the bed after stripping with a 40 grit brown 3M scotchbrite bristle disc in a 4.5" electric grinder. This was 6 layers before stripping:
The tops of both bed rails were bowed upward quite a bit. I used 2" thickwall box steel, two wood blocks, and a large c-clamp to get them flat. The passenger side was hammered badly in two places, and I had to work out the dents and then do quite a bit of shrinking to get them in decent shape. I skimmed the sides with rage gold to hide the years of abuse and then used PPG Omni high build primer in about 4 applications to get it fairly straight. 3M seam sealer went in the seams. Omni primer sealer, one layer an hour before the paint.
Hot Rod Flatz metallic silver: