Hawaiian Ranchero Rust Repair

[terry_208]

I have to say Sean is very talented.  He has sent me several "in progress" pictures, all spot on without a mis step.

I have to agree with G., don't remove the body from the frame unless absolutely required. It only took me 3 1/2 years to marry the frame and body back together.  Keep it drivable as long as possible and then get all the pieces on hand for the re-install before separating the two. 

How much of the rain gutter do you need, Sean?  The donor car and has a good "A" pillar if anyone is interested. The car is slowly shrinking, as I remove pieces.

[hiball3985]

It looks great, well done and choice of colors.

[Wirenut]

Thanks for sharing the photos of your work. I appreciate the challenge you took in replacing such a difficult piece. Looks great and makes me realize how fortunate we are here in the states to hit a salvage yard for parts on these classics. I wish you well on the other repairs as you tackle them. I enjoyed seeing the progress.

[smkeeman]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. 

Rich, the headlight panels are one of the next projects.  I talked to the guys at EMS, but have not ordered.  When I to them, I'll reach out.  I am looking forward to your ideas.
I appreciate the advice on the frame off.  I love the fact that this is a roller and she cruises to shows on Saturday nights.  The dream of pulling the body off is probably just that, a dream.  It's one of those things that I've always wanted to do and never had the resources.  That said, I don't know that I will ever actually do it.  The frame is solid but needs cleaned and painted and there are some floor pans that need replaced, mainly the rear floor pans.  Nothing that warrants separating the body and frame.

Terry I am good with the drip rail, I have enough left over from the clip you sent, I have just a small section to replace. If that donor has some floor pans or the headlight panels I would be interested in those. 

There is more to come.  I am not the best as posting, but I am making it a point to get better at it.

[djfordmanjack]

Great shot !
Just a cheap, real dirty tip here. If you want to omit the rusty bumper look without spending a fortune for rechroming, try aluminum plumbers tape. you can just stick it on, smooth it out with a rag and polish it a little and will do the trick on pics like these, just saying. Maybe you even love the weathered patina look, and it does look cool the way it is !

[glenmichael]

Beautiful back round, any car would look good, 57 that much better, been to the islands a few times never seen a 57 ranchero, very nice...

[smkeeman]

Great shot !
Just a cheap, real dirty tip here. If you want to omit the rusty bumper look without spending a fortune for rechroming, try aluminum plumbers tape. you can just stick it on, smooth it out with a rag and polish it a little and will do the trick on pics like these, just saying. Maybe you even love the weathered patina look, and it does look cool the way it is !

I've seen the tape used before.  Chrome got us out of the question.  There is no one in the islands to do it.  It would cost me just as much to ship them out as it would to have them dipped.  I'm thinking of powder coating them.  There have been some nice gains in the "chrome" powder coat world over the last few years.  I'm thinking if I add some black hues into the powder it should look nice. 

[RICH MUISE]

Since most new cars for the past umteen years haven't had chrome bumpers, we've gotten use to it, so it's a lot easier to deal with something else than it would have been 20 years ago. jmho.

[smkeeman]

So I've been back at it the last month or so.  Terry has been the moral support I've needed to help keep me moving.  The rust repair is coming along and this next phase is nearing completion. 

These first four are from about a month ago.  It was tough going, every panel off revealed more and more rusty metal and work.

[smkeeman]

Here I actually started to make repairs.  I formed the piece of the piece of the back cab wall by hand on my bench.  Then replaced the wasted metal on the lower brace for back cab wall.  All 14 gauge.  All of the welding on the bench was TIG, I am still learning, but I really enjoy it.  If I can get the fit up tight the welds lay so much better with much less grinding.

[smkeeman]

Bought some new tools to get this next part done.  A shrinker/stretcher set.  My wife and I were able to get that lower bracket curved right over the driveshaft tunnel. 

I had some ideas to start on the rear floor pans in cab, I was going to cut the old pans out and replace with some flat pieces of metal, but as I was cutting I realized there was a brace under there the I didnt account for, so I scratched that plan, ordered some replacement rear pans from EMS and shifted my focus to the area under the bed.

[smkeeman]

These last 4 bring us up to the current status of the project.  The floor under the bed is in.  I've got some welds to grind down still but they are in and solid. 

The rear floor pans showed up yesterday which was perfect timing.  I got them trimmed up and dropped into place.  I start welding them in tomorrow, probably.

I am on the fence on what to do with the bed.  I am thinking about replacing all of the metal along the sides.  The removable in the center are in fine shape but the rest is not very good. I'm not sure I'll be able to hammer form the 14 gauge with enough tolerance to satisfy me and 18 gauge is next to impossible to get here. 

I can get a full sheet of 16 gauge, and I am thinking I will most likely go with that, It'll be plenty strong, and should be a little bit easier to work than that 14 gauge.

[Fairlane62]

You have gotten a lot accomplished in the last couple months.  Its looking good.  The TIG definitely give a cleaner weld with less to grind.

James

[terry_208]

Looking good, Sean.  Keep after it.  All the work will be worth it when you look back knowing what you've accomplished.  The satisfaction you'll feel will be phenomenal!

[djfordmanjack]

Wow, you have gotten a crazy amount of work done on the Ranchero. Very difficult and hard to reach areas. Well done !