John S. Posted May 6, 2021 Share Posted May 6, 2021 Amazing work. This is one outstanding Ford truck. Stunning job. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 On 5/1/2021 at 12:31 PM, Luv2Wrench said: Amazing work! On 5/4/2021 at 11:15 PM, ChuckMcChuckles said: Your attention to the details makes all the difference. On 5/5/2021 at 8:48 PM, John S. said: Amazing work. This is one outstanding Ford truck. Stunning job. John I appreciate the comments! I started blasting the cab and the passenger floor had pretty deep pits. I remembered the other F100 having rust in the seams between the floors and cab mounts so I decided to go ahead and cut both floor pans out to avoid future problems. Driver side- Passenger side- Body mounts blasted. Two coats of epoxy. Fabbed a new passenger side patch. This has a bit of a reverse curve in it so I used the linear stretch die in the planishing hammer to create the drop off while keeping the upper half completely flat. More of the driver side was pitted so I bought a new pan for that side. It fit pretty well after a little trimming. The owner had cut the top of the tunnel out to fit the T56, so I made a new taller tunnel. I used the Pullmax to add an original style bead around the top perimeter, bent the edges over, then used the linear stretch die to curve the front up. I made a template with the shrinker as a guide for shaping the curve. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 The original hand brake was deleted since it would be in the way of the clutch master cylinder for the T56. The owner decided on a tunnel mounted e-brake instead. I made a backing plate out of 16g on the Pullmax to add some strength to the top of the tunnel since the mounting area will see some strain when the brakes are applied. Mounting the handle as intended left very little room for your hand to get between the floor and handle- even less once padding and carpet is added. Part of that problem was a gap between the last tooth of the ratchet section and the base where the release lever rests, so the handle could droop with a bit of free play between the base and the first notch. I welded up the base to take up the free space so the lever can't tilt down past the first tooth. I also flipped the front mounting pads to the top of the panel to angle the handle up slightly more. With the mounting pads flipped the bolt heads were sticking up too far to be covered over with carpet padding, so I welded the bolts into the brackets upside down to work as studs, then cut the bolt heads off. I also shaved down the rear bolt heads so they'd have a lower profile. Compare the gap between the boot bezel and the floor in the last pic to the one I posted above. Reinforcement plate and tunnel prepped for welding. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted June 23, 2021 Author Share Posted June 23, 2021 I needed to make a hole in the tunnel for the shifter, but the shifter was too close to the seat as it was. Shifter assembly flipped around for more seat clearance, e-brake mounted to the tunnel, and shifter hole punched in the tunnel for a test fit. I positioned the e-brake lever so that the both boot bezels will line up evenly at the front. With the trans in first gear there will be room between the shifter and seat to easily reach the e-brake handle. The gas pedal is drive by wire and needed to be mounted. The spring tension is fairly high so I made a 16g plate to spread out the load on the firewall. This will also let me clamp the pedal in a few different locations and pick the one that feels the best before permanently mounting it. I'll measure the brake pedal location in the donor truck and mount the gas pedal in a spot that makes heel/toe downshifting possible. While the weather was too wet for blasting, I started planning for the upholstery. The tank is under the bed now so the back of the cab will have an upholstered panel. I made a 16g flange for the lower edge of the panel to clip into, then roughed out paper patterns of the panels and clip locations. These are things that are better to do before paint. The headliner will be fabricated from aluminum panels so I patterned b-pillar covers as well. We have the donor roof's inner structure to make the headliner pattern from. Edges defined with fine line tape and sharpie marks. Clip holes punched so the locations can be easily transferred to the final panels. Firewall and kick panels were also patterned. I was hoping to have all of the cab blasted by now, but the weather has been wet on and off for the last week. But, contrary to the usual "blast with one hand, prime with the other" mindset, I like letting it sit in bare metal for awhile after blasting. This shows all of the places that weren't blasted well enough- humidity causes any rust that's deep in a pitted spot that wasn't cleaned out 100% to start growing again. These are areas that were pitted, and rust deep in the pits wasn't fully blasted to clean gray metal. It's not hard to overlook extremely tiny specs like this while you're blasting between the amount of area you're trying to cover and the lens of the blasting hood getting dusty. Letting it sit until missed areas pop back out then going back with the blaster to target those areas is a good way to make sure every square inch and every tiny rust pit is 100% rust free before the epoxy goes on. These spots were invisible immediately after blasting and only showed up days later. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted July 15, 2021 Author Share Posted July 15, 2021 There was a indention stamped into the passenger side of the original tunnel that needed to be flattened before I could start fitting the new tunnel. After using a hammer and dolly to flatten the indention. The flange needed shrinking since stamping the indentation stretched the metal. Using a tuck tool to form a tuck, then hammering the tuck flat to shrink the high area. The top of the tuck is hammered in first to lock in the tuck, then the rest is hammered flat which shrinks the area. This is after one tuck. A second tuck got the flange straightened out. This view also shows the rear rounded corners of the tunnel that were later cut out and reshaped to fit the raised tunnel. A few vids on tuck shrinking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkaCJ5gC3jI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUQghpUVohU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI-7lyaoiz4 With the flange straight I trimmed both the cab floor and new tunnel so the tunnel slightly overlapped the floor, then used a scribe to mark the trim line. The shape of the new tunnel and the floor was still slightly different, I'm guessing from stress in the original floor from the stamping process. I tacked the places that did fit up, then marked out a grid inside and out so dad could hold the dolly on one side while I hammered the other side to bring the panels into better alignment. I had to do a bit of heat shrinking to bring a couple of areas back into shape. I forgot to take pics, but the back rounded corners were cut out, reshaped with the shrinker/stretcher and a section of round tube in the vise as a dolly, then tacked back in with the front edge about 1.25" higher than the factory position, so I had to make a triangle shaped filler strip under the rear corners. Before pics of the stock tunnel. The new tunnel retains the same basic shape, bead detail, and offset at the front driver side for more throttle pedal clearance. The fuel line hole isn't needed anymore, so I cut a plug and welded it closed. The owner will be bringing the clutch pedal setup soon for me to mock up. I'll work on blasting the cab and get started bodyworking the roof and rear of the cab until then. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John S. Posted July 16, 2021 Share Posted July 16, 2021 astronaut, always a treat to see your work. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted July 23, 2021 Author Share Posted July 23, 2021 On 7/15/2021 at 8:02 PM, John S. said: astronaut, always a treat to see your work. Thanks John! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted July 23, 2021 Author Share Posted July 23, 2021 Boring stuff first- I mounted the cab on the rotisserie so I could scrape off the undercoating and grind the tunnel welds to prep for blasting. I planished the worst spots along the weld seams to roughly even out the shape, at least the ones I could reach through the shifter opening. Never ending stream of dust and dirt. There were quite a few really sharp spot weld blow-outs that I smoothed out with the 2" grinder. Ready for blasting. I noticed a few small pin holes in the bottom edges of the cowl sides so I cut both out so I could clean up the inner panel with the blaster. These are reproduced now so I'll get a set ordered in the morning. Random small holes welded and smoothed. The factory punched drain holes in some of the beads so I welded those up too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted July 23, 2021 Author Share Posted July 23, 2021 And the fun stuff... the owner brought the hydraulic clutch master cylinder setup from Modern Driveline and the pedal assembly to the shop today. The pics in the instructions didn't look anything like the '66 firewall and the box was marked 61-66 so I looked up pics of '61-'64 firewalls, knowing that they were different. Seems like the kit was designed for the different 61-64 firewall and pedal assembly. Instruction pic- Wider 61-64 pedal mount with straight pedals. 65/66 have curved pedals and a narrower pedal assembly mounting pad. This vid shows the problem with mounting the kit to 65/66 pedals and firewall. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeIGHAxHDiY This was the starting point of the clutch pedal, it was pretty crooked and the pedal pad plate was welded on too low compared to the brake pedal pad. A 24" adjustable wrench and the vise worked to easily straighten the kinks out. I still need to relocate the pedal pad. The instructions didn't say how far away from the pedal pivot point the pushrod mount needed to be for the correct throw, so I had to measure the master cylinder travel (~2 3/16")... Then I set the pedal up with a stack of shims at the floor to replicate padding and carpet, and I added a 1/16" shim on top of the old top stop to simulate a taller new bumper since the old one was flattened out a bit. That set the maximum travel of the pedal. I found the point that had 2 3/16" travel and marked it- about 6 1/8" away from the pedal pivot. The mount area needed to be spaced over so I made a pattern and made a 3/16" thick strap to weld in place. Smoothing out the welds with a carbide burr for the inside corners. Firewall drilled to mount the master cylinder and linkage. In the instructions and video it shows the m/c being mounted at an angle which looked wrong, and the linkage hanging downward so it was more visible under the dash. I drilled the m/c holes vertical instead and installed the linkage upside down to hide it better. The offset bolt pattern kicked the linkage closer to the pedal assembly this way for less angle on the heim linkage. Linkage adjusted, checking linkage angles with the pedal in and out. Enough room for a ~10" booster. