After completing the body work on the cab, I tried getting color on it but by this time winter had set in and the shop was too cold to paint. I tried spraying but it cured out so poorly I decided to hold off until spring. I have heaters for the shop but with still working full time I don't like spending the money to heat it to 60 degrees for just the weekend and I have plenty of other things to keep me busy until it warms up. So, I started sorting out the rest of the miscellaneous sheet metal to prep for paint.
I decided to start with the fenders. They have a rubber mat that covers the back half that was all cracked and missing chucks out of it. I tried finding replacement rubber for it but had no luck. New parts that are exclusive to COE's are hard to come by there was such a limited run. My next option was to try to make some from scratch. After several failed attempts to make some and looking online at what others had done hoping for inspiration it was clear this wasn't a unique problem. The predominate solution was to fill the 10, 3/4" holes that held the mats on and paint it. I had decided that since I had to plug weld the holes where the turn singles sat on the top of the fenders since I was doing something different with them anyway, so I started welding and grinding them smooth. My though on the turn singles was to French them in below the headlights. You can see the location in the last picture I posted today.
It's nice to have separate areas in the shop for body work, the main area with the bridge crane for fabrication and a spray booth with a good down draft system in it to paint and not have to spend too much time prepping an area to paint in every time I want to paint a piece. Plus, with the booth smaller than the fab area heating isn't as much of an issue.
My plan was to get as many pices ready for paint while I was waiting for warmer weather and then start painting color.
