A '54 named Busty

[NorCalGal]

You get stuff done, wish I could just say what year I’ll be done.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by NorCalGal

You get stuff done, wish I could just say what year I’ll be done.

Ha ha, thanks, and I've been there with my '68 Mustang and burned out, so I learned I am capable of B+ effort and B+ results and I rather have a running and driving truck, than try to do everything perfect and never finish. This is not a knock on your build by any means, your craftsman(woman) ship is great, I just know my limitations.

Also I learned that you just forget about the imperfections over time and they bother you less and less. Not saying don't do your best folks, but does it really matter if you take the inside of your inner fenders down to bare metal or leave the OEM tar on there and just paint over it type of thing.

[texxxan]

The dash looks awesome. It has a factory look to it. That's how it should have been made back then.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

The dash looks awesome. It has a factory look to it. That's how it should have been made back then.

Thanks bud I appreciate that, one thing I noticed is that in my home office on my desk the 2 1/16" gauges seemed tiny so I was a bit worried, but when I went to try them in the big open factory circles in the dash early on in the project I noticed just how small the cabin is, and how little real estate there actually is to work with on the dash in the cluster area in particular, so as much as I prefer the larger 2 5/8" gauges, these smaller ones will do just fine, and I still have the area in between the Speedo and the Tach for my BOOST gauge (Say What!?)

[texxxan]

Woah!! You're locked in now. Boost it is!!!!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

Woah!! You're locked in now. Boost it is!!!!

now I've done it

[Gregski]

here at If It Aint Orange Peel It Aint Real Auto Body we treat your Rat Rod like we would your not Rat Rod if you let us touch it, let alone paint it

[Gregski]

it was one of those lots of work and not much to show for afternoons / evenings

I ranned out of materials twice, first blue tape, so shot over to ACE right before they closed at 7 pm and bought their last roll of double wide tape I like to use, then I ranned out of the 1 mil plastic (and working with that brown paper sucked) so shot over to Home Depot and they closed at 8 pm and you guessed it, it was quarter after, so under protest ha ha went to Walmart and got what I needed

it took everything in me to convince myself not to shoot the paint tonight in the poor moon lighting, mosquitoes, humidity and the temps only dropping - so we shall paint tomorrow

and by the way when the customer asks us to paint just the dash we hear, dash, back window panel, and door jams right? always give the customer more than they wants, ha ha

[NorCalGal]

You left us with a cliff hanger.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by NorCalGal

You left us with a cliff hanger.

ha ha, I did didn't I?... hmmm maybe it's time for more of those

[Mains52]

Dash work looks great Gregski! Eager to see the painted dash.

[8man]

All that work and hassle for the dash, couldn't you use a brush?

Just kidding, it's ready now!

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 8man

All that work and hassle for the dash, couldn't you use a brush?

Just kidding, it's ready now!

oh trust me Robert, I am all for using a brush, actually ordered a quart of KRYLON Massey Ferguson Gray from NAPA to give it a go - yes with a brush, but I knew things were too good to be true, when it only cost me $2.00 dollars since I had some mystery credit with them, then I got 7 phone calls about my order from NAPA over the weekend, hewk I did not get that type of support when I bought a $850 short block, ha ha - then they said the warehouse that had it had been closed indefinitely do to the virus, so they are cancelling my order - so on a whim I bought this other paint at ACE and so be it

[8man]

Sorry to hear about the back spasms to go along with the elbow problems. Sounds like we need to go off line and commiserate.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Mains52

Dash work looks great Gregski! Eager to see the painted dash.

thank you, me too, but it's day three of back spasms so no promises, it started with me pushing the '54 out of the garage by myself to check the brakes on my '74

[Gregski]

so I shot this while on my lunch break and forced myself to wait 4 hours before taking all the masking off - these pics are somewhere mid number of LIGHT coats

[Gregski]

something they don't teach you at Amateur Tech Auto Body LLC is light extension cord management, but you drag that thing across your future ex girlfriends step dad's PT Cruiser candy apple metallic pearl paint job after the seventh and final clear coat, you'll learn right quick, ha ha

[Gregski]

alright so you be the judge, cause when I first looked at it I was all like Shark Tails this looks like primer !!!

so here's the passenger side (I mean the paint job itself looks nice, absolutely no runs) the whole entire time I was a spraying I kept saying in my head

light coats

Light Coats

LIGHT COATS

... and you can't move too quick (worst case you don't cover as well as you should on this pass, but that's better than a run!)

[Gregski]

so I went outside and I looked at the glove box lid, the steering column and the ash tray, and man they looked really good, I like that hue

so I thought did I use the wrong paint, cause I bought two kinds for testing, but no, I used the correct paint, point being, the stuff looks way different outside in the natural light of the sun, than under fluorescent crappy lighting indoors

so I am letting it grow on me, the good news is that it matches the outside of the truck, and I hope as it dries some more it will become more shinny and less primery

so here's the driver side

[Gregski]

so with my "dash" painted and my supply of SEM undercoating no where in sight, it was time to re assemble the front clip

it was sooooo much work wire wheeling all the rust off of these inner fenders, acid washing them, priming them, painting them, and undercoating them, but it is sooooooo nice working with nice clean parts!

[Gregski]

so the radiator goes back on next and I'll be honest there aint much clearance between the water pump pulley nipple and the tip of the electric fan, but one can wedge their hand between them, plus they are slightly offest by half an inch left and right and sit at least 1.5 inches above one another, though hard to tell in the pics

[Gregski]

the hoodage shuts nice

[Gregski]

now I did have to alter my core support custom brackets a bit, but I ended up latching on to the lower fender support bolt which I am thrilled about, because any time I can count on and rely on a factory mounting I am all in, that insures me leveability from side to side, know what I'm sayin'?

so I only have to drill one hole instead of two in the radiator frame, bonus!

yes there will be a washer on that bolt upon final assembly

[oldman3]

Really taking shape...Jim

[8man]

The dash came out really nice. You do good work.