Yeah it's the dog days that make it hard to see the end


LOL I've been there. I have to get as far as possible as fast as possible so I'm going at a pace that probably isn't realistic for most hobbyist. Basically looking at it like a part time job that I have to go to everyday.



Hit it again tonight and was able to nock down all the high spots with 36 grit and followed that up with 80 grit. Sprayed 2 heavy coats of high build primer and then bailed as that stuff is nasty. I'll give it an hour to dry and to also air out the shop. Then I'll get after it with 220 grit.








​​​​​​​

 

sanded the black primer down and a few spots started to show up that needed more sanding so I kept at it for a while and then hit it with a grey high build primer. I'll start sanding that tomorrow and see if the same spots show up and go from there.

 

Problems with my air compressor over the weekend slowed my progress. I was getting a lot of moisture built up, more then I ever have before. The climate here in eastern WA is very dry and I've only ever had a small amount of moisture in the system. The humidity must have been higher over the weekend as my inline water filters kept filling up and blowing water out of the sanders. I bought an automatic drain for it and plumbed it in but what should have been a 20 minute job turned into an all day event. Problems with incorrect fittings and running back to the store ect... I drilled a hole through my shed wall and routed the drain line out side so the moisture will be blown away from the compressor. Anyway heading out to the shop to see if all the work yesterday helped.

 

That is a normal work day for me. Start on project one and that dam squirrel runs in and my attention is pulled somewhere else!

 

Same here so I shot all the dam squirrels! I know what you mean I've been neglecting a number of things trying to do this truck so every direction I turn are things that still need to be done.

 

Git-R--Done Buddy. I enjoy seeing your progress and work.

 

Thanks for the support!



Had a number of things this past week that needed my attention so I only was able to work in short burst each day. Mostly block sanding filler off the cab and reapplying more and then sanding it back down. Starting to burn out on blocking out the cab so I switched it up a bit this weekend and pulled out my good fenders and inner fenders and started working on them. I was going to repair the rusty fenders that came with the truck but in the interest of saving time I'll leave those for another project and use my good ones for this project.

Started by sanding out scratches and small dings in the paint on the passenger fender and also prepping the trim holes to be welded up. Only found one small dent on the wheel well lip




Welded up the trim holes and ground them smooth.





hammered out the small dent on the fender lip and feathered out the sanded paint a bit more.



stripped all the old undercoating off the back of the fender



Then hit it with 3 coats of bed liner coating.




I then started on the passenger side inner fender. This one had a lot of surface rust so I went over the front and back of it with a wire wheel and stripped it down as good as I could and then brushed on a heavy coat of rust converter. That will need to sit for 24 hours and be rinsed off tomorrow.






With that done I started working on the drivers side fender... sanded out all the scratches and paint dings feathering everything back with 220 grit.



found one small ding on the "bump" side so I sanded it out and had to use my pin welder and slide hammer for this one as the dent was covered up by the back side reinforcement panel.







flipped the fender over and stripped the backside and then hit it with 3 coats of bed liner as well.

 

I've realized I've missed taking a few pictures here and there of each of the steps so I apologize to those following along as I'm in a hurry to get this into primer and paint before the season fully changes and it gets to cold to paint.

I rinsed the rust converter off the inner fender today, scrubbed it down real good and then hit the underside with 3 coats of bed liner.






I also cleaned up the drivers side inner fender and coated the underside with bed liner as well...

 

You Rock!

/Per-Erik

 

Just took a peak in your thread! Nice work! I noticed some Washington state license plates. Nice to see another on here. Keep up the great work! I love the flatbed!!

 

Thanks! yep I've lived in Washington my whole life. 33 years in Western WA and the last 12 years in Eastern WA.


The 1967 radiator core support is rotted on both sides so I grabbed a rust free 1974 core support and started converting it to work in the 67.




The 74 has too many mounting holes and not the right ones to work for the 67. So I drilled out the spot welds and cut the center section out.



I matched it up on the 67 and copped out the needed section,



Drilled out the spot welds on the 67 section and separated the part I needed. It lined up pretty good so clamped it down and welded it up.







I went back to sanding on the cab and I'm happy to say that it's finally ready to coat it with epoxy primer. I've sanded and worked over the roof for as long as I can and it finally feels level and smooth when I run my palm over it. I'll continue with a guide coat and more sanding after the epoxy primer goes on to see if it truly is smooth.






I also worked on smoothing out the cab corner repair and blending it into the door frame.



Before...




After...




Smoothed out both door jams...









And I added another coat of filler to the cowl and blocked it back out again.





It's almost 2 am, my finger tips are numb and I'm about ready to pass out on my key board so that's it for this update...

 

The core support repair/replacement is what I worry about the most… mine is sooo rotted, and a replacement is too expensive (shipping).

 

I am very interested in trying this repair/swap on my 78 core support. I think this will be so much easier than trying to cut the correct holes. Thanks for posting the pictures!

 

What rust converter did you use??

 

Yeah, you do have one mountain of a project without much support. The parts are available but even in the states shipping can be expensive so I wish you luck my friend.

yeah no problem. I was thinking I could just cut in the correct ones as well but then it would have all those extra holes and I just didn't like the look of it so this seemed like the simplest solution.

Same product I used on the cab supports, yes the cab supports that I ended up replacing anyway...


​​​​​​​