Wow I can't believe it's already February.
I found out I was still tagging pictures 2013!
And guess what?
Now that a year has passed,
it's time for "oldies month"!
not metal finished
********************************************
I've got to kick it off with one of the top favorites here... the floaters...float on...
So smooth...so good...
**************************************************
big brown nose
This saturday marked a big step in the tres huevos game.
The hood was hammered out a little,
smoothed over a little with some evercoat filler,
and completed with a thick coat of brown epoxy.
It'll still needs a little fine tune smoothing,
but that constant nagging feeling seeing a hole is finally gone.
I'm hoping that that pie-cut or section was enough.
It looks a little pinnochio-ish.
If all goes as planned,
the hood will only be on there on the cold month or two.
Now time to figure out that grille.
I've been trying to take advantage of the time change this week.
The neighbors loved it,
cause Monday and Tuesday I fired up the gas weed wacker,
and leveled the back yard,
til about 7:15PM each day!
No pics of that exciting work.
Yet.
stool time
Wednesday I finished up a good chunk of welding on the 40.
Now there is 25 feet to go!
weld time
Than last night (thursday) we finally went back to our TJ dentista.
My wife was in desperate need.
This was the first time we got stuck in the border line walking back.
It sucked.
Not with bondo though,
there's this Evercoat product called Z-grip that makes it fun to use.
Somehow it doesn't clog up the sandpaper,
which is a huge problem if you don't like to wait for it to cure.
****************************************************
**ok this is my hack tip
I had the partial can of z-grip from a previous project,
but no cream hardener.
Evercoat uses a blue pigment, Bondo uses the red.
Are they the same?
Well,
the active catalyst in both is BENZOYL PEROXIDE,
since they both are a polyester resin based filler.
Yeah I had to use a skim coat over that dreaded corner.
Didn't want to show this picture really,
but I've not had many secrets to my loyal 18 readers,
so why start now right!
filler?
what filler?
The filler coat is actually not as thick as it looks,
but man it actually looks respectable now,
especially with that epoxy primer.
bumpy back
The next worst spot was underneath the rear window.
If you look at the shadow there's an obvious dent festival.
This is after hammering out all the big dents!
(There is a back panel behind the seat,
so access is really limited.)
Remember this was a work truck,
with a diamond plate bed and an engine hoist frame welded to the floor!
layers
The amount of filler applied,
and the amount sanded off is about half.
85 corvette rear end mounted
Slinging bondo isn't the only thing going on.
Ken's been scrubbing the aluminum so it's damn shiny,
and most is ready for the final installation.
dents?
what dents?
Again with the epoxy primer.
The panel still has some little dinks,
but it doesn't have the baggy eye look that it had before.
This was all done without a longboard too,
just an electric porter-cable 6" DA sander.
brows
The "last" part was the front fenders and grille area.
There was a bunch of heavy damage to both eye brows,
as well as the grill surround being welded up,
and removing the turn signal mounds.
Oh yeah,
also the crunched drivers front fender bottom.
Lotsa hammering but not good enough without the filler.
This shot is important because it also hints at what made this part of the job enjoyable,
my new used fan.
See it on the bottom corner there?
I had been searching for weeks (on CL) for a good shop fan,
and this deal came up at the most opportune time.
Without it I'm not sure if I would have tackled this part.
smooth
1955 chevrolet pickup
So now this main part of the body is about 90%.
The plan is to let the filler and primer cure while the mechanical part continues.
(Hopefully there won't be plates of bondo on the ground after launching off a hard bump)
Later on next week I'll try sanding and using some glazing putty to fine tune the feathering.
While I can pick apart certain areas,
it is so much better than it was.
Yeah it sucks to use the filler,
but the total amount used was less than 1/4 of the gallon,
and seriously half was sanded off and blown out by the fan!
Just don't tell anyone please.
The truck has so many interdependent projects,
it's very tricky to know what projects to prioritize.
Instead of finishing one part,
I've been jumping around,
doing whatever one I can do the fastest at the time.
I had made some bolt-on rotisserie brackets to help ease the painting process,
and rigged up the A-frame and the engine hoist.
paint booth
I'm not a real painter,
so I enlisted my Dad's help,
since he's been doing the paint thing since I was a kid.
huffin'
This was a tough thing to paint.
15 feet long,
with many facets and nooks,
crawling around and flipping.
Thanks Dad!
black
After watching him paint for a while,
I wanted to give it a try.
The only other time I've held a spray gun was probably 11 years ago,
and it wasn't a good experience.
I think it was a high pressure gun and it just wasn't my thing.
It was a nerve wracking experience for me.
first spray job
There was enough 2-part paint mixed to coat the insides of the fenders,
perfect for a beginner.
This was the HVLP style gun (low pressure)
and it was actually fun.
