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1971 Chevy C10 Driprail - Project Get ShortyThe Drip Zone From the February, 2009 issue of Custom Classic Trucks By Dakota Wentz Photography by Dakota Wentz
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Over the past few months Project Get Shorty has seen a number of stories thrown its way. From suspension to frame hacking, and from welding to bolt-ons, it's undergone quite a transformation from its starting point as a long, non-acrophobic "This is our country" everyday working man's truck. However, one aspect to the build we haven't really delved into is the transformation of the skin of the Chevy. Now that the chassis and vital functions of the chassis are pretty much in the bag, it's time to start thrashin' on the exterior of the '71. Granted, the door handles, marker lights, tailgate, and emblems have all been shaved, but that stuff is all minor compared to what's to come. To kick start things off this month I'm going to get out the torch and Sawzall and hack off the driprail. When it comes to the driprail on '67-'72 C10s it's not one piece of metal hangin' out over the edge like Sylvester Stallone on the set of Cliffhanger. It's actually a combination of mostly three, and at certain spots four, sheets of metal all compressed together and spot welded in place. Therefore, in order to shave the rail clean the protruding portion of the driprail is removed and the three layers of metal are then welded together. The process is simple. Cut a small portion of the driprail away, weld it up, and repeat. Eventually you get from corner to corner and the job is done. However, if you're like me, you like to do things different. By "different," I mean in terms of style, not work. I did the job just as described above, but around the windshield I took my own road. One thing I don't like about the driprail being removed from the cab of these trucks is the distance between the windshield and forward edge of the roof line. There's just too much metal there. It doesn't flow back into the cab nice and clean, and it looks all around too robust for me. For that reason I removed a portion of that metal and laid the roof forward a little more than an inch. It sounds complicated, but it's not. I did this in my garage at home with simple hand tools and a torch. Check it out. CCT  There's nothing wrong with...  There's nothing wrong with a driprail, but if you ask me there's nothing right about one either, so this one has to go.  The protruding portion of...  The protruding portion of the rail gets cut off. However, the inner portion that follows the inner cab line stays behind. For that reason, my first step was to weld the bottom tab of the driprail to the inside of the cab.  With the rail secured to the...  With the rail secured to the cab, I then grabbed a Sawzall, placed it against the cab, and removed roughly 4 inches at a time.  From there I used a grinder,...  From there I used a grinder, outfitted with a 36-grit disc, to grind the three metals down to an even height. Once ground, I cleaned the area with the stripping wheel.  Here's the three metals ground...  Here's the three metals ground flush. Because the metals aren't welded together, I only cut out about 4 inches at a time--I didn't want the cab to completely come apart. Although fixable, why go through that much extra work? When it comes to this process, slow and steady is the way to go.  Instead of just welding the...  Instead of just welding the seam up with one pass, I placed 1⁄4-inch tack welds down the seam and then connected the dots. Also, with each tack I grabbed a third hand, which usually came in the form of my brother Chance, to press the inside of the driprail into the rear of the cab, which kept the three metals close together. In some spots (note arrow), the metals still began to expand from one another. In those instances, I grabbed my Eastwood body hammer and tapped the layers of metal back together before welding.  With things tacked into place,...  With things tacked into place, I would then weld up the seam. Also, I cooled each weld with water to keep the warpage at a minimum. Once the entire seam was welded, I simply repeated the previous steps and worked my way up.  When it comes time to weld...  When it comes time to weld the corners, a few obstacles must be overcome. One is at the peak of the corner where the cab skins meet. There's a lot of paint and debris here. For that reason I made sure to clean the area with a wire brush to get between the metals. To make sure the entire area was clean, that nothing was going to seep up in the weld, I slightly heated the crevices and brushed them again with the wire brush.  The other obstacle is the...  The other obstacle is the corner coming apart. When cutting it like before, it naturally begins to sag. For the most part, the problem is cured by having someone push the pieces back together from the underside and welding things back up, starting at the bottom of the curve and working up. However, a few places need a little persuasion in order to line back up. In those cases I used my body hammer to re-create the proper curve.  When using the "power of persuasion,"...  When using the "power of persuasion," slowly shape the corner and close the door sporadically to make sure things are shaping up to your liking. Here you can see how the corner is uniform, like it should be.  The upper part of the driprail...  The upper part of the driprail also tends to come apart. But this time, instead of tapping things back together, Chance gently pinched the pieces of metal together with a set of pliers, while I proceeded to tack and weld things back together just like before. By the way, when using the pliers, stay on the forward edge of the metal. If you clamp down from top to bottom, the heat of the weld may create a plier-tooth-shaped dip in the top cab skin.  I stopped cutting the driprail...  I stopped cutting the driprail off at the top front corner of the door. At this point the driprail rounding the windshield needs to have all the filler and paint removed before things can go further. For this, I simply heated the area and cleaned it with a wire brush.  Here's where a choice has...  Here's where a choice has to be made. Removing the front of the driprail can be carried out the same way as before (by cutting the rail, grinding it down, and welding it up), or one can take the route I took. I choose to lay the roof forward more than an inch.  Here's how I did it: First,...  Here's how I did it: First, I took a Sawzall and cut vertically down the driprail right through each one of the spot welds holding the layers of sheetmetal together.  Next, the roof skin was peeled...  Next, the roof skin was peeled back by removing the spot welds with an air hammer.  I then placed the blade of...  I then placed the blade of the Sawzall just below what was left of the protruding driprail and cut from corner to corner.  At this point, the only metal...  At this point, the only metal left up front is the roof skin and the windshield framing just above the glass. In order to bring the roof skin forward, I then used a cut-off wheel to trim the windshield framing down to where only 1⁄2 inch was left above the windshield rubber.  From there, I used a screwdriver...  From there, I used a screwdriver and hammer to slowly bend the windshield framing back until I got my desired slant.  My next step was to grab my...  My next step was to grab my Eastwood hammer and dolly and straighten out the roof.  With everything in position,...  With everything in position, I then came back with a pair of tin snips and trimmed the roof skin to match the framing. Once finished, the roof was welded back together using the same method as before. Once tacked in place, be sure to take a few steps back and make sure everything is level and even.  To get the corners to match...  To get the corners to match up clean, a series of pie cuts was necessary to achieve the proper compound curve.  Another area that didn't gel...  Another area that didn't gel with me: the corners. They went straight up and didn't mesh well. In order to add some flow to the vertical columns, I made a few pie cuts in the posts and hammered them in towards the roof. The posts were then welded up.  With everything welded up,...  With everything welded up, the last step is to grind everything down.  And there you have it: a shaved...  And there you have it: a shaved driprail. The final outcome is much cleaner than that miniature sun visor that used to hang out and about. Also, the forward slope in the roof and posts give a more aggressive, flowing look to the cab.
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The Thinker??? - Haul Monitor
Ryan talks about the friendly badgering that goes on around the shop and overcoming obstacles that seemly pop up out of nowhere during a project....
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