mklotz70 project MEND

[spiffinspudater]

Just started poking around the site again after checking on my truck in storage. Mike, you made me log in just so I could give you props on your amazing work! That truck is looking fantastic!

 

==Javin

[mklotz70]

Thanks Javin. Glad to see you're still around!! :)

[mklotz70]

Not sure how much I'll be able to stay awake for, but it was a pretty long day in the shop. I'll try to throw in some narratives for clarity :)

 

 

Here are a couple more of Do and Brian's mods. The pockets on the back of the seat are extremely useful. They just might find their way back :)

 

 

 

I wasn't until I had the visors all the way out and on the bench that I noticed the material wasn't factory. You have to look pretty closely to see the stitching in the first pic. Once I took the cover off, it was pretty obvious why Do covered them!!! :) I have several stock sets that should be in pretty nice shape. I'll probably throw a set of those in.

 

[mklotz70]

This will be fun to patch up! NOT!

 

 

 

I'm assuming the speaker is factory....wiring matched the harness :)

 

 

 

 

This wheel has certainly seen better days!!! I've got a better one :)

 

 

 

 

I was planning on pulling the dash from the start....just thought I'd get to it sooner. I need to pull the pad off so recover it since I sold the 520 dash to the new owner of the '68 521. I also have a water leak and even if I could find it with the dash on, it's highly unlikely that I could fix it with the dash on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another prob fairly common to the 521's....the gas pedal wearing out the metal it mounts to. The plate on the eng side of the firewall is keeping it in check for the most part, but I'll definitely want to fix that up to be more solid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was going to do a wiper "how-to" like the one on nwde.....but I just don't have the time. So, here's some extra pics :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mklotz70]

Since I was looking for a water leak....I paid close attention to the gaskets for the wipers. No signs of leaks around the mounting area, but you can tell water was coming through the driver's side shaft.....but not the passenger one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well......this is certainly a problem!!!! I just know I'm not going to like what's under here!! :) This is where a lot of guys would just start cutting it up for the scrapper. Not this time!!

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't even notice all the bondo smeared over the prob until I was posting this pic!! :( Done by Canby.......starting to look doubtful!!

 

 

[mklotz70]

Went ahead and took the window out. It had a huge crater in it which cracked all the way top to bottom while pulling it. The red paint under the molding sure is pretty!!! At this point....even if it was staying red....the rust around the window would have demanded this much strip down anyway.

 

 

 

 

Will need to clean this up and see just how bad it really is.

 

 

 

 

Gee...can you tell which side was exposed to the sun?? :)

 

 

 

A couple more of the headliner coming out....and how Mend sits tonight. Time to call it a day!!!

 

 

 

 

 

[Icehouse]

Looking good Mike!!! Loving all the pics :D I can't wait to see how the interior turns out!

[vindats1]

I take all of mine into South End auto Wrecking in Renton, WA. and they do a fine job, repair the valve, mend anything and pressure check and don't charge me very much either. Then I paint them up and they look like new, except no one will get to see how nice it looks hidden in the heater. Tana

[mklotz70]

Looking good Mike!!! Loving all the pics :D I can't wait to see how the interior turns out!

 

You mean when I get to it.......next year?! :) Thanks!

 

 

I take all of mine into South End auto Wrecking in Renton, WA. and they do a fine job, repair the valve, mend anything and pressure check and don't charge me very much either. Then I paint them up and they look like new, except no one will get to see how nice it looks hidden in the heater. Tana

 

I got the core and valve fixed already...just waiting to reassemble(finish the front cover first) and reinstall. I could put it in now, but I think I'll finish the interior a bit more first :)

[]2eDeYe]

Looking good Mike, at least you found the leaks :D

[jrock4224]

loxcal guy here in oly fixed both my heater core and my radiator for 125.00 . good deal looks good and hopefully ewhen she goes back in works good. looks good and yeah that sweet whip antenna mount in the roof looks good. :eek: Slowly would be the best help i can offer.

[izzo]

Mike

 

Good work!! Love checking out whenever i see progress made on it. really wish i had a shop and some tools again

 

 

My truck has a leak somewhere and i havent been able to find it, i thought it was the wind shield at first for a while, due to the age and cracks. Well i had a new one put in with a new seal, and it still leaked.

