Re: Restoring Rusty
 

welcome to another Charge of the Light [truck] Brigade

another day, another wire wheel, I swear one can easily spend as much on these wire wheels (almost $20 a pop) as the purchase of some of our "project" trucks, if I keep visiting Depot Home (as my mum says) like this I may as well suggest they open up a drive through

needless (pun) to say one must replace these every 3 months or 3,000 miles, LOL

(one of these on the LEFT is the used one, can you guess which one that is?)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so we managed to get some POR15 black paint on the frame rail

UPDATE: Five years later, the POR15 paint is pealing off in huge chunks the size of 3x5 cards, do not recommend this product at all!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so while the frame rail was drying we decided to check on our inner fender which had been marinating in a light muriatic acid / water bath

you can see where the liquid could reach, as there is a distinct line, I could not fit the entire fender into my container so I would rotate it upside down, and down side up, etc

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I hear ya, Gregski. I've gone through a million wire brush wheels in my grinder too.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Do yours also wear out unevenly and make your hand vibrate / wiggle until it goes completely numb?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

since the brake fluid did not come through for me, I wasn't going to allow that to be a show stopper [get it - brake fluid...] I'm on fire today

I decided to call up my friend Walter. Now many of you know that The Greg is a One Clown circus act, but when a friend offers to help, who am I to say no...

So The Greg and his buddy De Walt working together stripped the paint off that fender in 5 minutes flat, things were going so well they even decided to stripped the paint off the belly too

now why strip the paint if you is just going to turn around and paint the thing? well if you look see closer, you will see that cancer lurks beneath the paint, that my friend is the evil we effectionaly call RUST

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Yup. Meanwhile the wheel bristles end up flying off and hitting everything, including me!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Dude I love this thread. You're just fixing every little thing like I do. If it's not broken, clean it up and put it back on!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Yes. So numb. My hand is still numb from trying to use it last week. :metal:

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Stupid wire brushes! I hope your wearing a face shield using that.. I've had a few of those come loose and lodge in my face and hurt. Coveralls I've had look like a porcupine attacked me.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Always

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Tomorrow

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

got the inner fender all cleaned up and hung it up in the paint booth, then it was 1.5 coats of Rust-Oleum Rusty Metal Primer (cause that's all a single spray can has)

Sunday we'll shoot some undercoating on it's belly...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

then it was back to the crappy power steering pump, check this out this is the $80 dollar one from Carquest

it came soaked in power steering fluid (despite the pink blanket) and the warning stickers just slid right off of it, well taking some paint with them

at least the pulley slid right on this one, that's why I chose it over the one from O'Reillys

I think I'm gonna touch it up with some semi flat black paint once all mounted up

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

wrapped up the afternoon by giving the frame rail a second coat of POR15

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Inner fender looks great! Hope your new pump works okay. Good luck at the swap meet tomorrow.

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scored sum finned chevy valve covers for $20 bucks at the swap meet today

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Fish-eyes are oil contamination of the paint. You didn't get it perfectly clean. Not surprising considering that it's the bottom of the hood.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so tried another brand of paint stripper in a spray can on those $20 dollar swap meet valve covers, and just reaffirmed myself to not waste any money on those and just buy the larger containers of the jelly like stuff you brush on, I have now officially spent more on the paint strippers than those covers, LOL

but with about three coats and some elbow grease scrubbing, they did improve, I will work on them some more later on and maybe put them on in a couple months when I mount the alternator lower, you see we have to re route all the wiring so it's hidden Hot Rod style

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

shot the Rust Oleum undercoating on the inner fender today and was disappointed with the results

remember last time I used this product on the other side, and it left a puddle of liquid over night as I was waiting on it to dry, well this time it let me down by not drying all lumpy bumpy you know with that rough texture we expect, it just dried smooth, weird - and I did shoot two coats

I am done with this product, I saw that they have a Professional version of it, so I may try that, of course it costs almost twice as much

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

1. fix rear brakes - DONE

2. replace or fix left headlight - DONE

3. fix left rear turn signal - DONE

4. check out the lifter / rocker arm ticking noise

5. refresh the power steering - DONE

6. fix hazard signals - DONE

7. get the AM radio working

8. fix reverse lights - DONE

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Keeping it moving. I'm parallel processing with you.

