A GOOD day in the shop! [LG. PICS]

[FORDification]

Well, I'm taking advantage of the three-day holiday weekend to spend two of them in the shop, achieving another milestone in my truck project....and that is to finish up the bottom of the cab and get the cab bolted down.

The plans were to give the bottom-side one last good cleaning, hit it with some MetalReady in anticipation of the POR-15 and then rinse it off and let it set till tomorrow to fully dry, and then to do the application tomorrow. However, since it was about 95* today with a light breeze, everything dried out a lot faster than I'd anticipated, so I bit the bullet and went ahead and got it done. Here's the before picture:



I THOUGHT I'd ordered the semi-gloss POR-15, but that's DEFINITELY not what I got! Man, this stuff is shiny....and yes, this picture was taken with it fully dry:



While it was drying, I was getting some damned bugs gettin' stuck in it, so I tried taking a close-up picture of one. It didn't turn out, but when I was reviewing the pics on the digital camera, I noticed that I was getting a good reflection, so I took this pic just for the heck of it:



HEY! Is that the Virgin Mary in the upper right-hand corner?? (or is that the Grim Reaper?)

Today I also coated the inner fenderwells and brackets, so those are ready to go. Tomorrow comes the milestone....the cab will be FINALLY bolted down for the last time, permanently. Then I'll be getting started on the interior floorpans.

I took some more pictures and will try to get a project update page posted tomorrow night with more of today's pics and some taken with the cab bolted down when I finish up tomorrow.

Damn it feels good to get to this point!

[72hiboy4x4]

hey what are we going to do when you get the truck actually done?? LOL

looks great Keith! wish mine looked 1/2 that good!

you know, if I remember right your truck was going to 'get a few things fixed and be a daily driver' how things change,eh?

[crazy larry]

sell that pic of the virgin Mary on Ebay for more parts money.

How many coats did you put on? I hope you get good use out of it.

btw, looks great.

[flyboy2610]

Looking good, Keith!
How many people does it take to roll the cab on its back like that?
That's on next summers list of projects, and I need to know how many recruits I'll need.

[FORDification]

...you know, if I remember right your truck was going to 'get a few things fixed and be a daily driver' how things change,eh?

Yeah, it was originally supposed to be a quick-fix, but you know how that goes....those 'as-long-as-I'm-at-it' scenerios came along pretty quickly.

...How many coats did you put on?...

Well, I was intending to put at least two thin coats on, as recommended. However, because of the heat and high humidity here today, it was drying too rapidly, so it ended up just getting one thicker coat. Hopefully the surface prep I did will be sufficient.

...How many people does it take to roll the cab on its back like that?...

I did this by myself, but I'll admit it took almost every muscle in my body to do it. It definitely would have been easier with another body, but when I need something done I need it done now, and didn't have any immediate access to a helper, so I just took a deep breath and HEAVED! Since I had some old couch cushions back there to lay it on, I wasn't too concerned with laying it down, though once it's all the way back on the cushions, it's pretty wobbly. That's why it's secured with the rachet-strap.

[trukcrazy]

Looking good Keith. A very exciting milestone indeed!! We will all be looking for the bolted down view. Good luck.

[boots]

i wish my frame looked liked that!!! nice work

[hardtailjohn]

Beautiful, Keith!!! That POR15 looks like great stuff!! Might have to do a bit of "re-planning" when it comes to mine!!
John H.

[spartman]

Looking good.

I hope my cab winds up looking that good when I get done.

BTW how did you apply the POR?

[dcbullet]

That looks great!

[FORDification]

Well, it's done....the cab is mounted!



It's not tightened down solid, since I figured I'd probably have to shift it around a little bit when reattaching the front-end sheetmetal, but it is snugged down. I ended up having to completely remove the auxiliary fuel tank setup to gain access to the L/R cab mount, though.

Now it's on to the firewall and interior floorpans.

I'm just about done with an update page with lots of pics, but that'll have to wait till later. It's almost dark here and we're headed to the big fireworks show at the park in a few minutes.

spartman: See those sponge brushes on the floor next to the right/front tire? That's what was used to apply the POR-15. When I do the floorpans, I'm going to try putting it in a squirt-bottle, though. I think if the tip can be adjusted so that it comes out in a mist, it'll actually be a neat application method. We'll see.

[FORDification]

OK, I'm back, and have the new project update page posted with lots of pics. Check it out here:

http://www.fordification.com/my67-p46.htm

[flyboy2610]

Gee, looks like mine!:lol:
http://www.fordification.com/images/por15-cab15.jpg

[spartman]

I see

The POR looked so smooth that I thought perhaps you sprayed it on with an airgun or something similar.

Keep up the good work keith

[Mohillbilly]

Congrats Keith. It's lookin' like a truck again. Progress from this point will be so much easier to see.