1994 K3500 extended cab dually

[n8in8or]

A little body filler and you're golden!

It’s looking that way! The paint touch-up makes me nervous though.

 

[Husker6.5]

99.99% of the time the door will be shut, so the jamb and latch ends of the inner door won't be seen. The rest will be covered by the door trim panel anyway, so why sweat looking perfect as long as it's new metal, the grinding/filling is reasonably close and the paint's the right color?

 

[n8in8or]

99.99% of the time the door will be shut, so the jamb and latch ends of the inner door won't be seen. The rest will be covered by the door trim panel anyway, so why sweat looking perfect as long as it's new metal, the grinding/filling is reasonably close and the paint's the right color?

I don't want it to look like a hack job when the door is opened. Just personal preference. Like you know, when I open the door to show off the barefoot gas pedal to someone, I don't want them to throw up in their mouth when they see the metal repair on the door.

It really didn't take that much longer to finish it to this level. Plus every time I do these repairs it helps me to hone my skills so if this were an exposed panel it would be more presentable. It also prolongs working on the skid steer (had to say it).

 

[n8in8or]

I got more done this evening than I expected. Before I got started on the outer skin I noticed that I had to reinstall the bottom window stop, so I cut the spot welds on it and welded it to the inner patch. After that I measured, measured again and then remeasured one more time before measuring a fourth time and then finally cut the outer skin patch. I got the door skin flanged, the patch fit and actually got a lot of the welding done tonight. I have Friday and Monday off so I hope to have these patches all painted by the end of my long weekend.

 

[n8in8or]

I forgot to mention something I tried last night. I remembered the quarter panel on the Tahoe stretching when I ran the flanging tool on it. I wanted to avoid that with this door repair so I decided to gradually add the flange to the panel by doing multiple passes with the flanging tool, starting at lower pressure on the first pass, stepping it up on the second pass and then using the full 90psi on the third pass. That worked, as I didn’t get any noticeable stretching. I love it when a plan comes together.

 

[n8in8or]

I started the day finishing the welding of the skin. Once that was done I flipped the door over so I could work on the pinch seam. I discovered that I had an issue with the inner panel at this point - for whatever reason it was bowed up in the middle. It didn’t look like I’d get good engagement of the outer skin to the inner so I started trying to fix it. I thought it was the lower window stop that was forcing it into that shape so I cut the lower welds. Nope, still bowed. I messed with it and messed with it and the only solution I could come up with to hold it where I wanted it was to tack the inner panel to the outer to keep it where I wanted it. So I did that. Then I rewelded the window stop. It turned out ok.



Then it was time to fold the pinch over. I used a Zipper tool I borrowed from my brother. It goes into an air hammer and folds the metal over in two steps. It worked pretty well. It took care of the big metal shaping, but I still had to use a hammer and dolly to finish it off. The end result wasn’t bad. I could see where I put those tack welds in the bend, but I can grind those out.

 

[n8in8or]

After that I flipped the door over so I could grind and DA the outer weld seam. It turned out pretty good, not as good as the cab corner, but it shouldn’t need too much filler to look good.



Then I decided to hang the door on the cab so I could see how well the edge fit the cab. The door overall hung a little low at the latch so I pried it up with a 2x4. After that I worked on the edge. It was sticking out about 1/4” at the bottom. Overall the gap to the rocker wasn’t bad.



I worked on it with hammers and a dolly and ended up with an OK result. The bottom is still out about 3/32”. I can’t get it to move in further because it’s hitting the inner panel. I noticed the inner patch is angled out a little bit and that would cause it to stick out like this. Not sure if I could have done much to address that when I was fitting the patch or if it’s a defect in the panel. Probably could have done something with some more effort if I had noticed it. Oh well, it’s good enough for this truck right now and overall a pretty good result for my first attempt. I’m getting my filler and paint supplies tomorrow and then I’ll get started on the next phase.

 

[Husker6.5]

Don't fit? Get a bigger hammer. Still don't fit? Try reading the instructions!

 

[n8in8or]

Body filler for me is one of those things that since I do it so infrequently, there’s a learning curve for me every time. I applied many more coats of product today than I expected because I kept sanding too much off. I worked on the door today primarily since that needed the most help to be straight and it was easier to work on since it’s on a stand. I did a couple applications of Duraglas and got the big stuff taken care of. Then I switched to a product I’d never used before - a glaze by 3M. It was pretty pricey, but the guy at the paint store really talked it up. He wasn’t wrong. It goes on really smooth and sands nicely. It took me a couple coats to learn to apply it well, but now that I’m nearing the end of the project I’m starting to get the hang of it. I ended this evening with the third coat of the glaze drying on the door and the first coat drying on the cab corner. I don’t expect the cab corner to need much work to be good enough to prime, but we’ll see when I actually start sanding it.

 

[MrMarty51]

Use several different colors of primer, one color at a time, spray on a color and let it set until dry, then sand, add the filler again and prime a different color, let it dry then sand, repeat until it all is even and smooth.
That way You can see where the lows are and get them filled in. A friend uses that method, can You say smooth paint job ?

