1952 1 Ton Rebuild

[mechanixman]

Here's the hood. I sanded down the original paint, straightened out a few larger dents in the hood, then sanded some more.
I used Duplicolor's Paint Shop System and the infamous purple harbor freight gun. I must say, I wasn't terribly impressed with either. If you really want it to work well you should either use the paint with better gun, or some better paint with the purple HF gun. The primer laid down just fine, and a little sanding took care of it no problem. The problem came with color. When I started laying on coats, I kept getting these orange peel textures. I found out if I spray a couple more thinner coats, and lay the last coat on pretty thick, it looks a lot better. I really like the color though, and I can't wait see the whole thing in 1 piece. I'll be using a higher quality clear coat to protect the paint from UV light and corrosive materials like gasoline.

[mechanixman]

Here are pics of the cab.
While I was painting, I was playing around with the idea of two tones (like I had originally planned). Just to see what it looked like.

[mechanixman]

Final product in the sunlight.
I know there are a few places I need to touch up. I'm not terribly concerned.
I also painted the interior of the cab. Just behind the seat and dash for now. Once I get to the doors, I'll tie the color in even more.
The last picture is how I left it before I left for college.

[mechanixman]

I got some new great new stuff in the mail! An old grill with character and a fulton visor in need of some TLC.
I came home for a weekend to make some headway on Hank.
I got the steering column mounted, fixed some rusted portions of the fenders, sanded and hammered the fenders, and finally hung them on the truck.
I'll be going home again to finally finish the caliper bracket and to paint the fenders. We'll see how that goes!

[Courts54]

Diggin the whole build thread. This is giving me the giddy up I need to want to work on my 54 and get the disk brake set up built for my 50 3/4 ton. Awesome work Nick. Trying to do college and build hotrods is not as easy as one might think. Keep us all posted and killer truck.

- Courtland.

[mechanixman]

Thanks Courtland!
It's been forever and a day since I posted here, but that's because almost nothing has changed since last September. I never would have guessed how much time edumacation really takes up.
Last December I bought a 78 3/4 ton to use as a "daily driver" for $750.
I really learned you get what you pay for, because that truck was the biggest turd till I did an engine swap and sold it.
Friday May 29th, I just bought another 9ft bed trailer thing. I got rid of the red one, so now I just need to drop the bed on and see how it looks!
This trailer was made from a 53 1 ton, which is fortunate for me, because I now have parts that are interchangeable.
Whiich means I can scrounge as much as I want. That includes axles, brake hardware, shock mounts, parking brake hardware, running boards, brackets, filler panels and possibly more!
Last summer feels like I really slacked off and I don't like that; this summer should be quite a bit different. Roadkill is hosting a roadtrip August 15th to the 22nd. I would like to drive the truck to that.
Let's see what happens!

[Courts54]

I know all about both. I'm in Davenport Iowa for
my summer internship as an application engineer for Genesis systems group. So no hot rod fun for me. Ended up selling both my 3/4s to pay off college stuff so I'm 8lug free for a bit. Buying my dad's 47 one ton with 248GMC Inline6 when I get home. Awesome! Spare parts make the world go round! Good luck and keep us posted.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mechanixman]

Courtland that will be awesome!!!
Oh boy it's been a whole mess of time again. Let's see if I can recap some of this stuff.
I took the rear end off to clean up and paint. I'm really enjoying the contrast between the pumpkin and the axle housing. I intend to continue the silver and black theme throughout the chassis.

[mechanixman]

After looking at the bottom edge of the driver side rocker panel, I decided to replace it. I'll tell you what, College Nick is not happy with High School Nick's "patch" job.
I took these pictures about 3 hours before I was satisfied with the rocker panels/door jambs. I promise it looks better now.

[mechanixman]

I was looking at polyurethane clear coats to protect my blue paint job and wasn't too satisfied with the cost of poly. I thought "Hey! If I'm going to spend $200 on a bunch of clear, why not spend $350 or a little bit more on an single stage polyurethane?" So began the process of removing the paint job. As you can see in the pictures, I had some friends help me build these really neat wood carts to hold the hood, cab, doors, and fenders while cleaning and painting.

[mechanixman]

The passenger side corner was just as bad as the driver's side.
The replacement panel didn't fit very well at all, but I was able to cut a little here, weld a little there, and massage it till all I need was a couple globs of bondo to smooth it out.

[Courts54]

Looking good! Glad to see you are making progress. I broke the clutch in my 54 in May and haven't had time to replace it yet. Maybe before thanksgiving I'll have it out again... Keep at it!

[rusty76]

Looking good

[mechanixman]

Thanks rusty and court!
Will Do!
Here was me bringing the truck to the body shop

[mechanixman]

Well I bit the bullet and bought a champion radiator.
After consulting with the padre, we decided getting the big kit from champion that included the thermostat, the radiator, the shroud, fan, and the wires to connect them all. We bought the big kit because we wanted something that would just come together without hassle. I'm afraid that wasn't the case. The shroud didn't actually fit the radiator. I had to stick the bottom lip in a metal break and bend it as far in as I could (Picture 1) that still didn't seem like enough, because if you look at the last picture, the holes still didn't line up very well. When it came to mounting the radiator to the shroud, the kit came with the plastic doo-hickeys to mount the fan to the radiator, but the holes needed to mount the fan to the shroud all went missing! It wasn't too big a deal drilling my own holes, but if I'm buying all the parts from the same distributor at once, it'd be nice to not have to worry about this extra stuff. I bought some pieces of flat iron to use as a...brace? elaborate washer? I didn't like the way the bolts were deforming the aluminum brackets, so I want to add another piece of steel on top. I thought using pan head bolts on the inside of the shroud would be a good idea, even if they don't really help improve air flow, it's the idea that counts. right?

[mechanixman]

Because the slots in the shroud were off, there is a gap at the top of the shroud that I need to figure out how to seal.
But after a little POR-15 on the radiator frame, and assembling it, I'm liking the result.
I just hope the radiator does a better job cooling than the shroud's job of fitting.

I'm intending to get the engine up and running between Christmas and New Years, so stay tuned!

[rusty76]

Very nice.

[Katrina/10]

I bought a Champion radiator also. The mounting holes didn't line up, and they told me to drill them out. I did that, and it cools very well.

[mechanixman]

Thanks for the input gary!
I look forward to trying mine out.
I forgot to post pictures of the body so far, so here goes nothing.

[mechanixman]

Aside from the embarrassing patched corners, not looking too bad!!

[mechanixman]

Here a few of the doors,

[_Ogre]

bodyshop/paint prison can be painful
not much accomplished by them since sept
what's the scoop on lack of progress?

[mechanixman]

Hey Ogre!
It certainly can be! Fortunately the bodyshop owner is a real good guy.
I'm proud to say I'm a junior at Milwaukee School of Engineering.
Which seems like a feat in of itself. Much more getting good grades!
I have been slowly putting things together, but it's hard to find the time.
On top of that, I'm stupid enough to pile more projects on unnecessarily on top of my already full plate.
I bought this 1986 Miller 200LE in October for $100. I rebuilt parts of the welder as well as making a pretty bad ass cart for the welder.
My goal now is to get Hank on the road by the end of the summer. We'll see!

[mechanixman]

More pictures of the cart

[mechanixman]

A picture of the steering