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My Truck

Started by WEBellSystemChristian, April 20, 2016, 08:13:47 AM

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WEBellSystemChristian

Quote from: WesternElectricBen on January 22, 2017, 09:30:06 PM
Christain, is that that a 5.0?

Ben
Yup! So far, it seems to be a great engine. I'll let ya know when it lets me down! ;)
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

WEBellSystemChristian

#31
Here's a picture I got the other day at school.

I'm glad to say that the paint on the grille seems to be holding up very well, no chips or flaking! I noticed a bubble in the chrome front edge a few months ago; if it progresses, I'll send it to a plating company to have the entire grille stripped and re-plated (including the original plated finish on the inner silver part). The headlights look nice too! :) Don't worry, the 4x4 logo is in my glovebox! ;)

You can see the rust on the rear fenders. It's not too serious, and it's the area most prone to rusting through on these old trucks. I ordered some patch pieces that will replace the rusted panels when it gets repainted.

When the patch panels arrive, I'm going to meet with the body shop owner to discuss getting my truck repainted. It should get painted sometime in the next month or so.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

McHeath

Looking good!  Great first ride, it's in such good shape and a classic.

WEBellSystemChristian

The day is finally (almost) here! ;D

I will be meeting with the body shop tomorrow to discuss bodywork. My mom is going to Hawaii with her friend next week, so the plan is to use her truck to go to school/work while she's gone, and my truck can start being stripped down/repainted.

Oh yeah...I discovered more hidden rust! >:( The lower rear sections of the bed sides are rusted through and Bondo'ed over. Fortunately, it's not too bad, and I already have the patch panels on order.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

K1WI

NICE TRUCK.      88s forever
Andy F    K1WI

WEBellSystemChristian

Nice Bronco! ;D Is it yours currently?
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Dan/Panther

Christian;
One nice looking truck.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

WEBellSystemChristian

Thanks D/P! ;)

My truck has been at the body shop now for a week, and they're sending the body panels down the street to be stripped.

It looks like the restoration will take longer than expected, about 3 months. To speed everything up, the body shop wanted to simply replace the bed sides with reproduction versions, and it would cost roughly the same as patching the rust on the original fenders like I wanted. The problem is, the only manufacturer that makes the entire bed sides is a Chinese company, and is known for using much thinner, lower quality steel than OEM material. They also have issues with panels not fitting properly, and the thinner steel means ripples that would need to be smoothed over with Bondo.

The patch panels I bought are American made, and are actually slightly thicker than the OEM sheet metal. I decided to use the patch pieces instead of replaced panels, as I would rather have a mostly original fender with thicker steel pieces than a thin reproduction fender, even if it means it will take slightly longer.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

oldguy

I'm from California, so we don't have the rust problems you do. So I take it you can't find a good bed & just swap out the beds, like we do out here.
Gary

.....

Christian,

Good choice, are you planning on having the truck sprayed with rust proofing when the body is finished?

WEBellSystemChristian

#40
Yeah, finding completely rust free beds for a 30 year old truck up here is impossible. Even the rust on my truck wasn't from salt; the body shop manager guesses that it was dirt that was trapped in the fenders for years. The dirt held water, causing the metal to rust.

Yep, it's getting undercoating (I'm thinking either Ziebart or Line-X) and rustproofing in the fenders. Anyone in the salt belt knows that leaving underbody steel alone or lightly coated in paint will be rusting away in a matter of years.
My Dad has had experience with vehicles that had fenders rustproofed. He said that one van was in perfect, rust-free condition (driven daily) for years, but eventually formed a tiny triangle-shaped rust hole in the fender well. Sure enough, when he checked behind the fender, there was a triangle-shaped spot the undercoating guy forgot to hit! :o

I'll also be getting Line-X treatment for the bed, the only real 'modification' I'm making to the truck. It's one of those things that I know I'll regret when something rolls around back there and chips my perfect paint! :'( I'm destined to use my bed for hauling stuff; it's the longest by far of all 3 trucks in the family! ::)

Even though Line-X is more expensive, I'm keeping costs down for the initial paint job because there won't be as much labor involved in making the paint in the bed look perfect, it's getting coated in Line-X anyway!
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

WEBellSystemChristian

My Dad stopped at the body shop today to drop off some parts. There was a pretty big hailstorm recently, and they were swamped with repair work on other cars until now, so they only recently started work on my truck.

Look, rust is repaired!! ;D
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

WEBellSystemChristian

#42
It's been awhile since an update, and I know everyone is just dying to hear more... ::)

Not much progress has been made recently; the truck was supposed to be done by mid-June or so, but it doesn't look like it'll be done by then. The bed was repaired and sent out to a local media blaster (owned by the father of one of my co-workers) and it came back with spots of untouched paint everywhere. In order to have the rest of the truck done right, the blaster wants to charge extra, plus it would take about a month longer to have them get around to it. The body shop told us that they could hand-sand the rest, and it wouldn't cost as much, plus it would take less time. Needless to day, I took the hand-sanding option!

Here's how the bed looks now:
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

WEBellSystemChristian

#43
From the factory, my truck came with a brushed Aluminum trim panel mounted to the tailgate. Somewhere along the line, someone replaced the entire tailgate, and the trim panel went with it. I found a cheap replacement on eBay, but it was heavily oxidized, with little white and black specks everywhere. I tried Brasso, which removed the specks, but there was still a thin film of oxidation, plus an ugly, uneven brownish tint that you could see in broad daylight. (You can see the splotchy tint on the far end of the panel in the first picture of it.) I then tried sanding, which removed some of the surface scratches, but did nothing else.

I decided to buy some Aluminum Deoxidizer and metal polish from California Custom, which is supposed to work wonders on Aluminum diamond plate.

Step one was to rub the liquid Deoxidizer into the surface, then immediately follow up with the polish. When I started rubbing the Deoxidizer in, I noticed the brown tint was being removed with the Deoxidizer. Remember, I tried water and soap, Meguiar's Compound, and Brasso: NOTHING ELSE removed that brown. The Deoxidizer is just Liquid, no abrasives at all! It also removed the white film.

The center strip that looks polished is where the red reflector will go. Unfortunately, that area didn't clean up very well, but it seems like it has a coating over the Aluminum that washed off the exposed areas.

The 'After' is in the foreground, and 'Before' is in the background. It's hard to see, but the difference is definitely there!
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

WEBellSystemChristian

Here are some more:
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford