The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Archived Journals 1970 Chevy C10 - Grandpa’s Rebuild.

Well, my use of the stickers bit me in the posterior. With the size discrepancy they didn't work as well as I had hoped, especially the ones I had to cut to size. The letters were "ok", but there was some minor bleed through, and the "sticky" removal technique caused more work in the end. The slight bleeds I tried to "fingernail" back into the green, but it wouldn't move much. If it did, sometimes it would discolour the green and caused it to look terrible. The microscopic fuzzies from my jeans technique were able to be removed by cutting them with a fingernail. I wouldn't recommend this. The paint was simply too hard to work as I had left it too long.

So...

I masked the now black letters, sanded out the errors in the black, and then remasked, following the green as a guide in most places, but in some breaking new trail- especially the T. If you look at the picture with the E & T you can see how poorly it turned out. Little bleeds, flecks of white, etc. Ugh. It was brutal and I had to sand out some green that was very tough to blend in such a small space. Then, I re-prepped the now green tailgate. This in turn cost about 8 hours. What a tedious task. Cutting painters tape to match, and recutting, matching, checking, sealing, etc...

In hindsight, I should have painted the whole gate final paint coat and then painted the letters. My sticker plan didn't work very well.

As for those reproduction stickers... some don't fit worth spit. If you buy them to apply to your 67-72 Chev/GMC... buyer beware. Some were a very poor fit. I can see why so many tailgates have the letters deleted or are simply body colour.

Also, an FYI for anyone buying a reproduction tailgate: the C is different on the aftermarket gate. The lower left of the C is sharp (like an L), whereas a stock gate will have a rounded lower left corner. Think your stick on letter stickers will match this discrepancy? HAHAHA! Oh, poor you! I posted this elsewhere, but figured it would be very useful on this thread. I attached one photo of an original C.

After prep, I resprayed the black. I waited for a few hours after the last coat for it to tack up quite a bit, and then I CAREFULLY removed my masking. What a tense moment, but in the end I am quite satisfied with the result. With my error, it actually helped raise the black letters to the previous paint height, which helped hide the transition between green and black.

During that fiasco, I finished installing the insulation. I am working on a firewall rubber mat to cover the rest of the firewall. The new carpet only comes up to the top of the toe board and then stops. This rubber will slide under the new carpet. Fit, mark, cut, enlarge holes, fit, mark, cut, double check, try again.

While all this was going on...
1. E Brake and rubber pad installed. This thing fought like a bear to go in. I glued the rubber in place on the pedal. I can't find the chrome trim piece. I thought I ordered it.
2. Reinstalled brake pedal rubber and glued it down. Installed its fancy chrome trim.
3. Installed tailgate once cured with standard hex head hardware while the original type bolts are drying in their paint after sand blasting.
4. Bumper and license plate recess installed.
5. Fuel door installed in the wood.
6. Began looking at the plan of attack for the wiring harness...

A lot of hours. It doesn't look like much, but that's truck building I guess.


Hours: I have to add up all the tallies on the shop board. There are a pile of them! I bet 20...