Time for some updates...
First of all, a bit of back-pedaling. As mentioned earlier the rear brakes were "low mileage", but had sat undriven for a few years. Shortly after my last post the rear brakes began dragging and then finally leaking. I finally broke down and tore them apart. Turns out the wheel cylinder's were full of rust and were seized. Here's a shot of the wheel cylinder once it was removed:
After that I decided to just replace everything. New shoes, wheel cylinders, and drums. All better now!
Finally, onto some updates... After getting the brakes straightened out, and the exhaust installed, it was time to move on to some cosmetics. The first step was to give the entire truck an acid wash to remove the rust stains from the original 46year old paint. The goal wasn't to get rid of rust, but to remove the stains around any of the rust on the truck. After that, I did a clay-bar routine, followed by some swirl remover and wax. Here is a before pic:
After:
Here is the product I used.
It's slow acting and you have to be careful and keep the paint wet (work in the shade!) or you'll end up with streaks in the paint, but it works great. Unlike the CLR method I've seen so many people do, with this there is no deglossing of the paint or scrubbing with a scotch-brite pad. I just painted it on a small section of bodywork with one of those cheap foam "paint brushes" and kept it wet until most of the rust was dissolved.
Here is the same stuff used on a rusty hubcap:
Just as the process was starting:
After acid wash, and before clear coat:
Next I did the rear bumper. Really rusty at first...
Later was better:
Then shot it with some rattle can clear-coat:
More to come....