 

After reading your thread, i realize that may be where mine is leaking from is the windshield wiper seals. Ill have to check sometime

 

Any ideas where to pick some up? Mine is a 720 but there should be seals available out there somewhere right?

 

 

Also!!

 

i have the SAME hole in my roof, someone had a CB in there at one time. I dont have a welder so i jimmy rigged it up not to leak and its working so far, my thoughts were to just goto a CB shop and pickup a hole plug for it :D I had found a site for it and if i find it again ill post a link so you can check it out too.

Edited April 15, 2009 by h2theizzo

[watsonius]

Courage, Mike.

 

Do and I have been scrutinizing the pics. She did a small patch on the outside just under the windshield gasket on a small vertical crack (driver's side). She thinks she caulked a few places. Nothing major (maybe that would have been better).

 

The antenna mount on the top was sealed with liquid steel- we weren't planning on reinstalling a CB. The previous owner also bent the heater control levers to make room for the CB.

 

I knew the floor was getting bad- one reason I decided it was time to give it away. Do painted a few times with "Rust Stop" or something, but I guess the radiator fluid was pretty corrosive.

 

There is a pretty good story about the accelerator pedal- later.

 

Glad you didn't cut yourself in half getting the windshield out- the surgeon probably wouldn't be as good as you are at repairs.

 

Don't worry about getting it to Canby. We might stop by anyway,and come over to visit the truck even if it isn't 'Canby ready'.

 

I continue to be in awe... Watsonius

[mklotz70]

I'll probably just mig the antenna hole....but if I feel froggy, I'll pull out the tig :) I doubt I'll fee froggy. I wasn't going to pull the rear window out, but since I'll probably have to do a bit of hammer welding on the hole repair....as well as the other dents.....and I have a new gasket on the shelf for Paula's 521.....I figured it would just be easier.

 

There are some wiper seals available in ebay fairly often. I've picked some up before. Once I got them, I finally realized where they went......right behind the knurled drive piece that the wiper arm itself slips onto. That piece is staked on......so you can't really replace them....unless you take them completely apart. :( .........thanks for the info on the hole plugs :)

 

 

The caulk probably kept the damage down. I'll have to look at it closer, but the paint on the inside repair looks just like the factory paint........so it's almost like it got repaired before you bought it. I'm not sure I'll be able to tell even when I start digging into it.

 

 

As much as I want to tear into the area to see just how bad it is, I really need to spend a couple of days on brake kits and a set of control arms :)

[mklotz70]

So, all things considered, I figured it would be faster/easier to just pull the rear window. I probably won't use the gasket, but I didn't want to cut it out just in case. I think I got it out with minimal damage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a bit of a challenge getting the dome light wiring out. I'm guessing the paper towels were packed in to keep the wire from rattling? :) I tired the wire rope cup on the angle grinder to take the foam off the roof......not good! Foam chips everywhere and with a static cling to boot!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The foam left behind the glue. I tested a small spot and it worked well, so I used brake cleaner and a putty knife on the rest of it. I then used more brake cleaner on a rag and got the rest of the glue off. There's some at the very outer edges, which won't bother anything when the new headliner goes in. The roof is squeaky clean right now and if it weren't for the hole and body work, I'll be sticking some dynamat up there :) I'll probably leave it bare until I get to painting primer on everything. I think I'm going to pony up for come catalyzed primer so I don't have to worry about it coming lose :)

 

 

[watsonius]

 

 

The caulk probably kept the damage down. I'll have to look at it closer, but the paint on the inside repair looks just like the factory paint........so it's almost like it got repaired before you bought it. I'm not sure I'll be able to tell even when I start digging into it.

 

 

As much as I want to tear into the area to see just how bad it is, I really need to spend a couple of days on brake kits and a set of control arms :)

 

We had a hard time orienting on some of the shots, but yes there seems to be factory paint covering some weird stuff. We did no patching or painting in the engine compartment or inside the cab. One possibility is that there was some damage before we got it that was repaired by a (sloppy) body shop. Could somebody have smashed the windshield and damaged the lower driver's side of the frame? A rock or a ball bat??