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted August 3, 2021 Author Share Posted August 3, 2021 The owner decided to do away with the stock column and column mount and use an Ididit column instead. I cut out the original opening and welded in a smooth panel to prep it for the new mount. I made a doubler panel for the clutch M/C to sandwich to stiffen the firewall and prevent flexing from the added pressure. I just freehanded the beads so it's not the best looking but it's functional. The Pullmax came with beading dies but they wouldn't work to make intersecting beads without flatting the first bead at the intersection point. I carved out a new lower die to match the original, but with a relief to clear the first bead. Welded up some random holes, and smoothed/straightened the 90* edge across the firewall. The clutch switch needed a mount, so I used 16g with slots cut for it to clip into. 16g wasn't quite thick enough for it to clip in tightly, so I dimpled the slots to tighten the fit. There are curled plastic tabs to tension the tabs against the slots. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted August 3, 2021 Author Share Posted August 3, 2021 I got the cab about 90% blasted over the weekend. The owner came by this morning to drop off the new column and swivel mount so I installed it after lunch. I stuck the pedals back in so he could make sure the gas pedal was in the correct position for him before I weld the mounting bracket to the firewall. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesR Posted August 3, 2021 Share Posted August 3, 2021 WOW! Everything's looking so clean, solid and nice! That must give you a great feeling. Keep up the great work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted August 4, 2021 Author Share Posted August 4, 2021 3 hours ago, JamesR said: WOW! Everything's looking so clean, solid and nice! That must give you a great feeling. Keep up the great work! Thanks! Yeah, feels good to have the metalwork nearly finished so I can move on to bodywork. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted August 9, 2021 Author Share Posted August 9, 2021 When I was blasting a pinhole opened up on one of the cowl boxes, so I stuck my phone in the cavity to see what it looked like from the inside. There was some scabby dark patches that indicated deeper pitting so I went ahead and cut both sides open. Patterns made and transferred to 18g. I used the vice, a delrin block to back it, and a rounded over chisel to form the drains. Forming the drains shortened the flange from the steps added so it made the panel curve. Before and after stretching to make it flat again. I also added an extra drain to help prevent water building up in the future. While i was working around the cowl area I made a template of the vent openings so I could make block off plates. The owner requested that I "clean up" the transition between the bottom of the dash and the column. The lower flange was oddly shaped and had a really oversize cut out to mount the column. The new mount on the Ididit column was taller than it needed to be so there was a large gap between the column and face of the dash. The tabs of the mounting bracket hung down pretty far, making them visible. I taped steel wire to the wiring harness so I could pull it back out of the way of the bracket area, then cut the bracket off and shortened it. Column back in place, bracket tabs no longer show. I made a couple of filler plates to finish out the opening between the column and lower dash flange. One side finished to show the difference. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luv2Wrench Posted August 12, 2021 Share Posted August 12, 2021 This is exactly how my metalwork looks before I wake up from my dream. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted August 23, 2021 Author Share Posted August 23, 2021 I pulled the column to finish up the filler panels. While the pedal assembly was out I found a spot to mount the clutch safety switch. Had to carve out a spot for the stem to make enough clearance, so I used a 1/2" round carbide burr to make the face of the cut concave, that way the convex face of the stem will always center itself on the pedal arm. Forgot to take pics, but I chopped the clutch pedal pad off and raised it up to match the height of the brake pedal pad. Also slightly tweaked the brake pedal pad to get it inline with the clutch pad. I ordered cowl bottoms a few weeks ago but UPS sent an email about the address being wrong, so delivery was delayed until last week. They're very nicely made, probably the best fitting patch panels I've used. Trimmed, shipping primer stripped, two coats of epoxy applied, and welded on. The cavity is accessible so I brushed on a couple of coats over the welds and soaked the seams to let epoxy wick in and seal up the spot welds. I made a panel to mount the fuse box so there would be no fasteners through the firewall. Also deleted the original pressed-in wiper motor mounting boss- welded up the holes and welded a nut between a couple of fender washers to make a new mounting pad for the wiper motor. The accelerator pedal mount got welded in permanently after confirming that the location fits the owner. