Pics of how Chris restored his 1953 Dodge Power Wagon.
Date(s): September 8, 2009. Album by chris case. Photos by chris case. 1 - 64 of 64 Total. 7802 Visits.
1 First pic of completed truck.
2
3 After later work, modifying it into a five window extended cab. See my other album for my step-by-step.
4 The "as found" condition
5 Original cab, rotted around rear window.
6 Door, in need of repair, see later pic of that door in progress.
7 An inside view of the cab. Yes, it was pink EVERYWHERE.
8 Side in progress, after acid etch treatment.
The extra hole in the bracket, at the apex of the 'L' is not original. Mics to 9mm...
9 You can see I've welded up the bullet hole in the post pocket. Plus the condition of the sides: welds, riples, dents. And the pitting, requiring a skim coat of Bondo.
10 Firewall, before.
11 More of the mad welder's work. The pintle hook was all 1/2" iron welded to the bumper, I don't know what the bent frame was supposed to do. But I did leave the anchors for the A-frame, might come in handy some day.
12 Here's a template for the dome light.
13 Inside pink,pink,pink.
14 Gismo for compressing the LAV rims to get the Michelins off.
15 Bottling some home brew. Need fuel to restore a truck.
16 More cab rot.
17 Bed parts, rotten oak boards. Cross members destined to see the sand blaster, as was the whole body and bed.
18 You can see how crusty the frame parts were. I used a rental pressure washer to blow the crap off, then an acid bath, then some more pressure blaster.
19 Torn up seat, later found the rear back frame too far gone to save. Much rusted away.
20 Just about as disassembled as I felt necessary. Now to pressure blast, acid bath, pB again, red oil based primer, then black paint.
21 That's the old water distribution tube left of the winch. Replaced with brass, still on the shelf at a local parts store.
22 My favorite red, oil based primer, "Rust Destroyer" form Home Depot.
23 A couple of the rusted part that were cut out and replaced.
24 The passenger side door after replacing the rusted out section.
25 Left front fender, before and after. I should have know there was trouble under the bondo when I bougth the truck. The missing part had had a piece of car roof merely tack welded to the fender, inner bracket tack welded to it. A good bump and the fender would have come loose.
26 Riveting tools. The small ones go in an air hammer, the big one was used as a 'buck' to back up the head. The end had been ground to a concave to match the rivet heads. In use, heat the end of the rivet red hot, have you 90 year old help buck the head, drop the acetylene torch, pick up the air hammer and whack away. It usually took me two cycles of heat-n-whack.
27 A close up view of my hood hing repair. The gray part is the bracket that mounts to the radiator cover. Note how the repair pin is welded to the hood. That weld keeps the other half of the hood from sliding down and binding.
28 Plan for my hood repair pin.
29 My 90 year old helper (Dad), and his two year old great-grand-helper.
30 Under floor power brake with dual circuit master.
31 View of brakes, from pass side.
32 Through-the-floor access to master reservoir. Access was covered by a hatch cut from s rusted away floorboard.
33 My original iteration of an alternator mount.
34 Headers durign construction.
35 Intake manifold being 'alpha fit', tube taped together.
36 Headers complete, before painting.
37 After painting with "Ceramic Header Paint." I though red would look good against the green truck. It did until I actually ran them, then the headers turned black from the heat. So much for "Ceramic" paint.
38 Headers and intake with the original one bbl. Made NO improvement on the dyno. Running on the street at full speed in 3rd gear showed 2" vacuum, needs bigger carb. I went to a 2bbl Cart BDL form a 318. Much better full throttle, but haven't had it back on the dyno yet. Hoping for 65hp to the ground, feels like I made it.
39 "Tie downs" are Stanley brand 'trap door pulls' from Home Depot. Powder coated black before final assembly.
40 New pick up tube added to my gas tank. Hole drilled into sending unit, bendabale steel tubing soldered in. Allows servicing of pick up, if it gets plugged up.
41 Some of my other rolling stock. She is half Blue Heeler, and half Standard Poodle. Smart. Too smart.
42 My replacemnt headlight bases. Composite of amuminum powder and epoxy. So much epoxy they conduct, for grounding. Show with one rotten OE, and one OE that has been bondo'd for use pull a negative mold.
43 Headlight base on a bucket.
44 Much fatigue and bending, plus the misfortune to have been owned at one time by "The Mad Welder of Lemon Grove". Steel sheet in bed, huge weldment for dock bumper.
45 Tool for raising dents in bed rolled edge. Tightening the nut on the far end drew the wedge, expanding the mandrel.
46 Straightening the bed roll before attempting to raise the dents from the inside using the mandrel.
47 Inserting the mandrel to raise the dents. It worked fine, but the roll was so paper thin due to rusting that it wouldn't maintain it's shape. Next step was to saw off the top rolls, and weld on chain link fence 'top rail', thin wall pipe just the right diameter.
48 OE brackets and rods for the visors, I used one Ford Explorer visor as a donor for the two inner boards and spring steel hinge. Layers of foam from the Ford part, and a bit of sewing. Mirror was only temp, its a generic outside mirror. Later changed to a more OE look. Headliner is made from water-proof backer board (black, 1/8" thick) plus vinyl spray glued. Use High Temp headliner glue, or it will fall down on a hot day.
49 I also wrapped the door panels and kick panels with matching vinyl. Shift lever boots. Along with Dum-dum strip caulk on the floor board joints, keep the hot air out. Maybe an OE style leather floor cover would keep more sound out and give a less-slippery heel pad? One pair of my shoes won't stay near the accelerator pedal. Probably glue down a patch of textured rubber.
50 Tailgate, reverse-masked and sprayed. But I think I could have done better by brush, what with how well the PPG Deltron flowed out.
51 Fender cover, with pocket to catch tools from rolling away. Made from heavy upholstery vinyl with neoprene backing. Ample protection, high friction, high mass, to prevent sliding.
52 First one, a bit short, other side was lengthened.
53 View from inside, large inner flange helps keep cover in place.
54 Fuel tank pick-up modification allows for removal of pick-up for servicing.
55
56 Fuse panel. Aluminum backer with labels stamped in. Center bolt is a ground stud too. Flasher mounter there also.
57 New Sunbrella tarp today. The old one, made form a vinyl bill board, lasted years. This one is Linen colored Sunbrella fabric, with Nylon webbing sewed all the way around the inner perimeter. plus nylon rope loops.
58 Brushed Stainless Steel rope hooks, and green Poly rope.
59 Close up of stitchery. I sewed it with an old Singer 201, same year as the Power Wagon. #90 bonded polyester thread, #18 needle, with a roller foot. The roller helped makes straighter stitches, other wise the slippery synthetics can slide all over.
