Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I just spent all morning going through this whole thread and Gregski you sir are awesome. The time it takes to do the work on your truck plus taking the time to document it all and share it with us is a huge help to everyone here.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Thank you for the kind words I appreciate that, especially since now that Rusty has been my daily driver for the last 18 months I am tempted to just do it, and not document as much

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Shouldn't this guy be working on that hood?

so I bought this extra door trim (first pic only one of two pieces of the kit shown) last winter and have been waiting for the proper Global Warming to applicate it

it is supposed to server two purposes, stop the water leak on the driver's side, and the constant whistling on the passenger side

so today I used the good natured alcohol to clean the doors the best I could and then the Gorilla Snot to stick it to the door

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

would you believe me if I told you the driver side looked much neater than this passenger side?

since the tube of glue sat in the parts store for years and then on my work bench for months I believe the contents separated so I used my finger to work them in whilst on the door, not the greatest idea as now i have goop on my finger and had to take the pics left handed, hence the finger shot in each of the pics, awesome!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

any updates on the SEM insulation ?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I can always count on Gregski for a chuckle. I remember a few bars and have recollections of some people from the fraternity days who I think might have had some bad natured alcohol to drink. I've become a big fan of isopropyl alcohol as a residue-free way of prepping parts for paint. Good work brother.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

You can probably find a severely taco shelled hood in one of the local salvage yards to liberate that corner from.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

yes, I painted the back sides of the interior metal door panels of my '71 truck (they went to plastic nonsense in '72 my birth year) turned out great, they no longer ting and ping like hallow tin, they sound muted now, you can tell this is a quality product, I don't want to post pics as this is the 3rd gen section (translation too lazy to take pics) ha ha

sorry I bolted my trans tunnel cover back on and have been too lazy to remove it to spray it with this product but it is on the Ta Do List!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

You know my friend, four years ago I would go to them yards and see half a dozen square bodies, they had everything, anti sway bars, tacoed hoods, rusted out battery trays, torn up bench seats, and sticky cracked steering wheels...

about two years ago I could find one or two

a year ago maybe one

now, no more, these trucks have gotten so popular it's impossible to find them in the wreckin' yards

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

alright progress has been made

so this was a trial fit I did a bit more trimming and massaging before making metal stick

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

believe it or not I actually hammered shut and stitch welded shut that hole on the right

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

ok so it looks bad, but at least it's good metal

hey man, this ain't no welding class where you're sitting on a bar stool running beads for an hour in perfect position, it was difficult to get the torch in there and also grind it all down with an angle grinder, Chip Foose borrowed my slim portable solar powered belt sander and has yet to give it back

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Onwards Comrades!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

after carefully considering using high heat BBQ or header paint on the hood belly I decided to shoot it with the paint I already had!

I (and some of youz) really like this Semi-Flat Crayola secret sauce

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

looking much better already and this is only after the first coat, since the surface was dark already you get roughly two coats per can

Top Tip: if you don't like white fuzzies on your surface than it's ok to clean with paper towels but don't rely on them for your final wipe down, use something else

Note: the cross flow ventilation in the dishwasher safe organic paint booth (yes I still wore a breathing mask in order to protect my brain cells, yes both of them)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

we start our Annual Labor Day: Labor of Love Project with a scrap piece of 16 or 18(ish) gauge steel

we square it off a bit and cut it into semi equal rectangular pieces (blowing our 8th grade geometry teachers mind)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

next we take the CAD blueprinted scrap piece to the organic metal brake where we divide it into two

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I did say "semi" even (we will trim them down to eveness later)

Top Tip: The key to any successful project is controlling user/audience expectations, ha ha

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

at this point my cousin Joe Goodenoff showed up (think National Lampoon's Vacation cousin Eddie) and said "lemme show you something... hold my beer"

and he took an ordinary grade 5 bolt and proceeded to decapitate it...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

then he took it to the Bead Roller Free bead roller station

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and then on to the Quality Assurance Station - QAS

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

alright that's impressive, but what in the world are you [ahem] is Joe makin'?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

rinse, lather, repeat...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

ladies and gentlemen, the Taco Hood Struggle is real!

and although LMC Truck sells these as a "Hood Brace Kit" for $20 bucks, it is honestly a joke and I rather roll my own