Bare Naked Steel

SAND!! EVERYWHERE! Friday night I picked up a new play toy, just in time for the weekend to start. sandblaster! what an awesome tool. and messy as hell! luckily, I had the forethought to get a full suit to wear, along with other "safety" gear. trust me, if air can get there, so can sand.

I'm glad I set aside the entire weekend, because it took all of it. cutting through 40 yrs of road grime, oil, grease, and who knows what else is a slow going task, even with a sandblaster. the frame rails are in great shape, however, as I noticed once i got down to bare steel. blasting the frame, and suspension components has really brought everything back to its original condition, and it is all now ready for primer. I think I am going to go with POR-15 for all of the blasted parts, it is a great product for engine compartments, and chassis parts, and does a great job of encapsulating any rust, and stopping the cancer from getting any worse, and its great durability is a plus, given its gloss finish.

once I get primer on the chassis parts, I think I am going to focus more on the firewall. the weather is quickly getting colder, and wetter here, and I need to paint the firewall the final red color that the truck will be. OH! OH! I have chosen the paint color! PPG 4230 Torch Red. it is the red GM has used on the Corvette for a long time. I saw it on a '72 Corvette sitting at a Dairy Queen, recently, and I stopped and walked in and said really loud, "who drives the corvette?!" everyone stared very awkwardly, and all I could do was laugh. finally an older guy fessed up, and we had a great conversation. he too, had painted it himself, and he gave me some tips and the low down on where to get paint and supplies locally. Glad I stopped! meanwhile, back at the ranch... I need to clean up the firewall, get to masking, and paint the first part of the truck to be Torch Red.

I am really happy with the blasting overall. after following some tips on the online reviews of the sandblaster I bought, and setting up my compressor to handle the equipment, everything worked like a charm. slow going, but progress was definitely made this weekend. and I got to wear a cool suit... :)

side note: I bought a shop heater this weekend, so maybe I can get to sprucing up the looks of the engine in the garage, and not be so tied down to only working on the weekends, during daylight hours... we'll see how that goes this week.

pictures!

gravel driveway shenanigans...

another weekend down, another big step on the truck. Last Sunday, I pulled the engine and transmission out, and exposed the frame, and all of the suspension. couple that with some awesome finds at the salvage yard, and I say its a success!

I got a call from the guy at the Yank-a-Part in Poulsbo (town nearby) last week. They got a '71 Suburban in recently that has a lot of good rust free body panels on it, so I decided to head down there early on Saturday morning. GOLD MINE!! I scored a good fender well, a passenger side fender, (mine has some rust issues) and a great set of hood hinges! the hinges on these trucks are notorious for being worn out, sagging, and not aligning the hood properly. The fact that these hinges are in great shape tells me that this front clip may be newer as well, so I started hacking away. all in all, a great score, and at a fraction of the cost of buying new parts and paying for shipping (not to mention most new parts are chinese sheet metal, and much lower quality than original equipment.)

Sunday, I went and picked up a cherry picker from a buddy's shop, and got to pulling the engine/transmission. considering all of the front clip was removed already, it was really about 6 bolts, and some cables/wiring to disconnect, and out it came...

... and that's when things got interesting! Amy came outside to help me, with another set of eyes, at the least, this job is light years easier, and safer... well. we'll get back to safety later :) So, I should preface this by saying that I am performing this stunt--project, I mean-- on a gravel driveway. NOT the most conducive environment for moving heavy objects on anything, even with wheels. I ended up having to hook the cherry picker up to a tow strap, and slowly, SLOWLY pulling the engine and tranny out with my other truck. I wish I had a photo to post of the look on Amy's face when she came outside to the acene of a tow strap, a running truck, and a cherry picker with a 800 lb. hanging from it :) classic. because of the gravel, moving in any direction other than a straight line was not an option. so... we had to get creative. we used a dolly, some boards, a pry bar, some grunting, and a kitchen island. yes, a kitchen island! Amy's response upon hearing my plan... "what do we do if it turns the island to a pile of splinters?!" me: "TAKE PICTURES!"


now everything is ready for prep and paint. I will be attacking the frame, and front suspension, as well as the firewall, first. hopefully before the weather gets very nasty. then, once things are in better shape ON the truck, I will move over to the kitchen island, its okay, its in the garage. The engine is practically brand new, so any changes will be cosmetic, just to dress up the 454 cubic inches of raw power... *insert Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor grunt here* the block will be red, to match the new exterior color. not sure on valve covers yet. and I am planning on replacing the entire belt setup, and accessories, to a more modern setup, both for reliability, and clean looks.

I have an order in for a sandblaster, so I will be cleaning everything to the max. this will ensure flawless paint adhesion, and help my engine compartment look as good as it does in my dreams... now I just have to make it happen and quit just imagining it! A huge thank you to the Amy for helping me out on Sunday. It was fun. enjoy some photos!

big steps

well, the challenge of restoring the truck while maintaining it as my daily driver finally broke me. I bought a new truck!! exciting stuff. I ended up getting a good deal on a very well maintained 97 chevy 4x4. still pretty pumped about that purchase!

with the new truck purchased, now I can really bite into the resto. I took it for a drive on saturday morning, the last road time she will see for quite a while. on the heels of removing the bed, and reworking the frame, cleaning, and replacing everything, I have now started that process on the front of the truck.

rebuilding the front end (suspension, steering, etc.) body working all of the panels, and painting the engine compartment, is a big chunk of work to say the least! but... what else can you do around here in the winter? might as well bite off more than you can chew :) I will eventually remove the engine, for easier access to all of the parts and pieces, but here are some photos of where I stand now. enjoy!