The bonsai run to Minnesota and back for my little RV is done - got home about 6:30 pm yesterday. Poured rain for more than 1/2 the trip as we ran nearly 3000 miles in 3 days, a total of almost 60 hours of driving and no stops save for gas, necessities, and grabbing a bite to eat on the run. RV towed great, my little 4-banger Tacoma towed it very well save for steep grades where I slowed to 45 or less at times. Not bad for 2 70+ year olds! My only complaint - my butt is sore!
All taped up for the final painting on the cab - had to recover a little bit from the long ride but I have been busy making the pad for the rv to sit on. Just need some crush and run, tamp it down, and it’s ready. But, painting is tomorrow - not much really do it will be quick. I decided to paint the firewall black as the rest of the engine compartment is all ready black ....
I had a short day out in the garage today but I finished painting the cab .... Unfortunstely, some areas that were taped pulled up the old paint in spots ..... I will take my glove box of the same color and color match the paint for these areas and hope for the best ..... it’s always something. I will tape up the firewall and paint that next ......
The cab looks good and I like the color. Did you have any problems getting the gloss you wanted with the additive?
I started the flattener at 50% - it didn’t hardly make a difference. Then I went to 100% and that’s what you see here as the result. The paint from TCPGlobal is not expensive but the flattener is $90/qt and I bought 2 qts initially. That got me to the point where I was before painting today. But, I found 2qts for sale on eSlay for $80/qt and the seller threw in 4 more qts for free for a total of 6 qts for the price of 2. I was happy with that not that I will use it all. When all is said and done I will probably use 3.5-4 qts of flattener for this paint job. So if anyone needs some PPG Matting Agent SU4985, I happen to have a few extra cans .....
Pretty short day today on the project but I was able to mask off and paint the firewall .. I keep crossing things off the many lists I have!
Since it’s a really nice cool day, I am prepping for Fall Carlisle and will be there for the duration. It will be my only car event of the year, and with Hershey cancelled, I am bringing a boatload of stuff. Anyway, that jams up the shop and makes it difficult to work on the project. But, I did pick up some nice vinyl to do the rest of the interior - I even had a 60% off coupon! Lol!
Been busy on other things as of late and again the project suffers. But, I did get to insulate the ceiling of the cab today .... I try and do something on the project daily, even if it’s just a quickie cleanup, but life does take over sometimes. One good thing though is that my engine builder got my engine up on the engine stand and is checking things over making sure everything is ready for startup. I bought this engine “as is” and was never fired so I needed to do this ....
Been working on the cab upholstery - mainly the ceiling where I will start and then work my way down. But, I have other irons in the fire right now and can’t focus on the project solely unfortunately. But, I will keep chipping away and keep you posted on any progress ..... Life just takes over some times .....
Thank you, Gary. I know a Lowe’s sells peel and stick in the ac department I believe. I am using some stuff I found at Carlisle and it glued up nice. Jack Fuller has used the peel and stick - give him a shout .....
Since the weather was so rainy I could not do other things so I spent some time in the garage. I worked on some of the upholstery panels, mainly the back window surround. It had been rough cut and I trimmed it out better and fitted it up in to the cab ..... The back cab supports curl around following the cab corners .... .... and I had to make some shins so I would have some surface to finish the rear window upholstery nicely to the back of the cab and transition to the flat cab back cleanly .... There is both an inner or behind the support piece and one for the panel. Had to space a few things and then wood glue them together. I also worked on the areas where the tape pulled off some paint, sanding the areas for self etching primer for the bare metal spots, and then primer sealer everything. However, both of the doors had some paint cracking so I cleaned them off and began prepping them .... I was going to be painting anyway and had to be done. Remember that the cab was prepped and painted over 12 years ago so some aging of the original paint have just aged and need redoing. I did get my small 4 oz cup gun so when the weather clears I will roll the truck out, finish the prep, mask, and shoot everything. All in all, and not expecting to do anything today, it was a short but good day in the garage .....
So Fall Carlisle is in the books and I have been side tracked enough - time to get back to work! Got these cool lights and door pulls at Carlisle .... I retrofitted the lights for use as backup lamps - they will be under the rear bumper upside down, more towards the corners. These door pulls are so cool - they were not off of a Ford but something more expensive I would think. JohnnyC had a bunch lightly of used and NOS old stuff from some exotics he had picked. I may put these in the coupe, and the smooth 34 styled ones here in the truck. I finished the bodywork on the doors - not my best effort but most of it will be covered perhaps by carpet on the lower part of the doors I just painted ..... I also did the rest of the masking tape areas that pulled the paint off when removed ... We are now done there. I have my pinstriper buddy Greg coming over on Monday to discuss some designs for the two doors, a V6 insignia on the tailgate and maybe some detail on the Ford logo on the tailgate. We shall see. I will start unmasking tomorrow and see what further work is needed but it feels good to be back on it again .......
