1970 VA Longbed Project

[VA72C10]

Got the frame power washed this evening. Of course for the first half hour there was something amiss with the motor and the prossure wasn't that high so it wasn't doing much. Tinkered with it and got it working better and it took off most of the grime and loose paint from the PO's spray bomb job. Going to hit it with a wire cup and take off the rest of the unneccessary brackets Sunday or Monday. Also going to mock up the drop battery box, compressors, air tank, c-notch, and bags to get holes drilled. Then will get it painted in Rustoleum hammered finish.

Jason (the guy helping me with the welding/body work) was working on welding the couple of holes in the rear floor and the cab supports. Had one fender sanded and fillered then sanded back down ready for primer. Looks and feels smooth as a baby's bottom A lot of work even though it was a new repop.

Here are the before and during pictures of the frame. Too dark for afters tonight. Will get them after I wire cup it...



TONS of grease in the crossmember


Tranny crossmember had 1/2" of grease on it from leaky tranny pan and old engine. Found out it had exactly ZERO bolts holding it in Really upset with the PO...between this, the motor mounts having no bolts to the crossmember, and one bolt holding the tranny mount in, I'm surprised the drivetrain didn't fall out while I was driving down the road


Engine crossmember halfway clean


Note the clean mark on the front of the tranny crossmember....those familiar with pressure washers will notice I had the tip adjusted smaller than I should...it was the only way I was getting enough pressure to start with...after tinkering I got it working with a wider fan spray which worked better of course...


Bare metal on the tranny crossmember PO must have cleaned this up when he did the motor/tranny swap but whatever paint he used didn't stick or the tranny fluid made it come off...