Excursion body swap

[Tiha]

Finally got back to this Monday. I am gone for a week again here in 2 weeks.

My goal is to try and get the roof painted. I will blend it around the rear 1/4 windows otherwise just paint to the top of the doors.

Being the roof I have to do this outside, not enough head room in the garage. So I only have about 2 hours a day to work.

Roof is really rough. We are ignoring most of the dents. Had some really bad cracked paint. Lots of chips with rust. We finally just had to start into those spots with the drill and wire brush.

You start to feather it and uncover more rust. It is a mess.

Weather is supposed to be warm enough to paint this weekend but wind is currently forcast at 7mph. Normally not a big deal but stuff is falling off the trees now.
Paint the hood on my daughters car last weekend. Enough crap fell on it I had to sand and buff it. I am not sanding and buffing the roof of this excursion. LOL

We are ready to put the headliner back in. BUT the material is extra wide. Needs to be at least 63" wide. So special order. ordered 4 yards should be more than enough.
Probably have that this week yet, but they have not pulled the headliner all the way out of my other son's truck. So no backer to recover and install yet.

 

[L\Bronco]

Its amazing how much stuff shows up once you start digging.
Great job! Cant wait for the finished product!
Cheers

 

[Tiha]

Up early Sunday morning to try and paint.

Got the first coat of white on, wind came up and started blowing dirt all over it. Wind never died so back into the garage it went.

Now I will have to scuff it and try again.

tough this time of year as it is windy most days.

 

[L\Bronco]

That sucks Tiha!
We are slaves to mother nature when we need to work outside.
Good luck with it!~
Cheers

 

[wyo58]

Even though the wind messed you up it still looks pretty good!

 

[Tiha]

Thanks guys,

Forecast shows a couple opportunities coming up.

I was scuffing it last night and found 2 rust bubbles we missed, so maybe it was meant to be.

 

[Tiha]

Weather cooperated this morning so the top is painted.

I made the mistake of cleaning my paint gun yesterday so I have a couple spits I am going to have to sand and buff, but at least I don't have to do the whole roof.

The temp was 55 degrees when I started this morning, luckily I had the a quart of the correct reducer.

Would have liked to get one more coat of clear on (only got 2) but it just wasn't drying and the wind was starting to kick up so back into the garage to finish drying it went.

That is a big load off. The roof is tough. Working off a ladder trying not to let your clothes or the air hose touch the wet paint as you are reaching to the center trying to get even, full coverage.

The rest of the truck I could do in one event if need be. Like if I don't get any more good days I can put it on a trailer and take it to work and do it all on a Saturday.

But I hope to still squeeze out some of it before then. Sunday is supposed to be decent I might try to do the back doors.

I still need to get underneath and paint the bottom but I can do that in the garage if need be.

 

[L\Bronco]

Very nice Tiha!!!

 

[wyo58]

Looks great and quite frankly anything the gun spit out on the roof nobody will ever see.

 

[Tiha]

I am finding out my air compressor is old and worn out like me. It is a 6hp direct drive craftsman. 30 gallon tank I think. I hated it since the day I bought it like 25 years ago. I had no idea what a direct drive was or how noisy it was. I was in the middle of painting a project and needed something in a hurry. Suppose i will start shopping for one.

Air compressor will no longer keep up with sander. Still working on this when I get time. working in the garage now. Not enough heat or daylight left outside.

Trying to get one panel ready to prime/paint at a time and moving onto the next.

It is easy to get overwhelmed on these projects. I know I have body work left to do on the back. So this is my way of putting it off for now. LOL

Everyone has been busy. My son hasn't been down. We are ready to put roof rack back on, cab lights and wire them in. Then onto the headliner and interior can start going in.
I know we probably won't really get back into this until next spring but it is blocking my garage so I want to see some progress here and there.

