Gizler00

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Terrys87

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Truck is getting some major surgery quick. The rest of the truck looks to be in great shape.

Gizler00

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Thanks Terry! I really wanted to Act fast and get this rust taken care of before winter. It will be here before we know it, and I want to have this thing all buttoned up body wise before then.

The rest of this thing is in really good shape. It needs some attention in the interior, but other than that....it doesnt need much.

Gizler00

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So while the bed is off, I have decided to grind off all the undercoating on the frame, as well as rust, and then coat it with a rust protectant. I usually always use POR-15, but this time I was introduced to some stuff I have never seen before. There are a lot of people that seem to like it, as well as an equal amount of people that dislike it. I have had good luck and bad luck with POR-15, and decided to give this stuff a shot. Time will tell..... Here is is.




I spent some time stripping everything off the frame. Its so nice that there is no rot or really heavy rust on this thing. I really did not have to spend a ton of time taking heavy amounts of rust and scale off like I have so many times in the past. I used a flap disc wheel and some 3m Roloc sanding discs to break everything up. One thing that I was pleasantly surprised at was the fact that the inside of the frame is still nice and scale free. It actually still has the smooth factory finish on it.

I still might do some Used Motor oil interior coating of it before this winter to reassure that it does not get torn up from the harsh liquid salt mix that they put down on the road.

Anyhow.....Here is where I got to today. I am far from done, and need to finish tomorrow or early next week. I have some time since the bed wont be done for about 3 weeks.







Some things that are coming first priority while the beds off are:

Welding a brace in the rear of the frame rails
Shocks all the way around (bilsteins I think)
BJ spacer lift
New fuel Pump while the beds off



Other than those few items, I still want to do the carpet, tail lights,and marker lights, then just enjoy driving a nice clean 3rd gen for a while.

crashburnoveride

You're welding on new frame braces. I cut one of mine off. this truck will be awesome.

Terrys87

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You got the frame looking good. Anytime I have the bed off, I pull the tire carrier off and get it in good operating order. I see yours is the 3 bolt tire carrier. Most I have seen are the 4 bolt tire carrier. I got a great 3 bolt carrier that I came across some where and have no need for it if yours is bad if you want it. I run the chain out and cover them in wheel bearing grease and also pack the housing full of grease to give the carrier some protection.

rustED

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It's looking good Mark, your making quick work of it getting all the projects knocked out!

rustED

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Whoops, double post...

In your first pics I thought your truck looked like it was grey, but in the auto body shop it looked more teal or blue. Nice work, can't wait to see the bed finished up!

Gizler00

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HA! Thanks Buddy.

Good idea Terry. I know it worked last year, but I need to find out before I get the bed back on. I will definitely coat it with Bearing grease.

Thanks ED!

It is definitely a weird color for sure, looks blue sometimes, then gray others. Its a factory one. 179 is the Code. Dark Gray Metallic.

Gizler00

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Well.... I just bit the Bullet on Some Shocks. I initially wanted to go with some Bilstein 5100's, but just dont have the funds right now for that. I ended up Getting some Rancho's for a good deal through my local Parts Vendor. So now I can install the BJ spacer's... Hopefully this week.

Gizler00

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Shocks came in and the Rears are too short! So I had to send them back and get some that are for 3"+ lift in the rear.

However, since they were here, I decided to install the Ball Joint Spacer as well as new Ball joints.

Here is what I started with.



Here is the spacer installed after some trimming.




Here is the end result.




IT came out higher than I thought. Its really hard to gauge how its going to sit since the beds not on. But It looks like it will sit level.. At least Im hoping it will.



Last night I had my welding class at the College and while I was there, I got to see the Collision students working on my bed.

Here is the Patch panel that they installed using Fuser.




Here are a few more of the progress on the bed.







Its getting Primered tonight and then Block sanded afterwards. It should be getting close to being wrapped up by next week and I can throw it back on.

I was talking to my co-worker at the college, hes the collision and refinishing instructor, and he said that my bed was pretty rough and had a lot of dents and repairs needed. I started laughing and told him that its funny how different people with different professions can have completely different perspectives. I told him that this is the cleanest one of these trucks I have ever owned and that a bed in this shape can go for a lot of money. And, I never even saw the dents until they started sanding on the bed.

We both had a good laugh.

I am so grateful that I have this opportunity to get the work done on my bed and allow the students to learn at the same time. I also am really enjoying learning more about the refinishing side of auto body.

Im getting anxious to drive it again.

Terrys87

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I got a laugh on your co worker saying that the bed was rough. A friend of mine was always saying that as well. I got thinking a great bed to him was a new bed from the factory. Once you start body work, you do find several dents and dings in them. Looks like things are going quick for you.

Gizler00

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Exactly!!

Gizler00

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Got the new extended Rancho shocks on finally.



The bed should get painted tomorrow night and be done and ready to mount up next week.

Here it it is in primer with a final block sand

Gizler00

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I need to get the bed back on so I can align the front end. It's got some bad camber after the spacer lift.

The PO cranked the torsion bars and I'm probably going to have to take them down some to get the camber back in check with the lower arm adjustment.

Gizler00

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Bed is done and ready to be mounted back up. I do not teach there again until Wednesday, so I have some more time to get a few more things done.





Today, I decided to make the Brace for the back of the frame. I like to throw these in and stiffen up the back of the frame. Plus, if I ever want to make a custom bumper or a trailer hitch, I can build off of it later.









I also was poking around with the wiring in the back and noticed that there was a trailer harness back there that was not connected to anything, so I cut it out to tidy things up a little bit. Im also ditching the rear tail lights for some factory ones.

crashburnoveride

So shiny!

jakey poo

The bed turned out great

Nervo19

That truck is going to be gorgeous. Do you know how many hours the students have in the bed? Were those your welds on the frame because they look too good to be from a student.

Gizler00

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I know! I'm curious to see what it looks like against the rest of the truck.

Thanks!

Thanks Man. They have worked on it two night classes a week for the last 3 weeks. So close to 24 hours in it.

Those are my welds. I did that in the shop at my Day time teaching job. Thanks for the compliments