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted September 8, 2021 Author Share Posted September 8, 2021 (edited) The firewall to kick panel flange was really wavy around the spot welds so that was straightened, then I ground back the edges until the height of all the layers matched. (I thought more of this was visible, but it's mostly hidden under the inner fenders after test fitting them.) The flange of the cowl skin was wrinkled and uneven so I trimmed both sides before final blasting. With those spots finished up I rolled it out and blasted the inner layers of the cowl sides that were cut open, and I lightly blasted over the floor, firewall inside and out to prep for two coats of epoxy. I started bodyworking the firewall by skimming the upper face and flange. Once both sides were filled/blocked into the correct shape and straight I masked off the inside corner and used a spreader with the corner rounded off to make an even radius from side to side. Floor pan and tunnel welds smoothed up enough for Raptor Liner. Starting to straighten out the stamping distortion in the firewall. Another coat of epoxy to seal the filler and extend the 7 day recoat window. Both mom and dad have had covid for the last 2.5 weeks so I wasn't able to get much done within the first 7 day window. They're both doing much better now and things should be back to normal soon. Edited September 8, 2021 by theastronaut (see edit history) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckMcChuckles Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 I hope your parents are doing better. I noticed you are applying filler over epoxy. Which is better -filler applied over bare metal vs painted metal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted September 9, 2021 Author Share Posted September 9, 2021 2 hours ago, ChuckMcChuckles said: I hope your parents are doing better. I noticed you are applying filler over epoxy. Which is better -filler applied over bare metal vs painted metal? Thanks, mom is almost back to normal and dad still has a cough but the other symptoms have cleared up. I always shoot two coats first to seal the bare metal 100%. If the paint was ever damaged to the point that the filler becomes exposed there is still epoxy under the filler to protect the metal in case the damaged filler gets wet (filler is porous and will absorb water). Another reason to do epoxy first- epoxy sticks to bare metal really well. Filler likes a rough surface to stick too, and I would rather not grind the metal that hard (36-40 grit is often used) to roughen it appropriately. I use SPI epoxy and it has a seven day window to top coat it with filler or other primers and they'll chemically bond with the epoxy with no sanding needed within the seven day recoat window. The pretty much guarantees 100% adhesion of the filler to the epoxy, or adhesion of the high build primer as long as you don't go over the epoxy too soon before it has started to cure enough- I like to wait at least 24 hours for filler or 4-5 days before high build primer. I always seal the filler with two more coats of epoxy before moving on to high build primer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Now that my fingertips have grown back enough to type out an update... This is the real reason shaved firewalls are so popular lol. I finished skimming and correcting the distortion in the firewall, then shot it with a few coats of Clausen All-U-Need. I've been wanting to try it since it's waterproof and is supposed to sand easier than Slick Sand, which I believe it does now that I have some experience with it. The top section and it's flange was sanded flat up to 150 grit, keeping the edge of the paper slightly off the edge of the block to not sand into the corner and cut a sharp edge. Guide coat applied, then the corner was sanded with a Durablock with a corner rounded to the correct diameter. Tape was used on the upper half of the block to keep the block from digging into the section that was already flat. Just the radius is shaped this way. I blocked the tops of the raised stampings first, using a block wide enough to cover the areas where a section split off when applicable to keep the two sections on the same plane. The inner flat sections were next, same approach using custom cut blocks to leave the corners untouched, then the inside corners were shaped after the inner flat was fully flattened. Forgot to get pics of all that. Brake brace details. I sanded the flats first, scribed a line of where I wanted the corner to start, masked on the line, then rounded the corner evenly top to bottom. Some of the inside corners had large radii so I sanded a short durablock to the correct shape and used it to sand the corner. The raised area around the heater box had four flat spots so those were blocked first, then guide coat applied and the outside corners blocked until they rounded into the flats evenly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted October 7, 2021 Author Share Posted October 7, 2021 Same process on all of the random shapes. Top edge and corners of cowl masked on