1964 M151 Kaiser

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Vzike
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » August 31st, 2016, 9:33 pm

For some reason, I never took a picture of the back panel. It was toast..... totally. You could reach through it on the passenger side. It was rusted through all along the bed attachment area. Both sides has been hit and pushed the lights off on an angle from the back so bad that the brackets were badly bent up. After removing it, I folded it up by hand to throw it in the scrap pile.

Yeah, TJ..... I'm pretty sure it was worse than yours. LOL

A week and a half ago, I got it all running, stoping, steering, and braking... drove it around and decided it was too ugly to sell. Rather than just paint it and go for a quick eBay sale, I decided to make it as right as I could.

By the way, I had two beers while doing the back panel.....
Vin Zike

lpcoating
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by lpcoating » August 31st, 2016, 9:38 pm

Looks good Vin. At some point I'll make tooling for the four radius pieces and sell as a complete rear panel. Just have not made the time yet. Why it's sold as "un-welded" and is only $200.
M151 Body Panels - http://www.m151bodypanels.com/

'68 A1 - Under full resto

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Vzike
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » August 31st, 2016, 9:39 pm

m3a1 wrote:My truck has that usual rust spot in the back as well. I was watching some of you heavy hitters and thinking about dealing with that in much the same way you are. Then I sat down and drank beer until that feeling passed :lol: :lol: :lol: because it actually adds to the je ne sais quoi of the truck, don't ya think?

All joking aside, you're making terrific progress. If you can do all that....surely you can do the paint, don't you think?

Cheers,
TJ

TJ, Under that rust line on your truck is a U channel. You can see it on the inside. It is likely rusted out as well. To remove the back panel, you will need to drill out about 200 spot welds. I ended up using an air chisel to speed it up, but it is a beast of a job.

Good choice on going for the beer!!!!
Vin Zike

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Vzike
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » August 31st, 2016, 9:41 pm

lpcoating wrote:Looks good Vin. At some point I'll make tooling for the four radius pieces and sell as a complete rear panel. Just have not made the time yet. Why it's sold as "un-welded" and is only $200.
Guy, I'm delighted with the panel! Everyone in the shop was amazed at how great it came out.

and by the way, I need another passenger side floor! lol
Vin Zike

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m3a1
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by m3a1 » August 31st, 2016, 11:21 pm

TJ, Under that rust line on your truck is a U channel. You can see it on the inside. It is likely rusted out as well. To remove the back panel, you will need to drill out about 200 spot welds. I ended up using an air chisel to speed it up, but it is a beast of a job.

Good choice on going for the beer!!!!
I gotta be real careful with what I do. If I make a clean spot, I'll never be able to duplicate the Random Camo that is on the rest of my truck....and you know what that means!

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Vzike
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » September 1st, 2016, 10:48 pm

Another exhausting day.....

Since we are going to Key Largo over the long weekend, and I know many of you are questioning my sanity for leaving a "white metal" tub in the bay a mere 200 yards from the Atlantic, and the fact that the wind switch out of the east today, I quickly got ahold of my paint buddy and we primer'd the tub. In the mean time, I go the front fenders sorted out and attached. Lots of welding. I put off the floors until next week.

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Vzike
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » September 6th, 2016, 8:02 pm

Decided to replace the back deck. It took less than an hour and a half to remove the old one, very cleanly, with a sharp air chisel.

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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by lpcoating » September 6th, 2016, 9:31 pm

I wonder why they did not spot weld the entire length of the floor down the center frame rails? My A1 is the same way.
M151 Body Panels - http://www.m151bodypanels.com/

'68 A1 - Under full resto

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Vzike
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » September 7th, 2016, 6:20 pm

Guy, I noticed the lack of welds when I took off the back bed. Not sure why. It's the same on my other vehicles.

Got busy on the drivers side today. installed the lower rocker panel segment, the forward part of the rear drivers wheel well, and the drivers floor along with a portion of the fuel tank floor.

My welding leaves something to be desired.

