Crusty Rusty Leaky Squeaky 67 Step

[swamp rat]

Welcome back and Happy Anniversary!

Anything that has to do with cooking won't work for my wife as a present, anything to do with eating at a fancy (read expensive) restaurant will.. LOL!

[Dean'smeanmachine]

looking good

[Low Elco]

Congrats on the anniversary! You and Kathy are a great couple.

[mikeleeshields]

Vic I have been installing an "EZ" wire kit also. I would spend the extra $$ next time I do this for a painless kit for sure.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mikeleeshields

Vic I have been installing an "EZ" wire kit also. I would spend the extra $$ next time I do this for a painless kit for sure.

Very true, Mike. By the time Jay got thru buying replacement parts, he could have paid for the Painless kit. 20/20 hindsight!

Spent some time slinging mud on the hood today. Also laid a skim coat on the wheel wells. For those who graciously rode my butt about overdoing the business end of the bed ...thanks for your intervention. I promise to only do just enough to provide a base for the spray in bed liner.

[mcbassin]

Looking good Vic, I did the same on my bed, just enough to spray in Raptor liner. It turned out great. I'm really happy with the results. Still I wishi I would have made the filler tool. Would have made it so much easier. As it was, I spent a ton of time on my bed floor.

[Low Elco]

Just another service we provide...

That hood is gonna look cool.

[Xeen]

That hood is going to be the cherry on top, no one will have one like it.
The only thing I would be worried about is thermal transfer from the engine cracking out the filler, it's probably going to require a thermal barrier to keep that from happening, or am I over thinking this?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

That hood is going to be the cherry on top, no one will have one like it.
The only thing I would be worried about is thermal transfer from the engine cracking out the filler, it's probably going to require a thermal barrier to keep that from happening, or am I over thinking this?

Nope, I'm with you on that, Brian. I've drilled a couple of small vent holes on the underside to allow the air pressure in the dead space to equalize. I was also thinking of spraying Lizard Skin on the flat areas where the underside of the seam will be exposed to engine heat. In the past, I've glued numerous fiberglass scoops to both metal and FG hoods. The only time I ever had one crack was many years ago when I thought I could rivet the scoop on and bondo the seam. ACKKK! I feel fairly confident that the adhesive will do its job and not allow the scoop edges to separate from the base. But it doesn't hurt to take extra precautions anyway.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Looking good Vic, I did the same on my bed, just enough to spray in Raptor liner. It turned out great. I'm really happy with the results. Still I wishi I would have made the filler tool. Would have made it so much easier. As it was, I spent a ton of time on my bed floor.

Thanks, Mike, I've seen several posts where members caution that spray in bedliner will hide only so much. The base needs to be fairly decent before you spray the pookie. So it will get at least a little bit of love.

[mikeleeshields]

Hood is looking killer.

[jlsanborn]

How's the first pass on the hood? We happy? It'll be cool for sure. I may have missed it but have you chosen a body color yet?.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

How's the first pass on the hood? We happy? It'll be cool for sure. I may have missed it but have you chosen a body color yet?.

It's taking shape, John. Feathering out that much area requires a lot of passes. The hood was a donor to start with and I seem to keep finding spots I missed with the hammer and dolly. But it shouldn't be long until I lay a coat of Slick Sand on. Right now I'm leaning toward a two tone scheme. Color will be late model Challenger Mango Tango on the bottom and satin black on the top separated by a cream pinstripe. My wife isn't a big fan of two tone hotrods, so the plan could change, but the copper/orange color is set in stone.

[Vic1947]

I suspended work on the hood last week and concentrated on a few other tasks that needed some tending. Blocking the hood by hand was wearing me out, so I shelled out for a new orbital inline sander. Opted to go with a made in the USA piece, so it was a bit more expensive, but the quality is great. It arrived this morning and I immediately put it in service. I'd forgotten how quickly these things rip the plastic off and how much better they level flat or low crown areas. Hopefully this will speed up the progress on other parts of the truck as well. Weather is cool again this week, so I'm working with the doors closed. However, doors open or closed, there's dust everywhere. Drives certain neat freaks nuts ...now take a deep breath and put on the blinders.

[knomadd]

Nice work. Who makes that pretty looking piece of equipment?

[mcbassin]

Wow! congrats on the air sander! I've always wanted one but never had the extra pennies for one. Very nice!

[Low Elco]

I have a Squirrel cage blower you can borrow to kick the dust out the door if you'd like. Where'd you get the sander?

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by knomadd

Nice work. Who makes that pretty looking piece of equipment?

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Wow! congrats on the air sander! I've always wanted one but never had the extra pennies for one. Very nice!

Thanks, guys. It's a Hutchins Model 3800 and it gets after it ...so much so my old 2 stage Sears compressor is struggling to keep up. Had to stop off and put another trap in the line I use for air tools. Sander was moving so much air it was condensing moisture at the business end.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

I have a Squirrel cage blower you can borrow to kick the dust out the door if you'd like. Where'd you get the sander?

My wife would say there's already one too many squirrels around here.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Where'd you get the sander?

Online at Autobody Toolmart

[Hogshooter]

That is an awesome tool for working filler, I put it on with a 12" drywall knife, sand with a 8" bondo hog then hit it with the Hutchins then go to the hand sanding.

[jlsanborn]

Nice score on the inline! I waited way too long to get one. That piece you got is about double the $ than the one I got but after about half a roll I found these screws on the floor where I was working. I know nothing shiny like those fell out of my bed! The sander came with an exploded view drawing but it's pretty small scale (bout useless). I took it half way apart, never found any missing screws and decided I had better just back out from there as it was still working and I only had a small amount of work yet to do. Took me at least three tries to get it back together right as there's some timing involved with a valve and a couple little rack and pinion drives (dual pistons). It finished the job and one day I'll take it all the way down to figger it out. The screws I found on the floor are probably from something else because that's how stuff like that usually goes for me

Can't wait to see that hood in epoxy Vic!

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Hogshooter

That is an awesome tool for working filler, I put it on with a 12" drywall knife, sand with a 8" bondo hog then hit it with the Hutchins then go to the hand sanding.

Now there's a man that doesn't dilly dally around!!

Originally Posted by jlsanborn

Nice score on the inline! I waited way too long to get one. Can't wait to see that hood in epoxy Vic!

Yeah, I don't know why I waited either, John. It was past time to upgrade. Next step is Slick Sand. Picked it up at the paint store Monday so I just need a warm afternoon.

[Vic1947]

I received a very humbling call this morning from the fella down in TX that bought my silver truck. We'd talked a few days ago about how the truck acts when turning at low speeds, both forward and reverse. The tires seemed to scrub more than they should and the turning radius seemed much tighter than it should be. He asked what, if anything I'd done to address the problem so I listed off all the parts I'd swapped out, the multiple trips to the alignment shop and how nothing seemed to make it better. After all that, I just lived with it. Well, long story short, he called to tell me his alignment shop found the problem. Yours truly put the crosslink in backwards. They took it loose, rotated it longitudinally 180 degrees and put it back in. Realigned the front end and voila! ...problem solved. He says it handles like a new truck with no scrub and a much better turn radius.

I wouldn't have believed you could do this, but it's obviously possible, as the pictures below show. The top one is incorrect and the bottom is how it should be. Ya learn something every day!

[Low Elco]

Hunh! Thanks for throwin' that up, now I gotta go check mine! Is this the dealer guy, or a for-real owner?