the flat then blocked out to establish a consistent starting point for the edge radius. Lower seam lip blocked straight. With the shaping finished I shot a couple coats of black SPI epoxy to seal up the areas that were low and needed filler, and to make the surface somewhat reflective so imperfections could be addressed. Some of the lower areas have 80g stratches showing and weird sanding patterns; those areas will be hidden under the inner fenders and shot with Raptor Liner later on so they were only quickly sanded for adhesion, not to correct their shape. The gloss level of the epoxy will really help with being able to spot fix the areas that need touching up, then shooting a few light coats of red epoxy so it's ready to wetsand and paint. Back of the cab stripped and shot with epoxy. I left the drip rails and the cab corners bare since I'll be reworking those areas when fitting the doors. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lahti35 Posted October 7, 2021 Share Posted October 7, 2021 Amazing stuff! Love the attention to detail, keep up the great work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura S Posted October 15, 2021 Share Posted October 15, 2021 Awesome work ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted October 23, 2021 Author Share Posted October 23, 2021 On 10/7/2021 at 9:29 AM, Lahti35 said: Amazing stuff! Love the attention to detail, keep up the great work! On 10/14/2021 at 9:43 PM, Laura S said: Awesome work ! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted October 23, 2021 Author Share Posted October 23, 2021 I did a quick/light blocking with 220 on the areas that were already pretty good, and 180/220 on a few spots that needed a little more flattening. 3-4 spots needed a small amount of filler, and it was ready for the last coats of epoxy to seal it and make it ready for wetsanding and paint. I mixed in a bit of red epoxy on the first coat, then shot two more coats of black epoxy. When I wetsand it to prep for sealer/paint I don't want to sand through the epoxy layer, so I'll be able to stop sanding if I start seeing the red tinted layer. Checking the reflection for imperfections while it was still wet. That's the look of a man who's happy to be finished sanding such a detailed panel. The vid shows how flat each facet is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ye5g4ZEjvw The blocks used, plus the PVC tube with slots cut to make it flexible for the double concave area on the back of the cab above the rear window. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted October 23, 2021 Author Share Posted October 23, 2021 With the firewall finished, I moved on to assembling the panels to start correcting panel fit and gaps. I mounted the cab back on the frame along with the front clip after blasting the header panel and doing a bit of initial straightening on the inner fenders. The fenders and radiator support are aftermarket and the fit so far is really good, I haven't had to do any cutting, bending, or slotting of holes to get them to bolt together. The new hood hinges held me up from getting the hood mounted. The old hinges were super worn and sloppy so the hood would never stay in alignment if they were reused, and reproductions were available. Their fit left a lot to be desired... with the mounting flange flat against the firewall the lower mounting hole was off by half of the bolt diameter. Tilting the hinge to show how far the flange needed to be bent to align the lower mounting hole. When the two bolt holes on the main flange were lined up the inner mounting flange was also off; not just width-wise but the shape of the flange didn't match the angle of the firewall. The curved lip on the back side of the inner flange interfered with the lip on the firewall so I reshaped it and ground it back to fit better, and so the edge had a shape that flowed better. After about 40 trips between the firewall and vise to tweak the flanges into shape the hinge finally fit flat against the firewall and all four bolt holes were in pretty good alignment. Now when the bolts are tightened the flanges won't pull or twist the firewall out of shape, and won't chip the paint from the edges digging in. Same process on the other side. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted October 24, 2021 Share Posted October 24, 2021 Ah! repro parts...Better than nothing, but why the manufacturer of those hinges could not work with more precision? With the hinges now aligned perfectly to the body, you still don't know how the hood will be aligned... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted November 20, 2021 Author Share Posted November 20, 2021 (edited) On 10/24/2021 at 2:48 AM, Roger Zimmermann said: With the hinges now aligned perfectly to the body, you still don't know how the hood will be aligned... It's almost like this is a common theme with aftermarket parts... Long winded hood hinge update, I'll break it up into a few posts. The reproduction hinges ended up not working out once the hood was bolted on. Long list of problems with them- 1: The joints were too tight (I had to use a 24" adjustable wrench slipped over the flange that bolts to the hood to get the hinges to open and close, even with the spring off. 2: The individual arms are thinner and flexed easily which let the hood shift from side to side. 3: Each hinge angled outward front to rear by 5-7 degrees, so with the hood bolted on the already stiff joints were then in a bind from the joints on both sides not hinging parallel to each other. The thin and flexy arms somewhat minimized this problem This also made the flanges that bolt to the hood misaligned with the holes in the hood. 4: The passenger side hinge wouldn't fully drop as far as it should, so the back edge of the hood was kicked up above the cowl. 5: The joints were eating themselves. I cycled the hinges a few hundred times with the 24" wrench hoping they would "wear in" and loosen up, periodically adding oil to the joints to flush out the metal shavings that were building up. They eventually loosened up some but not enough. 