Dan Crowley Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 OUCH! That's awful! Hi Christopher, When you swap the Vin tag, you cut the metal, leaving about a 1/2" around the tag so that you can weld that piece into the new cab. Do not drill out the tag it shelf, because the sticker inspectors will know that the tag has been changed. I hope you understand what I am trying to say here. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco1946 Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 Hi Christopher, When you swap the Vin tag, you cut the metal, leaving about a 1/2" around the tag so that you can weld that piece into the new cab. Do not drill out the tag it shelf, because the sticker inspectors will know that the tag has been changed. I hope you understand what I am trying to say here. Dan Thanks all for the suggestions! The body shop actually said its probably better/easier to just pull the roof dents out and re-shape it and then add more metal on top to smooth out. Hard for me to picture but he said no bondo, so I said sounds good. They said the can reshape all panels except for the hood, but the right fender has me on the fence. It is $150 Ford surplus for 'new' Ford surplus which i think basically means NOS - i imagine it will cost the same or more to reshape the old fender so part of me is thinking it might be wiser to just buy the 'new' (old Ford surplus). He confirmed that the paint codes and year are sufficient. Single stage paint will be cheaper and i'm leaning towards that as that is stock/original, plus I can polish it over the years vs a clear coat. However, my concerns are that the entire industry has switched to clear coats and base coats, presumably for good reason AND my paint is has a metallic flake which I think might oxidize faster with single stage paint. The shop also said they have a guy who can recreate the cab stripping They will POR15 any rust they see, including inside the cab walls and the interior. I'll get new carpet, too. I'll probably skip rebuilding the bench seat for now as this is already going to be crazy expensive. They don't touch the aluminum trim, and some was damaged, but I can replace that on my own over time. It all needs to get polished anyway. The bed will have to wait until I become financially solvent again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Thanks all for the suggestions! The body shop actually said its probably better/easier to just pull the roof dents out and re-shape it and then add more metal on top to smooth out. Hard for me to picture but he said no bondo, so I said sounds good. They said the can reshape all panels except for the hood, but the right fender has me on the fence. It is $150 Ford surplus for 'new' Ford surplus which i think basically means NOS - i imagine it will cost the same or more to reshape the old fender so part of me is thinking it might be wiser to just buy the 'new' (old Ford surplus). He confirmed that the paint codes and year are sufficient. Single stage paint will be cheaper and i'm leaning towards that as that is stock/original, plus I can polish it over the years vs a clear coat. However, my concerns are that the entire industry has switched to clear coats and base coats, presumably for good reason AND my paint is has a metallic flake which I think might oxidize faster with single stage paint. The shop also said they have a guy who can recreate the cab stripping They will POR15 any rust they see, including inside the cab walls and the interior. I'll get new carpet, too. I'll probably skip rebuilding the bench seat for now as this is already going to be crazy expensive. They don't touch the aluminum trim, and some was damaged, but I can replace that on my own over time. It all needs to get polished anyway. The bed will have to wait until I become financially solvent again Sounds great! I'm so glad. But I think I agree with you on the fender. A replacement might be better in the long run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Thanks all for the suggestions! The body shop actually said its probably better/easier to just pull the roof dents out and re-shape it and then add more metal on top to smooth out. Hard for me to picture but he said no bondo, so I said sounds good. They said the can reshape all panels except for the hood, but the right fender has me on the fence. It is $150 Ford surplus for 'new' Ford surplus which i think basically means NOS - i imagine it will cost the same or more to reshape the old fender so part of me is thinking it might be wiser to just buy the 'new' (old Ford surplus). He confirmed that the paint codes and year are sufficient. Single stage paint will be cheaper and i'm leaning towards that as that is stock/original, plus I can polish it over the years vs a clear coat. However, my concerns are that the entire industry has switched to clear coats and base coats, presumably for good reason AND my paint is has a metallic flake which I think might oxidize faster with single stage paint. The shop also said they have a guy who can recreate the cab stripping They will POR15 any rust they see, including inside the cab walls and the interior. I'll get new carpet, too. I'll probably skip rebuilding the bench seat for now as this is already going to be crazy expensive. They don't touch the aluminum trim, and some was damaged, but I can replace that on my own over time. It all needs to get polished anyway. The bed will have to wait until I become financially solvent again I would rather see a new (Ford) fender than have the shop spend even an hour pulling and beating on the crumpled one. Single stage is what it is. Where are you going to be 35 years from now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco1946 Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 I would rather see a new (Ford) fender than have the shop spend even an hour pulling and beating on the crumpled one. Single stage is what it is. Where are you going to be 35 years from now? @Jim lol. Well i'm 'only' 35 now so I better still be kicking around these parts still. All the vehicles I have now are keepers in my mind so I plan to still have them for decades/til I die! I don't have kids (and no plans to have them either) so the vehicles are my kids. 1981 F250 1983 Datsun 280 (daily) 1955 Crown Victoria (summer daily) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 @Jim lol. Well i'm 'only' 35 now so I better still be kicking around these parts still. All the vehicles I have now are keepers in my mind so I plan to still have them for decades/til I die! I don't have kids (and no plans to have them either) so the vehicles are my kids. 1981 F250 1983 Datsun 280 (daily) 1955 Crown Victoria (summer daily) I guess I mean to say that your paint is serviceable now. And you take better care of it than it seen in the last ~35 years, so it should be fine. Nothing wrong with 70, if you can recognize where you are and the world is still habitable. I certainly hope petroleum will be viewed the same as whaling or slavery by then. (No offence Gary. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 I guess I mean to say that your paint is serviceable now. And you take better care of it than it seen in the last ~35 years, so it should be fine. Nothing wrong with 70, if you can recognize where you are and the world is still habitable. I certainly hope petroleum will be viewed the same as whaling or slavery by then. (No offence Gary. ) Nothing wrong with 73 3/4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmboy60 Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Nothing wrong with 73 3/4. Hey how about us youngsters63:nabble_head-rotfl-57x22_orig: 1/2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Hey how about us youngsters63:nabble_head-rotfl-57x22_orig: 1/2 Yep, you are a youngster. Ten years ago I was building the shop and working 8 - 10 hour days doing it. Now I don't make it nearly that long on easier tasks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delco1946 Posted March 20, 2021 Author Share Posted March 20, 2021 Yep, you are a youngster. Ten years ago I was building the shop and working 8 - 10 hour days doing it. Now I don't make it nearly that long on easier tasks. Update - so the body shop working on my roof and they’re asking if I can just cut off an old truck roof to provide them so they can take the skin off. Any tips or tricks to do this, should I accept the challenge? Also, I need new vent windows. The bottom metal piece is so rusted that it’s just breaking when they remove the vent assembly. I’ll be researching the usual candidates for parts, but i wondering if anyone has ordered new vent window assemblies and been pleased? I’m preferring nos, oem etc versus something from LMC simply for quality purps, but I’m sure my options will be limited. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts