Re: Frankentruck
 

That epoxy might be a good idea.

For now though, since I'm somewhat on a time crunch to finish up the truck before I go back to school, I'm using the same stain/sealer combo that I used the first time, but instead of doing just that, I'm going to also put some sort of actual sealer on top of that. Would the Spar Urethane be a good choice for that?



Today, I finished sanding down the boards. The underside of the boards still looked good in most places, so I put one coat of the stain/sealer down just on the back side. Going to be doing at least 2 coats of the stain on the top side starting tomorrow, then whatever sealer I use will start going down over the weekend or next week

Re: Frankentruck
 

Looks good..Spar Urethane will be just fine

Re: Frankentruck
 

Looks great Christian .

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks John, I'll be picking some up this weekend.


Thanks! How's your stepper coming along?

Re: Frankentruck
 

Im still taking the control arms apart , Im a rookie at that and found no help here with my questions . Im so Dang close to having the frame and everything else ready to send out for sandblasting and paint . So Close , more tomorrow after work .

Re: Frankentruck
 

Shoot me a text on the control arms if you haven't figured them out yet. I can't wait to see it all shined up!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Bed wood is looking good. Tell me again what you are studying is school?

Re: Frankentruck
 

He should be teaching post graduate classes in truck repair and restoration. Great job Christian!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Next time Im at my cousins house Im gonna see if I can find you some old Barn Wood for your bed....I think it would look killer.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks! I am studying accounting.

Haha, thanks Andy, but I don't think I have enough knowledge to do that yet :lol:

Thanks John, I appreciate the offer, and I think it would look cool, but I'm going to stick with the wood I have for now. Yeah, it's white pine, so not the strongest, but my dad and I were on a budget and time crunch when we did it 3 years ago, so we decided to use the white pine, then ripped it to size, used a small router to cut the grooves, and stained it. It was a fun project living up to our last name :metal:

Re: Frankentruck
 

So a big life decision happened today. I accepted an internship offer at a CPA firm for the 2021 tax season. I'll be diving into the world of public accounting from January to April. I was blessed to have 3 firms to choose from, and the decision was a tough one, but I feel like I made the right choice.

I spent all morning and several hours into the afternoon making the decision, and then I also spent some time selling some parts locally. Didn't get anything done on Frankentruck, but I started replacing the AC compressor on my Dakota. The clutch went out on it a couple weeks ago, and I couldn't find just a clutch without grabbing a junkyard one, so I went ahead and got a new one. That'll be finished up tomorrow, and I hope to get one coat of stain on the top side of the boards

Re: Frankentruck
 

Congratulations Christian! One of the Big 4 Accounting firms? There are 7-8 accountants in my family. A great profession. My son was majoring in Accounting, but changed to Finance this past year. He had a somewhat weird internship this summer...2-3 days a week for about 6 hours a day.

Re: Frankentruck
 

AwesomeChristian...so very glad and proud of you.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks guys, I'm excited for it!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Got the AC working in the Dakota again today. Also got a coat of stain on the top side of the boards. Going to get some sealer for them tomorrow and probably start on that on Monday

Re: Frankentruck
 

Decided to let the stain dry for today so I can start sealing it up tomorrow. Today's project was putting new bearings and races in my dad's boat trailer. Also took apart both bearing buddies and put some fresh grease in everything. After packing the wheel bearings, I grabbed my great grandpa's grease gun off the wall and pulled it apart to put the new tube of grease in. I found the old tube of Alemite grease that he put in well before my time :lol: According to my dad, my great grandpa would often just scoop some grease out of a tub and fill the gun that way. I had also done that when I was greasing all the suspension stuff on Frankentruck. This time though, I cleaned up the gun, and it still works perfectly. Actually, it works even better with a tube in it. Gotta love old tools!

Re: Frankentruck
 

My father used to hand-pack his grease gun too. When he downsized and it (and all his stuff) became mine and it needed re-filling, I showed him the easy button of just shoving in a new tube. Works awesome now.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Must have been a common thing back then :lol: I love that it's so old, but works so good and is super smooth

Re: Frankentruck
 

Got the first coat of sealer down on the bottom side this morning before the rain showed up. Hopefully can get a second coat on in a few hours

Re: Frankentruck
 

Old stuff is real good.....just Andy and myself..lol

Re: Frankentruck
 

Got a second coat of sealer on the bottom side this evening. Lookin' shiny!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Looks really good Christian!#!

Re: Frankentruck
 

HAHAHAHA Now that made me literally laugh out loud! Thanks John!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks John! Got 2 coats of sealer on the top side today. Going to put some more coats on tomorrow

Re: Frankentruck
 

I'm still waiting on the Spar Urethane to dry up.

