SkinnyG's '61 Apache

[SkinnyG]

Made some of these:



And then this happened:

[SCOTI]

What goes together slowly comes apart quickly.

[SkinnyG]

Yep. I'll make a list of everything I forgot once it's painted.

[pdxhall]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Yep. I'll make a list of everything I forgot once it's painted.

As my list gets shorter my biggest fear is missing something after it's painted. I wish you the best of luck because you're in company with a lot of us.

[SkinnyG]

A good reason to paint instead of powdercoat. Easy touch-up.

Four hours of blasting got me here:

[Paul Y]

Skinny,

Might be too late in your though process but I can highly recommend Steel It to paint the chassis with. Looks good, goes on well - seems fairly durable going by my ham fisted attempts at fitting components, and best of all you can weld through it if you do happen to forget to weld the captive nuts on for the fuel tank...

You are definitely a dab hand at this blasting lark. Looking forward to the next update.

P.

[SkinnyG]

I've used Steel It on some projects in the past - nice paint!

For the '61 I will be spraying Epoxy Primer followed by Polyurethane Enamel on everything, as well as Raptor bedliner on the more delicate bits, then spray Corrosion FREE inside anything I can get to.

It lasted 60 years with the original marginally-applied poo coatings. With proper coverage and today's coatings, it will easily last another 60 years; I'll be well over 100 and probably shouldn't be driving by then.

[SkinnyG]

Good day to get some primer done:

[collins10672]

that cab is really turning out nice

[SkinnyG]

And four more hours of blasting:

[SkinnyG]

Lots of rain, so no blasting today.

I fabricated a brace to put some strength back in where I had to cut to fit the exhaust pipe. AND this needs to be removable to install/change mufflers. Magnaflow on order.

[SkinnyG]

Latest video:

61 C10 Apache - Part 22: Cab Blasting! - YouTube

[jmarkha1]

great idea making the exhaust pass through a removable panel for maintenance. Very jealous of all the space you have to work on the truck - great progress...

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Lots of rain, so no blasting today.

I fabricated a brace to put some strength back in where I had to cut to fit the exhaust pipe. AND this needs to be removable to install/change mufflers. Magnaflow on order.

[SkinnyG]

Six more hours of blasting today:

[SkinnyG]

Four more hours of blasting, and I'm half-done the bottom of the frame.



Found a crack too. Easy fix, though: drill the end of the crack so it cannot propagate, grind a V and fill it in.



Supposed to rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I may deal with those (and the A/C Compressor notch, and the exhaust holes) at that point.

My hope is to get the frame finished tomorrow, and (if I'm lucky) get the crossmember blasted as well (or Thursday).

I have one week left to finish my goal of "everything blasted and primed by the end of the summer."

[Paul Y]

All be a big PHEW when you have finished the blasting.

I am still picking bits of media out of my ears 4 months later.....

P.

[SkinnyG]

twenty hours in total on the frame:





Some welding to do, then prep for paint on the first nice day. Need to rig some kind of stand....

[SkinnyG]

Pouring rain today, so I went into town and picked up some pipe fittings to try and improve the pressure blaster. Also picked up a wack of fasteners - I'm REALLY looking forward to putting the frame together. Took SkinnyKid2 to a small tour of the highschool he's attending next week (not mine - I feel it's important for teacher's kids to be out from under the shadow of their parent. That comes with a thread - if they mess around, I WILL bring them to my school, and I WILL ride them like a rented mule).

Also did some cabinet blasting with some small stuff. Trans crossmember, bed floor risers, bag mounts, etc....

Fabricated the "patch" for the hole I cut in the frame to clear the AC pump.

Flipped the cab on its back and finally sprayed the bottom. Used my wee touch-up gun. Very little overspray, and it fits into small nooks and crannies well.

Super easy to move/flip the cab when it's on tires:

[Paul Y]

Over the next two weeks will be flipping Woodys cab on its back, question is do I take the glass out or not…..

Will the build slow down once school starts again?

P.

[SkinnyG]

Depends how far you want to go. If you have rust in the window channel, I'd pull the glass. Also, new rubber seals are usually a good idea.

Do you have to pull the glass to flip the cab over? Nope.

Once school starts, all this will slow to a crawl, usually for about a month and a half, or two, until I get settled in at work.

[Paul Y]

The front screen was replaced, along with the rubber before my tenure. A cursory 'poke' with a sharp stick has failed to show any signs of weakness around the windows so will leave it and call on my numerous children to help lower Woody slowly onto his back.

Thanks!

P.

[SkinnyG]

Raptor sprayed on the underside of the cab. This is so when the frame is finally painted (maybe tomorrow), the cab can go on and stay there, and I can focus on paint prep.

[Paul Y]

Nothing to add from this side of the pond other than...Nice....

P.

[SkinnyG]

NOTE all of you doing a stepside: the aftermarket rear cab supports are not made at the correct angles. I followed a youtube video and altered the inner rocker flange end to fit, but I should have altered the floor-side flanges to fit - the "shield" used on stepper cabs attaches to the cab support, and needs to be perfectly inline with the rear of the cab so there are no gaps.

I needed to bend a sort of off-set flange in these shields to attach to the drunk shape of the cab support, but accurately fill the gap on the outer body. These are pop-riveted and 2K Seam Sealed into place. I hope they stay.



And the frame and some frame-related bitties got primed (it's upside down in this pic) The hard part was getting the frame out of the shop and across the yard and up on saw horses all by my lonesome. Wish I had friends (grin):

[SCOTI]

I def would have come by to help if you were within an hours drive.