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Vzike
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » September 9th, 2016, 6:42 pm

So, the passenger side was the target for today. The first picture is what I started with, after cutting out as much rust as I could and still have parts to work with. The frame is still intact, but that is about it. Tomorrow I have to position the forward drivers side seat mount, and start the dash board replacement.

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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by lpcoating » September 9th, 2016, 10:01 pm

As a reminder, the seat support might have to be trimmed down a bit as I made them a little longer to compensate for body variation.

Guy
M151 Body Panels - http://www.m151bodypanels.com/

'68 A1 - Under full resto

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Vzike
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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » September 10th, 2016, 4:55 pm

Got a lot done today. Finished installing seat supports. I used the ones from another vehicle for this project, and will use the ones I got from Guy when I do the KSA A2 (next project). Got the fuel tank fitted in and the seat mounted to make sure it all lined up. Did some sanding and grinding on the welds, cleaned up and got ready to fit up the dash board. I'll do that Monday. The back deck should be in Monday afternoon. That will be put in along with the tool box cover, as soon as the dash is finished.
Vin Zike

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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » September 13th, 2016, 8:43 am

Yesterday I received in the back bed/deck and the tool box cover. Both are perfect fits. Guy did an amazing job on these. If you need them, they are an easy replacement.

The back bed is slightly different, in that the stiffening ribs are full length, all the way to the back. In the original 151, there us a gap in the rib (just flat sheet metal, over the rear frame cross member. I can't see that this should make a difference to anyone. A truck needing this level of restoration is never going to be a show vehicle, no mater how good it looks when done. Using the same logic, the side panels I put in have the A2 side drains, and the front floors have the drains as well.

I did a little work on some details, like the shovel handle brackets, and a few other things, then went to the sandblaster and picked up the remaining parts.

Just for reference, the body was sandblasted on the rotisserie. I included the hood and a number of parts with it, including fenders I took from a front clip I had, the grill, and all the new parts I planed to replace. I cut off most of the metal I was replacing before the blasting The cost for the sandblaster was $960. The cost of the second batch of parts (shown below after priming them) was $250.

Next, I primed all the parts I picked up.

Today I'm going to install the back floor. I'll drill out 1/4 holes where the spot welds would normally be, and button weld it. I'll do the same with the tool box cover. My test with the stainless hinge and mild steel sheet came out great, so I'll button weld that as well.

Here are the pictures:

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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by Vzike » September 21st, 2016, 8:19 am

Some parts of a restoration are much more challenging than others. On this truck, someone in the past did a very poor job in replacing the drivers fender. Putting another one on, and making it look somewhat correct is not easy when a lot of the attachment metal is removed or damaged the first time. In this case, the horrible stick welding had to be removed.

Here are a series of pictures of how I worked part of the fender. The first picture is of the same area on another vehicle.

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On the next picture, you can see what I ended up with after removing material that could not be salvaged.

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Above, you can see that too much metal had to be removed to just put in the fender. To repair this, I added a piece of sheet to the front portion of the dashboard panel, and a piece under the dashboard to close up a gapping hole.

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You can't see the backing I added under the fender top, but it's there. Next, I added a piece of sheet metal to replicate the "look" of the side panel attachment.

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Since I don't have a spot welder that will reach the attachment points for that part, I flipped the vehicle over on the rotisserie, and button welded the clamped on piece from below. Then I welded the edges and ground them down to match the fender curve.

Next I Used Durabond to hide the welds and make the part look somewhat correct. I'll post a finished picture once all the sanding is complete.

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By the way, I do realize that the seam on the lower part of the dashboard panel is not really in the correct place, but I think it is better to do it this way, rather than just "sculp" it to look exactly correct with the Durabond. I have no intention of passing this vehicle off as totally correct and the fender has obviously been replaced.... so.... it is what it is!

I'd welcome any suggestions on how to do this in the future.
Vin Zike

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Re: 1964 M151 Kaiser

Unread post by rickf » September 21st, 2016, 9:05 am

BONDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :twisted: :twisted:
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

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