BODYWORK NEEDED, AS OF MAY, 2008

Hi all, the plan is to chronicle the bodywork on my 1951 Ford F2

Here's how it starts - once you start sandblasting, you are committed...

Here's what I found underneath the gas tank.

Quite a few holes, in the bottom layer, under the rear floorboard

Cab corners are SHOT...

Inside and out!!!

The white blob below is bondo...

Now THAT'S going to be a tough piece to fabricate!

I will be replacing the rear panel, bigger than the cutout below, just inside the two outer

"indents", and underneath the rear rail.

Here's the piece that I got from Josh Madsen in Utah - thanks, Josh!! He cut it from inside

the cab, since he didn't want to remove the flatbed. He cut off the pinch joint flange, so it

falls short. That's fine, because I am going to be welding a new flange on, both the panel,

and underneath where all the holes are, and make a new pinch joint. As you can see, the

body flange is eaten away, anyway. Should make for a nice, sturdy cab.

Another shot of the gap...you can visualize all new metal there.

You can see the front cab corners - the green stuff is bondo. I have new cab corners

already. Luckily, most of the front - the cab mount, etc, are in pretty decent shape, along

with the forward floorboard, so I won't have to do a lot there. Basically, the cab corner

skin, and associated cap, etc.

Well, I decided to cut into the bottom of the back, under the support bar. Glad I did. It's

not near as bad as I first thought. The damage is primarily on the bottom, the support bar

itself is not too damaged, except for some rust, and around the tank hole, which should be

easily repaired. You can see the pictures below:

I don't see too much problem with this, as a lot of it, I was going to have to do anyway,

because of the way the repair panel was cut. Time will tell...

Well, that's all for now...