Shaving the Gas Tank Filler Hole

My latest mantra is “progress progress progress”. I am knocking out tasks one by one, getting better at welding, and doing it all faster. The goal is to get the truck done before Brooke graduates from high school – that gives me a little over one more year, it will be close.

The latest task is to cover over the gas tank filler hole in the cab. This 1954 Chevy Truck is going to be “shaved” - it will be one sleek ride with nothing but a smooth body line.

Okay, enough with the visceral explanation, the practical reason is that with the truck being converted to an electric vehicle it does not need gasoline for fuel therefore the gas tank filler is unnecessary and must be removed.

This task has gone about as good as it could go. I must have been possessed by the spirit of Carol Shelby because everything went exactly as it should.

The first step was easy; remove the gas tank filler unit and gasket from the cab body. As you can see we now have a perfect hole in the cab.

Step two was to fabricate a piece of sheet metal to cover the hole. This involved a little metal work since the replacement part must match the curve of the cab. I had to cut out a circular hole and then put a curve on it by rolling it over a pipe, my Hillbilly metal forming equipment.

  

After careful trimming and grinding, the replacement cover plate precisely fits the hole. It is clamped into place with special clamps before the welding begins. For those of you that have read 50 Shades of Gray you might recognize these babies from a different perspective.

  

Step three is to butt weld the cover plate to the cab. The proper technique is to place a series of tack welds around the seam to hold the cover plate in place. The other reason for doing it this way is to control the heat applied to the sheet metal. The extreme heat from the welds will warp the sheet metal so you have to weld slowly and let the heat dissipate before continuing.

 Slowly I added more spot welds, gradually filling in all the gaps. I also used the angle grinder to grind the welds flush with the cab, still being careful to go slow to let the heat dissipate to avoid warping.

 Voila, tu es magnifique! It is all welded in place and smoothed out. The new piece did not match exactly the body curve and I did get a little warp on one side as I am still learning patience and butt welding. However, everything can be fixed with a little body filler and elbow grease.

 This is the first layer of body filler. You basically put it on, sand it down, put more on, sand it down, put more on – you get the picture. Each layer gets you closer and closer to Nirvana, until finally you rub your hand over the cab and it feels perfect and I mean purr-fect.

  

With the body filler sanding finished, the last step is to spray on a coat of primer and baby does that look good. When they say “shaved” this is what I am talking about y’all.

Cab Update

I have great news – the cab is mostly done. Did I trick anyone? Everyone knows that “mostly done” translates to something like – pretend done. The term is only used when the claimant wants to believe that something which is unfinished will be worked on and competed by magical elves that night.

Even with mostly done there is still cause to celebrate. The inside of the cab is completely primed. Yippee-a-mundo. I have successfully removed all the rust or encapsulated it and sprayed epoxy primer on everything inside. That’s right; the cab ceiling, the floor boards, the dashboard and the back of the cab. And baby, baby, baby does it look good.

Currently I am in Dante’s third circle of Hell (Priming the Cab) and have three tasks to complete before I can go to the next level Hell (Butt Welding the Cab Corner).  There are two small areas in the front of the cab which I will get done this weekend and the final test will be removing the rust and goop that is under the cab, followed by spraying on the primer. I am hopeful that it will be a straight forward operation, you know I do believe in the magical elves.

As soon as Virgil and I finish this six-pack of El Diablo IPA, I will get back to work.