[landarts]

Here are a couple of before shots of the frame and area that I wanted to clean up and paint before putting all the front sheet metal back on. Boy is that a chore to get 50 years of gunk and dirt off. I did the best I could do with the products and tools available in the garage and hoped that whatever I did would be better than the way it was.

Anyways i started off with using a needle scaler I bought about a year or so ago and that really did a good job of getting the caked on oil and dirt in a few places. Used several different sizes if wire brushes on handles and about 6 buckets of Simple green mixed with water for scrubbing. Once I thought I was close I went over one more time with Oil Eater solution, rinsed with water then wiped everything down with wax and grease remover. Shot a coat or two of Rust Reformer and then two coats of TEC Chassis Black. The finish came out nice and has a satin sheen which is what i was shooting for.

Did not do the springs since I already have 2.5 lift springs that will go in next, will clean up the axles and steering and shoot with the same as frame rails. When I was pulling off the crossmember i noticed a few cracks in the metal and the back tab ear was broken off so I will do some metal repair and prep it to paint also. Also was able to expose the vin and it matches the truck so that is always a good thing.

Overall I am pleased with how it turned out and it will work good for this application. Next up will be spraying the core support and inner wells.