 

The cab roof had an annoying buzz at certain speeds, and stuffing it with paper towels helped.

 

Take a break and do your brake kits- you have done heroic work. :)

[mklotz70]

I might be able to figure out a bit more as I start digging into the area, but my guess was that it was damage from before you got it.

 

So far.....this has been the easy part! :) If I can pull off the corner repairs.....that will be a feat :)

[watsonius]

You're a coroner, a pathologist and a surgeon. In a slightly different reality you would be doing reconstructive surgery on children who have stepped on land mines...

 

Looks like Amanda will have a bit more time get comfortable driving.

 

I never dreamed this would be so interesting (easy for me to say- I'm not doing the work). :)

[denveratsun]

Holy can-o-worms Batman!!:eek:

 

Canby here we come!!:blink:

 

Hang in there man. One step at a time...your doing a great job.

 

Breath.:cool:

[Icehouse]

The cab roof had an annoying buzz at certain speeds, and stuffing it with paper towels helped.

 

Reminds me of one of my 521's, I had pennies jammed in the dash, paper behind the speakers, and cardboard on the passenger door glass :D haha It's gotta be the super low gears. They get the engine spinning so fast everything vibrates...

 

Looking awesome Mike!! The dynomate will do wonders (I personally like the real stuff) I would even think about adding some sort of padding for some of the other frequencies.

[jrock4224]

should check that seam sealer to on another truck sometimes the factory smeered that stuff like frosting on a cake. looks semi sloppy but i seen worse on newer cars....maybe there was a recession in production and they had to start making god trucks out ones they screwed up so they peice mealed them or something..

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Hey Mike..all ready for the chop top right :lol: JK your doing it the right way IMO & it's gonan be worth it. BTW how kool would 521's look without wing windows???

[mklotz70]

You're a coroner, a pathologist and a surgeon. In a slightly different reality you would be doing reconstructive surgery on children who have stepped on land mines...

 

Looks like Amanda will have a bit more time get comfortable driving.

 

I never dreamed this would be so interesting (easy for me to say- I'm not doing the work). :)

 

:) Just wish I could progress a bit faster!!

 

 

Holy can-o-worms Batman!!:eek:

 

Canby here we come!!:blink:

 

Hang in there man. One step at a time...your doing a great job.

 

Breath.:cool:

 

We'll see how it goes. Even if it's not finished, I'm hoping to have it road worthy and at least park it in the $5 section.

 

Reminds me of one of my 521's, I had pennies jammed in the dash, paper behind the speakers, and cardboard on the passenger door glass :D haha It's gotta be the super low gears. They get the engine spinning so fast everything vibrates...

 

Looking awesome Mike!! The dynomate will do wonders (I personally like the real stuff) I would even think about adding some sort of padding for some of the other frequencies.

 

It will get 3.89's in the rear...and probably a 5spd....just not right now :)

 

should check that seam sealer to on another truck sometimes the factory smeered that stuff like frosting on a cake. looks semi sloppy but i seen worse on newer cars....maybe there was a recession in production and they had to start making god trucks out ones they screwed up so they peice mealed them or something..

 

....frosting on a cake....that's exactly what it looks like! Kinda makes sense since I could have sworn it was factory paint over it!

 

Hey Mike..all ready for the chop top right :lol: JK your doing it the right way IMO & it's gonan be worth it. BTW how kool would 521's look without wing windows???

 

 

I'm up for the single windows.....but I don't think it will happen on Mend...maybe....but I kinda doubt it. I know Paula loves her wing windows :) As for the chop top....for me....that's kinda like a roof rack on a wgn.....I love the looks as long as somebody else owns it!! :)

 

 

Thanks guys!!!

[mklotz70]

So this is kinda progress on Mend since a set of these will end up on her.

 

In the last couple of pics, you can see where I fly cut the warpage out of the mounting surfaces for the calipers. They're parallel to the spindle mounting surface and flat with each other. Still need to clean up the rest and glass bead them, but they're getting close!! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mklotz70]

On a second look....I realized that the damage at the seams isn't as bad as first thought. I think it's going to take some welding, but not necessarily any metal replacement. It does look like factory seam sealer smeared around. Not as much as I first thought.