Project: Budget cut

[StarDust]

well i have a previous thread but majority of the pictures were insanely oversized, it was a mess.

here is how my truck currently sits

and here is the SWB frame that i am getting free from my best friend. might also get that bed that is in the back so i wont ride bedless

lets see if i get the motivation to actually start working as my current excuse is that it is my DD. i will also post pics of my best friends truck since i will be helping him

[StarDust]

Got the frame to my house and also rebuilt my friends carb since his truck was dying alot... I have no words to explain what I saw in this car. Caramel apple sauce? I felt like puking lol there was A Lot of this sauce in every spot of the carb

This after a good brushing there must have been about a layer about 3/4 inch

[StarDust]

Got the 1/4 of a cab off. Removed gas tank, core support, control arms and a few other things. The lower drivers side control arm would not budge at all. Got two bottle Jacks and tried to force it out, hit it with a mini sledge Hammer don't know what they're called I even made a flat spot in the arm and it did not budge one cm so I unbolted everything together. Not sure how safe this was but it was much easier

[StarDust]

Got the frame ready to strip and paint. I want to remove the crossmember but my dad says no it will unsquare my frame which I'm pretty sure is not sure. Is it necessary though? I want this frame to last. Also around how much am I looking at to replace all bushings except control arms basic frame tune up guess ha also I ascendently punctured my friends air hose, I blame it on the power steering pump.. Lol can someone notify me if my images are GIGANTIC? I'm on mobile most of the time I apologize

[68shortwide]

Subbed.

[StarDust]

got the frame ready just needs to remove the brake lines and start wire wheeling.
got carried away unbolting i didn't look where each bolt goes. oops and more bad news is that i punctured my friends air hose by letting the steering pump fall while unbolting it. not sure how much a new one cost or how to repair it. any idea?
i tried my hand at stick welding sheet metal ha i want a MIG welder BAD. i cant afford one at its a bit to convince my parents to buy me one atm. also we need a bigger air compressor for the power tools and sand blaster the little 2 or 3 gallon one aint cutting it. i need atleast a 5cfm at 90psi compressor around 30 or higher gallons lol so someone try getting my parents to spend a bit over $500 or 600 on tools :
do yall prefer huge thumbnails like the first pic or large like the rest?

punctured hose

got carried away

my stick welding experiment

[rusty76]

I'm watching. The pics look good.

[Ace5n85]

Stick welding sheet metal is extremely difficult and will do more damage to the panel from warping than it will do good by welding the pieces together. Hours of body work will ensue if the panels are ever savable. What sheet metal work are you looking to do?

[StarDust]

Originally Posted by Ace5n85

Stick welding sheet metal is extremely difficult and will do more damage to the panel from warping than it will do good by welding the pieces together. Hours of body work will ensue if the panels are ever savable. What sheet metal work are you looking to do?

the stick welding was just a test to see how hard it was i know stick is probably the worst way nor was i planning to ever actually weld with it. i cant afford even a cheap decent hobart craigslist mig right now maybe later. im just looking to weld sheetmetal like patch panels as the guy who did mine just made it worse than if i were to just leave the rust there....ill post some pics of the messy work when i get out of school

[Ace5n85]

I feel ya on being poor. Definitely been there. Took me 6 months to save up for my Miller. Keep your eyes peeled for garages and hit some car shows. I'm sure in a city as big as Houston someone would let ya use a welder when the time comes. I know I would if a wasn't a few days drive away. Car guys are some of the best dudes around, almost makes u have hope in humanity.

[StarDust]

well i could just ask my parents for a permanent "loan" lol but the hard part is convincing them. Here is the crappy patch work, the moment he started cutting i knew this wasnt going to be good he went kamakazi on the work, just eye balling it as you will notice later on. From what i understand on installing rockers is your suppose to drill out the spot welds and pry it apart not get a large cutting wheel and take the whole inner and outer panels in one piece.
oooo shiny metal i plan to take the frame to be sand blasted whire wheeling is A LOT of work and time.




i am almost positive this wasn't suppose to be welded rather a some type of sealent goes on it similar to caulking


i plan to fix this once i get a mig welder i love welding so far in class.

[StarDust]

forgot to post my mig pic...this is about less than 10 hours total on the MIG at school. we have to teach ourselves and i want to give a shout out to youtube for teaching me. i do have many hours on the stick though. also not sure if double posting is frowned upon on this thread so sorry for the DP lol

[68shortwide]

Also taking Welding, mainly we've done Oxy-Acy stick welding but ive been doin mig in my off hours at my dads shop, its fun lol

[tinydb84]

Look up welding tips and tricks on youtube. He shows a lot of good stuff.

Take you time and do everything right the first time. As you get better and better you will be less and less happy with your first repairs and ultimately go back and do everything over.

Wait on the body work until the end. That way you will have more time and experience to do it, plus I promise you will bump/scratch/dent your truck while working on it.

[Ace5n85]

Not too damn bad for ~10 hours of welding! Keep on practicing and youll get it in no time. One thing that helped me a lot was to watch the puddle instead of whats in front of it, if that makes sense. Helped me get more uniform "prettier" welds.

[StarDust]

i think the left frame horn might be bent? it looks to be pointing outwards and the drivers side is straight...got a tape measure and checked to see if the frame measued the same in a X pattern. not sure how better check straightness? also im currently searching for places that sandblast around my area

[StarDust]

While I'm waiting to sandblast the frame I've been researching the best way to protect it. I currently have this primer called stage 5 DTM direct to metal and I'm wondering if I would be safe primering the frame then a coat of some bedliner? The paint guy convinced my dad this is all we need when prepping metal that there is no need for nothing else which I tried to argue. Also looking for decent brake hoses for the front since one is cut and all bushings needed like control arms and body? There is too many I don't even know what to choose.

[tinydb84]

I would return that stuff and buy Epoxy. Urethane is fine but epoxy will be tougher. Try SPI, Kirker, or Omni. They will likely be cheaper too. Don't bother with the bed liner on the frame. For about $100 bucks you can buy a gallon of epoxy that will cover your frame, suspension, engine, trans, and still have plenty left over.

Here is a pic of my LCA that I shot with Kirker epoxy and a $20 Amazon HLVP.

[StarDust]

well i bought the stuff about a or two ago i think? ill just tell the shop to also spray it with epoxy..and not much done today other than clean up the mess, my mom hates it so had to do it, im surprised how much dirt there still was left its just amazing how much these trucks collect..also would it be easier to try and align my dash or take this dash out and put it on my truck? and i think i like huge thumbnails better than large so ill stick to this size

the red circle indicates which are out of alignment. theya are way off. cant even see the hole for the screw


my truck doesn't have the wiper switch on the dash its on my column would this be a problem?

[StarDust]

got motivated by build threads and now that the houston flooding has stopped painted the frame,well half. The cap lied to me it showed a medium grey and it came out silver/chromish.

[68shortwide]

I kinda like it lol

[Justin@EntropyRad]

I don't hate it either

[StarDust]

well that paint SUCKED took it all off. recently got a 5 gal of industrial alkyd enamel free and decided to do a test spot on the frame and it much tougher than i thought whacked it a few times with scrap iron didn't really do much. I know epoxy is a bit better but enamel is the original coating of the frame right? I read that you can also add hardener to enamel coating but not sure if i can with this brand sherwin..

[MF Doom]

scrapped the short bed project but in other news, how Fkd am i? this cover from the rockers/springs broke.