Restoring Rusty

[Gregski]

the twins sun bathing, after taking a good bath in some dish soap, they were preserved because they were covered in grease and sludge

you probably could not see how badly these wheel housings were beat up before I hammered out all the dings and dents, apparently the previous owned used the truck to haul lumber

anywho, can you tell me how to pop out the big slight indentations in the vertical sides, what happens is when I step on the dents they pop out, but as soon as I step off of them they pop back in, it's as if the metal is teasing me

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Gregski

anywho, can you tell me how to pop out the big slight indentations in the vertical sides, what happens is when I step on the dents they pop out, but as soon as I step off of them they pop back in, it's as if the metal is teasing me

The reason they're popped out (or in, or they pop back and forth) is that piece, the bulge, is bigger than the spot it is in. Basically, denting it stretched the metal in that spot, so now it's too big for the surface it is in. The way to fix this is to heat the bulge with a torch (Bernzomatic would do), then quench it with water. It will shrink down to the size it needs to be and pull flat.

http://cid.vcc.ca/p1-dl/instructions...emo-shrink.htm

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by rich weyand

The reason they're popped out (or in, or they pop back and forth) is that piece, the bulge, is bigger than the spot it is in. Basically, denting it stretched the metal in that spot, so now it's too big for the surface it is in. The way to fix this is to heat the bulge with a torch (Bernzomatic would do), then quench it with water. It will shrink down to the size it needs to be and pull flat.

http://cid.vcc.ca/p1-dl/instructions...emo-shrink.htm

OK, I picked up one of them do it yourselfer $15 dollar torches from Home Depot and it did not work so well. It kept going out on me so I constantly had to re light it. I remembered why I returned one of these a few years back, I was so frustrated. It also wouldn't get hot enough even on a 100*F day.

I did my best to heat the indents one at a time then quenched it with a bucket of cold water, and nothing really happened, I must be doing something wrong, but it's not a big deal I really don't care about these small indents

[Gregski]

since I didn't want to use a replacement wheel housing with the wire harness hole in it, I thought I could save one of mine, however after taking a wire wheel to it, we found lots of swiss cheese

so we'll use the orange ones

[Gregski]

the Greg has no idea how the front end bed panel got rusted here, but there is a matching rusty spot on the back of the cab, so my guess is a wet cat must have gotten stock in there, LOL

[Gregski]

we deployed a dual attack on the rust on this piece, abrasion and acid

first loosen up and remove as much rust as possible with a wire wheel

then use Phosphoric acid to fight the rust, in this case I had some Metal Prep left over, (it's just diluted Phosphoric acid I bought from POR-15, I won't be buying it agian, since I can get 50 times the amount from Home Depot for $5 bucks)

brush on some acid, let sit, have a beer, watch the rusty spots turn white, then wire wheel them off, and repeat till no more white shows up

[Gregski]

the dance of the wire wheel

went through another cup wire brush, (I need to start buying these in bulk)

[flashed]

Rusty is so very lucky to have you mending things up.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by flashed

Rusty is so very lucky to have you mending things up.

thanks, then tell him to stop biting me

[Gregski]

kicked the bed floor outside - cause it's not potty tained, LOL

keep in mind this thing is ORANGE, it's not all covered up in rust, just some surface rust, so it's solid otherwise

[Rich84]

keep in mind this thing is ORANGE, it's not all covered up in rust, just some surface rust, so it's solid otherwise

I sure am glad that you mentioned that the bed was orange..I thought the Gregski had sniffed too much cleaning products.

[greg64]

Originally Posted by Rich84

keep in mind this thing is ORANGE, it's not all covered up in rust, just some surface rust, so it's solid otherwise

I sure am glad that you mentioned that the bed was orange..I thought the Gregski had sniffed too much cleaning products.

LOL

[Gregski]

same deal on the bed floor, wire wheel, then coat in phosphoric acid

I swear I went out and bought the most beat up bed I could find, this thing looks like it was used as a dance floor by $300 lb strippers in iron stiletto heels

try and visualize that I'll wait, JK

[Gregski]

couple annoyed neighbors and beers later, the top of the bed floor is wire wheeled and bathed in [deluted] phosphoric acid

not my favorite part of the restoration process, but it must be done

[flashed]

I think I will visualize Rusty all nice and pretty instead if you dont mind ,thanks .

[Gregski]

tomorrow we will change the wire wheel on the angle grinder to a grinding stone and grind down these welds

these are the weld spots where the old bed side walls were attached to the bed floor in the bottom corners of the tailgate

[Gregski]

and the other side...

the detail is in the devil

I know the next time I am walking by a restored C10, I will stop, I will look at the truck, I will find the owner, I will gaze down at his hands, seek the scars, then look down at his worn out boots, and just look him in the eye and and give him that nod of sweat, blood, and tears of approval

[enaberif]

For metal that keeps popping when you try to remove the dent the easiest way to fix this is by cutting the dent in half then rewelding it.

It's usually popping because the metal is stretched. The other way you could try is getting it red hot then quenching it quickly to shrink it.

[rich weyand]

enaberif and I were typing at the same time. Yeah, don't cut it, at least not as a first try. Heat it and quench it.

[KQQL IT]

I have some fairly straight wheel tubs, you could have... Already out and in my way.

[Gregski]

105* F outside so The Greg will be taking a day off

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Gregski

105* F outside so The Greg will be taking a day off

Wuss! Grab some beers and get cracking.

[Gregski]

well it was 96* in the shade today so it was time to get out there, no literally in the shade, I am now a certified Shade Tree Mechanic or is it Technician, LOL

[Gregski]

so got those weld beeds ground off from the rear end of the bed floor where the sides were welded down to it

[Gregski]

and the other side