Rust Repair Assessment

[lloyd70cs]

Hi guys,

I'm starting to look at body work on my 70 F250 wanting to deal with rust holes and bad spots but i like the old look of the truck. I have holes in the passenger floor pan, both doors and fenders and the roof is looking rough. The driver side cab mount isn't too bad but the passenger side could be done. The lines are still pretty good but its getting worse and i live in the pacific northwet i mean northwest. I'm not a welder. My friend welds all the live long day as he is a sculptor but uses TIG. My neighbor is a mechanic on the side and has a MIG he's offered to me to use. What do you guys suggest?

Lloyd

[lloyd70cs]

Passenger Side Cab Mount.jpg

passenger cab mount

Drivers Side Cab Mount.jpg

driver's side mount

[lloyd70cs]

Looking Better.jpg

[lloyd70cs]

Passenger Cab Floor.jpg

Passenger Cab Floor

[Ren]

When seeking out and repairing rust issues on vehicles, there is one thing you will never say to yourself:

"Gee, the rot isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be".

You can buy decent scraps of sheet-metal cheap by digging through the remnant pile of any welding shop. Take scraps from your truck with you so you get the proper gauge.

A small, floor mounted band saw will be nice. A necessity will be three cheap-o 4 1/2" grinders. One for cutoff wheels, one for a grinding wheel, the other with a very coarse wire wheel. That way you don't spend so much time swapping out attachments and looking for the frigging wrench.

If you weld outdoors and it's breezy and conditions are less than ideal, (cleanliness) you'll need to use flux-cored wire. This goes double if you have more time than $$$.

You will not look forward to refilling yer neighbor's shielding gas bottle. On a weekend? You will not be doing any welding.

Unless you have lots of $$$, for practical reasons, you might consider your goal to be to make it hold together as long as you expect to live.

[lloyd70cs]

Stopped in at a restoration shop here in Sidney. For just the rough repair to the floor pan door pillar area and cab mounts would be several thousand dollars. Then there are the fenders, inner fenders, rear cab supports, radiator support and the seam along the side of the bed that is typically full of rust. So probably realistically can't really deal with it.

Is it possible to replace cab mounts without removing the cab if I'm cutting out the floor pan anyway?

Thanks

A somewhat deflated

Lloyd

[tsherry]

You might be better off coming down to Spokane and driving a relatively rust free vehicle back up north.

[Ranchero50]

Stopped in at a restoration shop here in Sidney. For just the rough repair to the floor pan door pillar area and cab mounts would be several thousand dollars. Then there are the fenders, inner fenders, rear cab supports, radiator support and the seam along the side of the bed that is typically full of rust. So probably realistically can't really deal with it.

Is it possible to replace cab mounts without removing the cab if I'm cutting out the floor pan anyway?

Thanks

A somewhat deflated

Lloyd

Yeah, cut away the old stuff while supporting the cab and install the new. I used mounts and floors from a '78 Bronco. Better quality vs. the aftermarket stuff. As said above, these trucks have common rust areas and once they start, they seldom stop if left in the weather. Find a better body and enjoy your truck for what it is until then.

[Jacksdad]

Everything can be fixed, but it depends on how stoopid you are - I'm way up there and will try and resurrect anything if the mood strikes me. My first repair was an old station wagon my Dad had been given because it was long past rescuing. He'd taught me the basics of welding (how to light the torch and not set myself on fire - that last one still hasn't sunk in apparently), and he pointed at the pile of crap sitting in the corner of his yard and told me to fix it. I started at one corner, and spent the next two months fabricating and replacing just about everything structural on the damned thing - inner fenders, shock mounts, chassis sections, floor pans, rocker panels. Went through quite a few bottles of gas and God knows how many acres of sheet metal. Looking back, I don't think he expected much of it other than a learning experience, but when it was done, we had a complete car and I could weld and fabricate. The difference from the first repair to the last was like night and day, but it was solid and we used that damned thing for years, both as the shop hack and the tow car for my Dad's competition altered.

My point is, I'm a firm believer in learning from your mistakes and not being afraid to screw up in the first place. Bumps do have almost insurmountable problems, extensive roof/drip rail rot being the big one, but floors and stuff are not hard to do, and it sounds like you have a couple of people willing to help that can point you in the right direction and teach you. TIG is the the gold standard for welding, but not necessary for the stuff you're looking at. MIG will work just fine, and whether you decide to fix this cab or not, I'd suggest you look into getting a hobby level welder yourself to learn with. They're very inexpensive, and not at all difficult to use (unlike TIG which is similar in terms of skill level to oxy-acetylene and takes a lot of practice). Gasless is okay, but for thinner sheet metal I'd recommend a MIG with argon/CO2 - less mess and clean up. As was mentioned, windy days will mess with you, but you'll be fine if you can get it indoors or set up some wind breaks. If you're outdoors, it's a good idea to have some kind of barrier around you anyway, if only to protect the clueless neighbor who will invariably want to wander over after you flip your visor down, and watch you weld without eye protection (ask me how I know). The Lincoln MIG set up I use most for sheet metal is nothing special and cost me $350 many years ago on clearance at Sears, and it's just fine for light duty welding. I have oxy-acetylene and TIG, but I fall back on that little Lincoln more than anything.

Let us know what you decide. After that long winded pep talk, one thing I should add is that Ranchero knows what he's talking about. Just because I'm too stubborn to listen doesn't mean his advice isn't good. A new cab would certainly make your project much easier and you'd be on the road an awful lot sooner

.

[lloyd70cs]

Wow. Thank you for the info. I have half a mind to buy the MIG and get cracking (of course i only have half a mind period). But it does seem doable if I'm not going for show seams and joints. My half mind has actually been telling me to rent a barn space and tear the hole thing apart. I must be hearing voices.

[Jacksdad]

...I must be hearing voices...

You too?

[lloyd70cs]

For now I've got a floor pan and cab mount on order. I'll practice on some junk and start with those. I can hide the mistakes under carpet.
By the way i was planning on renting a welder to start but there's one on sale at Canadian Tire for 200 marked down from 500. Its a MIG 140. Someone told me that won't cut it. Any opinions?

[Jacksdad]

What brand is it? I'd do an internet search for that particular model to see what other people think of them. Is it gas or flux? There are a few more things to consider than just amps - duty cycle, minimum amps, reliability and adjustment should be taken into account too. 140 amps will weld the sheet metal you'll find in the cab, but it will limit how much heavier you can go. And if it can't be turned down enough, it might not even do what you want.
But then again, I guess with that steep of a discount, there's really not much risk involved.

[Ranchero50]

For body work, .023" gas shielded wire will work amazing. Flux core will not work nearly as well so make sure you get the gas kit for it.

I have a baby Lincoln Weld Pak 100 setup that way. On a small machine the thinner wire actually transmits more heat into the metal. If you need to weld some 1/4" plate, it will barely do it, but it will hold.

[lloyd70cs]

I skipped buying the welder. Ill start with renting one for the floor panel. But I'm thinking i should do the cab mount on that side while the floor pan is out.