Patch Panel Update

 I hope all of you had an excellent Christmas and New Year. Things have been pretty busy around here, so as you know, working on the truck takes a back burner. I was able to put in a little work in the past week, however:




Some of you have expressed concern that I was patching up my fender with old, rusted metal. I agree that this might be counterproductive, and have therefore removed the rust. I ground it off with the wire cup wheel attachment for the angle grinder, then treated it with an acetic acid solution to convert what remained (that's a 4:1 mix of water and white vinegar). The panel was then primed with the acid etch primer and painted with just a cheap spray paint to protect the primer. The cheap paint will be sanded off later when the welding and stuff is done.

For Christmas, I received a pair of footwells and the pillar posts for the drivers side. This gives me enough patch panels to repair the entire floor! Well, except the floor supports underneath, which I'll assess later and pick up more or less locally.

Here I have assembled all of the panels I have for the drivers side floor.

I also now have the factory assembly manual for the truck. I have been able to gain a little insight of how the truck fits together, but not really as much as I'd hoped. It seems that documentation of that sort was pretty sketchy at that point in history for our automakers. Sometimes changes would be made and not documented. Sometimes documents were included but not the documents that were referenced. What gave me the most trouble was that you can't always tell exactly what truck you're looking at, as the title of the drawing doesn't always say. So let this be a cautionary tale- yes the factory manual does contain some good info, but if you're looking for a guide for every nut, bolt, and weld, this may not be what you think it is.

In the tool department, I've now got a bigger engine stand, several more C-clamps, a set of welding butt clamps, welding magnets, and some wheel pullers. (Not all of these were Christmas gifts, mind you- I'm not that well liked.)

To my family and extended family that helped me out by buying me the patch panels, the manual, and the tools, I'd like to once again give a special thank you. You help make all this possible.