The Truck of Doom: An Occasional Build Thread

[Dorsai]

Gary Lewis wrote

Ooooh, there's a new word for me!

Defenestration (countable and uncountable, plural defenestrations)

I've always thought it wonderful that the English language has a whole word dedicated to just that one odd concept.  I couldn't find a word meaning to throw something in through a window, though, so I made that one up on my own.

[Gary Lewis]

Makes sense to me:

Defenestration is out

Enfenestration is in

[Dorsai]

Hey, look what arrived today!  The next free time I have is Thursday, so maybe I'll be able to get some more work done then.

[Gary Lewis]

Cool!

Prep is the key.  The cleaner does a good job.  And the Metal Prep etches the bare metal, meaning the non-rusty metal, to give the POR something to which it can adhere.

I'll be looking forward to the pics.  

[Dorsai]

So...question.  Everything I am seeing and reading is about applying POR to bare metal or rust.  What about to painted surfaces, will it stick?  Or do I need to strip the existing paint from the areas of my cab floor that aren't rusted, but I don't want to rust in the future?

[Gary Lewis]

It will stick fairly well to cured paint, just not as well as it will to rusty metal or bare metal etched with the treatment.  I wouldn't strip what you have.  Just clean it all with the prep, etch any bare metal, and paint.

[Dorsai]

I found this in their FAQ:

CAN I APPLY POR-15 OVER OTHER PAINTS?
Yes, but you will lose the important benefits of POR-15. You must remember that ordinary paints are weakened by exposure to moisture. POR-15 can't stop rust if it isn't in direct contact with the base metal.

This also implies it will stick.  The bit about it not contacting the metal makes sense...but I would also hope that if it is as tough as they say it is, it will protect the underlying paint from moisture, thus keeping it from failing and allowing rust to begin.  

So...I'll just follow the prep steps, hit the floor surfaces with the POR, and hope for the best.

[Gary Lewis]

POR, or any paint for that matter, will stick better if it has "tooth" to grab.  So a quick scuffing of the paint with a sanding pad will help - but only after the floor is CLEAN.  Otherwise you be embedding the yuk into the grooves left by the sandpaper and you'll not get the paint to stick.  

[Dorsai]

It's been raining off and on today so no work got done on the truck, but not all was lost.  Courtesy of a highly disgruntled UPS driver, this showed up today:



Aside from one modest ding on the left lower edge (that will be easy to straighten out), it's remarkably clean and straight, especially for having come from Massachusetts.  Our company bonus payout is in March, so sometime afterward is when this will get put onto the truck and the whole thing painted.

A related question: for trucks like mine, where the F O R D lettering on the tailgate was a different color (white) than the primary truck color (red), were the letters painted, or was a decal applied?  I tried to look at mine to see, but the lettering is too deteriorated to tell one way or another.

P.S.  Much thanks to '1986F150Six', who pointed this gate out to me on eBay when I asked about one.

[Gary Lewis]

Nice find!  David did good!  

I don't know about the color for the FORD on the tailgate.  Not sure where to find that, either.

[FuzzFace2]

From what I have found on the letter colors
If the truck was white then the color kind of matched the color inside the truck.
So if you had red inside the letters were red, if blue inside then blue letters.
Now for any color other than white outside the letters were white but I think I seen gold some place also.

I am sure if the letters are a different color other than the outside color it was painted on.
Most go with decal as it is easy over painting them on.
Some tape off the letters to spray the letters on.

Other do it like the factory did and painted them on with a roller.
After the gate is painted using 1 shot lettering paint put a little on paper to roll the roller in.
Coat the roller and do a letter, roll in paint and do the next letter, etc.
They say if you don't like how it went on just wipe it off and start over.

BTW this roller is a soft rubber type used to coat block set letters for printing.
I think they say it should be about 4" wide to cover a letter in 1 shot.

I plan on the roller paint way just have not found the 4" roller only2" in the store I looked in.
1 shot paint you can et thru Eastwood but going to try local auto paint store first.
Dave ----

[Dorsai]

I do know that vinyl lettering exists, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they were used by the factory.

