Restoring Rusty

[oltronj]

I just spent all morning going through this whole thread and Gregski you sir are awesome. The time it takes to do the work on your truck plus taking the time to document it all and share it with us is a huge help to everyone here.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by oltronj

I just spent all morning going through this whole thread and Gregski you sir are awesome. The time it takes to do the work on your truck plus taking the time to document it all and share it with us is a huge help to everyone here.

Thank you for the kind words I appreciate that, especially since now that Rusty has been my daily driver for the last 18 months I am tempted to just do it, and not document as much

[Gregski]

Shouldn't this guy be working on that hood?

so I bought this extra door trim (first pic only one of two pieces of the kit shown) last winter and have been waiting for the proper Global Warming to applicate it

it is supposed to server two purposes, stop the water leak on the driver's side, and the constant whistling on the passenger side

so today I used the good natured alcohol to clean the doors the best I could and then the Gorilla Snot to stick it to the door

[Gregski]

would you believe me if I told you the driver side looked much neater than this passenger side?

since the tube of glue sat in the parts store for years and then on my work bench for months I believe the contents separated so I used my finger to work them in whilst on the door, not the greatest idea as now i have goop on my finger and had to take the pics left handed, hence the finger shot in each of the pics, awesome!

[blazer2007]

any updates on the SEM insulation ?

[LT7A]

Originally Posted by Gregski

so today I used the good natured alcohol to clean the doors the best I could and then the Gorilla Snot to stick it to the door

I can always count on Gregski for a chuckle. I remember a few bars and have recollections of some people from the fraternity days who I think might have had some bad natured alcohol to drink. I've become a big fan of isopropyl alcohol as a residue-free way of prepping parts for paint. Good work brother.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by Gregski

progress is slow... and so much for using the old piece as a template, ha

You can probably find a severely taco shelled hood in one of the local salvage yards to liberate that corner from.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by blazer2007

any updates on the SEM insulation ?

yes, I painted the back sides of the interior metal door panels of my '71 truck (they went to plastic nonsense in '72 my birth year) turned out great, they no longer ting and ping like hallow tin, they sound muted now, you can tell this is a quality product, I don't want to post pics as this is the 3rd gen section (translation too lazy to take pics) ha ha

sorry I bolted my trans tunnel cover back on and have been too lazy to remove it to spray it with this product but it is on the Ta Do List!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by hatzie

You can probably find a severely taco shelled hood in one of the local salvage yards to liberate that corner from.

You know my friend, four years ago I would go to them yards and see half a dozen square bodies, they had everything, anti sway bars, tacoed hoods, rusted out battery trays, torn up bench seats, and sticky cracked steering wheels...

about two years ago I could find one or two

a year ago maybe one

now, no more, these trucks have gotten so popular it's impossible to find them in the wreckin' yards

[Gregski]

alright progress has been made

so this was a trial fit I did a bit more trimming and massaging before making metal stick

[Gregski]

believe it or not I actually hammered shut and stitch welded shut that hole on the right

[Gregski]

ok so it looks bad, but at least it's good metal

hey man, this ain't no welding class where you're sitting on a bar stool running beads for an hour in perfect position, it was difficult to get the torch in there and also grind it all down with an angle grinder, Chip Foose borrowed my slim portable solar powered belt sander and has yet to give it back

[Gregski]

Onwards Comrades!

[Gregski]

"The Paper Towel is mightier than the pen which is mightier than the sword" ~ Said No One Ever!

[Gregski]

after carefully considering using high heat BBQ or header paint on the hood belly I decided to shoot it with the paint I already had!

I (and some of youz) really like this Semi-Flat Crayola secret sauce

[Gregski]

looking much better already and this is only after the first coat, since the surface was dark already you get roughly two coats per can

Top Tip: if you don't like white fuzzies on your surface than it's ok to clean with paper towels but don't rely on them for your final wipe down, use something else

Note: the cross flow ventilation in the dishwasher safe organic paint booth (yes I still wore a breathing mask in order to protect my brain cells, yes both of them)

[Gregski]

we start our Annual Labor Day: Labor of Love Project with a scrap piece of 16 or 18(ish) gauge steel

we square it off a bit and cut it into semi equal rectangular pieces (blowing our 8th grade geometry teachers mind)

[Gregski]

next we take the CAD blueprinted scrap piece to the organic metal brake where we divide it into two

[Gregski]

I did say "semi" even (we will trim them down to eveness later)

Top Tip: The key to any successful project is controlling user/audience expectations, ha ha

[Gregski]

at this point my cousin Joe Goodenoff showed up (think National Lampoon's Vacation cousin Eddie) and said "lemme show you something... hold my beer"

and he took an ordinary grade 5 bolt and proceeded to decapitate it...

[Gregski]

then he took it to the Bead Roller Free bead roller station

[Gregski]

and then on to the Quality Assurance Station - QAS

[Gregski]

alright that's impressive, but what in the world are you [ahem] is Joe makin'?

[Gregski]

rinse, lather, repeat...

[Gregski]

ladies and gentlemen, the Taco Hood Struggle is real!

and although LMC Truck sells these as a "Hood Brace Kit" for $20 bucks, it is honestly a joke and I rather roll my own