Thanks, Jason - I appreciate it! I also thank you for checking with Jim on the hood ornament. But I hopefully will have some good news on the hood ornament in a couple weeks or so ......
Got everything unmasked today - looks pretty decent. Some wet sanding needed for the orange peel but that is really just in the one spot on the upper driver door. Everything else is fine for me - at least it’s not bare metal! Lower parts of both doors look real nice. Been doing a DD shuffle and getting ready for my replacement truck. Sold my truck last night and I feel kind of funny not having one. My only real concern is picking up my hood I bought at Carlisle. It’s a 41 hood and needed a bunch of holes plugged to make it a 40. Since I don’t tig weld my buddy Ben is taking care of that. He’s building an AV8 roadster and I have some stuff he needs. So, we’ll barter a bit and that helps us both. Fortunately my wife’s CRV can handle the hood. The engine, if it’s ready before I get my new truck, will be a different story. I will need to get some help with that. My Dad is up for a new vehicle so I cleaned his present ride out for him, got it detailed, went over some stuff the car wash detail didn’t do, and made it look pretty. He’s 96 and although he’s spry, he can’t do that kind of stuff. Tomorrow I get back to the project and prep for mounting the bed on the frame. Got a couple guys coming over Monday morning and I need to undo the bed from the dolly. Timing is again good as I will then have a place to put the hood. I then clean it up and prep it to be primer sealed. The underside will be black and I want to trial fit it before painting it. Timing is everything, right?! Short day but a good one .....
I am ready for tomorrow’s placing the bed on the frame. I have the bed dolly right behind the frame with a board crossways in the front to lift with one guy in the back. I trial fit the gas tank and although my frame is a 35-36, you can still pull it to the driver side and tilt it down and out on the passenger side likes 40 frame. Did some touch up painting on the frame, put the shop back to its pre-Carlisle config, configured a few things so I could put the rear fenders in a safe place, and I think my roadster battery is on the way out. It didn’t turn over hardly when I tried to start it and I had to jump it. I have it on trickle charge so we will see what that does. Another short day but a good one .....
The bed is on the frame - I just got it bolted down. Took a bit to line everything up but it’s on there .... View attachment 4850601 The last thing I did last night was to glue on a 1/4” x 4” x 20” piece on the back side of the back wall of the bed. Since it is slightly bowed out and so is the fab, I thought it a good thing to do. I was right - the cab and back wall of the bed are leaning on one another. Glad I did that! I have bolted the two center rails to the frame - the bed boards will bolt to the upper holes of these pieces. I need one other pair of longer carriage bolts in the back. The stock ones are in front and should just make it counting on the thickness of the decking. I will need to order two more for the rear.... Now I will begin to mock up the rear bumper and hitch among other things since I need access underneath to do so. So a quick mockup if the Class III hitch and bumper .... I have very short rear tires on now to facilitate the bed install. I have always thought the hitch outer surface should be even with the rear bumper. Comments and n that? Thanks! Good day!
Working more on the hitch, rear bumper, and tail light configuration, I first had to install one of the rear fenders so the rear corner of the truck could be visualized. But first I had to install the fender welting .... So with the hitch and bumper mock up from yesterday, I was able to figure out my rear light location .... ... and this is with the 37 front bumper upside down, and came up with my hitch plan .... Got another Class III hitch for free for parts and I just need to cut sections I need out of it. The two ends of the hitch sleeve are nearly at the same angle as the rear portion of the frame. My intention is to run a partial cut on the backside, bend it to the angle I need, slide it in, and weld up the ends to the added sleeve. The 1/4" plate will also be bent to the same angle I need in the same way. Wherever the 1/4" plate is bolted through the frame wall there will be a large 1/4" thick "washer" on the backside. Finally, the 1x2 heavy wall tubing from the rear crossmember to the back of the hitch, going under the gas tank will all be bolted in as I will need to remove it if the gas tank has to come out, and the 1x2 heavy wall along the back “c” channel of the frame will tie the two hitch plates together with the 1/4" plate. I will only attach it to the light "c" channel only if it’s needed. Now is that clear as mud or what?!?!
Got the 1/4” plate I needed this am, installed the fender welting on the other rear fender, started my hitch 1/4” plate template, my hood was returned to me today for final bodywork so that is in the works now, and all with a few honey do’s thrown in there. Hope to have both rear fenders in place tomorrow, the two small front cover panels on the bed, and the first bend in the hitch mount. That’s enough to keep me busy for the time being ......