6: The supplied springs were barely capable of holding the hood open, and not able to hold the hood all the way open. The hood has a section cut out at the very front for rust repair, no emblem, and the paint is stripped so it's lighter than a finished/painted hood. The friction in the joints were the main factor in the hood barely staying up. A full weight hood wouldn't have a chance at staying open. 7: The stops that set how far the hood opens were not shaped correctly. Edited November 20, 2021 by theastronaut (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted November 20, 2021 Author Share Posted November 20, 2021 After searching the Ford truck forum for hood hinge info it seemed like the hinge rebuilding companies that others had used in the past were no longer willing to rebuild this style of F100 hinges, I think due to the hinge pin's rectangle shaped end that is used to rivet the pin in place. So, armed with the Atlas lathe and Bridgeport I set off to rebuild them myself. I'm not a machinist, and certainly not very educated on how to properly use a lathe or milling machine... anything I've done with the lathe until now was just to rough out parts with no real need for precision. Preparing to make the lathe work correctly and then learning to use it somewhat correctly involved binge watching mrpete222, This Old Tony, and Blondihacks on youtube. The Atlas lathe was in desperate need of a tune up to make accurate parts; nothing was worn, whoever had it before us never really set it up correctly. None of the gibs were adjusted so there was play in everything. Eventually with considerable trial and error I figured out how to make a hinge pin. I bought a Columbian 506 M2 vise awhile back but hadn't mounted it yet, so I went ahead and did that to hold the main hinge frame during the rebuild process. I also recently found and bought an old Delta carbide grinder so I could shape and sharpen my own hss lathe bits and tune up the brazed carbide tools that came with the lathe. This would come in handy on the longer pin that the spring is hung from. Once back to the shop I started cleaning it to see if I could get it back down the the original paint. I'll get around to cleaning up the rest of it eventually. I checked the hinges on the parts truck and they were tighter than the original pair so I started with those. The arms fit flat against each other, which creates wear and friction. I addressed this during the rebuild. I carefully ground down the riveted end of the pins, and used the mill in the tighter areas where the grinder wouldn't fit. Pressing out the pins. Tons of wear and gouging. The metal was deeply pitted, likely from the metal galling. The link between the two main arms was thick enough to rub both arms, removing the coating and causing friction. The measurements show how worn the parts were. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Many years ago, I used a company called SMS (not the one for the upholstery!). If the people who are restoring hinges don't have access to the square pin's end, I understand them. What for a luck I had: for my rusty '56 Biarritz, I found an used hinge assembly; I cleaned it, new paint and could install it with no issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 On 11/20/2021 at 3:22 AM, Roger Zimmermann said: Many years ago, I used a company called SMS (not the one for the upholstery!). If the people who are restoring hinges don't have access to the square pin's end, I understand them. What for a luck I had: for my rusty '56 Biarritz, I found an used hinge assembly; I cleaned it, new paint and could install it with no issue. I had a second set of hinges from a parts truck that had been parked years ago, and they had less wear but were still very loose. One big problem these hinges have is that they support the entire weight of the rear of the hood at all times. There are bumpers up front to support the front, but the hinges bear the weight of the rear of the hood. Every bump in the road is an opportunity for the weight of the hood to be harshly transferred through every joint in the hood hinge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 The arms were out of alignment, none of the pivot points were parallel from one end to the other. Some had high and low spots along the friction surfaces. After straightening. All of the areas that were worn were welded up and ground/filed smooth. The holes were all reamed to make the exactly round again. Flatness was checked against a block of steel with a machined face. The pins were machined from 1" steel bar. I sized them for about .002" clearance for minimal play and room for grease. I also added .030" length to the shoulder