 

[L\Bronco]

Its a sh-t pile of work, looks like you guys are over the ****! (Body wise)
Keeping the momentum when life gets in the way is the hard part for sure.
Good luck with it! It looks great!
Cheers

 

[Tiha]

So I was shopping air compressors. Shocked at what a decent compressor costs now. Then somewhere occurred to me to rebuild mine.
Of course the parts are no longer made by craftsman, but some knock off made by probably only one company.

Ordered the piston and valve plate. First valve plate didn't even make it a full cycle before the bolt head popped off and destroyed the top of the piston.

Called supplier. Argued, he would only agree to send replacement valve plate. Tried to blame me for installing improperly. Needless to say that did not sit very well with me, but I said fine send it.

Trying ton install the second valve plate the top of the piston was bent up enough it was hitting the new valve plate. Already knowing what dealing with the supplier was like I took the top of my old piston and made it work.

Well the new valve plate lasted a couple hours before one of the reeds broke off.

I put all my original parts back in minus a new cup seal. Then sent everything back and got my money back. What a waste of time. Cannot buy decent replacement parts. So still looking at new compressors. But getting by with this one for now.





Second/replacement valve plate failure.

these things are stupid simple. I am not sure if everyone has these problems or just me. But it seems to be working with the 20 year old valve plate in it.

 

[Tiha]

My most recent plan was to paint over the 3 day new years weekend, but as compressor issues have been part of the hold up, shaping the rear corners have been holding me up as well.

It is a challenge, get them to look right using as little bondo as possible. I would shape them, skim coat them, and then paint to see what they look like. I would fit the tail lights in and the trim that goes under the corners. Because of the ranchhand bumper he has these areas kind of stand out and are not hidden at all. I would compare to his brothers truck or see something I didn't like and start over again. I think I am finally there. The compound curves make this area tough. I don't even know if they are available but they probably should have been cut out and replaced.

Passenger side of truck is completely ready to paint. Driver's side is really close. Need to sand a door and fender yet.

 

[Tiha]

I am back working on this and can update some.

Been a really busy summer. All kinds of interruptions.

In may I had a window to try and paint it. But the weather was not cooperating to allow me to do it at home. So I put it on the trailer and hauled it to work.



Got it all masked off, cleaned up and went to town painting.

Only the paint was not cooperating. Not sure if it was old or I am. Maybe it froze over winter.

Started spraying fine, then started getting drier and drier and then start spitting.

I stopped and cleaned the gun, mixed a new batch and still same problem.

So FAIL.

At this point I was already going to have to wet sand a good portion of it again so I sprayed the whole thing and figured I will use it as a Guide coat.

That was middle of May.




Here we are at the end of August.

finally got to wet sanding. It confirms the body work is okay, gives me more confidence. Found a couple dents on the RF fender that I missed.

If things go well I will be ready to paint again next week.

 

[Tiha]

Been working at this slowly. It is white now. I am going to have to sand and buff it to get that mirror finish. It got hot on my while spraying so the clear is not as smooth as I would have liked.

 

[Tiha]

Been working on it when I can. Got the roof rack rails and cab lights installed. Sealed up. Nice thing is, at this point it can sit outside if need be. That is a bit of a relief.

I used seam sealer around the holes on the roof rails and antiseize on the mounting bolts. The cab lights got seam sealer under them as well. Overkill probably but don't want any leaks.



Cleaning windows, putting moldings back on. Keypad for the keyless entry.



Cleaned the interior out, found all my tools again. Now to start on the floor sound deadening. Also can recover the headliner and put it in.



Cab lights wired and tested.

 

[L\Bronco]

Nice work Tiha!
Looks very good!
Love the cab lights!
Cheers

 

[wyo58]

It looks great Tiha! Nice you can leave it out side now frees up room again.

 

[Tiha]

More sound deadening and interior is going in. Some interior will come from his truck as it is in better shape.

Trying to get the other bay of my garage cleaned of excursion parts so I can get my bronco out and drive it.

Recovering the headliner was a chore in itself. 4 cans of spray adhesive.

He has another kid on the way and is starting to push me to make this a 6 door again. Told him we need to get it on the road like it is first then we will talk.