restoration Front restoration of GMC 352

[R Cubed]

Well she's been over due lots of attention. So here we go.

 

Objective :

 

To sort out the droopy front wings and their rust, to remove cab complete for restoration of floor, lower rear panel, lower side panels ( where they always go ).

Then respray whole truck with correct colour olive drab ( he he yea right ) and correct positions of white stars and numbering.

With cab off replace front engine mounting, inspect clutch, adjust shims on t/fer box, along with anything else that raises its head !!

 

Then reassembly of whole cab and front before end of March 2010 !!!!!!!!!!!

 

So see you all in March ..

[rosie]

Well she's been over due lots of attention. So here we go.

 

.....and before anyone says anything he is not talking about me!!!!!!!!!!!:-D

[Bodger Baz]

seems a bit extreme! saggy wings add character! and the rust keeps the weight down!!

[Grasshopper]

saggy wings add character!

 

Definitely not talking about you Rosie:nono:

[R Cubed]

Oh dear !!!!!!!!!! Cab floor !!!!!

[HWade]

Hello

 

That floor looks a bit like mine,well untill i welded in a few patches. I am hoping to pic up a n.o.s floor panel as soon as i get time to go and collect it.Well keep up the good work.

 

Howard

[R Cubed]

Joys of having a closed cab floor mat ( sponge ) in there soaking up all the bits of rain which get in there !!!!!!!!!

 

No more closed cab floor mat, that's in bits now in the bin, welcome in the non slip painted floor as it was intended..

[Jack]

Joys of having a closed cab floor mat ( sponge ) in there soaking up all the bits of rain which get in there !!!!!!!!!

 

No more closed cab floor mat, that's in bits now in the bin, welcome in the non slip painted floor as it was intended..

 

 

Rich - thought yours was a soft top?

[R Cubed]

Joys of having a closed cab floor mat ( sponge ) in there soaking up all the bits of rain which get in there !!!!!!!!!

 

No more closed cab floor mat, that's in bits now in the bin, welcome in the non slip painted floor as it was intended..

 

Rich - thought yours was a soft top?

 

Nice to hear from you, good work with the A and E do you are working on looks like its coming together.

 

Now now Jack, you are quite right, I do have an open cab but if you look at my post it refers to the "closed cab floor mat" which I had in my open cab, because of that and the rain getting in now and then, the backing of the mat soaks up the water and rots the floor !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

So I am not going to have a closed cab mat again just the non slip painted floor as the open cab GMC should be ........

 

Now is that any clearer :cool2: :cool2: :cool2:

 

I think you should stop going to the clubhouse drinking and then trying to read posts on the forum.....

:nono::nono:

 

Drink tea :coffee: :coffee:

[R Cubed]

Good weekend just got in, both wings off, bit of work to do on the front edges and the stiffening braces under the front edges, they have got dirt and rot in between them. All captive nuts on cab are ok and all the bolts have come out a treat. Both top and bottom engine side panels are off and both small side panels each side of the rad are off, small bits of patching to do on most bits but not bad for 12 years outside beside the sea !!!!!!!!

 

I need a bit for one of the lower engine side panels, it is one of the spring steel clips which stick up to hold the top engine side cover in place, if someone has a rotten panel, can I have the clip. As in pics below.

 

Thanks in advance.

[R Cubed]

Made a serious start on stripping cab off truck, Now its the new year thought I had better get on with it.

 

I am doing the hard way because I want to see if it is possible to remove it in pieces, just in-case you don't have the facility of a crane ect....

 

Objective:

 

To remove cab in it's panel sections rather than lift off whole cab in one go !!!

 

Well its harder than I thought but there you go.

 

The sections are:-

 

whole cab back panel

Left and Right side panels

Dash section

Firewall section

Main floor panel and cab sub frame

 

The pictures below show the cab with canvas and windscreen removed, the second picture shows the cab with both sides and rear panels removed.

 

A good days work.

Edited January 3, 2010 by R Cubed

[R Cubed]

To remover the rear cab panel first undo all bolts on the sides of the cab, the ones which bolt the rear to the sides and the ones which bolt the sides to the main floor panel.

