10-05-03 - I took the Friday afternoon off from work and finished up almost all of the rust removal from the cab using the cut-off tool. About the only rusty areas that remain at the moment are the rear cab corners, which I'll leave until I get the replacements in, so I can take careful measurements. This cab had a thick coat of undercoating on the bottom side, and removing it was a major PIA! I tried all the recommended methods of removal, but in the end found the best way was simply using a wire brush attachment on my angle grinder. I was able to get 99% of the undercoating this way...just be sure to wear some form of breathing protection, since there will be a major toxic dust cloud in the air.

I then built a better cab dolly using 4-inch square oak timbers and a set of wheels I picked up from Harbor Freight...this will allow me to roll the cab outside into the shop driveway to do the sandblasting.

I then hit the shop about 10AM this morning to get started on the sandblasting. This is definitely going to take more time than I thought, since there are still little bits of the undercoating that sandblasting really doesn't take off well. The rubbery consistency of the undercoating just absorbs and repels the sand, so I'll have to go back with the wire wheel and finish up little spots here and there.

Sandblasting is something that is time-consuming anyway. Most 'do-it-yourself'ers don't have access to a huge air compressor which will keep up with the incredible air requirements of a sandblaster, so this will mean frequent stops to allow the air compressor to catch up and cool off. I've found that the 40-lb Harbor Freight sandblaster I'm currently using will give me about 5-10 minutes worth of work time before running out of sand. The time required to sweep up the sand, filter it through a screen and reload it into the sandblaster is ample time to allow the air compressor to recover and cool down. One thing I've found that really seems to help keep the air compressor cool is a squirrel-cage fan I have blowing on the compressor...this really helps keep things cool.

Here's a shot of my 40x48 shop as it sits at the moment, after parting out 5 trucks and storing most of the parts inside...along with my Studebaker pickup project and a '72 Pontiac LeMans back in the corner under the tarp. I'm rapidly running out of room to work in here! Most of the parts here are Ford pickup items. There are two engine on the floor, one a Ford 360, the other an Olds 455 destined for the 'Stude...though I HAVE been toying around with maybe using it in my Ford!

Here's a shot of the bottom side of the cab after removing the very thick layer of undercoating and cutting out most of the rusted areas.

I used oak 4x4's to build this sturdy cab dolly. This will make moving it around the shop a breeze!

I found that using a squirrel-cage fan removed from an old house-type furnace is great for keeping air moving around the air compressor pump and keeping it cool.

Getting started with the sandblasting.

Here's where I was when I shut it down for the day today. I've got several days worth of sandblasting to do, but that will also include some more time trimming rust and undercoating.