My 88 buildup on a tight budget

[benoit454]

got em painted, makes the rest of the truck look bad.






anyone want to guess what kind of paint it is I used?

base/clear?

spray gun?

spray can?

[scotts62]

Ill bite.. um spray can??

[benoit454]

does it look like a cheap spray can job?

LOL

[dragginmetal]

Looks 100% better than it did with the rust holes.

[benoit454]

no doubt lol.

Ok not alot of replies so I'll just let ya in on it.

I asked because I wondered if it looked bad, meaning spray can or cheap. I know the pics aint the best but it looks better then the original stuff, more shine, and not scratched and chipped.

It is spray can, but not off the shelf stuff, custom mixed by the body shop supply and it's a red pearl. They matched it up at the store. I have it say it's pretty much an exact match or as close as it could be without doing the whole truck. In the pics I can tell a difference but in person I cannot.

[benoit454]

some better pics from today after it rained...

[nbpro]

looking good Keep up the good work and GIT R DONE

[benoit454]

well I worked on her some more today. I found out alot of things too, I had a trans leak and a pinion leak.

First up went to do the pinion seal thinking it was leaking, well I decided to take the pinion nut off with a torque wrench instead of impact and compressor, the thing was only like hand tight. I removed it with a 1/2 ratchet with no effort at all. I changed the pinion seal anyways while I was in there.

second, the trans leak kept coming from around the accumulator cover(th350) I never got around to pop it off and change the o-ring in case it was bad(had the trans built and was brand new, only been in there a little over a year, point I shouldn't have to touch it.) well i put some rtv all around it a long time ago, back in spring or so, never helped. So I went to change it, but before I could I found out why it was leaking...



look in the lower left of the round cover, do you see it?




sorry for blurry pics, but yea the case is broke. There's a 3/4 inch long piece about 1/4 wide missing from the lower section the part where the acc. cover seals to and the snap ring holds it. No wonder it leaks, it's not bad, I've never put any fluid in it for months, but it's a leak and it pisses me off. Now I know why. So I put some seal all glue all over it, if that don't help guess I might try to jb weld it. So for now I'll keep driving it once back together and keep check on the fluid, until I can afford another th350 rebuild or until I can do it myself, take the old one I got outside apart and practice then save up the cash and build me one. I'll have to tear mine down to build it to get the spacer and special length shaft out of it to work in the trans I get or build. So I just hope it holds out. I was going to remove ths acc. spring to maybe keep it from holding the cover out, but I'm afraid to remove the snap ring that holds the cover on, afraid me messing with it will break more off. You can see in the pics that 3/4 inch over the missing piece is cracked too. There's a 3/4 inch crack over the 3/4 piece that's missing LOL. I have to say though I'll never go to our old trans guy again, knew the guy for years, helped him alot, done stuff for him and get screwed I know he seen it. I guess he though, oh it'll be ok.

But onto good news...

I got the bumper brackets off and painted and did the backside of the bumper with undercoat. I had other cleaning to do after these pics, removed the harness and cleaned it, then I got the undercoat overspray off the bumper...






You can see where the upper bolts that had the u-nut or clips on there broke and I had to cut them off and use nuts and bolts instead of bolt and clip.

[benoit454]

stood the bed up last night and got the broke bolts out of it. I wire brushed it all today, the whole bottom, then degreased it over and over, scrub brushed it, washed it with hot water and dish soap, then sanded it all and undercoated the wheel wells. I should get paint on the bottom tomorrow or sat. maybe.









Afterwards I hit all the rust spots with some 80 grit to knock off the rust, then I hit all those spots and any other bare metal with self etch primer.

[IndyAnne]

Wow, you've been busy this month! Your work is an inspiration for me to get some work done on my Maybelline. That's right -- as long as the job situation is as it has been for the past two years, I'm so committed to my truck that I had to give her a name.

Keep up the good work, and posting great pics!

[benoit454]

will do, should get the paint done on the bottom side soon and have plenty of pics then. I been too busy with other crap to get on the truck all year, now it's crunch time, had to have the cab corners done by the end of sept. for inspection, but it's only visual, no rust holes big enough to catch a finger on. I just figured might as well do everything I want while I got it apart.

So far paint the bottom side, put it all back together, install my stainless rocker trim, adjust my valves, and run a new modulator line to my trans. I know alot of ppl don't like the stainless rocker trim, but I do and I've had it since christmas of last year, waiting to put it on until I get the cab corners done.

