Drilling spot welds and swapping panels (more)

[flyboy71]

Does anyone have pics of whole sections of panels that you have drilled spot welds and swapped into another area?

Heres the deal. I have two cabs. One cab is excellent on the bottom half and the other is excellent in the top half and I would like to remove whole sections at the spot welds and transplant to the other cab. Ive seen plenty of spliced in, butt welded sections, but not much spot weld drilling and plug welding.

Any pics or feedback would be great!

[fordman]

what part are you wanting to replace?

[67mann]

Didn't do anything like that on my cab, but the front of my box was repaired that way and can be seen in my project thread.
http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... 22&t=31245
It would be interesting to see the cab work done and I'm sure alot of member would appreciate lots of pic's if you do it

[flyboy71]

It looks like you have as much space as I do to work in but thats inspiring. I like the idea of the shelter you have to store it while you work on other parts. Come fall my wife will want her side of the garage back.

As far as what I want to do... I want to transplant the roof, the dash, and the front cowl as one unit. It looks like Id need to drill welds at the upper door pillar all the way around the lower cowl flange at the firewall. The roof would have to seperate around the flange where it meets the rear cab panel on the inside. Ill experiment on the 'old' cab to see what comes apart and how and post lots of pics. The exploded view of the cab on the resource page is helpful to know what goes where.

[fordman]

you would probably wanttodo just the skin them. the door pillars shouldnt be cut unless it has to be cut. the roof will come off with hte proper removal. as well as the dash and cowling.

[fordman]

you got the easyones. the front of the cowl turns into one piece if you look at it. the center rolls down and over the seam. gettign the front of that seal is goign to be fun. you might have to to cut the firewall part off and grind off the metal.

[67mann]

Good luck to ya flyboy----maybe If I ever get done with this truck--I'll see ya at the carlisle ford wknd

[flyboy71]

Well the dash came out rather nicely so that made it much easier to get to the cowl to start taking it off. Its slow and tedious but so far its working quite well. You do need to bend the firewall flange to pry the joint but shaping it back wont be a real issue. Lotsa spot welds.

[flyboy71]

The cowl is finally off. That is not something for the faint of heart. Its pretty rusty inside so unless I can clean it up and find good metal under all that I may resort to cutting pieces out of it or just working with the dents and dings on the other cabs cowl.

[fordman]

[JWW]

What type of bit are you using? Where did you get it?

I like this post. Thanks for sharing.

[flyboy71]

Im using a $3.99 spot weld cutter from HF http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=95343

So far its held up surprisngly well and cuts like butter after a dash board and cowl removal.

My next panel to come off will be the rear panel inside the cab. Thats gonna be fun with all the spot welds around the rear window flange.

[mrsnicks]

You give me hope. I've got a donor cab but it's pretty rusty inside/under the cowl "vent". Was wondering how I was going to remove the rust or spray a rust encapsulator over it. Now I know it will be possible to separate it and do it from the underneath.


Thanks,
Patrick

[Kraig]

I changed the roof on a Mustang like that. Lots of welds to drill....went pretty well though!!

[dablack00]

I'm coming in late on this thread, but I just want to give huge props to flyboy! Great work my friend and great pictures.

thanks
Austin