Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

I think these pics are after only the 1st coat, things looked even more awesome after the second one

[Gregski]

the crossmember support brackets got some POR15 love too

[rusty76]

Looking good. Keep it up.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rusty76

Looking good. Keep it up.

thanks

[Gregski]

since I had more than half a can left over of the POR15 I decided to do my best to store it, as always the lid was warped so it would not snap back on properly, so I put it on the best I could and tapped the can shut, then I put it in an air tight zip loc bag, we'll see if it will dry up or not in a few weeks / months

[Gregski]

and here's some pics with the aluminum foil off, as well as the blue tape, to be honest with you the aluminum foil did stick to the frame in two tiny places where I had to wedge it between the brake line and the frame and where I did not pull the brake line far enough from the frame, but I just removed it with a razor blade

also the blue tape did not come off as easily as I would have hoped, POR15 is more like glue than paint, maybe next time I need to remove the blue tape while it is wet instead of waiting on it to dry completely, I may use a razor to remove the blue tape residue, its barely visible around the base of each bolt head, but The Greg knows its there, ha ha

so I would consider this frame ER - Engine Ready!!!

[Gregski]

so my Mopar buddy Seth swung by the other day and pointed out that my air cleaner base had like a 2" drop in it, something I totally overlooked, and suggested I try a flatter base plate

one trip to a hot rod shop and $15 bucks later, we had ourselves a solution

I appreciate all your suggestions, they were all correct, but at this time The Greg must go this cheapest route as this project(s) is really costing me lots, as I'm sure you understand, plus who's to say I can't try your suggestions, the Crossfire distributor cap (love that thing), a 1 inch carb spacer, or even a smaller H.E.I. model all together, but for now this will do, I will have to paint it black of course, but hey, whats more fun than having to strip and paint brand new shinny parts [/sarcasm]

[Gregski]

check out all the clearance now, hewk you could drive a Prius through there, ha ha

and what's that below the air cleaner, why it's a shinny almost still new Holley carburetor, who knew that was under there? ha ha

The Greg is happy(er) since now my hold down shaft is too short, hee hee, hey that's how the game is played right, fix one thing, find out another one needs a fixin' (no I'm not posting a pic of my short shaft)

again thank you all for trying to help with this one

[rusty76]

The engine bay looks great. Wonderful job.

[Gregski]

also I think I have the passenger side plug wire runs figured out using some of the stock Vortec wire loom clips all be it in a slightly unconventional way, but hey isn't this what Hot Rodding is all about, and does it get any more quintessential than routing your own wires? - don't answer that, jk

I went out and bought an individual 26E Duralast plug wire (which matches those that came in my set) and replaced one of the longer 32 inch ones to take some slack out of it

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rusty76

The engine bay looks great. Wonderful job.

thanks, hey what are you doing up so early, oh wait different time zone, I'm the one up at 6 am

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rich weyand

A caution. You got two valve cover breathers, and you like clean engine bays...

HOWEVER

... you *need* a PCV valve on one valve cover. Blow-by puts exhaust gasses in the crankcase. You can either suck them out with a PCV valve, or you can let them condense in the crankcase, in which case they will soon sludge up all the internals on your new engine. Even after 10,000 miles, you can see a huge difference on the internals of an engine with a PCV valve and one without.

You can put it on the passenger-side valve cover, which would put it in the back, and connect it with a short hose to the back of the intake manifold or carb.

This one's for you Rich, it only took you a year to convince me to run one! ha ha, hey I may be slow, but I do come around eventually - now going back to manifolds and dumping these P.I.A. headers that is a whole different "discussion"

[Gregski]

alright Greg, so...

1. Top End rebuilt (engine painted) - check!

2. Frame & Crossmember (painted) - check!

lets put that engine back in, what are you waiting for?

wait what? what's next? you gotta be kidding us Smallz

[Gregski]

Why yank that mint core support?

To quote Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds (yes I'm dating myself), "Here's why"

[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