Guess I should have a before pic of the cab.


Painted the hood.

 

Painted the fenders. O.K. grampa we got the fenders on sooo-



it's time for lunch!!




Going back together.

 

Lookin' good, Rod!
I can tell your helper does good work. They're handy to have around.

 

O.K. Guys, now for the problem.
As time was limited the day I picked to paint the cab, hood etc was a bit to warm and the paint came out a bit orange peeled. At least that is what I think happened. One side is worse than the other. I tried rubbing compound with a small polisher but that didn't work to well. Looks good from 10 to 15 feet away but any closer not so good. I'm thinking maybe I should wet sand it with very fine paper. What grit should I use? Is this a good idea or not? Got any advise?
It was cooler when I painted the fenders, they came out great.
Keep in mind this will not be a show truck, I just want it to look decent and be useable.
Any advise will be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

If it's really bad, it might be just as simple to sand it flat with some 600 and give it another coat or two. It'll lay out amazingly flat if you do it that way. Depending on what kind of paint you used, and how much you applied, you might get away with sanding with 1500 and polishing that.

 

As I missed most of my sons younger life I do enjoy having the little one around.Can spoil her and give her back, that's ok too, but I also sometimes miss my former life on the on the road. Oh well.

 

52 Merc., thank you for the come back.
As I read most of your posts your advise is highly respected and I know you know what your talking about. I guess I was basically on the right track. As I will probably have some rub through when wet sanding and I do have a fair bit of paint left, probably the 600 grit and more paint is the best bet.
I know my methods are not the best but one has work with what they have. Again it isn't intended to be a show piece.
The paint I have been using is Valu Pro, 2 Pack Urethane.
Thanks again for the good advise.
Rod.

 

Hi again guys (and gals). I guess it's about time to continue on with this.
As you can see in the following picture the bottom of my fan shroud was cut off.



As I'm a firm believer in having a proper fan shroud I had to do something about it. I dug around in my spare parts (or junk), what ever you prefer, and found six shrouds most of them in pretty bad shape. One was very nice but was for a low mount fan so it wouldn't work. I always thought they could be turned upside down and used with a high mount fan but I was wrong again so picked out the one that would be the best to work with.

 

As can be seen in the last picture some one took after this shroud with tin snips, for what reason I have no idea, so I cut off the portion that I needed to replace the missing area of the original shroud. I cut this piece longer than needed then bolted both pieces to an old rad and cut through both pieces with a cut off wheel to get a good match then tack welded the joint. Then tacked the places that were cut with tin snips. Removed the shroud from the old rad and hammer welded the cuts and joints, ground the welds a bit, cleaned it up, a very light skim of filler and some light sanding with 80 grit to blend welds with the mold wrinkles, some hammer and dolly work and paint.



Sorry about the dust and not a very good picture.
Well that's about all I got done last summer other than getting some rubber and door, window parts for next summer.
Here's a couple of pictures of the deck I built, the summer before last, out of scrap I had laying around. Cost about $250.00 for stainless bolts, washers, nuts, lights, wiring and paint.





Need to put in deck boards and build sides.
That all folks.

 

Hi to all,
I had a really hard time getting in the grove this past summer. Couldn't get much time off work but managed to take a one week holiday. Wow, after 13 yrs. As I mentioned last year I wasn't happy with the way my paint turned out on my M-350 so I sanded it down and repainted it. I wet sanded in my shop, wet sanded outside in the sun, (I can't see very well in artificial light) wet sanded in the rain, (that worked o.k.). Did I mention that I hate sanding? Find it pretty boring. Finally got around to painting about mid fall, was almost to cold out for painting outside but it came out pretty good for a back yard job. Only complaint is a couple of small runs inside the cab that I can touch up next summer. I aso changed the paint scheme a bit, will see if I can post some pics.

[IMG]http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m519/oldugly/268_zps5d04352f.jpg[/IMG
I decided to paint the roof to match the fenders. Tried a red pin stripe but I think black would be better as there is no red any where else.





This is all I had the time and energy to get done on my projects this past summer. I guess I'm just getting older and uglier.
I haven't been on here lately as I'm researching and looking for parts for an unrelated project. When time permits I have a couple of (I think) interesting things to post.

Bye for now and good luck to all.

 

The first pic didn't post, don't know why but will try again.

 

You're looking good, Rod! You managed to accomplish more than me this past year so I tip my hat to you. It looks like you're on the home stretch.

 

Good job on the shroud, a good shroud makes a lot of difference. I like the color scheme too!

Did the "warp" in the bed deck come out when it was bolted down? Or is that an otical illusion?

 

That's a nice looking truck, Rod. I still mean to stop in one day, and take a tour.....Maybe when the warmer weather comes along......
Bruce

 

Hi Wayne,
After the set back that you had it does not surprise me that you didn't get much accomplished. Was sorry to hear about your bad luck. I know that one feels extremely violated when things like that happen. I hope things have been working out for you.
Bye for now, Rod