Weekend Work

Having a demanding day job, its tough to find time to finish my 56. I got some time in this past weekend starting with Friday night and then Saturday afternoon, and into the night, then Sunday afternoon.

I plan on painting the truck in pieces starting with the dash (since its a different color), then the inner fender wells, under hood, front air defectors, gravel valance.

So I spent some quality time on those items this weekend. All the pieces had couple of coats of primer already, so blocking and filling was the game plan. Here are some of the photos. Oh, I also shot paint on the backside of the tail gate to see how the tuff skin would look.

I plan on working on these items again during the week, after work. I need to sand down the filler and spot prime these pieces. I will post some pics after that. You can catch my pics on Instagram as edsf100 and my page on FB is edsf100. Have a good week.

Altman Latches Install 1953-56 Ford F-100 trucks

You can install these three ways. Since my doors are taken apart and stripped down I mounted the locking mechanism inside the door. You can consider one of the following. Use the instructions and cut a area for the latch and mount the plate on top of the door skin (more for your already painted truck), or use the plate as a template to cut out that area from the door and weld the plate into the door.

I purchased the Altman Easy Latches the plain finish from Mid-fifty item 1109 ,Or you can get them Polished Item 1109-PS .

NOT MADE IN CHINA, and they only work on the 53-56 Ford Trucks. On the instructions there is a number you can call for help.

This mod took me about a hour per door. Everything went very smoothly, it was a nice break from sanding and you felt good to see some progress made. I installed the door back on the truck and closed the door for the first time. It closed perfectly! There is a link to my YouTube page of the door being tested at the bottom on this post.

Please post your comments on your install. Or after installing them are they still working well for you?

Every thing is right here. Made to overlap existing door skin after you cut out the area for the locking mechanism. It screws into place using one of the existing holes. You drill the others.

I took apart the lock from the plate and used the plate as template to cut out for the lock post. And marked for the holes to mount the mechanism.

All welded up ready to grind down the welds, cut out the area for the Post to pass using a air saw then I did some bodywork.

Just need to mount the lock and test the door on the truck.

If you like these check out the new Hood Latching Kit, Altmans

I then mounted the door for a test fit and with little to no adjustment it shut perfectly. Really like these latches highly recommend them.

YouTube testing the latches

3″ Wide Rear Fenders

These just looks cool. I first seen this done in the 70s and just love the fat fender look from behind. A club member in the San Gabriel chapter of Pickups Limited did the widening for me, and I got to do the bodywork. He cut the flange and added 3″ of steel them stitch welded them together. I had the underside sprayed with TuffSkin bed liner (also under my running boards). Now this isn’t for the person in a hurry. It takes time to get it right. Especially on a curved fender. I will keep adding to this post since not finished yet.

You can see the end flange and about 3″ in the welding process.

See the indent for the running boards.

Got them blocked just need to add some High build primer then sand to 600 before paint

Applied shop line JP355 primer

Now, I will look for any issues, use Evercoat glaze putty, sand and prime those areas, sand with 600 and they will be ready for paint.

I used the truck for about 2 years before I started the project. This is how it looked before I took them off and started to block them out.

Making Extended Bed Post

To stay with the curve and lines in the rear. I decided to add curved ends to my rear bed posts. These are available to purchase but I thought I’d give it a try and make my own. Mid Fifty’s has been my source for my parts and they have these.

I grabbed some cardboard to make a template and used 16 gauge steel started cutting. I had one done in about 30 minutes and the second one even took shorter. But for the record I’d say in about a hour I were done making them.

I tack welded from the inside and as I moved a long the curve I would tack weld. I butt welded to the bed post once I got those to bare metal. Added some fiberglass filler and worked the areas until I had them nice and smooth . I applied some 2k epoxy primer, next step block/sand then shoot Hi-Build primer sand with 600 wet before paint.

Used 16 gauge steel. Use some thin cardboard and made a template so each sides would be the same on the curve. The template matched the curve on the roll pan since there are going to match that.

Tack from the inside and pushed down tacking along the way.

Checked the fit butt against the bed post. Need to take those down to metal before butt welding to post.

A look after the welding and some bodywork. Also took out the bed seams.

Side shot after some 2k applied. Its what makes our trucks all diffferent.

Nice and they match!

Night Session 1

Its great to work at night when the weather is nice. Throw on some jams and start blocking.

Tonight I continued the process on the rear fenders and doors. Its been about a month since I had some quality time on my 56. The weather today in So Cal was 85! Tonight is just right.

I used some 3M dry guide coat to check for low spots. Used 80 grit with a long Dura-block. Not much pressure just let it flow. Crossing one way then the other. I like three times. If needed applied some Evercoat Metal Glaze Ultra. That stuff works great!

Next sand up to 180 then shoot more high build primer. Block one last time before sanding up to 600 and paint.

Here are a few pics.

Spent a little more time the following night, with a little help from a friend. Working the door jams.

Gallery Pics

Here are some of the pics from the start. Like I said, I started this project with after widening my rear fenders 3 inches. I ran with them painted primer for two years before I figured I’d have the time to finish and paint them. The next things I knew the glass was coming out and the bed was off the truck. And that’s where things got interesting..(Read More)