The rebirth of El Scrocho

[gkesseru]

I need to replace the angle strips since the old ones were rusted through. I am trying to decide on stainless or steel. See this other thread for pictures.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=404835

[gkesseru]

I've been doing work on this truck but have been lax in posting progress. Stripped the inside and outside of the hood. Outside was simple, but inside was a bear. I used aircraft stripper but ran out of the expensive NAPA stuff halfway through. I think I paid 65 for a can. I bought some for about 23 at Advance Auto. It's not as good as the expensive stuff, but it does work.

[gkesseru]

I decided to use stainless angle strips in the bed but did not want to weld stainless to the bedsides and ruin the mirror finish forever. Neither did I want to bolt through and have the bolts show on the outside. My solution was to weld in a hidden 1X1 L angle strip under the stainless one (but having the vertical part going down instead of up). Worked good, and as a result, it really helped to straighten the bedsides. I will have to cut the edge boards 1/8 inch narrower an cut in a 1/8 by 1 inch step into the top of the board to make room for the hidden 1X1 angle strip.

[my67chevytruck]

nice progress.

[gkesseru]

I'm pushing hard to get into the paint shop by 15 July. Cab/Front clip is 99% ready for first prime. Bed and rear fenders have epoxy prime and now are going through putty work before final prime. For final prime I will use high build two-part buff primer with guide coat and will wet sand to get it as flat as I can manage. Normally this would be easier, but Maryland is 90/90 this time of year (90 degrees heat and 90 percent humidity at the same time). I just can't work most afternoons.

[kyull67]

great work! glad to see the step bed.

[gkesseru]

Here is truck ready for prime. You can see numerous places where I straightened previous crummy body work. All metal has been brought back to within 1/8 inch of level (or less). First layer after that was fiberglass putty, followed by lightweight putty and numerous passes of long-board block sanding. Final putty work was with near-liquid 2-part glazing putty (icing).

[gkesseru]

And here it is after prime. Next step is to wet-sand to find all of the remaining blemishes. I will use 220 grit with this coat.

[gkesseru]

Those aren't dents in the drivers door and fender. It's a reflection of my 2000 F-150.

[gkesseru]

Looks like I picked the right day to wet-sand.

[b&a72]

I am going to be doing some sanding myself today and it is 110 here!

[DorianB]

Looking great! I can't wait to get that far on my own truck!!!

[gkesseru]

Finally got last of body work done, now to do final prime with high build buff urethane primer.

[gkesseru]

Sprayed with high buff primer first with a coat on all edges. Then I will wet sand entire outside with 400 grit, then repair any last minute mini-dent that wet sanding will uncover (always happens). Then I will dismantle front clip and do same with firewall and inner fenders. Same with bottom side of hood. About a week to go to paint!!

[gkesseru]

Spent 6 hours yesterday wet sanding the cab, doors, inside of hood and inner fenders. I thought i was on Karate Kid VII doing "wax-on, wax-off" forever....

[gkesseru]

Took whole front half to the Paint shop today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's Mike's Custom Painting in Hollywood, MD in the background.

[jlaird]

nice work on the body. I'm not exactly looking forward to that part.

[gkesseru]

LOTS of work on the body.
Took it to bare metal with aircraft stripper and sanding.
Welded all trim and extra mirror holes. Just the doors had 22 "extra" mirror holes.
Hammer all dents to less than 1/16" of flat
Epoxy primer and dry touch sand
Fiberglass putty on low spots and board sand
Lightweight putty and board sand
glazing putty and board sand
Epoxy primer and wet sand with 220
Fix surprises
Epoxy Primer over repairs and Wet sand 220
High Build buff primer and wet sand 400
fix surprises (including a dozen roof hailstone dings - Texas truck)
Buff primer over repairs
wet sand 400 over repairs
find all pin holes and fix

Also, on the bedsides I had to learn how to torch shrink because once the dents were flattened the flat parts of the bedsides were severely oilcanned.

[gkesseru]

I've been pretty lazy about keeping the thread updated, but work has not stopped. Everything has been painted, front and rear glass is in and engine is in (for now). One of you noted that the engine is in the 6 cyl position but should not be a problem. Well, it is a problem. I put the engine here since PO had it there and the drive-shaft fits here. Turns out that the trannie now bumps the cab floor, so engine will need to be moved up to the proper spot. I will have to extend drive-shaft and exhaust by 3". The old configuration was OK because PO had a 3" body lift (on a 2wd?).

[gkesseru]

Paint is 3 coats each of Kirker Mettalic Orange Base, Orange Candy, and Spectra Clear. Tailgate letters were ghosted on by switching to a Silver Mettalic Base instead. The color is much much better to the eye, but digital cameras either brown it out in the shadows or over sparkle the metallic when in the sun. The interior is done in a semi flat gray vinyl interior paint. Does not look like much now but will look much better when the gray carpet and gray leather buckets from a Pathfinder are in.

[Slick67]

Awesome color! That paint looks super slick. Great Job!

[gcburdic]

WOW....amazing job Gabe.....looking forward to you finishing this one!

[gkesseru]

Got the grill together, looks good. Popping in those little springs on the retainer screws was interesting.

[my67chevytruck]

very nice progress! yes the springs on the retainer screws were a B-word to install and move around if needed.

[gkesseru]

The springs also move around when not needed.