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49 GMC Progress Report

The skill level I keep seeing is off the hook. Great photos!
The only thing I'm wondering about is, with the engine tucked back into the firewall like that, if you will have an excess of heat passing through the firewall?
So how far away from painting this are you?
 
Thanks for the compliments Zig. It is really a collaboration between the metal guy, Wyatt, and me, but he mostly keeps my hare-brained schemes in check and provides the talent.

The heads that are tucked into that tunnel will operate at about 190F and I don't think the heat transferred into the cab though the dog house will be excessive. I plan to insulate the dog house and floor.

What I am most concerned about is the exhaust. I built the headers from 304 SS which has a much lower rate of heat transfer than mild steel (thermal conductivity of stainless is about a half to a third of mild steel). Theoretically that should keep the headers from giving up so much heat in the engine compartment and keep it a little cooler (and the exhaust gas hotter). For the belt-and-suspenders treatment, they're coated with ceramic to slow the heat transfer even more. Fingers crossed that this all works.

I thought I'd be ready for the painter by the end of last year, but it looks like I'll be lucky to get it to the painter's shop before the end of the first quarter of this year. The more time I spend in Wyatt's shop, the more attention my truck gets from him, but this pesky job I have keeps getting in the way - planning to retire in early March and spend more time at his shop doing paint-prep grunt work.

Phil
 
Retiring in March? Sounds like GREAT timing!
The work you did on your headers was off the hook!
Keep those photos coming!
 
Thought it was about time for a progress update.

Getting closer to taking the truck to the paint shop. All the front sheet metal has been hung and aligned after what seemed like a lifetime of sanding. Here's the driver's side - still need to prime and final sand the GMC grill surround. The 'to-do' list now fits on a single page.
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Another shot of the left side.............need to pull the hood down ever so slightly
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Needed access to the hydroboost, brake reservoir and clutch master under the driver's feet. I cut access holes and reinforced them with doublers formed on the shrinker/stretcher and plug welded them into place. Formed the covers on the bead roller to stiffen them up a little then installed them with quarter-turn Dzeus fasteners that you can open with change from your pocket. Wyatt insisted that they needed handles so he whipped some up and spot welded them onto the covers. A lot of work for something nobody will ever see, but my floor is nice and stiff!
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Told my boss my last day working would be April 14th and hoping I can get the truck to the paint shop by then and have it back by the end of June when the Arizona weather gets really miserable. Looking forward to staying home this summer and reassembling the truck (put AC in the shop a couple years ago anticipating being able to work in there over the summers when I retire)

Next job is the gas tank. Fabing the mounting brackets for a Camaro tank with the filler neck and cap under the license plate in the roll pan. Will need to modify the roll pan and rear bed support before paint. The last time I had a car with a fuel filler that was under the license plate was years ago, and I could still squat to fill the tank. Thirty years and two knee replacements later, not so much. May have to keep a pad under the seat to kneel on to fill the gas tank.

Bought a straight original grill from Mothertrucker this morning. His suggestion was to buy a good painted grill and have it plated. He said the details will be a little crisper on a painted grill than one that's had the original chrome stripped off and re-plated. Seems to make sense and with a little luck I'll be into it for less than the cost of a repo grill. There's a chrome plater in Tucson that caters to the hot-rod crowd, but his quality seems to run hot and cold. If anybody has any suggestions on a good chrome shop, I'd like to hear it.

Best regards from Phoenix

Phil
 
Finally got some time to work on the truck a little. Mocked up the Camaro gas tank with the new MarK bed end piece. Fuel filler will be under the license plate on the roll pan. I remember fighting with spring loaded license plates - Thinking about some sort of magnetic catch.

April 14th is coming quick!

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A couple of things you might want to keep on mind are you will need a sealing type fuel cap to keep gas from sloshing out of the rear fill tube. The factory had to follow EPA rules with a vapor collector or a return fuel line but we just use a roll over valve/filter from Speedway. On ones with the IRS combined with big engine and tires we have had to use struts (torque arms) from the rear end cover bolts and angled up in a splayed fashion to a substantial cross member. The side seals on the Jag rear end with inboard rotors have a shorter life span than the later outboard rotor units but this is usually a problem on only the ones driven hard enough to keep the rotors hot for an extended period (ie slalom racers). Your ride should rightfully so draw a lot of favorable attention with it not being another cookie cutter effort. Pic of a 50 in the shop with an outboard disc Jag IRS underway.

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Evan - thanks for the reminder on the cap and venting. I've built fuel systems in the past and wondered why the car stopped running only to find that I'd forgotten to vent the tank.

The Jag diff didn't show any signs of leaking out the pinion or drive side when I had it pulled out of the donor. Fingers crossed that the seals are good. I've had them rebuilt before and it's a PITA

Still noodling how to brace the diff to keep it from flopping around back there. I saved these two radius rods from a sand car upgrade a few years back and will try to use them. Will wait to install them when the truck comes back from paint and is back in my shop.
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Thanks for the compliments, tips and reminders - very much appreciated.

Phil
 
Phil, that GMC is a thing of beauty! I can't wait to see the finished product!
Thanks for the update on this!
 
Today's my fourth day of retirement and have been going to work at the body shop every day. Kinda like work, but without all the stress, baloney and politics. I think I'm going to enjoy it.

Had three painters come and take a look at the truck, but only one came back with an estimate - I nearly fell on the floor when he quoted a price. All expressed concern about painting over some-one else's body work. One even wanted me to sign a hold-harmless agreement in case the paint failed down the road

The one guy that did bid wanted to prime and block the truck again and use the PPG primer he was familiar with. I understand their reluctance, but it seems like the work is unnecessary. The truck was blasted with crushed glass, epoxy primed with Southern Polyurethane's product, the metalwork completed then coated with featherfill and blocked, then primed with U Pol and blocked two more times. To prime and block it again seems like excessive material.

So it is back to the usual scenario for me - if you can't afford it, do it yourself.

The guy that did all the metal work is an experienced painter, but closed his booth down when he couldn't get it permited in his current location. We can rent a good paint booth in the area for $150 a day and I'm going to buy a nice Iwata spraygun. (I bought an MG-TD basket case last week to build for for my wife - will be able to use the gun for that too - it'll be the next project in line) So the plan is for me to disassemble the truck in Wyatt's shop and do the final block sand, he'll paint the undersides of the hood, fenders and door jambs in the metal shop, haul all the parts to the spray booth and shoot them. Once painted I'll bring the parts home and start the process of color sanding and buffing. By the time all this happens, it is going to be hotter than hell here in Phoenix, so I'm going to bring it back home to my shop for final assemble where it is air conditioned. (Wyatt's is swamp cooled)

Sorry for rambling on - writing it down to tell somebody else my plan helps bring a little clarity for me - but maybe a little boring for everyone else.

Phil
 
Phil,
While I can understand the painter's dilemma about painting someone else's work (since the PAINTER always gets the blame- he was the last to touch it), I think your decision to rent a booth and have your metalwork guy lay down the color is an EXCELLENT idea. I would go so far as to suggest he do the final buffing too. HE knows how much paint he will have laid down, and he will own the process to closure. If you rub through, then it's the painter's fault for not putting enough material on! (that's the painter getting the blame again).

Single stage, or base/clear? Base/clear is a LOT more forgiving when it comes to buffing time.

-and it wasn't a ramble at all, just you being concerned. Good luck!
 
52wasp said:
Phil,
While I can understand the painter's dilemma about painting someone else's work (since the PAINTER always gets the blame- he was the last to touch it), I think your decision to rent a booth and have your metalwork guy lay down the color is an EXCELLENT idea. I would go so far as to suggest he do the final buffing too. HE knows how much paint he will have laid down, and he will own the process to closure. If you rub through, then it's the painter's fault for not putting enough material on! (that's the painter getting the blame again).

Single stage, or base/clear? Base/clear is a LOT more forgiving when it comes to buffing time.

-and it wasn't a ramble at all, just you being concerned. Good luck!
Click to expand...

The recommended paint system is an Omni base coat followed with a PPG clear.

I've color sanded and buffed a couple of paint projects myself and am comfortable doing it this time too ~ with some adult supervision, of course. Planning on buying enough paint material to cover any screw ups from me.

