Hey folks, quick update!
First, went by the metal shop. About all they have left there is the cab, and work continues to get it fixed up before sending over to the body shop. The cab is just one part of the truck, but there's more work in the cab than any other piece of sheetmetal, for sure!
Filled in hole for windshield wiper knob and radio plate.
Kind of hard to see, but some great work was done here replacing the inner part of the cab right above the windshield. Some mice had found Marvin during his stay in the barn and had decided that this was a great spot to build a nest. The whole area was just rotted out and destroyed. Very happy that they make a repop panel for this section! I was told that this is a pretty difficult patch panel to install.
Wanted to keep my heater vents on the outside passenger cowl, but didn't want them to be open to the inside for water to get in, so Marvin gets this "cake pan" looking piece welded to the inside of the vents. Also fabbing up a cover panel for the inside access hole. That will just screw into place, rather than be welded, as this could be a good access route for wiring.
Over to the body shop - the frame is back from powdercoating. Looks great! I think the powdercoating will be durable long term. This isn't going to be a show truck, so I thought powdercoating the frame as-is would be fine. This has left some of the original pitting from rust here and there on the frame that you can see under the powdercoating. Could have added body filler and sanded the frame perfectly smooth everywhere and then painted instead of powdercoating, but I just didn't think that was necessary for a part of the truck that isn't really going to be seen, and I do like the durability benefits of powdercoating. Just regular old semi-gloss black.
Another angle of the frame.
Here's the rear end, also back from the powder-coater. Also, in this room was a big pile of other suspension parts that had been powdercoated, but they were all in plastic bags, so it wasn't really picture worthy. For example, you can see bumper brackets in the bags by the rear end.
Some of the parts needed to be painted black instead of powder coated because the powdercoat builds up too much thickness on the surface for some parts. Here are some hanging and drying. Lots of suspension bushing type things - you can also see the front end spindles and brake pedal. Never mind the Ford tailgate!
Had a bunch of sheetmetal outside getting a fresh sandblasting before getting primer.
And hood and inner fenders in the paint booth getting a coat of POR15 on the underside before some type of rugged black overcoat is applied.
Kind of a brief update, but a lot of fun to see any and all progress! Once the work on the cab is done, that will get mounted to the frame and they'll rebuild Marvin at the body shop before beginning official paint prep. Stay tuned!