1980 F150 4x4 Flareside Project

[grumpin]

Nice!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Woo hoo!    

Freshly painted parts are always exciting.

You'll be busy this weekend.  

[Gary Lewis]

Excellent!  Going to be fun bolting the fresh panels on.  

[ckuske]

Looks great!  I skimmed a little bit back and didn't see an answer, so is this a stock color?  Paint Code 3L ?

[Rembrant]

Hi Chris,

The truck is two tone, but the dark blue is Ford code 3B midnight blue metallic used between 1979-1981. The original paint was single stage, and the shop used their scanner camera to come up with the closest match in base/clear. So the new color on the panels I just had done is a GM color called “Old blue eyes metallic”. A quick Google search shows that it was used on various 2016-2018 vehicles?

I don’t know how well it’s going to match up until I bolt the fenders, steps, and tailgate to the bed...which have 30 year old 3B single stage on them. Fingers crossed that it won’t be too drastically different.

I ran into this when I had my 1984 Flareside painted. They had a really hard time converting the old single stage Ford 3P into a modern base/clear.

A bit of an issue around here is that it’s really hard to get anybody to spray single stage paint. It has been outlawed in certain areas due to new VOC regulations and has basically become backyard body shop paint.

Another issue coming down the line is that both the body shop and a separate auto body paint supplier told me that many of the paint companies will be deleting a lot of the old 80’s and older paint codes. This may be an issue specific to Canada as they will likely completely ban the single stage paints at some point. They new standard is the water based base/clear coatings. $$$$$

[ckuske]

Gotcha, I really like the color.  I'm trying to get my truck ready to be repainted back to original Midnight Blue Metallic (3L) as it looks in my profile photo. The problem is it's been resprayed over with Light Medium Blue (I think?) as shown in the first post of my project page, and at least one old coat of 3L underneath that.

I'd like to get it all stripped and repainted from bare metal up - there is some body work do also, my right fender seems to have been bondo'd at some point and where it meets the door on the bottom is jutting out a little bit.

I imagine the regulations here in California are the same or worse at this point regarding VOCs.  When I get a little closer, I'll post a question to my project thread as how to best manage the painting process (send to shop in pieces, or send the whole truck, especially given the need for body work etc)

Anyway, looks good!  Can't wait to see how it looks reassembled.

[Rembrant]

ckuske wrote

Gotcha, I really like the color.  I'm trying to get my truck ready to be repainted back to original Midnight Blue Metallic (3L) as it looks in my profile photo. The problem is it's been resprayed over with Light Medium Blue (I think?) as shown in the first post of my project page, and at least one old coat of 3L underneath that.

Code "3L" is Dark Blue Metallic (1982-1985?). Very nice color. I had saved pictures of a few different trucks with 3L paint as I was going to use that code myself. It is absolutely stunning in certain light. My 3B Midnight Blue Metallic is really dark, but I like it.

I believe this truck below is 3L Dark Blue Metallic. Very nice!

[Rembrant]

New bed sides are on the truck, finally! Still a lot of work to do, but it looks like a truck again!

[grumpin]

That is looking sharp!

[Gary Lewis]

WOW!  What a transformation!  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Fantastic Cory!  

The colour match looks pretty good on my phone.
Are you happy with it in the daylight?

[Rembrant]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Fantastic Cory!  

The colour match looks pretty good on my phone.
Are you happy with it in the daylight?

Haven't had it out in the daylight yet Jim, but I think the match is not too bad. Of course the base clear is much more glossy up close, but when the old single stage is all buffed with compound and waxed, it pops pretty good too. I know I've mentioned it before, but this truck shows well in pictures but is really not very nice in person...it's pretty rough. However, I'm hoping I can clean it up enough to make it presentable as a 20/20 truck...looks good from 20 ft and 20 mph...lol.

[fryntrz]

Bed looks great!  The wheel/tire combo really work with the flare side too!

[FuzzFace2]

I would not mind that truck parked in my driveway looks great

How was the white stripe done?
Was this a tape, after market maybe, was able to find a match for the bed or it was all redone to match?
Got a close up of it?

What did you do for the bed floor or nothing at this time and it is open?
Dave ----

[Rembrant]

FuzzFace2 wrote

How was the white stripe done?
Was this a tape, after market maybe, was able to find a match for the bed or it was all redone to match?
Got a close up of it?

What did you do for the bed floor or nothing at this time and it is open?
Dave ----

Dave,

The truck was painted I'm guessing about 30 years ago. I don't when exactly, but the paint on the truck was on it when it was sold in 1995, and I'm guessing that whoever had it before that didn't paint it to sell it, so I just guess at sometime in the early 1990's. The paint is single stage...even wiping it with Spray-9 will turn a rag blue...lol.

All I had painted was 4 pieces. The new homemade bed sides, the original headboard that I rebuilt, and a used rear sill I bought from a guy in Georgia.



I've been trying my hardest to touch up all the other parts...well...the whole rest of the truck really.

The tailgate had about 40 screw holes in it...seriously. There were 29 just on the inside, and another 10-12 along the outside top edge where there had been snaps for a tonneau cover that was installed years ago. I welded every hole closed, then ground smooth and puttied.



