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Page 04 - Assessing the Damage |
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July
13, 2003 - Well, I finally got the '70 cab into the shop and got
started getting it stripped down...and found some VERY disturbing
rust. I just took some quick looks when I was first checking this cab
out, but after getting it back here and stripping the interior, I
found some fairly serious rust in the floorboards, in addition to the
rusted rear cab corners (which I already was aware of). I'm now trying
to decide whether to try to salvage this cab or to try and find a more
suitable donor. It's still in better shape than the original '67 cab.
If I decide to go with this one, I'll have to replace both floorpans,
both rear cab corners and both front cab mounts.
LMC has cab
corners for $20 each, floorpans for $40 each and cab corners for $30
each...so the cash outlay isn't too bad. But it would be a lot of work
which I hadn't initially counted on. |
Here's the driver's-side rear cab corner, with a combination of rust and
accident damage... |
...and
here's the passenger-side cab corner, just as bad, although a previous
owner 'tried' to help matters... |
..by
spraying some of that expandable foam insulation into the cab corner.
Needless to say, it didn't work. I have a supervisor at work who has a
mid-'80s Ford Ranger with rusted cab corners, and a previous owner tried
the same remedy with that truck. Heck, I might have tried it at one time
myself...but not after seeing this. It's obviously not as watertight as
they thought...either that or they simply waited too long to apply. Once
rust starts it's extremely difficult to stop. |
Here's
a shot of the worst of the rust damage on the driver's side floorpan. I
understand this sort of rust comes from water entering through the cowl
panel area and running down the inside of the cab and getting trapped by
the carpet. While the pan is toast, the rockers are still in pretty good
shape, so it's salvageable. |
Here's
the passenger-side floorpan. You can see that a previous owner as
attempted a crude repair with a piece of aluminum. While the pan itself
isn't as bad as the driver's side, it still needs replacing...and the
rust has found it's way into the rocker panel. If I decide to fix this
cab, however, I can use pieces of the original '67 cab's rocker to patch
this. |
Here's
a shot of the '67 cab almost complete gutted, except for the seat. I
carefully removed the wiring harness in case I'd need it (or pieces of
it) later. You can see the three holes immediately below the radio
mounting which housed the temperature control knobs, a feature only on
the '67s. Starting in '68, due to increasing Federal safety regulations,
Ford went with the slide controls, since they didn't protrude as much
from the dash. |
The
shop is getting extremely crowded these days!...what with the Studebaker
pickup project in here, the '67 Ford, the '69 cab...and my home-brewed
'72 Pontiac LeMans convertible. The cab here is ready to come off, but
will probably remain until the '69 cab (or whatever cab I decide to use)
is ready to be mounted. Plus I still need to save the very good
windshield and remove a small piece of rocker panel for the '69 cab
repairs. |
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