Of course, in my case they could be dealer adds like the pinstriping and wheel well trim; those guys really liked sticking stuff to trucks.

[Dorsai]

FuzzFace2 wrote

Other do it like the factory did and painted them on with a roller.

Looks like we were typing about the same time...so the letters were painted on.  Good to know - that’s another conversation to have with my future paint guy.

[1986F150Six]

Dorsai wrote

P.S.  Much thanks to '1986F150Six', who pointed this gate out to me on eBay when I asked about one.

You are very welcome! We, on the forum, make up a family and all have gifts and can contribute.

[Dorsai]

So...it's a BEAUTIFUL day outside here in the northern burbs of Atlanta:



Which means it's a perfect day to find something to do inside:



Today I'm prepping the cab floor for the POR15.  It's not the ideal time to be doing this, what with the rain and humidity, but I've already had the truck apart for a week now and I'd really like to start getting it back together.  If I'm lucky, the truck will dry out enough overnight for me to get the POR15 down tomorrow.

While I'm waiting for that, I've gotten the kick panels off and I'll be cleaning those, with an eye toward maybe repainting them and the seatbelt retractor covers (up on the cab walls) this week as well.

[grumpin]

Work on your Bullnose you must!

[FuzzFace2]

Dorsai wrote

So...it's a BEAUTIFUL day outside here in the northern burbs of Atlanta:



Which means it's a perfect day to find something to do inside:

Today I'm prepping the cab floor for the POR15.  It's not the ideal time to be doing this, what with the rain and humidity, but I've already had the truck apart for a week now and I'd really like to start getting it back together.  If I'm lucky, the truck will dry out enough overnight for me to get the POR15 down tomorrow.

While I'm waiting for that, I've gotten the kick panels off and I'll be cleaning those, with an eye toward maybe repainting them and the seatbelt retractor covers (up on the cab walls) this week as well.

Mama is not pissed her car is out side and she gets wet running to it?

I have 1 of my projects in the house garage, my truck sits outside, so her car is inside out of weather and stays a little cooler in the summer.
She was not happy when the project when in but had no room in my garage when I got the project & parts trucks home and still have a car in my garage also.

If the truck is not dry enough just put them lights in it it will dry out LOL
When I got up it was raining here too. I did not want to melt running to my garage so I stayed in the cool house.
Dave ----

[Dorsai]

FuzzFace2 wrote

Mama is not pissed her car is out side and she gets wet running to it?

I waited until she'd done her grocery run for the day before taking over the garage.    I'll probably catch some heat tomorrow, though, unless it stops raining before we leave for church.

But only a little heat - she's a tolerant and understanding gal.  She has friends whose husbands drink too much, or run around on them, or can't seem to hold a job.  Me...I occasionally hog the garage for a couple days at a time.  I try hard not to take too much advantage of her good nature, and we do just fine.

Now...the test will come in a year or two - in a bid to keep the payments on her needed new car down, I made a deal with her a few years ago to trade in my '09 Infiniti that I didn't drive much, and keep driving her old (but still solid) Lexus...with the understanding that when her new car (the Highlander in the photo) was paid off I would then get to buy and fix up my dream project car.  

There's less than a year to go on the Highlander and she's caught me browsing cars on eBay, and has just started questioning me on how we're going to manage four vehicles.  Dominic will eventually take the Lexus to college with him, but that's still four years away.  It's going to look like a used car lot out there for a while, but I'm sure she'll eventually come to terms with it.

[Dorsai]

FuzzFace2 wrote

If the truck is not dry enough just put them lights in it it will dry out LOL

As it happens, my basement dehumidifier can dry a truck out like nobody's business:



I could probably start painting after dinner if I wanted to.

[FuzzFace2]

Only four vehicles!
Heck I have four project vehicles, 2 in my 3 bay garage, 1 on the trailer outside my garage and 1 in the house garage.
We each have our own everyday cars, mine an 02 Durango with 225K on it hers an 2013 Subaru.

LOL I guess that dehumidifier would dry it out like nobody's business LOL
Dave ----