Thread: Project Special K

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Sawzall is truely man's best friend in the old truck department. I spent about two hours removing the last three rusted bolts off the grill. The last one I was under the truck in the wheel well upside down for 20 minutes cutting it off. All I can say for Ford is they use good steel on these old trucks!
So I finally got the grill out. Now all I have to do is strip the paint off the replacement, sand and prime it, then put it back on with new bolts that hopefully will never need to be removed again!

I love how the blood fills the top of my head while cutting off some of the bolts, the factory had to have just to keep something from coming loose........LOL
BradC

Yep Brad, could you imagine being the poor quality control guy, having to crawl around under there and everywhere else just to make sure one of the assemblers didn't miss a bolt?

Originally Posted by BradC

I love how the blood fills the top of my head while cutting off some of the bolts, the factory had to have just to keep something from coming loose........LOL
BradC

Now you guys know why Tom's coupe spent so much time upside down on my garage floor!!!!!

Well I put together the gas tank on the MIG welder and went to town! Not nearly as easy as it looks! I played around burniing small holes in the sheet metal and then repairing them. I wouldn't even make Frankenstein look good!
But after a while playing with the feed speed, voltage settings and gas flow I sort of got the hang of it. It takes a lot of grinding to clean up all those mistakes!
But it was fun! And I still can see! I bought one of those auto darkening helmits so it worked great. I even forgot to put the welding gloves on and torched a spot on my left palm.
Score another point to the FORD Gods!
I'd post pictures but I'm too embarrassed !
I also repaired the cut in the frame from removing the motor mounts. Best of all, it looks like I sold the old engine today, and got to keep my oil pan and timing chain cover for the new long block. I figure I'll buy new Billet pulleys and probably get a new harmonic balancer unless he doesn't want the old one. All in all a very good day. The guy comes for the engine tomorrow! Yeah, shop space at last!

Today, I did a bunch of little work projects that actually left time for the truck!
So I decided to get the welder out and go for it. I patched the holes in the cab on the drivers side, and puttied in any little stuff to make it look nice, then I cut and welded 18 gauge steel to the inside of the cab, covering where the gas tank filler spout used to be. I then welded a patch to that and puttied in the last little areas. It came out nice considering I've never welded before, and don't work with metal. I do have a lot of respect for all of the nice fabrication work I see posted here. Here are a few photos.

Here is a look at the patch from the inside. It's not pretty, but will be hidden by interior panels when done.

Been awhile since I've spent time on the truck. I'm off for three days, and did all the gardening / house stuff yesterday, so back to the truck. Today I figured I'd focus on the new front grill. Been striping and scraping the old paint off this morning. Next it's get the dolly and hammer set out and try to punch out one dent that hopefully won't be too bad. I'm also working on sandinding the bed and cab this weekend, so I can remount it on there!

I've got to do the same thing to my Dodge truck, fill the gas fill hole. I hope mine turns out half as nice as yours did, Steve.

Don

Get back to work, hire a goat to eat the grass........LOL
BradC

Brad it's funny you should say that, my two dogs left enough holes in the lawn, that I spent part of the day, filling them in and reseeding them!
here is a before shot of the grill and I'll post an after shot in a little bit.

Ok here is the grill after stripping off the old paint and hitting it with one step rust converter. It has a few small dents that will need filling, and a big one that I might need to pound out a little further.

And yes here is the yard Brad, goats would be easier

Ooooooooh, that lawn looks like too much work to me! No, actually, I miss not having a lawn to care for now that I live in a Condo. I used to really enjoy getting out on a Saturday, putting some rock and roll on my walkman, and pushing the mower to get some exercise.

Your grille cleaned up really well. What one step did you use to kill the rust?

Don

Thanks Don. It is Mar-Hyde One Step. It's a nice product for hitting a sanded rusty surface and then priming over. The more rust the better it sticks. It comes both in spray can and liquid bottle, that works great in a cheap mister bottle,like you use for water. The lawn is a futile project between weeds dogs and the hot summer, but I love looking out on the green area right after it's mowed!

I like your yard, dogs need ran. If you run the stink out of them they will come home and sleep.
Great year of F1. FWIW, I had a 6'2 friend that chopped his 4" and it still had plenty of room. It was his daily for his tree trimming business.