Then inside the cab, behind the seat boxes on the floor there are a row of bolts the same as the side ones remove these, then there are 8 larger ones, the 4 which are nearest the side panels hold the cab support rails to the cab !!! the other 4 nearest the middle are the bolts for the cab support springs, that just leaves the large centre bolt which is the main rear cab securing bolt. Remove this and the rear can be lifted away, if you are strong, I was quite surprised how heavy just this panel was !!!

[25 pounder]

Great work , like to see people taking it all apart , my friends blame me I'm doing too much work on my restorations , dismantling ,grinding , painting every single part, yes even the bolts , nuts/washers,

Takes a lot of time , I cannot do it other ways, it just won't give me that good feeling afterwards!!

:-\

[Willyslancs]

Great work , like to see people taking it all apart , my friends blame me I'm doing too much work on my restorations , dismantling ,grinding , painting every single part, yes even the bolts , nuts/washers,

Takes a lot of time , I cannot do it other ways, it just won't give me that good feeling afterwards!!

:-\

nothing wrong with doing it that way mate, we agree with you :coffee:

[R Cubed]

Yes agree with you both. Do it properly do it once done for years and years.

 

Nothing like taking your pride and joy to bits to get to know it inside and out.

 

Stay tuned for the grinding plasmaring and painting.

[R Cubed]

So once the rear panel is out the way, you can then pull off the side panels, but beware of the bolts under the floor by the front cab mounting bolts these need removing to allow some movement to get the front part of the side out from the firewall.

[rosie]

Just like to add that the boys were out in the freezing temreratures all day and because I am a domestic godess I spent the afternoon baking them cakes to keep them going

[R Cubed]

Well yesterday, Sat, myself and a friend braved the cold and set about some grinding on my cab.

 

First item was the cab rear panel.

 

 

 

As you can see there is some rusting on the lower edge, so out with the plasma cutter.

 

 

 

 

Hey presto 10 seconds later no lower panel, the part of the panel behind the gun ring mounting point was cut out from the other side so that can be sorted out too.

 

 

 

 

After a good needle gunning and some red oxide we made up some new panels.

 

 

 

 

The new panels were welded in and the original spot welds which were used to fix the old panel to the lower main frame rail were replaced with plug welds.

 

 

 

Here is my mate in action, hard at it, lucky to get this action shot, usually you can only catch him drinking tea.

Edited January 10, 2010 by R Cubed

[G506]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]20911[/ATTACH]

Here is my mate in action, hard at it, lucky to get this action shot, usually you can only catch him drinking tea.

 

Cheeky

 

:coffee:

[rosie]

 

 

Cheeky

 

:coffee:

but true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-D:-D

[G506]

but true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-D:-D

 

Nice cup cakes Rosie..................

 

Ooh er missus

 

[chevy]

Removal of kettle directly proportional to increase in productivity!

[Jack]

Fantastic work Rich and a nice thread to show how to take the cab to bits.

[rosie]

Nice cup cakes Rosie..................

 

Ooh er missus

 

Glad you like them darling!!!!!!! :cool2:

[R Cubed]

Hi all, had a good weekend, got lots of bits sorted out, finished off the bottom edge of the cab rear panel just needs paint.

 

 

Here is our eldest boy, helping sand the rear panel. Wow knew these child things were going to be good for something.

 

The pictures below are of the Nearside cab side panel, this is typical of what happens to the panels on open cabs due to the rain ect getting in the cab.

Where the row of bolt holes are in the pic, where all the rust is, this is the point at which the cab floor bolts to the sides, one problem though, the floor edge is bent downwards to fix to the sides, what happens then is the rain / dirt ect can work its way down between the two panels and then corrodes causing this.

 

In these pics you can see the three main parts which make up the side panels.

First one is the two ribs running horizontally across the panel just under the step through, this is for bracing, both ribs are one piece stamped out to fit.

 

Second piece is harder to see but running vertically on the right hand side of pic is an angle piece runs whole length top to bottom of the panel this provides good support to bolt the dash and main bonnet cowl to.

Third panel is the main pane skin which is spot welded in many places to give rigidity to the whole piece.

 

 

 

Here you can see the damage to the rear part of the side

 

 

 

Here you can see the damage to the front part of the side, you can see the three pieces which make up the panel here.

 

 

 

Here are closer pics of the side which bolts to the edge of the floor.

Edited January 24, 2010 by R Cubed