Hey All I live in Vancouver BC Canada. I have used this forum for years keeping my 50 Chevy going. In the past I have driven her daily driving the sea to sky highway with ease. For the past three years I have parked her selfishly letting mother nature take over. I have decided to make her sexy again. I'm going to clean here up and do some preventative maintenance at a low budget to get her rolling for spring. Here is how she sits now, on my driveway My intention is to pull most of the interior, replace the mouldy cardboard and sound deaden and insulate where I can. Took half a day and pulled most of anything easy. The gauges were rusty and mouldy so I wanted to clean them up. The trim had some crazy rust in some areas. Instead of sanding it all and spray painting it with some spray paint that wont quite match, I want to clean the rust and clear the metal with a lacquer. I think it will look cool with little time and energy put in. Again, this is preventative maintenance. One day I want to make her original....one day.
Looks like a real good one to start with. Doesn't appear to have alot of rust. Thanks for the photos and good luck! We like photos here, some more?
Guages After getting most of the interior out I pulled apart the gauges to clean them up. Not being able to clean the rust off without wreaking anything, I ordered new decals. Pulled everything apart and cleaned Sanded and painted all the backing plates a nice white Once the new decals arrived I sanded the gauges and stuck the appropriate ones on. I used some soapy water to help centre them Re installed them into their backing plates Viola! They look good. Specially since the decals that came were a off white so they dont look super new. Since Im not going to be making everything perfect I dont want the gauges to pop out.
Interior I want to make everything inside nice and rattle free without redoing everything. I greases all the window crank and parts, works mint now There is some rust on the roof and around the windows I am going to get rid of and then clear. The floor is the same as the roof, with a litte rust. I want to sand most of this off and put a primer to prevent further rust. I also want to use some weather matting to deaden the sound. Ive weather matted the rear wall. I want to do the floor, roof and gas tank the same. This stuff is cheap but I am finding its hard to stick in the cold.
Looks like you're off to a good start here! Thanks for sharing the photos. Looking forward to following along with your project. Damon
Ive weather matted the rear wall. I want to do the floor, roof and gas tank the same. This stuff is cheap but I am finding its hard to stick in the cold. [/QUOTE] Heat gun is your friend.
Welcome home , peabo ! Looks like a nice rig , also like you're doing good works . In general it's wise to leave 2" between the lower edge of the sound matting and the floor , edges , pinch welds and so on .
Nate Why 2 inches? Also, I was going to use this matting all up the floor and firewall. How hot does the firewall get? Thanks! Jeff
Good job What is the stuff your useing on the back wall where did you find it ?? Looks to cover a large space fast. And can we find it in so california?
Hi Peabo. Nice truck! Looks like a good project plan. When you clean the rust off the floor, remember, primer doesn't seal out moisture. Gonna' need some real paint for that. I can't speak for Nate, but I think the 2 inch spacing he talked about is to allow a little 'breathing' room to help keep moisture from remaining behind the insulating panels. I'll bet Nate will correct me if I'm wrong
Waterproofing Membrane Im using membrane that goes behind a shower to seal out the water. Its a thick membrane that sticks well when heated. Wonder if it will ever come off Jeff
Sound Padding To allow air to breath back there ~ closer and moisture will accumulate and cause rusting . -Nate
Spray bomb heavily all panels before you put down the sticky stuff to help prevent rust out underneath. Use a heat gun when applying and make shure there are no bubbles nderneath to collect moisture If yo do get bubbles, just poke with a in and squeeze the air out. You can use a small roller to help smooth and stick the stuff.
Door Tunning Been working on my 50 over the holidays knocking all the little improvements off my list. I have been recently working on my doors amazed in how well the work with a little grease up and alignment. I wish I did this years ago. Now they open and close with ease and very little effort. I pulled out and greased the door locking mechanism then reinstalled. I also removed the handle turn thing that pulls the locking mechanism. These needed a little fiddling with to make sure they worked nicely. I got new striker plates because mine were worn down very unevenly because of improper door alignment. The new little rubber grommets are a nice added touch. I a bit of a bumper behind this bar to stop it from rattling. Im thinking of converting my truck to Canadian. I have a lot of missing little Phillips screws that are not as easy to find as the Robertson screws. Getting into my truck like this I am finding lots of missing bolts, stripped bolts and even broken off bolts. My truck was so rattly before, I hope this quiets her down a bit. Jeff
