Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

so lets disassemble the radiator core support

make a note that there was a bolt missing so we don't go cussin' up a storm looking for it upon assembly time, ha ha (no I have NEVER done that before)

and man I always forget that middle bolt, it is nicely tucked in under the housing, so don't yank on this thing if it won't come off easily

[Gregski]

than the radiator hold down bracket and the radiator can come off, so easy, such good access on the side of your house, ha ha

[Gregski]

and document how the horn goes on there, looks like just one bolt, but hey, we've been tricked before

[Gregski]

then we flip her over and remove the plastic grille, we make a note of all the little crusty white clips we will brake pulling off and will have to find and replace when re assembling, fun, fun

[Gregski]

all you purists may wanna skip this part and go watch a commercial or something, hee hee

I will be painting all the chrome pieces black, so in order to do that I need to scuff up the chrome, so I figured lets do that with these long strips mounted to the radiator support so that they stay in one place

may be hard to see but what I am trying to show here is one side all scuffed up already (left) and the right one still sorta shinny

trust me in person that one side looks nice and dull and ready for some primer

[blazer2007]

Just wondering how your spray bomb parts are holding up with install and general abuse.I find some of mine scratch easy and I,ve done the sanding and a good wipe with alcohol and prime and paint.I don,t think I like the dupli color bombs thou.Any thing that you have come across company wise or techniques in you process ?One of my rust primers I bought said CAN SPRAY A SECOND COAT IN AN HOUR OR WAIT 3 DAYS I can,t figure that one out.So If I don,t make the second coat in a hour I have to wait for 3 days to apply second coat or do I have to scuff it before second coat.Even the paint store couldn,t explain that one to me.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by blazer2007

Just wondering how your spray bomb parts are holding up with install and general abuse.I find some of mine scratch easy and I,ve done the sanding and a good wipe with alcohol and prime and paint.I don,t think I like the dupli color bombs thou.Any thing that you have come across company wise or techniques in you process ?One of my rust primers I bought said CAN SPRAY A SECOND COAT IN AN HOUR OR WAIT 3 DAYS I can,t figure that one out.So If I don,t make the second coat in a hour I have to wait for 3 days to apply second coat or do I have to scuff it before second coat.Even the paint store couldn,t explain that one to me.

I'm guessing the coat and recoat windows are so it cures properly, not sure but I always follow their guidelines because it does scratch fairly easily. One thing I've done that helps cut down on scratches is let the painted parts cure a week or two or three before I install them. There's always something else you can work on while you give the paint time to fully cure/harden.

[Gregski]

i kid you not it has taken me the better part of two days to disassembly this monstrocity

ok, there finally done with the back, oh wait, forgot the horn, see what I'm talking about, lol

[Gregski]

so we turn her over, loose the grille, and then the chin comes off

let me tell you something, this trim is high quality stuff, it is bolted on and does not use those infuriating brake them at all cost clips

men and women who built these trucks I salute you

[Gregski]

and I managed to get all the nuts off the trim piece without breaking a single bolt, thank you Mr PB Blaster

[Gregski]

you all remember a while back when I reported that the hood popped open on me on the freeway, well let's meet the culprit

see that little broken baby spring I swear I knew it was going to be something so minor

[Gregski]

and so we remove the hood latch and the center bracket

[Gregski]

and how about a close up of that murder weapon

[Gregski]

ok there I think I finally stripped it, and yes I spared you a bunch of pictures of the headlight buckets, and this and that brackets, those pics I am keeping for myself so I know how it all goes back together (hopefully)

and the old and the new(er)

[Gregski]

wait what on earth are these doohickeymongies my old core did not have them, time to drill them out, great not a big deal just time consuming

[79sierra]

Those nuts are for trucks that came with the tall Radiator.

[Titomars]

Originally Posted by Gregski

wait what on earth are these doohickeymongies my old core did not have them, time to drill them out, great not a big deal just time consuming

As it has been said they are for the big radiator hold-down. Here is a picture.

[Gregski]

~ PARTZ ~

yes only one of two exhaust turn downs showed up, my thinking is so that Summit can ship the other one in another box and charge me $8 bucks twice for oversized rather than once - thank you very much!

so got new 2 1/2 inch header extensions, (but Greg didn't you just buy those a couple months ago) why yes I did but those were 2 1/4 silly, and you can't expect to ask Bonnie Wilson to home coming driving a rig with 2 1/4 exhaust, know what I'm sayin'

and my headers have 2 1/2 inch collectors so it seemed wasteful to have to step them down to 2 1/4 robbing the world of all that horse power

also included was a bolt tap/chase kit, some clips and bushings for my overdrive transmission, and Mr. Gasket header gaskets

[enaberif]

Those "doohickeys" look like rivnuts. I would have kept them lol.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by enaberif

Those "doohickeys" look like rivnuts. I would have kept them lol.

yeah, but what was they for, did the donor truck have aftermarket AC or something - I don't recall

[Gregski]

soaked the radiator bracket over night in some 1:50 Phosphoric acid and water cocktail and then hosed it off, but had to use the wire wheel still to get all the paint off, this piece sits right on top so I wanted to remove all the paint otherwise you need to sand it after you primer it or you will see patches and blotches of different raised surfaces

now I could actually make out that there was a rubber piece on one side, but it was missing on the other side (actually found it, it was stuck to the radiator, lol)

[Gregski]

well that's as good as it was going to get, heck just enuff to fool the SEMA judges - ha ha

and to primer station it went

[Gregski]

I've been wanting to black out the chrome for quite some time now, so I hope these three products play nice together

1. was looking for Etch Primer when I saw this Adhesion Promoter, ok little guy what do you stick to I thought, hmmm "Ideal for Plastic, Vinyl, & Chrome" ok, alright, I can dance to that

2. the paint we will use is our trusty Semi Flat we've used on everything else

3. the ace up our sleeves will be this flat clear [ahem] Matte wheel paint, hey if it can handle the abuse a wheel sees, I'm sure a headlight bezzle will be just fine

yes we painted the backs, haven't you meet The Greg, lol

[flashed]

Those look great black.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by flashed

Those look great black.

Thanks, I totally agree and can't wait to see them on the truck, here's more close ups