 

[Husker6.5]

That's exactly the method my ex-neighbor, an expert body man who worked on expensive private jets at Duncan Aviation, showed me 27 years ago when we were restoring the '70 340 Challenger he'd owned since he was i high school in the mid 70's. We (mostly he) did a frame-off rotisserie restoration in his single stall garage of that car - right down to the frame rivets.

 

[n8in8or]

I figured out my problem: I was trying to do too much of the sanding with the DA. Even with 240 grit paper and what I thought was even pressure, I was creating or not helping the low and high spots. Once I switched to a block and 220 paper I really made some nice headway. I have the door in its second coat of primer and the cab corner in its first. Both panels need some more blocking. I’m sure I’ll have both pieces ready for paint tomorrow, just not sure if they’ll actually get painted - depends on how the final blocking goes.

 

[Husker6.5]

Yeah, using a DA sander for that is like using a machete to trim your fingernails.

 

[n8in8or]

Well @Will L. here’s your proof that I’m not Martha Stewart or Gordon Ramsey. And I’m most certainly not Gene Winfield.



I should probably defend myself a little though. This was mostly a project to get rid of the rust in the cab while the interior was out. I accomplished that mission. I also used this as a chance to work on bodywork and paint skills. Mission also accomplished. While it doesn’t look great, I did learn some things.....and I’ve always said that you learn more from your failures than you do your successes. And also under the crap paint job is a straight panel, so the future paint job the truck will be getting will have a good foundation. I learned some stuff about body filler that I will hopefully retain for the next project. The paint I learned went on too dry. I have a bad habit of putting paint on too heavy and then I get drips. In fact when I painted the inside of the door, I put the paint on heavy and I got a run in the clear, but wouldn't you know the inside turned out shiny and smooth?



I was also running low on paint which reinforced my dry/thin coats. So somewhere in the middle of my drip-forming coats and these coats is where I need to end up. I should also mention that I was using aerosol to paint - not Dupli-Color or Rustoleum, but a mixed PPG spray bomb and a $25 dollar can of clear. In fact even the primer was expensive SEM stuff. So I didn’t have as much control as I would have with a gun, but the materials themselves were quality - again, a good foundation for a future paint job. I was also considering that the rest of the truck has scratches and dents so it’s not like I needed to try to match a pristine paint job. I spent 2 weeks on this part of the truck and I’m more than ready to move on. Yes, I wish it had turned out nicer, and yes I could spend a couple more days on it and get it nice and smooth, but at this point I just don’t have the desire in me to spend more money and time on it. I need to get to the good stuff and get this thing on the road and out of the barn. Three disabled trucks in this barn is killing me - I’m drowning in here!! I can always work on these panels after the truck is assembled too....not sure I’ll care enough to do so, but the option is there.

Just a bit more cleaning up/changing over to do and then wiring and interior reassembly begins.

 

[n8in8or]

The last couple weeks I’ve been doing some work outside, but I was finally able to get back to the truck a couple days ago. Tonight I largely finished the installation of sound deadener. Just a couple small spots to patch in and it should be done.

 

[n8in8or]

Back to electrical. I removed the harness from the dash so I can remove all unnecessary wiring since I’m going mechanical and ditching the factory radio.



I picked up a used 1994 Electrical Diagnosis manual to help with the lobotomy.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Be interesting to know what you cut out and what you kept

 

[n8in8or]

Be interesting to know what you cut out and what you kept

Ok. I’ll try to show when I’m done. A lot came out of the engine side when I did that earlier this year.

 

[n8in8or]

I spent last weekend working on a couple other things. During a grinding break I decided I was tired of looking at that huge wiring harness in the engine compartment, so I took it off the truck and removed all of the wiring necessary for the computer controls. It was a lot of extra wiring. It looks bad right now unloomed, but I know what I need is still there. I’ll reloom it once the engine is back in so I can make sure everything gets run where I want it. On that subject.....I can’t figure out what this relay is. It isn’t in any wiring diagrams I can find. It’s on the firewall by the wiper motor. Anyone know what it is?

View attachment 61331View attachment 61332

I finally figured out what this relay is last night. It’s a relay for the third brake light. What’s really dumb is one of the wires comes off the brake light switch, goes across the dash, comes through the firewall on the passenger side and then the wire goes across the firewall back to the relay on the driver side! Ridiculous. I’ll be redoing that. I don’t want to have any wires running across the firewall when I’m done.

 

[n8in8or]

I finally figured out what this relay is last night. It’s a relay for the third brake light. What’s really dumb is one of the wires comes off the brake light switch, goes across the dash, comes through the firewall on the passenger side and then the wire goes across the firewall back to the relay on the driver side! Ridiculous. I’ll be redoing that. I don’t want to have any wires running across the firewall when I’m done.

Edit: 3 of the 4 wires in this circuit start on the driver side of the dash, go to the passenger side, go through the firewall and then come all of the way back over to the relay mounted on the driver side of the firewall. The fourth wire is just a ground that ties into a junction in the engine harness. Ridiculous.