'71 F-250 Diesel conversion and more 01/10 starting back in

[Ranchero50]

More pics...

Did another coat of Lizard Skin last night, used all the little glass balls and it went on really well. I finished cleaning up the first messy coat of seam sealer. I'm going to put the second coat on today and clean that up. I've also been sanding out the nicks in the paint so I can get it ready for primer.

This pic shoes the mud needed to make the metal dash presentable, not perfect, but good enough...


With the heater control and stereo fixture installed


Another angle. Once I get the CNC mill running I'm going to cut and stereo bezel out of aluminum and fit it in. I have another skim coat of putty to put on themetal and sand out, then a bunch of 2k primer.


There's a chance it'll be painted by the end of the month.

Jamie

[FORD428CJ]

Man, that is going to be one hell of a ride once you are done with it!!!

[Ranchero50]

Thanks Wes, I truely hope so. Spent the day working on the cab corners some more and put another coat of seam sealer on. I did manage to smash my finger nail with the air file about a dozen times before I could let off the trigger.

I have the dash to the point of primer and most of the outside is ready for primer as well. I've been running the snot out of the DA with 220 to remove old paint chips etc. The welding is done as well. I figure tomorrow I'll undercoat the bottom again and seal everything up for good, then clean everything out of the garage and mix up some primer.

Jamie

[MadMaxetc]

Moving right along.

How long does it take for you "lizard skin" to dry? I want to do my truck, but I only have a weekend to do it.

[Ranchero50]

Couple hours... I just got the garage up to about 80 degrees to set the bondo and sprayed it on. Where it was really heavy (heavy enough to run a little) it was still soft the next morning. It's like heavy latex paint when dry, just a little rubbery.

I'd recommend it, it's easy to do and easy to clean up. The hardest part is pulling the truck apart to spray it in. I have one gallon of glass beads and one gallon of paint invested in mine, less than $30

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

Update time, I got brave and brushed some paint on the cowl, it turned out really nice. Decided to drop the cab down today, sand the top and spray on the primer. However, there are about a dozen different dents in the roof that need worked out. PITA and I thought I was done the bodywork for a while.

I parted out a F600 today and kept the roof lights and wiring harness. They may get installed since it's gonna have stacks and be a diesel...


A pic showing the shade of blue the trucks gonna be. It's Rustoleums safety blue and it similiar to the factory color. It's wet in the pictures and is over a white base. I hope it darkens a little once the second coat goes on.


Finally a pic showing the chains used to lift the cab. It works and is pretty safe.


My loan got approved for the mill, now I need to get this thing back together so I have room for it.

Jamie

[craftsman]

When lifting that cab like that, does it pull on that door piller? i started to lift mine like that but thought it might pull that hindge mounting point in some.

Good progress by the way , looking good, wish i was that far along.

[Ranchero50]

Actually no. The cab only weighs about 400lbs stripped, maybe less so it's 100lb of pull on each corner. The only trick is to have the chains more vertical that horizontal so you are lifting more than pulling sideways. That and have the lifting point up high keeps the whole mess from turning turtle... I had the doors on when I lifted it off the frame and it made the balance much more difficult. I'll end up lifting it and painting the bottom this week while working on the roof.

Jamie

[Ranchero50]

More pain... Why is it when you absolutely gotta have it done it goes to crap instead...

Fridays fiasco...

Look at the pictures and guess just what went wrong...













Answers:

While using the wire wheel cup on the angle grinder to clean out the seam sealer on the front of the roof drip rail, the cup hopped the rail and dropped into my shirt, wrapped up and squeezed me about four sizes thinner. While trying to untangle that mess I heard a thump and looked under the cab to see the gallon of blue paint on it's side and the lid half off and the extension cord wrapped around it. Now I'm standing on the nice diamond plate aluminum stand leaning over the cowl fighting with a grinder that has a death grip on my belly, a gallon of $25 paint is creeping across the floor and I'm feeling a sense of impending doom...

Oh by the way, the grinder wrapped up in a manner that kept my hand on the trigger so it really was trying to eat me. I jerked the cord, slinging some paint and got the power off, unwound the offending instrument or destruction and jacked the poor cab up off the stands to roll it out of the way. Stood the can back up, popped the lid and noticed that I only lost about three quarters of the contents. First I grabbed a paintbrush and repainted the cowl, then I realized it wasn't going to take dang near a gallon to do the cowl and grabbed some cardboard and made a dam to push the paint onto another peice of cardboard and back into the can.

I figured since I already trashed a brush I'd go ahead and paint the interior floor and cowl with the dirty paint and these pictures were taken about two hours after the grinder attacked me.

Saturday I did manage to finish stripping the sealer out and even applied new and worked the dents out of the roof. It may get primer this week and maybe even painted. I'm getting the CNC mill Friday so this thing need to get done...

Jamie

[Mugwump]

Holy...

Man, you're lucky it was just shirt, and not skin! Glad you got thru that ok. I mean, if you lose a bunch of paint, and your shop floor gets painted in the process, that's a glass half full proposition.

[67mann]

Glad it only hooked your shirt. I just read some of this post gotta lot done. I'm glad I checked it out--I like your use of the cherry picker ,it changed my mind on how I was gonna get my cab off. I have friends that'll help,but then you get caught up in favor trades

[Ranchero50]

Well, the mad dash to finish the cab before the mill arrived almost worked out. The cab has one very heavy coat of primer and I have an agreement with my neighbor to paint it when ready and he recommended waiting a couple weeks to let the 2k primer settle and cure before sanding on it. The cab looks really good in primer so it should paint out nice and smooth.

So on to the mill. Some pics showing the mill in position in the garage, right where the cab spent the winter.













Spent the day debugging a friend puter and then working on installing the phase converter and figuring out what conduit I'll need to run the wiring. Once the mill is making chips the bed is getting pulled back off the frame and the front clip is going into it's place and I'll start the body work on it. Goal is to have the front of the truck in paint before the end of the month, well maybe...

Jamie

[HRDROKN]

More pain... Why is it when you absolutely gotta have it done it goes to crap instead...

Fridays fiasco...

Look at the pictures and guess just what went wrong...

Hey.... I got a shirt that looks just like that!

[1971ford]

ive been eating lots of popcorn waiting for an update!

playing with your new mill is no excuse
well maybe

[Ranchero50]

Playing 773H with the new mill is more like it... Stupid encoder died on it the other week and I'm still waiting for parts. The truck is doing a great job as horizontal storage again. I did get to replace the front springs in my Ranchero this weekend and installed a new winch on my friend roll back. That was fun...

Jamie