mY 1970 f100

[Madsen1970F100]

Always thought the bed played a critical part in relining up the cab Your bed sits directly on the frame....which gives you your bump elavation and for the most part---theres not much "front to back" play in mounting holes. So your cab can be adjusted of that. thats just my
Not trying to be negative (your doing great with both trucks,time frame and work location )

DOesn't sound negative to me. I am pretty content to wait on drilling cab mount holes until I get bed back on the chasis. If weather permits, that might be as soon as March! May not look like much topside but at least can drop it back on to line up the cab. THanks for feedback!!

[Madsen1970F100]

ok, the brakes are giving me fits. Cannot seem to get fluid into the system after replacing all the lines and the master cylinder. Many of you responded to my desperate pleas for help on another posting. I chose to let it win for this weekend and look at it fresh next weekend. Besides there is plenty more to do to keep me occupied.

I decided to focus on the cab interior, the metal shell part. I plan to install a dash pad someday so I left the holes for mounting in but sanded and cleaned it up, primed and rattle canned finished. Hope it will suffice. Wondering if I should put a clear coat over top?? Anyone try that to fancy up a rattle can finish? I have been working with the steering wheel sanding and mending, (also will be on the list of things to replace someday, but until then,) used some POR15 epoxy to fill in cracks, primed and painted that as well. Seems to have come out pretty good as far as I can tell. Not sure it will hold up over time but I can always wrap it until someone buys me a new (original style) steering wheel for Christmas or a birthday!

Got the windshield area prepped as well and ready to install new glass from the donor truck. Worked on doors also today, just epoxied a few of the trim holes and few other small spots. Passenger door is getting a new lower door skin but I found cut in my compressor hose so no cutting tools working today.

Should be getting the engine back in a week or so and once I have it in, I would like to be able to move the thing outside, it will be weather worthy (i.e. cab with glass and doors, front clip on, hood, etc so I can get bed in garage and start getting that cleaned up. Plugging along I suppose. Now if only I could get those dam brakes to do what they are suppose to!!

Interested to hear from any of you who have used rattle can to clean up interior.....I am getting a professional paint job for exterior someday....did not want to imagine how much they would charge to paint the interior of the cab also! Anyway......on to watch the suerbowl!!

[FormerMarine1981]

Looks good from here. I would let you do mine

[Madsen1970F100]

OK< so I am having one of those days.......again... If I did not do any work on the bump today I would be ahead from where I am now

I again bench-bled master cylinder and felt I did it correctly. I had previously installed a 1/4 and 3/16 junction to make the long brake line from the distribution block back to the rear. All was going well, until I noticed a small puddle of brake fluid collecting on the garage floor. Sure enough the connection was leaking. It never seemed to tighten up properly so a few more twists and wala... STRIPPED it So thats that. Going to replace the entire line going back to the rears (again). Seems I am doing the brake job twice (at least) to actually get it right

OK, so that was a bit frustraing, soI figured I would go for something easier. I wet sanded the dash and cab interior to prepare for final coat of paint, prior to top coating with clear gloss. Note my post above... Took my time to get all the little spots and cleaned, rinsed and cleaned an rinsed. Dried well and then applied paint.... only to watch it form dry mud looking cracks throughout Guess I did not rinse or clean well enough...... Decided to let it dry and sand it down, etc. etc. Ended up making a bigger mess, dust and gritty paint gobs, and eventually got dash back to nearly all metal..... starting from square 1, where I was last time I posted this.

So those of you who have been doing this a while, please tell me (even if you need to lie) that this is just part of the process and everyone has setbacks and makes big mistakes but that is all part of the fun!!

Right

Heres to hoping I have better luck tomorrow.

[67mann]

Think of it as a "learning Curve"
And I for one have done many things Twice so far.....some my fault/some not,but its part of the process
At the end and people ask....Who did that for ya------Ya and say I did

[48prerunner]

I picked one of these up last year one of the best investments I've made
http://www.brakebleeder.com/ the phoenix system works great I've tried others: loved one in the truck pumping the brakes, the one man bleed system, and the mini vac. Works really great on the newer ford abs systems which seem impossible to bleed. Shop around for best price the link was just the first Google popped up.

Are you sure the clear paint and the base coat were compatible with each other? I know alot of the spraybomb clears have reactions with other spray paints. sounds like crazing.

Crazing describes small cracks that appear in the finish. Generally, these cracks are quite numerous and have random axis, resembling a dry lake bed. They are akin to the crazing seen in pottery glazes.

Crazing is caused when two materials bonded together expand or contract at different rates causing lateral surface forces greater than the strength of bond. The expansion and contraction can be caused by thermal, chemical, or mechanical forces. Crazing can appear at any adhesion interface including that between substrate and primer, between primer and basecoat, or between basecoat and clear coat.

It is often easy to determine which adhesion point cracks and whether or not the cause is thermal. If it is thermal related, as usually is the case, it is often easy to determine the conditions under which the crazing occurs, e.g. which stage of heating or cooling. Usually, thermally induced crazing is controllable, either by less abrupt temperature changes or by using materials with more closely matched coefficient of expansions.