Later on I have to do the front fender for sure, gonna try to find another hood and build myself a cowl hood for it, paint that, paint the visor, using good auto paint like my cab corners instead of cheap krylon like the visor and hood scoop is now. Not sure what else maybe build me a tonneau cover, and one day repaint the whole truck. Like to tint my windows and dye the rest of my interior pieces black as well.

[benoit454]

bed bottom is painted, gotta second it due to brush stroke though. Should have pics up this evening.

[benoit454]

ok sorry I didn't get any finished pics, but I got some after the first coat.




It said I had to wait 24hrs. to recoat. So I snapped those, adjusted my valves, and hooked up my new vacuum modulator line. Then I couldn't wait since it had been sitting in the sun baking all day I went ahead and recoated it, covered all my brush marks, and did the bedsides under section that you can see are gold. Then we sit the bed back down. Ready to throw it back on the truck this weekend I guess.

[scotts62]

Heck yeah man that looks good!

[benoit454]

yea my old man kept saying "I don't know why you're gonna paint the bed for. It'll just flake off, or it aint needed, or I'd undercoat it instead." I just told him for the cost of one can of undercoat which aint gonna do the whole bottom i can get the rustoleum quart and brush the whole thing. I love the shiney black, but on the bottom of the bed with all them dents and dings, shoulda went with flat or satin. That's kinda why I went with undercoat on the tubs, but after doing them i wished I'd a went glossy LOL. I may go back over em with some rattle can gloss black.

[benoit454]

bed's back on now, unfortunatly i did not get a bed off burnout video. I wished I had but in the rush to get done and being almost out of gas I forgot LOL. I got to bolt it back down, maybe this afternoon or tomorrow evening or something. I'll get more pics up soon.

[Chevy350V8]

Originally Posted by benoit454

bed's back on now, unfortunatle i did not get a bed off burnout video. I wished I had but in the rush to get done and being almost out of gas I forgot LOL. I got to bolt it back down, maybe this afternoon or tomorrow evening or something. I'll get more pics up soon.

cool, looks good

[benoit454]

It's all bolted on now, just gotta hook up the lights and put the bumper back on it. Then I gotta clean it all up, wax it, put on my stainless rocker trim(prefferably before wax since it'll get removed) then I'm gonna try to get back on polishing my wheels. I did a spot last night turned out great. I'll try to get pics tomorrow, already got work lined up for it, gotta get a storm/screen door from my mom, for my place. have to go pick it up in the truck, plus I gotta get a sticker put on it(inspection) and get some gas in it.

[benoit454]

bed and bumper on pics...

[benoit454]

I painted the inner parts of the wheels today, gonna have to redo it, when I polish the wheels it gets messed up.






You can kinda get a hint of what else I did today in that last pic,




yep finally started to polish the wheels, gotta redo the cap, when I done em a long time ago, they look aweful now compared to the wheel.

the end,

LOL only for now, more pics soon as I get more stuff done.

[benoit454]

I gotta get some new pics up this weekend or so, I got the wheels polished, centers redone, black repainted on them, stainless rocker trim is all done too thanks to my dad helping me. Now I need to clean the interior, get pics of my sub box that I built awhile back, scrub and black my tires.

[benoit454]

[benoit454]

[benoit454]

hhmm haven't updated in awhile now. Well so much for it looking nice and pretty, had a hit and run the day after my birthday, on dec. 8th. guy backed out of the alley and smashed the whole driver's side and ran, nobody got a plate or anything so guess I'm screwed, something else to fix this spring/summer/fall.












I also had a leak in the a/c coil so I got rid of the a/c altogether. I got a non a/c bracket setup, tensioner, got a 6 rib pulley and different size belt and made it a non a/c truck. I have to get pics of it still.

I just recently ordered a set of spectre chrome valve covers, a chrome dipstick for the power steering, and a chrome 14 inch open element air cleaner to do away with the stick crap. I still need to order my chrome bolts, breather cap, oil fill cap, grommets etc for the valve covers. Also gonna get another air cleaner wing nut, radiator cap in chrome and a master cylinder cover in chrome too. Maybe a fuel pump block off plate, and maybe a thermostat housing later. I also think this year I am gonna yank both fenders and inners and clean and paint everything with rustoelum in a can like I did the rear frame and underneath the bed.

[jakeblues652]

i just read the whole thread, and that must suck doing all that work and having some a$$h*le come and smash it in for you and then drive away.