Make sure you share how you reinstall the steering gear box. I'm concerned about how to get the Pitman arm back on so that that the steering column is correct.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I prep for powder by scrubbing with Dawn Dish Detergent and hot water, baking the parts for several hours well above the powder cure temp, shell blasting, re-baking, and shell blasting again. Baking will drive the contaminants out of the aluminum along with any trapped gasses in newer castings.

The best paint and powder coat primer for aluminum is anodizing but die cast parts are notoriously difficult if not impossible to anodize because of the way the alloys flow into the molds. I would shy away from anodizing these.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Well you don't remove it at the end you did, LOL cause there you have to pay attention to the splines, if you leave it attached to the gear box like I did and separate the other end from the tie rod linkage then even Ray Charles can put it back on correctly with his feet, hee hee

Seriously though you should be ok, end to end is about 3 to 3.5 turns, so turn it all the way to one end, then turn it all the way to the other and count the revolutions then put the splines in the middle, the pitman arm when on points almost towards the driver, trial and error won't hurt either, put it on and twist the steering wheel if you are a tooth off pop it off and adjust (of course without driving, but when parked)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

How do you bake 'em? Specialty equipment, or a do it yourselfer rig?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Do you have a build thread going yet?

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Nope. Just living vicariously through The Greg. He's already called me out on it. :lol:

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Dump procured large 1970's home range with working oven. I put it near the door to the barn, removed the top elements, and added exhaust pipe to the oven vent. You could use a long cord and roll it outside on casters too. It bakes V8 cylinder head sized pieces. Any larger and I'd need to roll my own oven. It's a hobby. If I need some larger stuff baked I can get someone else to do it.
SWMBO wouldn't like it if you used her range for powder coating or baking parts. It takes forever to get that burning oil smell out of the house... ;):lol::devil: That industrial waste aftertaste in the casserole would be kinda rough too. :D

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Oh that makes sense. I was getting worked up for nothing. Last time I did one of these was in 1998 when I was working on my 1980 K5 Blazer.

Thanks...for the build thread (wink wink).

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Same thing here. Funny story in that I found the oven on craigslist and went to pick it up and the whole neighborhood was the reverse floor plan of my parent's place where I grew up. Every house was like a mirror of my childhood. Creeped me out. The house still had the old green short shag carpet, original 1972 cabinets, and soft sea foam green appliances... Pseudo world feeling...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

You're knocking down the list inch by inch. Keep giving it gravy.

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This has got to be the most impressive, enjoyable Build Thread I have ever read/viewed on here, my applause and gratitude to an excitable posting of your restore. Your truck looks very nice and what has made it enjoyable is to watch you use low dollar application and approach to it, it’s a truck right. Very nice, thanks for the fun and enjoyment! I want to say I can't wait till you get it done, but I want to keep enjoying your posts with it and pictures to keep it going like a book series or something. Well done my Board Brother!!!:metal:

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Well great, now I'll never be able to cut another corner or half donkey anything else, jk, thank you so much this made my day.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

No pressure really.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so went one day without wrenchin on the truck, and that nearly keewed me, you know what I mean fellas

decided to go to the gym... dang it I can't lie to you guys, the wife made me watch Game of Thrones, don't judge me ok, dragons are cool, hee hee

so today I decided to take a look at #7 on the list, aka the low fidelity radio in all its AM glory

first order of business, gather sum tools... hey how did that get in there

Re: Restoring Rusty - Radio Repair
 

I'll admit it I wasn't too keen on removing the radio cause I thought I would have to take the gauge cluster housing off... AGAIN, so I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't have to, take that cars of the 80s, 90s, 00s, you get the idea

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

man just when I thought I couldn't love this truck any more, it makes this job so easy, thank you Rusty

one 11/32 nut in the back and 7 minutes later...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

also removed the speaker (singular, funny to even say that) yeah man I installed a new speaker in my truck today, what did you work on?