Dabomb's 1985 Jimmy - Rust Repair/Floor Replacement/Upgrades: TPI Swap

[dabomb6608]

that's what I meant...

yup, that's a fair amount up front.. but I've seen/fixed worse...

all I'll say is, clean, clean clean... you leave ANY rust, it will eventually come back to haunt you, whether that's 2 yrs, or 12... for most people, 12 is acceptable...

Yeah I would definitely accept 12 yrs

So if you look at those latest pictures showing the rear floor you will see there is a lip where it ends at the tailpan. Well originally I planned on clamping it to bend it down to the tailpan and welding it. I decided to shut the tailgate to see how everything lined up. I jumped into the bed and looked at how that floor lined up and if it was interfering with the gate. Turns out it was a perfect line up to the bottom lip of the gate. I'm thinking if I take and put some seam sealer in the gap to seal the bottom side between it and the tailpan. Then take and put a piece of weather stripping down that lip to seal the bottom side of the gate.

 

[ryoken]

I seamsealed the leading edge on the tailpan under the floor..

than I plug welded the top.. left the floor about an 1/8 to 3/16 short of that back tailpan edge.. than I did a full weld across the back and ground it out to a nice rounded edge...

I wanted it tough for chit going in and out of the bed...

 

[dabomb6608]

Rear Floor finished minus bedliner & seam sealer!

Got my welding wire today and got home and started finishing up welding the floor. I didn't have very many welds left to do. Got them knocked out and then started my grinding. It wasn't horrible. Just was rough on my knees and back. (sad for a 21yo)



I got the grinding finished up and swept up the rear floor from all the dust. Then proceeded to get some primer on it. It was pretty awesome seeing it all in primer. Looks pretty good I think!







As I let that dry I decided to clean up from the rear floor project and start looking into my plan of actions for the front floor. I proceeded to remove the passenger seat and start cleaning up the floor from all the dirt/trash/sh#t that was laying in the floor from the several years of not really driving the truck expect when it was needed.

Found a rubber type of layer in the front seat feet area. It is going to be a real pain to get off. The passenger side is definitely in better shape then the drivers side. I am thinking it won't be as bad as I originally planned. But I do know that the rockers B piller area will be a chore. I plan on getting back to working on it either Weds or Thursday evening. I work 14hrs tomorrow so no work then. I should've got more pictures showing the front floor but forgot and by time I remembered I was already inside and cleaned up.

 

[swettysblazer]

Sooooo when do you wanna do mine?

 

[dabomb6608]

Yeah....it would have to reaaallllyyyy be made worth my wild to go through that again. Not that it is completely horrible work. It just takes time. I mean, I started this thread back a little bit over a month ago and just now got the rear floor welded in. Working two jobs can bring the suck sometimes when you've got projects waiting at home...

 

[dabomb6608]

Well me and the girl both managed to get off tomorrow from work (my second job). Looks like its going to be a day full of work on the truck. Planning on handing her the second grinder with a flap disc on and have her go to town on one side of the front floor getting it all down to bare metal. I will be doing the same on the other side. Then once that's done I will start figuring out how and where to start on the front floor.

I need to take the drivers door off since I will be starting on that side first. Then I guess start cutting off what is left of the rocker panel to start fitting the new one.

Did I mention its supposed to be 50* and sunny outside tomorrow! WOOT! All garage doors will be open and vent fan blowing. Can't wait!

I'm halfway tempted to throw the front seats back in and make a quick run into town to fill it up with gas now that gas prices are so low. About $1.73 in town as of this morning.

 

[ryoken]

unless vital, I'd suggest leaving the door on if you can..

 

[dabomb6608]

unless vital, I'd suggest leaving the door on if you can..

I'm not sure how I will get to the front of the rocker panel with the door on. With it being as rotted as it is I will need to cut pretty high up on it. That was my only reasoning for taking it off. That and ease of working in the area.

What would the concern be if I did take it off Paul?

 

[ryoken]

well than, vital if your getting up near the hinge and stuff.. I would suggest doing the rocker and inner, but leaving the floor intact until they are in...

start removing the rocker and big hunks of floor and door openings can get funky..

but more importantly you really want to put the door on after you tack the rocker to ensure the bottom gap is correct.. that's also why I suggest leaving doors on if possible, known good bottom body line... when rehanging the door, rely on your front, back and upper gaps, as it's no guarantee the rocker is correct..... and it's advisable to measure all those gaps prior, so you know what your shooting for when rehanging.. and obviously scribe your hinge bolts..

 

[dabomb6608]

well than, vital if your getting up near the hinge and stuff.. I would suggest doing the rocker and inner, but leaving the floor intact until they are in...

start removing the rocker and big hunks of floor and door openings can get funky..

but more importantly you really want to put the door on after you tack the rocker to ensure the bottom gap is correct.. that's also why I suggest leaving doors on if possible, known good bottom body line... when rehanging the door, rely on your front, back and upper gaps, as it's no guarantee the rocker is correct..... and it's advisable to measure all those gaps prior, so you know what your shooting for when rehanging.. and obviously scribe your hinge bolts..

I see what your saying. One issue is that the door currently needs bushings in a bad way. It rubs the front fender as well as it not always catching the door pin. So I definitely can't measure gaps now. But I will mark the hinge and bolts to be able to at least get it back where it was. Hopefully with new bushings it will be correct. I had planned on doing the rocker first either way. Then proceed with the floor removal/replacement.

I will try and see if I can get by without removing the door. I like the idea of not having to put it back on to check gaps with the new rocker...but at the same time I can't check gaps without replacing those bushings so I might be stuck removing it either way and just have to bolt it back on anyways.

 

[ryoken]

just as long as you're aware of it... hate to see you burn a whole rocker in, than fight a door alignment...

 

[dabomb6608]

just as long as you're aware of it... hate to see you burn a whole rocker in, than fight a door alignment...

Thanks for the lookout!

I will try and get an update tomorrow evening of our progress along with some pictures. Hoping to make decent progress.

On a side note. I really want to find a good pair of 40/20/40 seats out've a newer truck. Once the front floor is done I plan on saving up for a set. Along with some of the same bedliner that Adam used in his. Think it was the sprayonbedliner.info stuff that he used. That will definitely benefit the interior so much on this Jimmy.

 

[dabomb6608]

Front Floor/Rocker Panel Work

Back to it over the weekend. Got most of Saturday to work on the Jimmy this weekend. Was a productive day I thought. Me and Kate got out the grinders and flap discs and began cleaning up the floor in the front. I wanted to see exactly how much good/bad metal there was and it was definitely worth doing. I'm shocked that the floor seemed to be in good shape other then the rust spots. I was worried the whole floor would have pitting and rust. On to the pictures.









You can see a previous repair from one of the PO's for the front seat mount area. Pretty thick piece of patch panel. Most likely will come out when I do that corner.

Also notice the front part of the drivers floor. Can see the area near the kick panel. That is going to be a little difficult to get too. The body mount to the front of the floor is in good shape on the drivers side. The body mount to the back side of the seat on the other hand isn't. I plan on getting the floor above that removed so I can inspect and see if it is repairable or if I should just replace it.

 

[dabomb6608]

I started cutting away at what was left of the rocker panel as well Saturday. Made decent progress. Got the new one cut to size and held in place with some vice grips. It looks good and lines up with the body lines underneath. I had to trim the inner panel to fit since all the inner rocker panels you can buy are for a pickup. I also had to bend a piece straight to get the inner panel to fit right. You can see where that bend was made on the first picture right next to the vice grip. You can also see my scribe mark for cutting it to fit in that first picture.

 

[82355]

Have you ever done anything like this before?

Martin

 

[dabomb6608]

Have you ever done anything like this before?

Martin

Nope sure haven't. I've done plenty of mechanic type work before. Know my way around vehicles really well. But have never, up until now, done any kind of fab work.

 

[82355]

Nice work.

Martin

 

[dabomb6608]

Nice work.

Martin

Thank you sir!

 

[82355]

You're welcome. I like seeing them saved.

Martin

 

[dabomb6608]

More rocker panel work last night. I test fitted the door after replacing the door pin/bushings and it lined up pretty good. So I took it all off and got the inner rocker panel drilled out for my plug welds to connect it to the outer panel. Then got it all welded up. Adding that inner panel REALLY stiffens up the rocker panel as a whole. Definitely glad I added it. I painted the sides facing in with some zinc chromate so it wasn't untouched and would have some protection.











I am partially considering closing up the two ends so that water/mud/crap can't get trapped between the two. Any thoughts on that? Either way, now I need to do a final fitment test with the door and then Get the new rocker panel burned in.

Quick question on welding the new rocker in. I planned on overlapping the new rocker with part of the old rocker. Will that be ok to have a small ledge/transition like that? Is there another method? I don't know if cutting it to fit perfect and then welding in will work as good.