Yellers bed got blasted

[bigblock73]

Huy gang, The bed of my '73 is back from the media blasters. Boy is it cool finding out things about your truck you never knew.

Turns out the truck had a topper or camper on it at one point in its life, evident by the holes on the top of the bed rails (filled in with bondo no less), and it also had holes in the side of the bed (tie down hooks I assume, again filled in with bondo). It also had a second auxilary gas tank, but the door was removed before I got the truck...and the tank stayed with. What is really sad, is that they screwed another piece of sheetmetal behind the gas door opening, and filled in the recess with bondo! The lake of bondo was 1/4" thick in some places!

Luckily there is only one small spot of rust on it...pretty amazing for a 33 year old truck! The rust is under the bed, where the wheel well meets the floor. Not bad at all.

Anyhow, here are some bare metal pics...bodywork/body mods are next.

[SanitysBane]

Looks alot better than my 84. Good to see the progress.

[stingray72]

how much did that run you? just to get a price comparison. I'm looking to get that done in the next couple of weeks

[Slonaker]

Weird, huh?

I was looking at my truck the other day, and saw a Texas Longhorn sticker outline on the fender. It looks like there was a sticker on it at one time, and the paint faded unevenly. After a minute, I remembered I saw it once before about 4 or 5 years ago. I never saw it any time up he middle, and I can't see it now. I guess the lighting has to be just perfect.

Slonaker

[N2TRUX]

Don't ya love these so called body men. My 77 had an awesome paint job when I bought it. They spent a lot of hours getting the body straight so it could be sprayed black. They filled the holes where the bed rails used to be with "Kitty Hair" instead of welding them up. Grrrrr! That cost a few bucks to fix....

[boxrodz]

Boy, you couldn't tell from the painted pics of your truck. Interesting to find out what's under the paint. I wonder if bead blasting hardens the panels at all. I know a lot of professionals that use it.

Jeff, do you plan on having the gas filler openings welded with sheet metal? (If I remember correctly 87shortwide's bodyman ended up warping his bedsides.) Should look really good once your bodywork is finished. It's not too bad other than the things you listed.

One step closer ...

[bigblock73]

Stingray, it cost me a little over $400 to have the bed stripped (kind of spendy in my book, but worth it to do it right). The floor was sand blasted, while the sides and everything else were soda blasted.

Marcus, both gas doors will be welded shut (yes, with metal), the stake pockets and all misc holes will be removed as well. The removed sections of the rear cross sill will be boxed in to give them a finished look too. Bed floor will need minor straigntening and will be painted body color, just like GM did it back in '73. I love the look of an arrow straight painted bed floor.

[N2TRUX]

Jeff, are you planning on driving the truck to shows or trailering it? I am going to assume you will drive it. In that case you need to consider where your going to put your stuff. If your like everyone else that goes to a show, you carry an ice-chest, a couple of lawn chairs and a box full of cleaning supplies. You certainly don't want all that sliding around on your slicked up bed floor.

Now's the time to start considering what your options are...

[bigblock73]

I thought about that, I might buy a rubber bed mat for that...and use it as needed.

The truck definately won't be hauling lumber, a 4-wheeler, or any other crap I hauled with it before.

I do know I don't care for bedliners, whether they are of the spray on or slide in variety.

[Jonboy]

If you do plan on driving it, look into having Line-X shot on the underside of the bed. It is not nearly as thick as Rhino lining, and will keep a lot of the rocks and road debris off of the bed floor. Since it is sprayed a lot thinner, it makes for a pretty clean look. We sprayed the bottom of the Turbo V6 Monte SS we are building, and it looks great. A whole lot better than undercoating, and should last longer, too.

[N2TRUX]

Jeff, I use a rubber bed mat in my 77. It's the best solution I could come up with. Unfortunately it rubs the shine off the paint underneath it, but it doesn't destroy it. I have seen spray liners that were color matched that looked pretty nice. If you want a nice shine, maybe you can paint the inner bed sides and line the floor....

Here's a good example of a color matched spray in.... More pics inside

[bigblock73]

You know Ken, that is an excellent idea...I might have to check into that.

I like the idea of only the floor being lined, while the sides are painted.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

You know Ken, that is an excellent idea...I might have to check into that.

I like the idea of only the floor being lined, while the sides are painted.

That's my intent on my RestRod. Line the floor & paint the sides. The big freakin' wheel tubs could go either way for some contrast..... I haven't decided yet.

[79BIG10]

Jeff is it going to be a problem to paint the truck in stages? I know you have the cab painted up but without the bed I was thinking that it would be bad since not same painting conditions. Glad to see you making alot of progress on it

[bigblock73]

B, the outside of the cab is getting painted again. The whole truck will be "jammed", then assembled, then it will get an entire paintjob on the exterior.

[79BIG10]

Gotcha. Sounds like you're getting close to there.