Well I've put in about twelve hours in the past two days grit blasting my frame. The heat has made progress a little slow. It also took some time to figure out the best settings for my pressure blaster. Started out with clogging problems with the new grit. I found some coal slag at Menards but it had larger grains that I found I had to sift out. Whee. I had to use a nozzle that was nearly worn out to empty the tank. I probably could have turned the blaster upside down to empty it but I was by myself and didn't want to risk breaking a valve off or something. Once I got some screened grit in the tank things went better. I was running the pressure a little low because when Dad turned it up, things improved. It was hard to get a good reading on the regulator while running the blaster because they were about fifty feet apart. The adjustment was a two man job. When I put a new tip on I was really going to town.

I was bummed when I got to the cab mounts and tranny crossmember. I found some cracks. I'll have to remove the rivets to make the repairs. So much for my 100 point Dearborn restoration. I'll have to bolt them back in like George did. It's a good thing I found the problems but it was still depressing. I'll have to let Ford know they have a weak spot in their design since I found the same cracks on both sides. Maybe they can get it corrected for the next model year.

As always, I took pictures and put them on my web site: frame restoration. I hope to finish the blasting by the end of the week and paint this weekend when the weather cools off.

 

Wow! I wish my frame was half as good as that! Pretty soon we'll have a rolling chassis. What are you using to paint the frame? -4speed

 

Kevin, that really looks great! Did you find any "puckers" between parts that were riveted together? That's what finally forced me to take all the rivets out.

I think you made good progress with the equipment you have. Those pros with the masonry room set aside for blasting and the 1" diameter nozzles are the only ones who can really go faster.

 

Kevin,
I really enjoy reading through your website. It must be nice to do the work with dad. I woulod love to do all you are doing, but I just dont have the room. (city slicker)
Keep up the great work, and Ill be checking your progress out.

 

Kevin what pressure did you end up with. I have started blasting my frame but today my air compressor died so it will move to the back burner till I can buy another one. Your's is really looking good.

 

George,
I will be taking off the front shock mounts to take care of the "puckering". That's the only area with that problem. Great design by Ford to create an area that traps water. Ranks right up there with the cab corners, high beam floorboard cup and front fender headlight bowls. Sheesh! I already have to take the tranny crossmember out to repair it so there will already be areas where the stock rivets have been replaced. What's a few more to fix a possible problem area? I know it sounds crazy but I probably would have been content with cleaning them out as best I could and sealing it up, otherwise. Probably would have ended up with the bumper in the weeds sometime down the road when the mounts failed.

4speed,
I'll be shooting it with black epoxy primer.

55forder,
If my parents didn't live out in the country, I probably wouldn't be attempting this restoration. I blasted the drip rail on my donor roof here by the side of my house. I didn't have a choice since I was in a bind with my class. I definitely felt the eyes on me.

darkman,
We were running about 90-100psi at the compressor and probably 80-90psi at the pressure blaster. We started out with around 50psi at the blaster because that's what I was using in my blast cabinet. I'll definitely be cranking the pressure next time I use my cabinet.

 

I use glass beads in my cabinet at 80psi. It works well. I was running the sand blaster at the same. It sounds like I'm close but I may bump it up a hair to test. Of course it will have to wait till I replace the compressor as it died this afternoon. I have my eyes on a 7.5 Husky at HD that puts out 22cfm at 90psi.

 

I did keep a close eye on the duty cycle (mine and the compressor's!) given the 90+ degree heat and high humidity. It worked out pretty well since it would take me the same amount of time to blast and sweep up/sift the grit.

 

Hope your frame turns out as good as mine did