Made an agreement for Wyatt to do the bodywork on the MG too so getting needed repairs shouldn't be too tough
 
If <I> can do it...
I painted mine in pieces in my back yard out under the great wide open. I got a couple of runs here and there that I could buff out, but it is a work truck. And the compressor I used? One of those little twin tank jobs that isn't much bigger than a pancake compressor. (I just made sure the regulator was at the gun as the hose I have is kind of long.) People give me thumbs up and take photos of it when I'm parked in various parking lots, so it must look okay.
You can do this, Phil, and congratulations on the retirement deal! 5 more years for me, and I look forward to it SO much!
Now just be sure to update us real soon, eh? #cool#
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  • Media owner Zig
  • Date added
After 10 years, I love seeing my 1/2 truck parked on the street.
 
I've done some pretty fair paint jobs in garages and driveways over the years. But it is always a risk for dust and bugs and the usual result is a lot of work after you paint to address those imperfections. Arizona is a pretty hostile place for painting. The dust in the air around here is amazing and for someplace so dry there's lots of bugs. I push the homeowners association rules pretty regularly around here with car projects and I'm not sure could pull it off anymore.

The guys who tell you to take your initial estimate to complete your project and double or triple it are not far off the mark. I'm in so deep now that rationalizing renting a spray booth doesn't seem so unreasonable. By my estimate, doing this ourselves and renting a spraybooth I should be at about 30% of what the outside painter quoted me.

Always looking for an excuse to buy new tools anyway. I've been buying Harbor Freight guns and pitching them in the trash after several uses. A nice Iwata gun should be a big leap forward

What's the worst that could happen? I'd have to go back to work to pay for it all!
 
The bed has been fitted for a final fit check. While the MarK bed kit is a very high quality reproduction, the same can't be said for inner fenders and the aprons that go between the bed and the running boards. The aprons took a couple of hours of bodywork to get the contour correct against the cab and straighten them out. The inner fenders had a lot of tool marks in them to work out before they were acceptable. Whatever those repop parts cost you, figure it is going to be several times that just to get them to fit well enough to start preping them for paint, Cut a hole in the roll pan for the fuel filler neck to pop through.
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Started painting Friday. Starting with the cab and dash.
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And the back of the cab

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Will pull doors off today and start prepping them for painting jambs and interior panels. Plan is to paint the interior, door jambs, inner fenders, inside fenders in Wyatt's shop, reassemble the front of the truck then take it to a rented spray booth for the final color. Cut and buff at Wyatt's, reassemble and finally back home.
 
I need a cigarette~ MAN that is going to look beautiful! I'm color blind, but isn't that a green color? It kinda looks like the paint I had on my old '64 Chevy truck.
Painting in a proper booth is obviously the best way to go.
When I painted mine, I only noticed a couple of birds fall from trees and the outdoor cats haven't been the same, but other than that~ #rolleyes#
 
For whatever reason, I think AD trucks look good in green.

For all things color or style related, my wife wants to call the shots and she likes anything retro looking. We've had some lively discussions about what color to paint it, but we both like the sage green color of the new Fiat 500 - so that's what this is. The truck is going to be two-tone with the cab above the belt line painted a ivory white and the "GMC" surround panel on the tailgate painted white too. The painter likes the fact that it is a non-metalic - says it will be much easier to get a uniform color and easier to cut and buff to a final result.

All the photos were taken under florescent lights - the actual color is a little darker.
 
Well...Now you've gone and done it...

e015475 said:
she likes anything retro looking.
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I also like everything retro looking. Signs, buildings, airplanes, you name it. I even paid much extra to paint my work-truck, Kenworth in a 1960s,"Seminole" paint scheme, rarely seen on modern trucks.
e015475 said:
The truck is going to be two-tone with the cab above the belt line painted a ivory white and the "GMC" surround panel on the tailgate painted white too.
Click to expand...
So, what you've, "done", Phil, is make me want to re-think my plans for my truck. I really, really, REALLY!, like that green! And, I've never been a huge fan of green. And, the retro two color idea of painting the ivory white, just makes it perfect.
Don't worry, I won't copy you, but, your truck is going to be the COOLEST!

Steve.
 
Nice color scheme Phil. I too, look to my better-half for color related decisions. She agreed the grey leather of the Safari-van seat would work with the "copper exterior" for Penny. Being colorblind (ok, red-green deficient) means, unless you are doing a black-and-white job, you need "qualified" input.
I look forward to seeing more!
 
Phil color looks good I thought you were going to paint truck in your shop?
Is the paint base coat clear coat
 
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