Frame Paint Complete

Still a little torn on whether or not my color choice was the best but it is painted and it appears to have stuck very well.  The neighbor said it looked like East Texas river mud, I thought it was more like Rio Grande mud. So there I am in the Rio Grande I will let you be the judge.  

Worst part of the day was discovering that due to a lose nut on the sprayer, the frame could have been painted minutes instead of hours.  Apparently the nut behind the trigger that was loose was preventing the air from pushing the paint though the gun.  Once I fixed it the speed I could move was 10 times as fast.

After painting, I lower the frame down, rolled it on the drive, installed the shocks and called it a day.  

Rust to Rust

Started the morning by running all over town gathering a chain, paint, and sprayer before the Easter weekend crowd hit the stores.  About 11:00 am I hoisted the frame up in the air on the driveway after striping off the brake lines and steering gear box.  The frame washed off nicely with the neighbors power washer.

I set the frame back down and moved it to the yard to prevent over spraying everything.  Hoist one side up in the air again and taped off what I didn't want to paint.  Doug showed up just in time to help with the tape up process, a process I hate.

Loaded up the paint in the new sprayer and after some adjusting it laid down a nice coat of Valspar Anti-Rust Armor - Cayenne flavored.  I picked this color 'cause it matched the rust color of the frame.  I have to say the the paint laid down really well.  I wanted a satin or low gloss finish but I could not find it locally, so gloss it is.  Eventually it will be covered with road grim and what isn't rusting will look like rust.

Plan on putting another coat tomorrow per the paints recommendations.

This is what a awesome wife does when
you have been working hard.

Diggin' the dirt out

Good Friday - What away to spend it.  Digging the West Texas dirt out of the bowels of Stinky.  After all the moving, washing, flipping the cab on its side, you would think that the dirt would have left long ago.  After a second coat of fiber glass gel on the passenger floor board, I got started trying to get the dirt out of the rear  cab lowers.  Blow and vacuum, blow and vacuum, blow and vacuum, then I finally got smart and shoved the vacuum hose down in the cab corner while running then hit the creavis with the air hose.  In a few minutes I was done.

I then flipped the cab up on end to get underneath the floor and hit the seldom seen side with a power washer, wire wheel and simple green.  Prior to that I inspected the cross member running under seat.  I noticed that the downside was plugged with dirt and took a hammer to the unit and discover it was packed full of dirt.  This piece had a hole in it that allow things in but the drain hole was smaller than what was allowed in.  So I fixed it with a 1.25 hole saw.

After getting it all cleaned up I took a road trip to tractor supply and picked up some Rustoleum Undercoating.  Then head to Lowes for some Rustoleum spray seal and paint-able caulk.  Brought all back home and it was done pretty quickly.  Had to keep reminding myself that this isn't perfection, it's just simple creativity. 

Inside cab corner

Outside of cab corner

Artifact Found

Artifact recovered and museum quality 

Cross member that was full of dirt

Modified cross member

Just hanging out

Under coating complete

Mini Crane Aquired

Today I found a hoist on Craig's List.  The dude wouldn't sell it with out the engine stand he had and wanted $225 for both.  Went by and looked at it and thought I had better take a look at the one on sale at Northern Tool.  Dude's lift was a much better built lift and easier to control.  I sent him a text and picked up both for $200.  Now to rid myself of an engine stand.

Cab Work Continued

Finished welding up several holes in the floor including the clutch linkage hole and the former gas inlet to the cab.  It was a cold windy day and motivation was low.  After piddling around for most of the afternoon, Doug came over and we decided to pick on the passenger side floorboard.  It was rusted petty good but not enough for me to graft in a new floor.  We poured muratic acid on the rust parts of the floor, bushed, rinsed, repeated.  After getting most of the rust cleaned out we put down a layer of fiber glass coating and filling all the rusted pits and holes.  Since it was below 50 degrees I used a heat gun to warm up the area so the chemistry would react and it hardened up real good.

Cab Work On Steroids

After two weekends of cutting brush at Whitney, I finally got back to bid'nes on the truck with Predinsone coursing through my body to fight off the poison ivy that is attacking my hide.

 A few of the things that were concerning me were a lot easier to complete than I first thought.  First the window channels were covered in a thick goop of sealant that had to come off.  Using a specialized pecan stick that had fallen in the back yard I was able to scrap the bulk of it out.  Then I took a tooth brush and some brake cleaner and got after the rest of it to soften it up.  Afterwards, I sprayed a couple of rags down with the brake cleaner and wiped it up.  Spent about :45 minutes doing this and then friends came over for a couple of hours.

Once I got started again, it was on finishing patching the holes in the floor and welding up the new pan in the floor.  This REALLY had me worried as I had not match up the floor seems very well.  I soon discovered  that the wire welder when set properly fills these gaps very well.  In about 2.5 hours I was practically done.

I wire brushed out the passenger side floor and found more rust.  It isn't as bad at the driver side was and I will fiber glass it to seal and strengthen it.

Configuration

So the wifey decided to remove ourselves from the premises this weekend.  So we took a picture of the progress of the Truck

Weird Weekend Ended in the Floor Pan

All kinds of crazy crap happened this weekend and I am not sure, but I think the net sum total was positive.  It's not every day you find out you are going to hike the Grand Canyon.  The day (the whole day) was spent installing a driver side floor pan.  I am not sure that I ever want to do this again unless I find a sure fire way to make a pattern.

I bought a spot weld cutter, butt clamps, and a rack of ribs.  The floor pan is almost in and the ribs were delicious.  The floor need some minor fitting and welding.

New Wheels For The Cab

It has been an interesting day.  As I type this I witnessed Bear Grylls peeing in a fresh snake skin and drinking it after walking across a salt flat with it hanging around his neck in 100 degree heat.  I wonder why he didn't share it with his camera man.

I got more accomplished than I expected today.  I decided to take the cab off the frame.  It is too cold to coat the tank or do any painting so moving forward meant attacking the cab.  So hear is what I got done:

Remove the doors, seat and seat belts.

Built a cab dolly.

Disconnected the Cab Bolts, Brake lines, emergency brake and steering.

Removed the front and back windows.

Removed the master cylinder, steering column, brake pedal assembly, gas pedal glove box dash pad, gauge cluster.

Removing the doors was a whip.  One of the pins actually had crept up and wouldn't allow me to pull it out.  Tried cutting it with a saws all but ruined 2 blades.  Damn pins are hard steel so I had to do some blow torch surgery.

Took an a box knife to the seal on the back window and it came right out.  The front was a little more challenging but Doug arrived just in time to help me with it.  We pulled the window out and then rolled the cab on its side built a dolly and set it back down on its new wheels.  This was all done before 1:00 and I started at 9:00.

Took a break for a couple of hours and about 6:00 I started removing the various components out of the cab.  The intention is to get the interior of the cab prepped for fresh paint, a new firewall cover, new floor pan and an overall seal on the cab to keep out the rain.