Today's task was figuring out why the turn signals on my Dakota blinked too fast only when a trailer was hooked up. Turns out the "HD" flasher I bought wasn't up to the task. The factory hazard flasher worked perfectly though, and then I found out the trucks that came with the towing package also used the hazard flasher for the turn signal flasher.

Hooked up dad's atv trailer and drove out to the deer camp to check on cameras and ride around on dad's atv. 2 atvs would be even more fun though

Re: Frankentruck
 

You could come get my ATV if you like . Still cant get out of Pink on here , Im going to FaceBook to try to locate parts as I cant place an ad here .

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks John, we might be going to look at one tomorrow morning. I'll go bug Liz again for ya

Re: Frankentruck
 

Took me 13 days to pull the wood out, sand it smooth, stain it, seal it, and re-install it, but I finally got it back together yesterday before heading back to Milledgeville for classes to start back later this week.

My dad helped me out by holding the bolts up top while I was rolling around underneath sticking the washers on and tightening all the nuts.

I am extremely happy with how it turned out, but I have already been thinking about what wood I'll be using for when I do the full restoration. I've been thinking about using some Black Walnut next time. I mentioned this to my dad after we got everything back together, and he said that the old, family farm up in Toccoa has several black walnut trees to choose from. I'm thinking I'll probably use one of those trees to have a piece of the farm still around if we end up having to sell it.

Anyways, I'm back at school now and took the Dakota because it has AC and I didn't want to sweat a bunch while driving around. Frankentruck is just chilling back at home for a bit until it cools off some down here

Re: Frankentruck
 

Looks great Christian. Good job!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Nice!

Re: Frankentruck
 

Wow that finish on the wood works with that truck very well. Good job

Re: Frankentruck
 

I agree...the stain color goes with your truck perfectly.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Now you know you cant restore Frankentruck,,,,It has its own cult following now!!!!
I agree the bed wood fits PERFECT with your truck.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Your bed looks great. I agree that it goes with the truck.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks Andy!

Thanks!

Thanks! It's the 3 years of sun damage and the stain and Spar Urethane that makes it look so good :lol: I had to replace one board, so it's lighter than the others, but I'm really liking the darker look to the wood. The painted strips tie it together as well I think

Thanks Andy!

Thanks John! Unfortunately, the cab is rusty enough that I pretty much just want to sand blast the entire thing and fix all the rust. If it wasn't as bad as it is, I would probably just try to patch and blend, but too much rust to do that and the cab has been repainted one too many times. Because of that, I'll eventually do a full restoration, but it's not going to be a 100K paint job. It will be something that will look good, but won't be limiting me to still use it as a truck

Thanks! I like it even better than when I first put the wood in

Re: Frankentruck
 

Well, I haven't been able to do anything with Frankentruck because of the 2+ hour, long distance relationship we are going through at the moment :lol: but I do have a slightly major life update to share. I know this post isn't truck related, but I wouldn't be able to build or "complete" (they're never really done) my truck without these things below.

I found out a couple weeks ago that the internship I have set up for the Spring is actually not needed for credit to finish up my undergrad. I have the necessary credit hours to graduate in December :four:

I want to get my CPA license, but to do that, I need 150 credit hours of education. I only get 120 with my undergrad, so it makes sense for me to stay in school by doing graduate school. For accounting, graduate school only takes one year to get the 30 more credits needed to get my license.

I am still doing my internship in the Spring, but instead of putting the credit I can get through the internship towards my undergrad, I am going to put the credit towards graduate school. Yup, I just got accepted into graduate school at GCSU. :ennyd:

Yeah, 2020 has sucked in many ways for me and a whole bunch of others, but there's also been a lot of good to come out of it. I'm excited to see where this path leads me, and even more excited to have Frankentruck along for the ride

Re: Frankentruck
 

Congrats Christian , you will go far and so will FrankenTruck , My favorite build to follow . This year has Sucked in many ways but it has its good points .Got to take the bad with the good and hope next year is better all the way around , and I believe it will be a good year .

Re: Frankentruck
 

Awesome Christian...very proud of you.
As 2020 has revealed itself to be not so nice, Im reminded of all the good things, focusing not on the bad but trying to focus on the good......kinda,like your news......
My mom always use to tell me that its not about dodging the storm, its about dancing in the rain.
Im glad our lil group chooses to dance in the rain

Re: Frankentruck
 

Congrats Christian...Wise choice to get your grad degree now.

Re: Frankentruck
 

Thanks guys!! The rest of this year and next year are shaping up to be a good time :metal: