The Good, the Bad and the Ugly or from another Clint Eastwood film A man’s got to know his limitations.
Sometimes it seems I spend more time on the road between places to find parts and services that I need accomplished than working on the truck. (Na it just must be me)
I apologize for the pour pictures of the bumpers they really look pretty good. After sandblasting and powder coating I installed the swing up license plate (would not recommend the swing up license plate to any one that just wants a bolt on installation. It took me two days of re-engineering and modifications to get it to work) Decided to try some LED bulbs in the backup lights, I don’t know a lot about the LED bulbs except that the ones in my flash light are pretty bright, if they don’t perform good Ill just change back to the stock bulbs. I did find some stainless steel license plate frames that are powder coated black by Camisasca and with the thin design look and works well. Now I can say that I have a compete rebuild bumper to bumper less a few miner parts. HA HA
The tailgate on the truck had definitely been worked hard in the past and fell in to my category as bad and needing more work than I wanted to put into it. So I picked one up from MAR-K part number 102840 Tailgate “CHEVROLET” Script No Chain Latch. This will be my next area of work to install the Tailgate Link Straps and the Bear Claw Latches. It will definitely give the people in my rear view mirror a nice truck rear end to look at.
Finished welding in the stop light buckets in the fenders and spent half a day removing the tar undercoating in one of the fenders. Was talking to my sandblaster and it was recommended to remove the undercoating I could use a propane torch and a putty knife to remove the majority of it and save on the stripping cost (it worked pretty good not a lot of heat but defiantly a job you want to do outside with the smell and fumes).
I’m going to be installing a side mounted spar tire and wanting the cutout in the fender to look a little better than the lapped over spot welded panel. So I welded the complete seam, it’s kind of ugly but with some bondo with fiber it should blend in with a slight rounded look, hopefully better than the spot welded panel.
Since the truck will be used for hauling things it’s always nice to have places to tie things down to and having used the Track & Tie Down Anchors in the Air Force it was only fitting to install some in my truck. Obtained the Track & Tie Down Anchor Kit and 4 Ring Kit from Discount Ramps.COM. I will be installing the Tracks halfway up the bed sides and the individual mounts in the corners near the top of the bed. I’m lucky to have a good place close to get my fasteners from (Tacoma Screw Products, Inc.) and they usually have just what I need. The tracks will be mounted with Stainless Steel Allen Head Counter Sunk M6 x 20MM fasteners (note American standard fasteners will not sit flat enough in the counter sink for ring to be located over them)
When I was out and about I think that I’ve found a body and paint shop that will work with me where they will take the individual sandblasted panels and take them from miner body work to finished paint and then I will assemble the peaces. So in the next one to two months I expect to hand over all the bed panels to them and see how it works out for just the bed before starting them on the cab and front end. Personally I would like to do the body work and paint myself but with lacking the space and equipment I’ve decided to turn it over to a professional that has all equipment and space. The color has been finalized 505 GM green with black along the bottom just the same as in the starting pictures. Anybody having any ideas or recommendation for the interior color with the grey seats would be appreciated.
With the tight confines of my work shop I tripped over some stuff and fell the other day, no broken bones but some very pretty purple and soar bruises, so I will be taking a week off from working on the truck for recovery (age doesn’t work in your benefit in regards to recovery). Everybody stay safe out there in their small shops for things will jump out and get in your way.