8/25/2023
While waiting on my bulkhead to be repaired I started working on body parts, starting with the doors, door tops, windshield frame and tub,
The doors need the bottom section of the metal braces replaced; the door tops need a complete rebuild including new studs. ( on a side note I bought a new pair of door tops, freshly rebuilt but the are the later type with the plastic slide locks so I’m still debating wether or not to use them in the end. More on them later.
The windshield frame has surface rust and deterioration of the exterior galvanized surface but the side that faced inside the truck is good. I’m working the outside with vinegar, without much success, and trying to decide if it should be re-galvanized.
On the subject of re-galvanizing parts: I had hope to leave the original exterior look and patina, but some of it has little or no galvanizing left and plenty of surface rust. Not withstanding the extra work of removing all the capping, if I re-galvanized some parts they will look shiny new and out of context with the other parts (it is possible to “age” new galvy).
More on the final look: my present thinking and trend is the leave visible exterior painted parts alone with just a buff out of the dirt, but to restore, repaint all the undersides of the body parts.
TUB
I chose to clean years of hardened dirt, surface corrosion and stain off the underside of the tub. In doing that I realized I could not do the job properly with the metal crossmembers in place. Dirt and rust get inside them and deteriorates them from the inside out unless treated, and they have surface rust. These are held on with 3/16 solid core pop rivets down the sides, and held to the outside edges of the tub floor with 1/4” round head rivets. I ground and drill all of them off, then removed and sand blasted the cross members. I will ospho and rust I didn’t reach, then prime and paint them.
The rest of the underside was cleaned by wire brush (Note: use stainless brushes only on the aluminum), then abrasion pad, and finally sand blasting to get in the corners. Now I will wash it down good with a cleaner (probably brake cleaner), then cover with self-etching primer and then limestone paint.
Then I have to re-rivet everything (with anti-galvanization compounds of some kind at the joints). I’m contemplating buying a $250+ air hammer but could do them with a dolly and hammer. There are only 12 of the large solid/round top rivets in this area but if I end up doing other rivets on body work it may be worth the cost to buy an air hammer. I’ve learned that a hammer for rivets is different than air air hammer for chisels.
Self etching primer:
Seat box
