Old Blue - 1984 XL Flareside

[ArdWrknTrk]

Black wire is ground.
It doesn't need to be isolated, necessary...

[kramttocs]

This is BK/O to the battery post on the alt. I just happened to have the orange on the back side

[ckuske]

Thanks much, Scott!  I should get a wire gauge too, so I don't have to have other people do the work for me.  Really appreciate it.  Crimpers, terminals, and now wire gauge to be delivered tomorrow hopefully...

[ckuske]

Got the IWISS crimpers, terminals, and heat shrink.  The crimpers look great, thanks for the tip!  Probably a job for tomorrow.

Regarding painting the frame (the original goal).  I have the fender aprons out, and things are pretty easy to get to now.  I am toying with the idea of taking the fenders off - how much more involved would that be?  

Also, I am trying to decide what to paint exactly... just the frame rails, or what have you guys done?  Did you paint the coils etc also?  And for the rear, what's the opinion on painting the diff?  I'm kinda on the fence about it - I don't want everything to be black necessarily, but I'm worried about it looking weird to be 50/50 etc.

[kramttocs]

Great!

Fender removal and install isn't anything big. Especially since the doors and hood hinges won't be touched. Only pain is if the speed nuts break and spin.
But it's all a matter of how far you want to go with it.  I had the entire frame exposed front and rear so painted it all. Some only paint what is seen when looking around the tires. I don't recall where you are located but that would impact my decision some since in some regions painting the frame is purely cosmetic whereas in others it's preventative.

[ckuske]

My goal is to paint all the frame rails, the front and rear as much as makes sense.  The top of the rails the cab sits on won't get any paint, but that's OK.

I'm in SoCal, so no rust/salt issues here.  Just trying to future proof the frame, and have it look nice while I'm at it.  It'll probably be illegal to drive it in California sooner than the frame rusts

I'll take a look at removing the fenders - I hear what you're saying on the speed nuts.  Had a clip snap and spin on the core support and that was no fun trying to remove!

[ckuske]

Scott,

I'm admittedly no expert on this, but I took a five minute break from my day job and went to the garage to look at how the fenders are attached.  When *I* look at it, it seems the hood springs are attached to the fender.  Removing the hood spring bolts on each side looks easy, but if I disconnect the hood support(s) from the fender, I have the core support off in the front.  My concern is there is nothing for the hood to lie on with the springs disconnected from the fender.  I'd really like to not try and remove the hood.

Thoughts?  I have a feeling I'm missing something so I look forward to more details.

Thanks,
Chris

[kramttocs]

Nope, you've got it .The springs are attached so without them connected at the fender the hood would just fall and needs supported in some way. This could be done any which way that safely works. Could be propped from below or strapped from above.
I am with you - wouldn't want to remove the hood either and no reason to in this case.

[ckuske]

Phew, one less thing.  The weekend is shaping up to be looking pretty good!  Thanks for the quick replies

[FuzzFace2]

ckuske wrote

Regarding painting the frame (the original goal).  I have the fender aprons out, and things are pretty easy to get to now.  I am toying with the idea of taking the fenders off - how much more involved would that be?  

Also, I am trying to decide what to paint exactly... just the frame rails, or what have you guys done?  Did you paint the coils etc also?  And for the rear, what's the opinion on painting the diff?  I'm kinda on the fence about it - I don't want everything to be black necessarily, but I'm worried about it looking weird to be 50/50 etc.

I am most likely the wrong person to ask about painting the frame and other parts as I had EVERYTHING off the frame and painted it all black after a good degreasing and rust converter.
I used a spray gun and laid in on heavy.
I was looking to make a nice looking driver with my rebuild project.


On the fenders you do have them hard cardboard shims up at the top that will fall apart when removed.
I made new ones from rubber floor tile.

Dave ----

[ckuske]

All done with the painting of the fender liners, here are some pics.  I washed them off with Dawn soap and a scour pad, then SEM soap, then used SEM Plastic Adhesion Promoter (Sand Free didn't take on this plastic).  Finally, three coats of SEM Trim Black (39143).  It coated and adhered really well, but I didn't try to beat it up to check on scratch resistance.  The only gripe is the area where the battery sits - but the plastic is scored, so not much to do about that... it'll be covered normally so not a big deal.

Before:





Cleaned, but not painted:







After:

[ArdWrknTrk]

Chris, that's an amazing transformation.

You must have put a lot of work into that.  

[kramttocs]

Wow!
Those look great.

[Gary Lewis]

Wow!  Well done!  I'm sure that took a lot of work, but they look amazing!

I'll have to do that on the ones for Dad's truck.  

[ckuske]

Thanks all for the kind words!

To be fair, I have pictures of them cleaned but not painted but I couldn't find them today, I'll update the post when I find them.

EDIT: My original post above has been updated to show "clean but not painted" pictures.

I'd say I probably put about eight hours into it total.  I was really impressed by the SEM Trim Black.  It covered really really well.  With the plastic being as hard and glossy as it was, I was worried about the finish ending up streaky or spotty, but that ended up not being the case.

I've used Trim Black to freshen up the radio bezel, and that ended up looking really nice as well.  And, this is coming from someone whose track record with spray painting has been spotty (no pun intended, mostly... ) up until now.

[grumpin]

Dang! Very nice!

[Vic Roma]

I don’t buy it.

They’re NOS!

[ckuske]

I got my exhaust shroud back from getting its ceramic coating, it looks nice.  Should last a long while.





One of the bolts holding it onto the manifold is still there (and frozen) so I'm hitting it with PB blaster and taking my time.

In the meantime, the shop I used for the shroud also does metal polishing/finishing of all sorts.  I've discussed getting my OE mirrors fixed and polished there.  The main issue is there a what I call 'pings', where the mirrors have hit stuff in the last 40-ish years, so there are dents.  The shop owner says he can fix the dents and re-polish the mirrors, but the glass needs to come out.  It seems the mirrors are glued to the stainless shell, and I've heard they are very difficult to disassemble without damaging things.  I'm going to give it a try anyway, I'd like to save the original mirrors.  I've found a nice NOS replacement for the RH side, but can't find a left, hence my pivot to trying to salvage the originals.

[ckuske]

I was cleaning the frame off by the front coils, and one of these buggers fell off the frame, holding a brake line to the frame.







I can't find these anywhere, I believe the part number on the drawing is N800919-S.  

I'd like to keep the original look, even if they are less than optimal.  Anyone know where these can be found?  I know there was a thread from 2018 with no luck, but thought I'd ask again.

[kramttocs]

A jy/parts truck is the only place I know. Can't say I've seen any for sale nos.

Just some thoughts-
You could pop out the rod and use a factory looking bolt or you could use something like those drywall anchors to do the same as the missing part.