Raptor Bedliner was on sale at KMS Tools, so I bought a box to do the cab floor, inner fenders, skid strips on the bed, and bed braces.
I will get some tintable bedliner for the insides of the bed itself, to match the body colour when I go to paint it.
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:My median is pretty average.
And the other side. The more I work this, the more I want a satin paint. To hide my mistakes.
Worked on adjusting the fender curve and door curve to match. Grrrr. I wish I could see this and know how to deal with it right up front so I don't have to do it later. Got it to what would be an acceptable level of filler.
Other bed side done. Very reasonably flat. Got some good shrinking with the torch until I ran out of Oxygen, then did the rest with the shrinking disc.
Today was blasting. Using my smallest tip, and 20-60 grit crushed glass, 100psi in the tank, 50psi at the pot, I had zero problems with the compressor over-heating. Yay! But this was four hours of blasting:
Two and a half hours gave me this:
When the handle of the abrasive/air valve fell off, and the leg of the blaster broke off. Upgraded to a possibly better flowing brass T (though I may wish to biggie-size it):
Finished the right fender, and got about as far on the left fender before it started to rain.
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:Raptor Bedliner was on sale at KMS Tools, so I bought a box to do the cab floor, inner fenders, skid strips on the bed, and bed braces.
I will get some tintable bedliner for the insides of the bed itself, to match the body colour when I go to paint it.
Curious to see how it turns out for you.
I bought the "gator" bedliner we sold when I worked there and it turned out to be crap. Rock hard and quite thin.
I'm hoping the DIY kits have improved in the last 15 years.
Raptor seems to be highly regarded on the 67-72 forum.
Also heard back from U-Pol about how to get their tintable bedliner tinted by your automotive paint store - important to me, because while Raptor can come in "orange," I will be painting this Grabber Orange, which isn't really an orange. Or a yellow.
Latest video:
Primed the nose, the underside of the steps (so I can weld the reinforcement, then I'll prime the tops), as well as the inside of one of the fenders (so I can flip it over tomorrow). No blasting done today because comedy of activity timing.
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Finished priming the fender the other day, along with the steps after I welded the brace underneath. No idea if short steps are reinforced underneath or not; can't hurt.
I've been doing more blasting. The left rear fender is blasted, the step supports are blasted, and two bed rails are now blasted.
Also filled a couple holes in the bed sides that used to hold something. Well, a couple were for the spare tire mount, but dunno about the others.
Started thinking about organizing the air ride next.
One more bed brace to blast, and I think I'll be doing the final light blasting of the bed for primer.
In between the previous sandblasting episodes (waiting for the air compressor to cool, for example), I started placing the Air Ride components.
While I initially planned to tuck an air tank or two inside bulbous rear fenders, I ended up placing the kit's air tank on the left side leg of the "X". This frame makes it tricky to place a tank, though it is easier with the bed floor raised. You need to take into account room for the driveshaft, room to plumb the lines, tank servicability, access to tank drain, operation of rear sway bar, serviceability of differential, etc..... The compressor will likely go right where I have it in the picture. I'll be running single exhaust down the passenger side, so no room over there.
Finished blasting the last of the bed rails. Also blasted all the metalwork/shrinking marks from the inside of the bed.
Outside of the bed next.
Still need to blast the hood, the grill, the headlight bezels, and the cab.
Enjoyed the fender fixer vid. One of the few YouTube channels that actually give you enough granularity to be considered a learning experience rather than just entertainment.
Some people would think you were like a teacher or some such.
Pete
Blasted the outside of the bed, and some parts of the bed bottom I had missed. Next will be to up-end the bed, finish blasting the underside, and then should be ready for primer. I hope. I'm always ready for surprises.
I have about 15 hours worth of time-lapse sandblasting video.
First side of bed parts being primed. Second side tomorrow morning. Trying to work three times as fast.
So on the drivers side where the spare used to be whats your plan there? The spare won't fit there on the short bed right?
I will put the spare there.
The shortbeds also have mounted the spare there, but the longbed fenders have the fender opening lower down than the shortbed fenders, which -does- make a tighter fit for a tire, but a 245/45R18 -will- fit, so I'm good.
I'm not going to get rid of the opening.
I cannot fit a spare under the bed.
I also haven't carried a spare in ANY vehicle for over 20 years. Time might be running out.
Cool. I was wondering if the spare would fit. Might look funny with the fender dent and no spare but if the spare goes there it'll look right.
In the morning I flipped everything over and did the other side. What surprised me is the bed parts took an entire gallon of Epoxy Primer. Mixed 1:1 with activator, that's two gallons sprayed! At over $200 for both, I can see this truck taking $1000 in primer alone. Wow. I'm pretty sure I put three gallons of primer (and three gallons activator) into the cab and doors, front fenders and nose. Hmmm. Make that $2200 in primer once the cab and frame are done. Wow.
Dang, that's a lot of primer!
Kinda makes you want to just clear coat over that pretty black primer, and maybe fins a good pin-striper, eh?
(Honestly, I respect your clean and mean philosophy, but being sincerely lazy, can only associate so much.)
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