1970 VA Longbed Project

[brian69longbed]

was there like an undercoating on your frame? almost tar like and not full frame. it was on mine and im pretty sure its factory

[brian69longbed]

those turned out great

[VA72C10]

You might have noticed the trailing arm crossmember in the pictures. I am thrilled with how that turned out...
Closeup of one of the oval exhaust ports.

View from the back of the truck

The view from the front of the truck

Looking down on the top of one of the ovals we added

[VA72C10]

Finished grinding by smoothing out the CPP notches a little more...




We came up with and fabricated a custom rear crossmember out of angle iron to hold the air tank. I did a lot of measuring to make sure it wouldn't stick up too high and hit the underside of the bed or a crossmember and won't be too low to show under the bumper...hopefully all the measuremements are right
In this picture the frame is upside down so that's why the bumper brackets are that way.


Here it is welded on. It may not look it due to the notch for the bumper bracket, but is so strong, Jason used that bar to lift the whole frame on his end when we moved it.

[brian69longbed]

a 5 gallon air tank?
what's the diameter?

[VA72C10]

Let the paint begin!!!!!!!

I Used Rustoleum products because I've had success in the past with a Camaro I restored and have heard others have good experiences as well. Even though the frame was smooth and clean and I'm using a hammered paint, I decided to prime the frame to ensure the best possible adhesion.

Products used:

[VA72C10]

Look how smooth that frame is in that picture

It's a thing of beauty.... I am really happy how it all turned out if you can't tell. There is a LONG way to go but it's a nice step in the process.....

[brian69longbed]

yeah i didn't go that far into detail but i'm going to have it sand blasted and powder coated. yours is coming along great. are you going to rattle can your frame for its final finish?

[brian69longbed]

come to think of it i used rustoleom today on my frame too just a different can! lays out nicely

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by brian69longbed

yeah i didn't go that far into detail but i'm going to have it sand blasted and powder coated. yours is coming along great. are you going to rattle can your frame for its final finish?

Yep, rattle can because of things like when we moved the frame we scraped the edge of the notch on the concrete and it scraped a little paint. A little scuff, primer, and more hammered topcoat and it was never there. With powdercoat it would be noticeable....

[VA72C10]

Well, I told you I had decided to mix things up a bit. Decided to go two tone on the chassis. I did all the frame in a black hammered finish and all of the suspension/steering will be in hammered silver. Will do the brake parts with a smooth gloss black made for calipers/drums so those parts won't stand out so much behind the wheels.

Going for a silver and black theme with the body color being the splash. Will have chrome and black on the engine as well as body color.

Exhaust will be ceramic coated (headers) or polished (mufflers)

Here is the steering box...before. (after cleaning and paint prep)...



Once coat and the tools I used


After


And a closeup of the finish



Also got the trailing arms done....will get better pictures once installed...

[brian69longbed]

i like the finish

[VA72C10]

THE FRAME

Primered






One side painted and it's flipped back the right way for hopefully the final time

[VA72C10]

THE FRAME IS PAINTED



Texture looks even better in person....very similiar to the silver vein powdercoat (only more of a chassis black color)




Loving it

[VA72C10]

Couldn't resist throwing the chrome air tank on to see the contrast. It looks so sweet
We will be making a gusseted bracket to capture the bottom bolt hole on the tank...but it's pretty secure already with the hand tightened bolts.


Going to be easy access if i ever need to help someone with a flat tire....should just hide behind the sport bumper.

[VA72C10]

I'll add for those planning to do this...It took three of the large cans of Stop Rust Primer and 7 cans of hammered paint. I laid the hammered paint on thick to create a more noticeable hammered pattern. Plus it will be nice and durable. Basically three coats of the hammered applied right after each other with extra coats in areas that didn't have as much texture as the rest.

I prepped the frame after grinding by first blowing it off with air. I used a brake bleeder air tool because the extension got into tight areas. Then I wiped the entire frame down inside, outside, top, and bottom with paint thinner. Finally, I went over it with a high powered air nozzle and made sure all the thinner had dried off and there was no more dust or dirt anywhere.
Proceeded to spray two light coats of the stop rust primer followed by three to four of the hammered black topcoat as mentioned.

[splehigh]

The hammered paint looks great! Awesome progress!!!

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by my67chevytruck

WOW, loving the progress, you are making strides.....

Originally Posted by splehigh

The hammered paint looks great! Awesome progress!!!

Thanks! It really is good to be making appreciable progress on the truck. I've actually gotten to the point where I have to order some parts before I can button up the frame which is both good and bad

[70k52wd]

I love the hammered paint, turned out real nice.
Tank mount looks great.
Are you painting the truck tutone black and silver?

[VA72C10]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

Yep....I've decided when it's time to do my FREE frame, it'll be hammered!!!...Great progress this weekend...I can feel the excitment building!!wooohooo

Thanks Geoff

Originally Posted by 70k52wd

I love the hammered paint, turned out real nice.
Tank mount looks great.
Are you painting the truck tutone black and silver?

Thanks Charlie....Actually I am pretty sure I'm going to be doing a deep red somewhere between fire engine and cranberry....need to look at color samples where my fab man's buddy works....

Second choice is a deep blue pearl. I painted my Z28 the dodge viper blue pearl metallic and my wife and I both loved the color...but it's pricey and hard to spray being both pearl and metallic....

[VA72C10]

Oh...by the way Charlie....



GET OUT TO THE GARAGE AND WORK ON YOUR BLAZER!!!




You said you wanted someone to push you, right?

[my67chevytruck]

WOW, loving the progress, you are making strides.....

[gcburdic]

Yep....I've decided when it's time to do my FREE frame, it'll be hammered!!!...Great progress this weekend...I can feel the excitment building!!wooohooo

[VA72C10]

Went by Home depot...got Grade 8 bolts 3/8 X 4"...those seem like they will work well for the rear bags. Going to make some square washers to space them up on the trailing arms and spread out the load. Have some drops of thick steel I will use.

Tonight I simply mocked up the rear airbags, have a template made for drilling out the fitting for the bags, did some touchups on the frame, did a third coat on the control arms to give them more of a hammered texture, and mounted the power steering gearbox. I'm very happy with the silver next to the black. The black is almost a dark charcoal grey and looks great!!!



PS Gearbox mounted up


The frame as it sits

[my67chevytruck]

looking good... have you posted pics of your Z28? I'm partial to blue myself...... keep up the great work...