Cab Damage to extensive?

[Godspeed128]

Hello everyone I'm A newbie I consider myself somewhat mechanical and handy with tools I have a 1967 F100, The cab appears to be in some distress I know that I can buy cab corners but I'm not sure if they will fix the damage seen below also The right floor plan will need to be replace and possibly the left I guess I'm wondering if these repairs are doable I was quoted a new used cab with little rust for $1200 thanks for any input and advice

[1972hiboy]

1200 for a used cab?? holy cow im sitting a gold mine. the cab corners should take care of most of that. prestty straight forward. def doable. where about are you located?

[Godspeed128]

I'm in Tabor city nc

[flyboy2610]

$500 for a pristine cab, already blasted and primered. Not mine, it's in Texas. You'd best jump on this one before someone else does!
http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopi ... 11&t=80581

[cep62]

I was quoted a new used cab with little rust for $1200

You can patch a lot of rust for $1200,
Because the new cab sounds like it has rust too, it might not be that good of a deal.
Do you have pictures of your complete cab ? so we can get an idea of all the work?
If you're paying someone to do the work it can get expensive, Time =Money , Rust=Time x2
But if you're doing it yourself as a hobby you can save a lot on labor.

[Godspeed128]

I'll post pictures tomorrow I have all kinds of equipment Mig welder, grinders,plasma cutter, I plan to do all the work myself I'm by no means have any experience doing bodywork been watching a lot of videos on line and doing some reading money is a issue So I will have to do the majority of the labor myself but I do think I'll enjoy it.

[Jacksdad]

Godspeed128 - you sound like you have all the equipment, now you just need the practice and a little encouragement. You're in luck - fate has provided you with the opportunity to hone your skills in the form of a bump that needs your TLC
I learned to weld on a car my Dad had picked up for free - he handed me his trusty oxyacetylene kit and let me loose, and I screwed up more times than I'd like to admit, but the mistakes were the best learning experiences. He gave me the sheetmetal and all the tools I would need and pretty much left me to it, and I started at the front passenger corner and worked my way back. It was in horrible shape and I worked on it just about every day in a corner of his shop, and a couple of months later I had come full circle and ended up back where I'd started with everything welded up. To anyone else it would have been nothing more than scrap metal and spare parts, but it was perfect learning tool for a novice welder, and my Dad knew it. That car became our staple transportation and race car tow vehicle for many years, and taught me more in a few months than all the years since. I was fortunate to have my Dad (an excellent welder/fabricator) to call on when I was stuck, but you have an internet full of incredibly talented people willing to share their knowledge for the price of a mouse click.
You'll do fine. Just remember that any mistake is fixable, even if it means cutting it out and starting over. Don't be afraid to start in case you screw up, because in truth that's when you learn the most. And the satisfaction of knowing you did it is priceless.
If you check out some of the posts on Fordification, you'll see members resurrecting trucks with more rust than good sheet metal. Hey, it could be worse - someone could have butchered your cab like they did mine...

https://imageshack.com/i/p5Ih2uxij

Tim

[cep62]

I used to teach an night class in autobody.
I've seen a lot of people get over their heads and give up.
What I tried to tell people is to not practice on your dream car , You'll learn more on a small job that you start and finish.
Even if you don't have a project , body shops have a pile of scrap panels they'll give you.
you can use cheap materials for the practice parts and dispose of it when you're done.

[Ranchero50]

Hard call. Tabor City is what, 20 miles from the sea? You get salt fog or mist there?

Does the cab have any roof seam or cowl area rust? That usually kills a cab.

I would fix what you have and not be too picky about the body work. I chose to do my truck to learn the processes so I can do my other nicer stuff later. Grafting good cab corners on is pretty straight forward. Minimal bodywork and it'll look good too.

[Godspeed128]

image.jpeg

Few more images

[Godspeed128]

And more

[Jacksdad]

I would clean off all the bondo around the edge of the roof from the previous repair to get a better idea of what you're dealing with. That looks like it's going to be the most challenging repair, but it's difficult to assess as is. You want to be welding to solid metal so you'll need to know where that starts.

[Ranchero50]

Yeah, that's cab killing rust. The cowl corners look like they are going from the inside out too. Unfortunately, I think as you remove more and more of the putty that you'll find less and less good metal. You can still fix it but once it progresses that far, the other common points are close behind and it becomes difficult to justify the work and how long it will stay good vs. getting a better cab to start with. Mine has some pin holes bleeding through in the passenger front cab roof that I need to address.

Personally I would look for another, possibly from an old box truck or camper as the box usually protects the top of the cab. It took me five trucks and seven years to build mine. Short term I would fix / restore the mechanical and other cosmetic stuff, then collect good body parts and finally rebuild the truck with the best components.

How is the bed seam? Usually rust there is miserable to deal with as well.

[Godspeed128]

Yikes I just remove some of the Bondo and I'm not liking what I see looks pretty bad I'm an amateur I don't think i can repair this much damage especially considering the location and the compound curve

[Ranchero50]

Pull your head liner out and you'll see a lot more. The rust works from the inside out. Moisture in the cab condenses on the cab roof where they didn't paint it very well.

Check out craigslist in western NC for a better specimen to pull sheet metal from.