Door Repair

Well, got through Thanksgiving after four kinds of pie and lots of gravy. I wonder what cherry pie wrapped in bacon and smothered in gravy would taste like. Hummmm!
Gotten down right cold outside, but I did finish getting the three rusted hinge pins out of the doors. What a job that was. Lots of penetrating oil and a big hammer with a drift pin and some drilling.
Had to cut out a rusty spot on the front bottom of the drivers door. The pictures show the sequence. I first made a patch out of 18 gauge and marked the spot to cut out. Used a die grinder with a cutoff blade to open up the hole. Hand fit the new piece and spot welded it in. Then filled in between the spot welds. After that it was grinding time. then went over it all with body filler. Still have more filling and sanding to do before the first primer goes on.
Started working on the passenger door. Got all the paint off. I have the same spot in that door to repair, plus the inside corner is rotted out. Will fix both bad places that at the same time and do some body filler on that one as well.
Only have two more weeks to get some stuff done before we head to Panama. We will be in Bocas Del Toro, house setting a place in the rain forest for three months. It is all off the grid, but does have Internet access. If your interested, Nancy has set up a blog that you can follow our time there. It is:
www.nharless.blogspot.com.
Lots of Howler monkeys, birds and jungle. The house sets above Dolphin bay on the Atlantic side, close to the Costa Rica border. There are two dogs (Gelli amd Indy) who will take care of us. Hope to get some fishing in and spending time trying to figure out how to get this truck done faster. I guess it would help if I stayed home.
NAW, I'm going to Boogie til I puke!

Plug Wires, Doors & New vise Station

After getting the new roll of MSD plug Wiring, I had to cut the three new wires to length and use a small tool to squeeze the ends on the wires before the boots went on. I have been moving back and forth for three years using my vise, when needed, that's in the garage attached to the house. I finally took time to build a spot on the end of my welding bench in the big garage and moved it there. A lot more convenient now and used it to put the new ends on the wires. Put some dielectric grease in the boots and all went together nicely. Got the rerouting done. Have to make a couple more small brackets to keep them from rubbing in a couple of places.
Took the passenger door back off and got the windows and most of the guts out. Should get it sandblasted today. The hinge pins are rusted in so have to drill them out. (I have new stainless ones).
The weather is still nice, so will blast while I can.
Hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to the gravy.
Wait a minute, is anyone reading this stuff???

Sandblasting Doors

Got the MSD wire kit yesterday so now I can build the last three sparkplug wires. Need some dielectric grease to help slip the boots on and will get that tomorrow when I go to town.
Figured out how to get the door handles off with the help of Google. Made a wedge tool out of wood so I could hold down the spring loaded covers around the handles. Then it's just a matter of knocking out the pin that holds it all together. Interesting that I found a cut off nail in one of them. The pins now cost 50 cents apiece. Got them ordered, plus new hinge pins.
Got all the guts, (window roller device) out of the drivers door and sandblasted it today. It's not in too bad of shape. A small patch needs to be applied towards the bottom.
Since I rebuilt the fitting in the bottom of my sandblaster last week, and now have all the valves regulated correctly, it works a lot better and using less sand.
Never give up, and Boogie Til Ya Puke.

Door Hinge Pins are a bugger

Finished up welding the patches on the left rear fender and put the first coat of filler on it. Will take it into my workshop in the house and finish up sanding when the weather gets colder.
Got a new welding helmet that has automatic darkening. Should have gotten one of these to start with. It's a middle of the road Miller. Works great.
Had Dean Long come help me put the passenger door on so I could see if the bear claw latches I have will work. Looks like the pair I have will take too much reworking of the door. (they were given to me so not out anything).  Found some made to fit bolt in's on line that look great and easy to install, but the $350 price tag says we will stick with the originals.
Started taking the drivers door apart so I can sandblast it. I spent three hours getting one of the hinge pins out. It was thoroughly rusted in. I beat, chiseled, beat,(a few expletives here) and finally drilled the pin out. Also got the glass and wing window out. Got to figure out how to get the door handles and window roller handle off so I can get the rest of the mechanism out. This door is in pretty good shape. Needs one small patch at the inside bottom.
The new electric heater I bought looks like it's going to work out fine. It was very comfortable in the garage today. We'll see what happens when it really gets cold out.
Ordered  a 25' roll of MSD sparkplug wire and end fittings today. The routing of the plug wires wasn't working out the way I had routed them around the Ram Horn exhaust. I needed three longer plug wires so had to go this way. Should be a lot less noticeable with the new routing.
Yo the lowly turtle, it only makes progress when it sticks it's head out.