Cause:

1. Shop too cold, literally causing the original material to shatter under the softening action of the solvents being applied.

Prevention:

1. Select the correct thinner or reducer for existing shop conditions. Schedule painting to avoid temperature and humidity extremes in the shop; bring the part to room temperature before painting.

[Madsen1970F100]

Thanks. I did manage to get brakes sorted today. Needed to re-bench bleed master and replace a coule of union points where I must have had a metric size in there. re-bleed and seems to be good to go at this point.

AS for the paint, your points are well take. I expect the shop was a bit cold, it was probably 60 degress or more but metal dash and paint was probably not quite that warm. I brought dash back down to bare metal and got a very ligth primer coat on today. It was a very nice day today, no problems. I will be much more mindful of temps from now on.

Thanks for informative feedback!

[Madsen1970F100]

Here are some shots of my effort to save the steering wheel. Figure I could replace it with aftermarket but I like the original look. Of course its crazy expensive to replace and in the long game of this restoration, not every wish can be fulfilled. So took some POR-15 epoxy and my best skills learned from kindegarten clay-play time, pressed and molded. Then sanded and shaped and lastly painted and top coated. Will need to reinstall it after I get dash how I want it. And of course need to reconnect horn assembly as well.

I think this will suffice for a while.

[Jtorres]

Nice work on the steering wheel. I'm currently having issues getting my brake lines off with out stripping them. How much Por 15 did you use on your frame. I'm at that point in my tear down. Thanks. And keep the updates coming..

[Aussie_1970]

Thanks for documenting this mate - the end result will be bitchin...tough black 1970 effy. Hell yeah.

[Madsen1970F100]

Nice work on the steering wheel. I'm currently having issues getting my brake lines off with out stripping them. How much Por 15 did you use on your frame. I'm at that point in my tear down. Thanks. And keep the updates coming..

Thanks the steering wheel actually looks pretty good, pleasantly suprised. I bought POR-15 in the 6-packs. For me, this was a lot better than buying a quart since storage of it can be a problem if you don't do it just right. It is a thin paint nad spreads quite far. Just be careful to keep from getting on your skin becuase after it dries that will be where it stays for quite a while. I used latex gloves and some quality heavy rubber gloves over that, long sleeves nad pants, etc. etc. Take your time and prep the surface well. Powerwashing and using the POR 15 marine clean and metal ready are important steps. wire wheel the loose rust and you will be good to go. POR 15 loves rust and spreads easily on rusty areas. I have POR 15'd just about all the parts I am keeping that had rust. I did the chasis, lots of assorted parts, two coats on each and used about 6 cans of POR-15. Which is 24 oz. I was amazed at how much area it covered. Good luck!!

On brake lines and other tough bolts, etc. I used PB blaster. Sprayed it on every night for a fe days and this helped. If you are bringing your restore down to the chasis, why not replace the brake lines? Granted I had some challenges but its an inexpensive thing to do if you bend your own lines. I replaced all mine including the flex lines to the wheels for about $75. Just my

[Madsen1970F100]

Thanks for documenting this mate - the end result will be bitchin...tough black 1970 effy. Hell yeah.

Thanks! Its amazing to think "Blacky's" restoration is being followed around the world!

Thats what we call her, "blacky" for obvious reasons. I will be ridding the interior entirely of that odd choice of green that was original. New door panels, seats, etc. All in good time.....

[Jtorres]

Thanks for the info about POR 15. With the brake lines I was thinking the same thing about put in new ones myself.

[Madsen1970F100]

Thanks for the info about POR 15. With the brake lines I was thinking the same thing about put in new ones myself.

Keep in mind, I brushed POR 15 on. 2 coats and then 2 top coats of rattle can. If you spray, then you would thin it down (use POR-15 thinner only) and coverage might be a little less as you loose some in the air. I used rubberized undercoating to top coat over the POR 15 (2-3 coats) of all body panels exposed underneath.

Even though nearly all parts would not be exposed to the sun, I just felt better about top coating. You can see how amazing it looks (I think) in early parts of this thread. Of course some parts of my truck looked so rusty, dirty, scratched and greasy that any cleaning up and painting was bound to be an improvement.

Also, consider buying the silver POR-15, especially if you plan to top coat it, I got a 6 pack by accident but it actually is a little easier to work with since it makes easier to insure you cover the entire area since the silver contrasts with the normal black or rust of your chasis. Then top coasting it also makes it easier to insure you get all the spots covered too. Just an idea. I am thoroughly impressed with the POR15 line of products and the support from Don@ POR15 (he talked me through a couple of things). Seems to be a really high quality product.

Good luck with your project.

[Jtorres]

Thanks for the added info. Just purchased the POR 15 and will purchase the top coat some time this week. I will be using a wire wheel/brush/power washer too. Followed by burshing it on. It sounds like I have a few intense weeks ahead of me. At least when my order comes..