1966 F100 Short/Fleet Full Stock Resto Build Thread

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Great looking result after a 10 month journey, getting excited to watch it go back together.

Me too, I'm itching to start bolting parts on it!

[theastronaut]

Picked up the cab and doors this morning. The factory primer color underneath was red oxide with tan overspray around the edges, so we sprayed the bottom with PPG DPLF epoxy to match the original primer. We'll do the overspray pattern tomorrow using single stage.


With primer on it, you can see how much effort we spent smoothing the weld seams on the rust repairs.

[aggie91]

looking good!

[theastronaut]

Stayed late tonight to spray the bottom of the cab with the factory style overspray pattern around the edges. We had single stage color matched for this since base/clear wouldn't have the same effect. I didn't have anything to go by, other than one post I found that said that the bottom of the firewall wasn't masked from the factory, just that the paint was solid until the last roll at the toe boards. Hopefully it's close to how the factory "painted" the bottom of the cab.













Also shot the column parts, hinges, and front cab mount covers.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by aggie91

looking good!

Thanks Karl!!

[plainred65]

As always your work is truly an inspiration, always checkin in on your work.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by plainred65

As always your work is truly an inspiration, always checkin in on your work.

Appreciate that!!


Started wetsanding the cab today with 1000 grit. Marked all the edges with a sharpie marker so we could see if we were sanding around the edges too much. That keeps us from sanding through, or getting it too thin and burning through with the buffer later on.

[CG]

Geeze I love looking at your builds ... If you think ya need a little more practice, Ill send you over my 62 Unibody =)

[Low Elco]

Looks great! Imma steal that Sharpie trick. Is this wetsand for final clear, or polish?

[theastronaut]

More updates. The flywheel cover was pretty beat, looked like the clutch disc had exploded at some point! We straightened it, blasted, primed, and painted it.







Inner fenders wetsanded and painted.





Emergency flasher switch bracket blasted, painted, and the clip polished.





Door hinge springs were blasted and painted. Used a ratchet strap to pull the coils apart so they got fully painted.





Horn ring assembled and installed on the wheel.

[theastronaut]

Couldn't find a decent radiator support so we ordered a reproduction and used the bottom half to repair the original RS.


Marking the cut lines.




Cuts cleaned up, making a template using masking tape.




Took measurments of various points so we could align the template, then stuck it on and sprayed silver paint to mark the cut line on the new RS.






Initial fit up of the two pieces.







After final fitting, welding, and smoothing the welds. Really surprised at how well the two pieces fit together.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by CG

Geeze I love looking at your builds ... If you think ya need a little more practice, Ill send you over my 62 Unibody =)

Lol thanks, we're a little rusty on some of this...

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Looks great! Imma steal that Sharpie trick. Is this wetsand for final clear, or polish?

Thanks! It's for wetsanding before buffing, use it when wet blocking the clear flat with 1000 grit on a long/skinny Durablock. Then switch to dry powder guide coat and 2000 grit on a soft pad. Any sharpie marks left over get buffed off.

I explained the process in more detail here:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=519043

[theastronaut]

Guide coated the cab with powdered charcoal before wetsanding with 2000 and 2500 grit today. The charcoal shows all the 1000 grit scratches, so we can be sure we sanded all of them out with 2000. It also won't stick to non-sanded paint so it shows any spots we missed.









After sanding with 2000 and 2500. We'll buff it tomorrow and hopefully have it back on the frame by Friday.

[NONHOG]

More stuff I've never heard of.
Awesome!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

More stuff I've never heard of.
Awesome!

Hey, if it works, it works. And I didn't pay $40+ bucks for 3M dry guide coat, only cost about $5 bucks.

We bolted the cab back on the frame today after buffing it. I'll post pics soon.

[shok]

Where do you get this powdered charcoal?

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by shok

Where do you get this powdered charcoal?

I buy it a hobby/art stores like Hobby Lobby. Comes in stick form and has to be ground up; I use a 2 or 3" air grinder with a worn-out 80 grit disc held over a paint cup.

[theastronaut]

Cab is buffed and bolted back on the frame.

[shok]

Originally Posted by theastronaut

I buy it a hobby/art stores like Hobby Lobby. Comes in stick form and has to be ground up; I use a 2 or 3" air grinder with a worn-out 80 grit disc held over a paint cup.

Nice trick!

[jhrusk]

Truck looks awesome, never thought I would enjoy looking at a F**d but the skills you guys have are really neat to see.

[theastronaut]

Tires mounted, used Firestone 7.75's bias plies from Coker.

[Clyde65]

Wow! I wish I had that amount of attention to detail as you all do! I am way to ADD to pay attention to anything very long that is naked.....just saying

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by jhrusk

Truck looks awesome, never thought I would enjoy looking at a F**d but the skills you guys have are really neat to see.

Originally Posted by Clyde65

Wow! I wish I had that amount of attention to detail as you all do! I am way to ADD to pay attention to anything very long that is naked.....just saying

Thanks dudes! jhrusk, we'd rather be working on a Chevy too...

[theastronaut]

Scored a few NOS parts on ebay, those showed up today.

Kick panel vent.




Upper E-brake cable.




Inner/outer window wipes.




Windshield rubber w/groove for trim.




L&R vent window seals.





Took the radio face plate apart to have it rechromed and to restore the lens/background plate.




Lens had scratches that needed sanding out.




After wetsanding and buffing.




Lens wrapped with tape to protect it, and the background was restored with a decal that came with the gauge restoration decals.





Dome light before/after blasting and painting.

[BlueJeep]

Looks fantastic as always.

Do you spray all of those little parts with a gun or with a spray can?