Here it was, sitting in the garage today, spare rear and all the junk collecting in the back. Looking pretty ugly, but not nearly as ugly as the pics seem to be
Started by cleaning out the bed
Then I got my "heavy lifting crew" and the three of us put the bed in the trailer
Then ended up with this
Going to start by prepping the frame and replacing the cab corners
Then I'll probably jack the cab up in place and do the frame and new insulators. This will be a clean driver kind of resto. The truck is very solid, just needs its 14 yr cleaning and puff up:)
Comcast was in seattle and they are quite horrible.
Ross, not to prod or anything is that your daughter on the left I remember when she was like 10 dude times flies eh, anyways is the frame is good shape looks quite red like rust just wondering if its ok or if you have to replace any of it anyways lookin good man.
Its solid, the ugliness is due to whatever I did it in last time is coming off in sheets. I actually vacuumed a ton of it off today it's so loose and I got sick of sweeping the floor LOL
I think it was NAPA/Martin Seniour chassis black, I used to use it a lot, or could have been just some bench mix, who knows. I did some wire brushing tonight and its cleaning up real nice
I need to drop the rear and the leaf springs out of it so I can get in there and get it looking nice.
I am still toying with buying a new set of leaf springs, it'll save me some cleaning, plus those springs were stacks of whatever I had laying around over about a 6 yr period of raising, lowering, etc.
However, it'll never have a load in it again, so disassembled, cleaned, and painted with new bushings may be what it gets
You need to take a sandblaster to the entire truck. It's about the ONLY way to truly strip it down at home to a point where there won't be any rust coming back. I bought an old truck that had the frame painted... It's coming off in sheets as well. (It was wire brushed and painted with chassis paint)
A sandblaster to the body (with a bit of restraint) will also make an 'honest' candidate to work on.
It surely doesnt need the body blasted, its in good shape, I changed my tune on that one after cutting some of the old primer back.
Aside from the inside of the bed, it was blocked and ready for paint in 1995 when I joined the AF, although blasting the floor of the bed would save my lazy ass from sanding so much LOL.
As far as the frame, it would be better blasted, but its not getting it
Its going to get cleaned up pretty, then etched, then shot with a modern high adhesion/etching primer, it'll bite just fine. Remember, the last time I did this truck was in the mid 80's and it plowed snow for 10 yrs and worked it's ass off at the shop, then got stuck in a damp garage for the past 13 yrs. I'm amazed it's as pretty as it is!
I grew up working for the Massachusetts equiv to ol' Cook hisself, no exaggeration, and the two of them would have a blast BSing after they spent a little time eyeing each other up. Vietnam stories and all.
My dad casts his own steering wheels for steel wheeled tractors when needed, and is my biggest critic/fan LOL. Funny thing, when I did the Mustang, I told him I was doing it black, he says, "may as well, straight is straight, just make it straight" LOL
The most ironic thing about my dad is that although he can literally do almost anything, he is color blind, so if you bring him a brown or green car, you'll never know what you'll get back LOL.
Funny, I dont miss having to earn money that way, but I wouldnt trade those days for anything
