Saturday, May 22, 2004  -  Well, the parts are back from the powdercoaters. Although I was told it would take two weeks, they had everything done in only 5 days!

My wife and I spend the day in the city picking these up, intending to take our 2-year-old son to the zoo, but when we arrived, trailer in tow with the strapped-down frame, we found the place was packed, so we decided to not fight the crowds. Instead, I talked her into letting me spend a half-hour or so checking out one of the local U-Pull-It yards here, just to get an idea of what they had in stock. Found a couple goodies...but couldn't actually pick anything up, since I hadn't brought a toolbox with me. I'm hoping to get back there within a couple weeks to drop off some more parts to get powdercoated, and to bring a toolbox to snag a few more choice parts. I took a couple pics...scroll down to the bottom to check those out.

Unloading the frame by myself wasn't too difficult. I got some jackstands ready and then dragged the rear section of the frame off the back of the trailer and onto the jackstands. Then I got another set ready for the front and then lifted that end up and had my wife drive the truck/trailer out from under it, and gently set it down on the jackstands. I then decided to spend a little time checking up on the powdercoating job and getting some good close-up shots of the frame and other parts, just to archive them. I mean, I'll probably never have another chance like this, to get some good shots of a bare frame that's been all cleaned up. However, since the frame had been sitting in their warehouse for several days collecting dust, and then got rained on coming home this evening, the parts will appear a little dusty in many of the shots on this page. I ended up getting a total of 89 shots this evening...many of them just taken for future reference, though.

Fig. 1  -  Here's the final result, taken immediately after unloading, prior to wiping everything down. Overall I'm happy with how things turned out, though a few touchups will need to be made.

Fig. 2 - There was a little damage to the driver's-side front cab mount bracket, presumably caused from the rack the frame was hung on to go through the sandblaster. I'll have to bend this back and touch it up with spray paint. However, this area will be completely sealed off by the rubber cab mount bushings, so it'll be completely invisible.

Fig. 6  -  '78 I-beam part numbers

These two shots show a couple of the nooks and crannies that the powdercoating was unable to properly penetrate. These will have to be touched up with a rattlecan, using Rustoleum satin-finish paint, which is virtually identical to the appearance of the powdercoating and will make an invisible touchup...according to the powdercoating shop foreman.

This shot illustrates just how thin the powdercoating actually is...only .003" thick, so it really can't be counted on to fill imperfections in the metal. (In fact, the serial numbers stamped on the frame are just as readable as before.) In this view, you can see the pock-marks of previously rusted sections of the frame. Just for future reference, I'm planning on talking with the shop foreman to find out if there's anything that can be used to fill and smooth a metal part, sort of like a durable metal 'Bondo' that can withstand both the steel grit media in the sandblaster and also the heat of the big oven the parts get baked in afterwards. (Fig. 11)

Fig. 12

Fig. 13

In these pictures, you can see the plastic brake-line clips on the rear of the front crossmember. I forgot to remove these prior to the coating process. They  made it through both the blasting and the oven...although they DO appear to show a bit more wear and tear. These might have to be replaced...I'm just worried about getting a chip started in the powdercoat when I remove them. I'll have to take a closer look and see if they're salvageable.

Fig. 14

You can definitely see the effects of the sandblaster here. The aggressive steel grit really ate into the threads of the frame-end of the radius arm. I'll have to run a tap on these threads and clean them up. At first I was glad they powdercoated the exposed end, but I'm betting it'll crack when I attempt to clean up the threads.

Fig. 15

Another thing I forgot to do was remove the transmission crossmember bolts. When I initially removed the crossmember, I reattached the bolts to the crossmember to keep track of them. I'm going to get a good lesson on just how strong the powdercoating is when I attempt to remove the nut from this bolt. They'll obviously have to be replaced.

Fig. 16

In this shot of the front crossmember from the front, you can see the two sets of mounting holes for the engine perches on each side. I believe the extra pair of holes on the driver's side (the right side of this picture) are for fuel line clips. I'll have to check on that to verify, however.

My Parts Stash
My shop is equipped with a small office that has now become 'The Vault'. This is where I store all the parts I plan on using, so as not to get them mixed up with parts from other trucks that get parted out. There are some spares in here too...when sorting parts, if I wasn't sure if I'd need it or not, it went into the vault, just in case.

Fig. 17 - A few from the front door of the office
Fig. 18 - More parts. Everything needs cleaned up and detailed.
Fig. 19 - There are boxes and plastic bins full of small parts, many in marked Ziploc bags. Never trust your memory...there are just too much stuff to keep track of.
Fig. 20 - Three steering columns: One '68 manual-steering 4-spd, one '67 manual-steering column-shifted 3-spd, and one '71 power steering automatic.
Fig. 21 - New rubber mounts, both from LMC. On the left is a supplied radiator support bushing and on the right is a cab mount bushing. I have several good used original cab mount bushings, so I might try using those instead of these...depending on how these fit.
Fig. 22 - A good collection of dash switches and glovebox doors
Fig. 23 - Some painted headliner trim, a backup '67 wiring harness and the headliner panel which will be used as a pattern for cutting a thin plywood panel, which will probably get upholstered. This wiring harness is for standard-instrumentation...the one I'll actually be using is for a full-instrumentation truck, which will include the shunt to power the factory ammeter.

Fig. 17

Fig. 18

Fig. 19

Fig. 20

Fig. 21

Fig. 23

Since I'll be getting ready to start putting the front end back together as soon as some parts arrive, I decided to take a close look at the kingpin area. I kept all the pieces when the machinist pressed the kingpins out, and wanted to get a good look at what I was in for. These pics were simply taken for reference sake.

When my wife and I drove to pick up the freshly powdercoated parts today, we'd decided to also go to take our 2-year-old son to the zoo. However, upon arriving at the zoo and noticing that the place was PACKED, we nixed that idea, and I talked her into giving me a half-hour at the local U-Pull-It yard, just to see what was in stock. Here's a small sampling of what I found. There were only three or four '67-'72 trucks in the yard, plus about a dozen '73-'79 trucks.

So here's where I am at the moment...I need to get some more parts on order, specifically the kingpin bushings, I-beam pivot bushings, brake hardware (rotors, calipers and bearings/seals) and rear leaf spring bushings. These things will allow me to assemble a rolling chassis. Once this DOES become a roller, then it'll probably be back to work on the cab, repairing the roof rot and replacing the rear cab corners and front cab mounts....which, in fact, are some more parts that I need to order very soon. Stay tuned!