Blue85 gets restored in 2009: Painted!

[Blue85]

I picked this K5 up in 1998 as a rust-free Arizona truck. It was clean but the paint was fried. I paid a shop to re-paint it. Since then I have driven it in every Michigan winter. Make no mistake, things are brutal here. If there is more than 1 snowflake in the air, those rotten orange trucks are out vandalizing the vehicles. If I hadn't has this thing rustproofed every two years there probably wouldn't be any body left to restore. Now I am going to do a complete re-paint myself.

Here's what I've done so far:

-I am smoothing the top out so that it has no texture. I am also filling the seams for a clean look:

I cut out all 4 wheel openings and welded the inner fender to the outer. (This is my first welding project). I slowly brought the inner fender out to meet the outer fender. The only process I could find is to get one spot hammered over, then tack it, then hammer a little over next to the last tack weld and repeat. Here is one fender before and after.

These are sized to fit Bushwacker cut-out flares.

Here is my stash of materials:

 

[lectric80]

Looks good, are you using the Dyna-Glass to fill those seams? I am planning something similiar so I am curious how you like it.

 

[Blue85]

Yes, the filler in the top is Dyna-Glass. It works fine but honestly it seems exactly the same as Bondo-Glass to me. I could have used actual fiberglass resin, I suppose.

As for the original damage, it is mostly just some bubbling here and there. There are just too many little things to simply have a section here or there repainted. There is only one spot that anybody besides me would notice.

Now you might want to shield your eyes or move small children away from the computer as I post the horror of the bad spot after I tore it apart and before blasting. Before I started it looked like a bubble on the corner of the door and a crack in the paint at the back of the rocker.

This is below the DS door. I actually repaired this area years ago, but since I used POR-15, now I have to do it over.

 

[lectric80]

If that is the worst of it, you are very lucky. I am getting ready to run down to AZ to pick up a rust free tub to rebuild mine. That little spot doesn't even look as bad as one rear quarter on mine.

Does the Dyna-glass have the short strand in it? If not it may crack out, but with the fibers it will help prevent the cracking that regular filler would experience.

 

[Blue85]

Does the Dyna-glass have the short strand in it? If not it may crack out, but with the fibers it will help prevent the cracking that regular filler would experience.

Dyna-Glass is polyester resin with short-strand glass in it. I don't think it would crack on the fiberglass top. I have been using the "All-Metal" on the sheet metal, but I'm not sure how well that holds up to cracking in larger areas.

 

[lectric80]

Good information, thank you.

 

[Blue85]

I'm torn about what to do with the front fenders. My future plans are to build a cool front bumper that extends back into the area where the lower front fender is today. However, the new fender flares have to be cut for this and that might not look good until the new bumper is done. While it would be nice to do that cutting before painting, I just don't think it's going to happen.

 

[lectric80]

What about cutting them and welding them with the flat spot back onto them? Basically reshaping them to work with the trimmed fenders, you would still have a finished look while waiting to build the bumper.

 

[Blue85]

Are you talking about cutting out a section of the fender flares? I didn't understand until I tried to fit them, but they are custom molded to the shape of the fender. If I cut the flares, it will probably just be a straight cut along with the fender (flare bolted one while cutting). I think it was Rootbreaker who did this.


Here is my update. I have a 4-day holiday weekend, so things are moving again.

This is my trophy box of sheet metal I removed:

Here is a preview of how the fender flares will look:

If you look closely, you can see the rust spot I tore open on the lower rear of the door. It looked like just a little bubble before I started. This is the same problem as the driver's side, but much less advanced.

The bodywork is almost done on the driver's side.

 

[Blue85]

To ruin my long weekend, my air compressor died tonight. I'm not sure if I can get parts in under a week.

I'll post a picture anyway. Here is a cut front fender.

 

[Blue85]

I'm back up and running with a friend's compressor. Here's today's update. The "bad spot" is nearly fixed:

And here's where I deleted the "Sierra Classic" emblem from the rear quarter.

 

[Chevy305]

nice work, keep us updated

 

[Blue85]

It doesn't seem like I got enough done for a 4 day weekend (family time is still good, though), but at least there was progress. The bodywork is basically done on the driver's side. I primed the whole lower section and around the wheelwells on that side last night. I also finished my hard top removal system, so I can pull the top, drive the truck out and lower the top to the garage floor to work on it. My only other progress was to align the tailgate correctly.

I'm trying to decide which parts should be attached and which should be off when I spray color and clear (doors, tailgate, hood). I have already decided to paint the topper seperately. I am starting to run out of space in the shop with all of the parts I've torn off.

 

[Teck]

Take off all you can it will make for a better paint job in the end.
as for the smooth top, that is how mine is done, I think it looks great, and gets alot of compalments on how much better it looks that way.

 

[la-zdunck]

how do you plan on removing the inner/outer fenders now, if and when the need arises?

 

[chris85]

what grit paper did you use to sand the top?

 

[Teck]

My good friend that has a body shop did mine, so I'm not sure.

 

[Blue85]

how do you plan on removing the inner/outer fenders now, if and when the need arises?

Everything unbolts as usual. When I was talking about inner/outer fender, I meant the two pieces that make up the "fender". These two skins are spot welded together in dozens of places from the factory. The inner fender, which is like the big rounded wheel well is unmodified.

 

[Blue85]

what grit paper did you use to sand the top?

I took mine down with an air file and 80 grit. It took about 1/3 of a roll.

 

[la-zdunck]

Everything unbolts as usual. When I was talking about inner/outer fender, I meant the two pieces that make up the "fender". These two skins are spot welded together in dozens of places from the factory. The inner fender, which is like the big rounded wheel well is unmodified.

ahhh, i see. i thought you welded the inner to the outer, but looking closer at your pics, i stand corrected. nice work, and a good idea.