Been keeping my eyes on eBay - not sure if my schedule will permit for a trip to Spring Carlisle or not to see if I could snag a deal there. If I get it, it will be the black shine with polished ends.

 

I will look for you. And give you a call if I find something

 

Sounds good...thanks.

 

Nice change Bill.

 

Thanks Scott...definitely feels a bit different with this system on.

 

You'll get better milage too Bill, thats always good....

 

I will be curious on that Gerry ---- some have told me they see a mileage drop but maybe they couldn't keep their foot out of it lol.

I hope to start some frame painting tonight...

 

I got better milage on my last gas truck with a CAI & cat back exhaust, worked for me, mine was a 4X4 too........

 

OK, so now it's time for tedious stuff. Painting.

Took the splash pan off of the front crossmember (well, truthfully it's been down since Saturday to do the steering box..). After a good cleaning, a sanding to clean up the surface, here's one shot of Eastwood's Chassis Black primer...



It will get 2 coats of Extreme Chassis Black to finish it.

Then it's time to get to the crossmember. Sanding, brushing, cleaning. This gets a lot of road gunk so it was pretty nasty. Rest of the truck hopefully won't be this bad. Intermediate prep shot...



and after one coat of Eastwood Rust Encapsulator (brush on variety, and excuse the photo quality, was getting toward dusk)...



Game plan going forward is one coat of encapsulator after thorough prep, one coat of Extreme Chassis Black primer, then 2 coats of Extreme Chassis Black paint...maybe. I want to see how one coat looks first before I decide that. This will be tedious, but the prep will pay off in the end.

 

Looks good Bill.

 

Thanks Marshall.

This Encapsulator product is potent! Glad I was working outside, but I still think I got a contact high from it...lol.

 

I know I had to put a mask on when we did the truck in the garage.

 

Kathy - I might do likewise going forward. I knew it would be potent but didn't expect that.

 

I have to work a little harder than the average bear. I don't have air tools, yet, and no known access to sandblasting stuff. But I think I do alright?

Before:


After (1 coat encapsulator and prep work...sander, wire wheel, wire cup...):

 

Lookin sweet!