. Good news is you have to take the windshield out anyway because it's cracked and you have roof dents to fix. The real good news is that every rust area you have, INCLUDING the windshield brow, is available as a new patch panel, at pretty reasonable prices. There are welders and there are welders. You need someone who has done a lot of thin work. Some fixes may be done with just sheet stock. Use the pre shaped patches whenever you can.

The rule of rust fix is only fix what is rusted. Leave original metal. Don't cut more than is necessary. You only use as much of the patch panel as will meet this rule.

Dents are a separate entity and are repaired as per normal dolly and hammer or whatever new pull method you want.

Take off your emblems and trim now and store them away. They are valuable and hard to find in good shape. I.E. "V6" and "Custom", chrome strips.

Hood should come off for dent repair. Leave hinges attached to truck. Before removing bolts at hood, drill two 1/8 holes thru hinge flange and hood (don't poke thru hood!, use a stop). Drill these as far apart as feasible. Then when you put hood back on, use two drill bits in each hole to act as alignment pins, then install bolts. Hood will then be back to original position. May be OK then or at least close. Do this with any hinge or applicable assembly set. This can save hours of fiddle diddle with a very heavy hood or door to get them to fit/align.
A "stop" can be the end of a wooden 1" x 2" or whatever thickness is required. Drill a 1/8 hole in the end of the wooden piece. Be sure the bit stick-out is sufficient to "stop" bit from drilling too deep. Hold the other end of the wood piece with one hand and drill the hole in the metal.

It is very, very important that you identify all rust. It can be hard to detect if under the paint. You have to poke all over with a screw driver to find it all. Areas surrounding a visible rust out are usually thinner (tapered), on their way to rusting. So be aware of that. Too thin, cut it out.

None of this is trying to teach anybody anything. Many folks have more experience than I. You probably do. Just jotting down my thoughts and experience. Hope it makes you more comfortable to know that all this stuff has been done thousands of times.

Last edited by AZKen; December 16th, 2018 at 08:15 PM.
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