Not wanting to paint the whole tailgate, I just ground/sanded down the top edge and then sprayed with gravel guard and painted with a rattle can I had mixed up in the correct Ford code 3B. I think it turned out OK, and it saved me from having to do the whole gate.






The bed still has no floor. I'm going to do it in wood, and so far the best option is with Red Oak ($320 bucks, for 7 boards cut to fit). I was going to do metal like you did, but I can't find a floor around here that isn't rotted out. Buying new metal bed floor panels didn't make much sense to me...the freight and work to install, I might as well put wood in there. If I can find something cheaper than the red oak I'll do it...but that is almost guaranteed to be pine or spruce...not sure I want to do that, either. Maybe. I put all the holes in the factory locations on the bed sides so that they will align with the bed strips. I just don't have the inner fender humps...and don't need them anyway. Only the Flareside purists will know the difference.



The pin strips are aftermarket...is that what you were asking about the stripes? I've found new replacements, which I might order to repair some spots. They are half an inch wide...one strips is 1/4", the other is 1/8", and they are 1/8" apart.



The hardest thing I have to do (in my mind) is to fix the holes in the cab and front fenders without having to paint the whole truck. I have to do both cab corners yet, and 15-20 screw holes in the cab from things that were removed (grab handles, visor, etc). Not sure how I'm going to do it yet, but I'm wanting to keep the 30 year old patina of the truck...and I'm not wanting to spend thousands of dollars to paint it...that's not happening this time...lol.

Got the passenger side assembled today. A friend of mine dropped by to help me with the fenders. They're a real pain to do when the bolts aren't welded to the sides like Ford did them...lol.

I still have a whole bunch of work to do, but I'm aiming to have it on the road in May.

[Rembrant]

Oh man...I have to tell you guys that I had a terrible rush of panic when I first dropped the new bed on the frame...and the bolt holes in the frame didn't line up! My first thought was that I built the new bed sides too short...and then second I thought oh no...the 1995 frame is different in the back end and I didn't know until after I did all this work (and money...lol).

Anyway...turned out to not be a big deal. I had to drill two new holes at the very end of the frame. The Bullnose frames have two sets of holes here...or at least my 1984 Flareside does. I assume one set of holes are for the Flareside bed, and the other set for the Styleside bed...but the 1995 frame didn't have the holes for the 1980-1987 Flareside bed (obviously). I drilled them and voila, problem solved! But man...did my heart sink for a few minutes prior to that...lol.

[Gary Lewis]

You were wrong when you thought you were wrong?  

Seriously though, glad it worked out.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

I think I would have curled up in a fetal position and gone to sleep.   😫

[FuzzFace2]

On the floor I can under stand not going metal if none are around.
Only reason I did was I had a good one from the parts truck to use,
It even had bed liner on it that I kept to keep the floor in good shape and keep stuff from sliding around back there.

On the wood you going planks over ply wood? Did you do ply wood or planks on the 84?
Would ply wood nay be be cheaper? Think it would still need to use 2 sheets because of how wide the bed floor is but you would not need to cut the wheel humps like on the other bed sides.

OK after market stripes they should be easy to find then.
I was looking at different ones on the web when I was doing mine, I even was thinking of painting them on. As you know you get close to the end of a project and you just want to drive it so I went no stripes between the 2 colors. I can add after market stripes if I want its just finding a color that would go with the red & white.

On the screw holes in the cab.
I think I would put screws in the holes, grind the heads off and tap it down a little  and use a little filler to finish it off. I have taken metal rod that fit the screw holes (molding clip holes in my case that I could not get a copper spoon to), welded the rod in the hole and used a cut off wheel to cut it flush and did the same to the next holes.

I know you said you don't want to pint it so blend it, after all it is single stage paint.
You will need to take the oxidation off the old paint before blending but that is normal for blending.
Truck looks great
Dave ----

[Rembrant]

I set out to move the old 1980 project truck from the shop at work to my house, and so I was rushing to get a bunch of stuff done yesterday and today, and then wouldn't ya know it the stupid thing wouldn't fit on my brother inlaw's trailer lol. Me and my 10" wide rims...

In any case, I cut 4 new hardwood blocks so that I could tighten the bed to the frame, I changed the rear diff fluid, installed the front park-brake cable, and installed a new 70am 1G alternator (did that yesterday). I even sand blasted the alternator bracket and shined up the bolt bosses on the block to make sure everything was grounded properly. Now I have a serious battery draining issue (I realized it before installing the new alternator). Going to try swapping in a spare voltage regulator as per my other thread, and see how that goes.

I also had to bump the idle up a little bit...first adjustment on my cheapo Amazon carb. Truck doesn't seem to smoke at all...and it starts right up.

But still...sooo much work to do. Mechanically it's all pretty close now...almost road ready. Need to build a wood floor for the bed, and then wire in the tail lights and fix all of the other lighting issues. I have a pile of new front end parts ready to go on (inner and outer tie-rods, etc.).

That's all. I'm having one of those weekends where I'm getting tired of working on it....really tired...but maybe just need a break. I have to swap summer tires on both our daily drivers tomorrow, so maybe I'll take a little break from old crusty. I don't think I'll be keeping this thing. I'll get it road ready and tested and then move it along.