so I could add a washer cut from UHMW. This will slightly cushion the joint, space the arms apart so they don't rub the paint off each other, and will reduce friction and wear in the joint. .030" UHMW sheet from McMaster Carr. Drilling/tapping for 5/16-24 hardware to hold the joints together. The original pressed rivets are not a precise way to hold the joints together so I didn't want to copy that aspect of the hinge pins. Milling the square ends that set the depth of the pin. This determines how tightly the joint is assembled so it was critical to measure the arms, UHMW washer, and on the main frame the offset of the raised friction surface. Too deep and the joint froze up, and the joint was too loose and wobbled if the depth wasn't cut deep enough. I ended up cutting the step slightly too low on purpose so I could remove material from the arms to incrementally loosen up the joint until it there was no play but no binding. Compound set to 12.5" to cut a bevel in the head of the pins. One of the pins on each arm were longer with a groove to mount the spring. I used the Delta carbide grinder with the table set to 7* to reshape an old/broken 60* threading bit to match the shape of the original groove. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 The finished pins, along with billet countersunk washers from All American Billet. This is where a lot of time was spent getting the joints dialed in. The pins were machined a few thousandths too short which made each joint too tight when the hardware was fully tightened. I assembled each joint but only lightly tightened the screws; this made the joints snug enough leave a visible contact pattern of where the head of the pin was rubbing the arm. Then I used the 2" grinder with a 100 grit disc to lightly sand down only the areas that were contacting. I did this repeatedly until the joints were just snug enough to not have any play, but loose enough to not bind. I also monitored the inside of the joints to make sure there weren't excessive high spots or weird wear patterns. Assembled joint with UHMW washer between the arms. The washer is barely noticable. I didn't use UHMW between the larger friction surfaces of the main frame joints. These already had a wide friction surface from filing the area flat. I made these first and hadn't quite got the hang of setting the pin's shoulder depth yet, so they ended up loose at first. I used feeler gauges to check the clearance between the arms so to determine how much shorter to mill the shoulders. The connecting link between the two main arms was thick enough to rub both of the arms, and the holes were worn oversize. The holes being worn allow one arm to move before the other when closing the hood, which makes the hinges "pop" when the link finally does start pushing the second arm into motion. The link was a stamped part so one side isn't flat. I fixed that by milling it flat, and fixed the rubbing by milling it thin enough to fit UHMW washers on each side. Checking clearance after the initial cut to know how much extra to shave for washer clearance. Machining bronze bushings to fit in the holes. Reassembled with washers after reaming the holes to precisely fit the pins. The last issue to address; adding the UHMW washers made each joint wider, which pushed each arm outward .030". The last arm to go on no longer lined up with the hood mount bracket, so I had to bend the arm slightly into a Z shape to compensate. With that finished I had functioning hinges with no play and no binding. I hadn't done anything cosmetically yet so I disassembled them and used the 2" grinder to even out and smooth all of the stamping marks, then ran over all of the surfaces with a 3" DA and 60 grit to remove the grinding marks. After that I thoroughly scrubbed each part with Dawn, then Ospho to remove the fingerprint rust from handling bare steel parts. I lightly oiled them to prevent excessive rust during mock up until final disassembly and pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theastronaut Posted November 21, 2021 Author Share Posted November 21, 2021 The finished hinges. Video of them in action. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted November 22, 2021 Share Posted November 22, 2021 You have now super luxury hinges! It's nice for such a job to have the required machines. Nice job, almost indestructible! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted November 23, 2021 Share Posted November 23, 2021 Wow - these are beautiful! If this were my truck I'd make sure to go out to the garage and at least open and close the hood a few times when the weather is too crappy to drive it... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURktman Posted December 2, 2021 Share Posted December 2, 2021 Those hinges deserve a spot at SEMA just on their own! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidC9057 Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 Wow great job! I have a pair on my 65 F100 that need this done. Wish I had known the aftermarket ones don’t work. I could have saved 130$ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidC9057 Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John S. Posted January 5, 2022 Share Posted January 5, 2022 Wonderful restoration. Beautiful work all way round. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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