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1958 Chevy Truck LMC Floor Panel Replacement - Tore Up From The Floor UpReplacing Rotting And Rusting Floors In A '58 Chevy From the February, 2009 issue of Custom Classic Trucks By Dakota Wentz Photography by Dakota Wentz, Mike Harrington
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When it comes to buying an old truck, it's a given you want to start with the best carcass, roller, or restored truck within your means. However, oftentimes what's in reach, of our pocketbook at least, isn't exactly something you'd be proud to be seen with. Besides the obvious patina, dents, and scratches, you will probably have your fair share of cancerous rust as well. That's what often scares folks away, but it shouldn't be like that anymore. With the aftermarket the way it is today, there really isn't much you can't find for a classic truck, especially when it comes to sheetmetal. Just about any panel, fender, hood-basically anything you could want-can be ordered directly from a catalog. For that reason, fixing rusty holes and panels is as easy as anything else you want to do to your ride. One of the biggest suppliers of classic truck parts is LMC Truck in Lenexa, Kansas. They can help you with all your restoration needs, including sheetmetal. In fact, if you're browsing through an LMC catalog you will probably find yourself asking the question: "What don't they make?" This is a good thing, because it means they have the products to keep your vintage tin intact and on the road. The case on our hands is a Big-Window '58 Chevrolet Apache Fleetside. The truck is now 50 years old and showing it-but no worries, that isn't any reason to scare anyone off. It has rust and rot in all the expected places, and heavily at that, but for the most part it has all of its original equipment that isn't in too bad of shape-which means it's a perfect platform to start a project on. After browsing the LMC catalog, we zeroed in on a few patch panels, cab floors to be exact, that will bring the '58 Fleetside that much closer to being back on the road.  The first obvious step is...  The first obvious step is to completely remove all interior components. Thankfully, it's a spartan truck interior.  We also removed the transmission...  We also removed the transmission floor cover to take a look and see if rust and rot had made its way there as well. Luckily the floors were in decent shape around the access panel.  Like any typical Chevy from...  Like any typical Chevy from the '50s, this Fleetside Apache was no different when it came to rust in all the typical places. The typical places being the cab corners and, of course, the front corners, which include the toe boards and metal surrounding the lower door hinges. It's a good thing LMC has been in this business a long time and has nearly every type of patch panel available.  What you see isn't always...  What you see isn't always what you get. Although some of the metal seemed to be holding up fairly well, that wasn't the case. We used a screwdriver as a punch to test the integrity of the metal. Sure enough, after a few stabs around the surrounding area, the screwdriver went right through some of the seemingly OK areas.  Before we go any further,...  Before we go any further, let's take a look at the floor panels that LMC has sent us...  ...In order to ensure a precise...  ...In order to ensure a precise fit, LMC has made the panels driver- and passenger-side specific.  This is the whole enchilada,...  This is the whole enchilada, as they say. The rot in the floors of the Chevy are limited to just the corner area, therefore the entire floor will not need replacing. The great part about the LMC floorboards is they are made to replace an entire area of the panel, or they can be trimmed down to suit one's needs. Keep in mind, regardless of how much you decide to replace, the process is the same.  After scoping out the scene...  After scoping out the scene and testing the metal, we decided on how much of the floor needed to be removed. Using a straight edge and Sharpie, we marked off the area that will go under the blade.  Using a cutoff wheel, we slayed...  Using a cutoff wheel, we slayed the rusted area from the floor. Also, even though it might sound obvious: Wear safety glasses and a faceshield when using a cutoff wheel. It's real easy for that wheel to catch a kink or stray piece of metal and cause all sorts of havoc.  Now we did it: We just went...  Now we did it: We just went and created a Fred Flintstone-styled floor. Here you can see the nearly 12-inch by 20-inch section that we're going to replace.  Next, the edges of the floor...  Next, the edges of the floor were cleaned up...  ...Be sure to clean both sides...  ...Be sure to clean both sides of the cab floor, that way no contaminants creep up into the weld and cause a weak link.  Next, we dropped the full...  Next, we dropped the full LMC floorboard in place. Be sure that the grooves in the cab floor and LMC panel are lining up.  In order to mark the exact...  In order to mark the exact area that needs to be cut from the new panel we traced our cut area from the bottom of the floorboard to the LMC panel. Sort of a photo negative, if you will.  Trimming the new panel down...  Trimming the new panel down to size takes a fair amount of time to do it right. After the initial cut, it was test fit, trimmed down some more, and test fit again until we were satisfied. It's better to trim smaller amounts at a time than to over cut and ruin the panel, or to create more work for yourself by creating new pieces to make for the metal that was overzealously trimmed away.  Finally, after a few rounds...  Finally, after a few rounds with the cutoff wheel and a pair of tin snips, the panel had taken on a precise shape.  Say hello to my little friend!...  Say hello to my little friend! The Miller Matic 140 is the perfect home-garage welder, due to its versatility and power. Not to mention, you can just plug it into any regular 115 outlet and it's good to go. And yes, the welding cart you see used to be a shopping cart. So we guess a thanks is in order to the bums who regularly leave them in front of a friend's shop.  The lip of the LMC panel is...  The lip of the LMC panel is made to rest over the inner step, just like the factory did it. The original setup has the lip spot-welded to the inner step...  ...To keep things looking...  ...To keep things looking "untouched," we used this handy pneumatic hole puncher on the lip of the leading edge.  The reason for the holes is...  The reason for the holes is to mimic a spot weld. All that we have to do is weld in the holes and grind the excess down, and it matches the rest of the step.  Now the fun part: It's time...  Now the fun part: It's time to stitch-weld the panel in place. A screwdriver was used to level off the LMC panel and cab floor while tacking things in place...  ...Stitch-welding can take...  ...Stitch-welding can take awhile, so the last thing we wanted was to build up heat in any of the sheetmetal and have it warp on us.  After spending time stitch-welding,...  After spending time stitch-welding, here's what the panel looks like. Now we'll pull out the grinder and grind the welds smooth. Don't get too overzealous with the grinder and grind the weld right down to nothing. Strength is a key component in this job.  After another round with the...  After another round with the grinder, this is how the panel looked with everything smoothed and grounded down.  Since the truck won't see...  Since the truck won't see paint for some time, some spray cans of self-etching primer and paint will do the trick for now.  Although we are far from done...  Although we are far from done with the floors and cab in this truck, LMC also provided us...  ...with sound deadener and...  ...with sound deadener and insulation, cut to fit a '58 cab, which will complement the build to a T.
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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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