I'm not sure if it was the fumes or what.
Now I want to try it some more.
Uh oh.
==================================================
This is the theme song for the truck.
===================================================
Another thing I've been dealing with
is the sheer amount of bodywork on this old truck.
I swear there is an issue on every panel.
gapola
Since that rear corner of the cab was mounted,
the doors were realigned and the old tig-rod trick had to be used.
lucky
I got lucky on the new drivers door.
The passenger door,
not quite so lucky.
major gap
The passenger side was way off.
There was no way I could find to not do both sides.
primer
On top of that,
there was enough dinks and bumps that my magic paint couldn't fill.
So out came the can of bondo,
or in this case Evercoat Z-grip.
filler
I hate to have to do this,
but I had settled early on that it was needed for a smooth body,
in way more places than just the door.
filler
Yeah I'm not proud,
but it relatively thin coat,
and it looks a whole lot smoother.
Again,
this is something that I typically dread,
but it's been fun.
Mainly cause it's not mine,
so instead of rushing through,
I want to see it look right.
This week I'll move on to the drivers side.
floating 1955 chevy truck cab
So now you're caught up to what's been going on.
This week hopefully the frame paint will be hard enough to assemble the suspension,
inside the shop,
and then do the bodywork outside,
so the cab and fenders can be plopped on next weekend.
Avid readers will know of our now regular trips to the TJ dentist(a).
So off we went.
uh oh
sign of good times comin
Again we walked across.
It's the best idea really,
there's no need to get Mexican car insurance,
or wait in the line to get in/out.
goin to Mexico
It's hard to see but that line wraps around the curve.
This was about 4:00pm on wednesday,
so it's a normal occurence.
otay border crossing bottleneck
This is why,
there are only 2 entry lanes!
Fortunately we have Eric/Pikachu as our guide to navigate us around.
Driving down there just doesn't interest me,
especially after getting dosed with local anesthesia etc.
If you do drivemake sure you get Mexican car insurance,
and all your lights work!
There may be a chance that we go down without his help,
and we suggested using a Tijuana Taxi.
You ever want to watch a gaggle of black guys and one token white guy on acid?
No?
Running around New York?
No?
Oh well.
Funkadelic in their early hey day...
Fortunately its to the backdrop of a crazy cool song!
They had some good tunes back then.
At one time I had almost every funkadelic/parliament album.
Crazy chit.
Whenever I pay down my credit cards,
I get a bunch of random junk mail credit card offers.
This one takes the cake
quick click loans
- attn: sucker
These guys,
quick click loans, LLC
will loan me $3500,
with only a 96% interest rate over 3 years!
Awesome!
$3500 = $10,800
Using there handy chart...
-if I get $2600, I'll only have to pay them $8000 over 3 years.
-if I get $3500, I'll only have to pay them $10,800 over 3 years.
Deal!
Yep,
you guessed it,
the Grateful Dead have just the song for this
"don't you let that deal go down..."
Cool show in France '71,
this looks likes they're playing in someones backyard!
10 years later, but also in Europe,
and you can see the toll that cocaine and heroine can do!
Just kidding.
Ha.
Still rocks a 4 minute guitar solo though.
Ok,
real quick.
This is the same show and Pete Townshend stepped in for a couple songs.
Kinda fun to see how 3 very opposite guitar players try to jam,
although I think Jerry pulled Pete's guitar chord as its hard to hear!
I'm struggling.
A couple weeks ago I realized how much coffee I was drinking.
When the daylight savings time stops and it gets colder,
I'll usually drink way more.
Normally I'll try to go cold turkey one day out of the week,
deal with the headache,
just to keep my tolerance down, but I haven't.
It's worse when you actually feel sleepy after drinking a cup or two,
than after the 4th cup you feel like busting out of your skin!
Another issue is we have the kids preparing the coffee maker,
and holy moly some of it comes out so strong, so good though,
but is it good when you take a leak and it smells like coffee?
So I decided to quit.
Tomorrow it will be 2 weeks.
Am I proud?
I can't say,
as all that's happened is I've replaced it with hot tea, Arizona Green Tea & Dr. Pepper, Snickers...
What is better?
At least I'm not into those energy drinks.
My production level is also for shit,
I can do a normal day fine,
but by 8pm I'm burnt, instead of working into the 2am "sweet spot".
shades of brown
This is what I get to wake up to.
The dark richness of a home brewed pot of coffee.
For my wife,
who leaves half the pot just in case I'm gonna crack.
vs
a tasteless dishwater Tea.
Yesterday I was about as close to cracking ever.
The craving, the need was so strong.
It will be tough today,
I just want to do 2 weeks and start up again.
Whoever says coffee is not a drug...
I'm living the first 2 minutes of this Bob Marley song!
;)
