Chevrolet Cab Repair - Save-A-Cab

With the cowl panel removed, you can see why many people were afraid to buy this cab because of this damage. The passenger door was also scrapped due to damage, but an original 1950 door was found to fill the void.

To remove the remaining sheetmetal, the spot-welds must drilled out. A spot-weld cutter works best for this operation. There were a surprising number of welds holding the panel in place.

The drilling of spot-welds continues around the entire perimeter of the panel. The patch panel goes around to the face of the firewall making removal a bit more complicated.

The sheetmetal is now removed from the door pillar flange, an air chisel helps persuade the sheetmetal to break loose. Surface rust between the panels is common, but since we will be spot-welding the new panel, painting the flange is not an option.

A gasket scraper or chisel is used to wedge the upper cowl panel free from the lower panel. Work slowly and carefully to minimize stretching the upper sheetmetal.

Chris uses a slide hammer to pull the remaining portion of the old cowl panel out from under the upper cowl. It proved to be a pretty stubborn piece to remove.

The piece finally broke free. Notice there were almost a dozen spot-welds that needed to be drilled out prior to removal of this piece. No wonder these old trucks lasted so many years.

After being certain all the spot-welds were drilled out, Chris uses the trusty air chisel to peel off the remaining sheetmetal from the door pillar.

Bits of weld and sheetmetal remain on the inner structure. A quick touch with a grinder dresses off the high spots so the new panel will fit flush to the flange.