I took my truck and the related components to Lawless Customs over in Slidell La. for the paint job. I had seen his work on more than one vehicle and was sure that was the kind of quality I was looking for. My truck has won "Best Paint" at a couple of car show already. I asked how long from start to finish and was told it would be about 3 months. I was doubtful of the time frame from stories from everybody that had something painted not only from him but any painter. I had talked to other painters closer to home but several of them told me to come back and talk to them in a year, they were that busy already. That wasn't an option for me.
So it actually took about 8 months total to get it back from the painter. I was not too upset about the time frame knowing I had a lot of other items that still needed attention and this was the ideal time.
First I tackled the seat and the seat back. The seat back bracket that screws on the frame at the top of the back had broken off and I had to fabricate a radius piece to fit the back frame for the screw to attach to. I also had to weld on the seat bottom that was broken in a couple of places. I purchased a new seat cover for both and followed the installation instructions using the hog ring pliers. I unfolded it and let it sit a few days to get most of the wrinkles out of it. You can still see a little wrinkle in the picture but they went away later.
Next I rebuilt the gauges by cleaning and repainting both housings inside and out. Everything worked but the gas gauge prior to disassembly but on the speedometer, I wanted the odometer to start back at "0" so I replaced the whole assembly anyway. On the gauge side they also worked but since someone had converted to a 12V system and had a resistor that I did away with. Instead of trouble shooting the gas gauge I replaced it with a 12V version to make it easier. The oil pressure and the temperature gauge also worked fine so they just needed the new vinyl faces too. I had already decided to do the conversion listed in the "Tech Tips Section", Ammeter to Voltmeter. Pretty easy and clear instructions and the only way to tell is the needle is slightly smaller but who will notice. Yes it only cost about $22 or so. I replaced the gauge bezels and the gaskets around them since they were pretty much rotted too. I reused the glass after a deep cleaning and polishing.
Having stainless steel experience, I polished the window shade visors, the windshield center divider and the rear bumper that the previous owner had installed all to a mirror finish.
I purchased a new front bumper also stainless steel to match. I was confident it would hold up better than the chrome they are doing today.
Then I dissected both vent windows, both had a little rust and the gaskets were definitely dry rotted, you can see the bubbles and cloudy glass in my picture. I had already planned on changing all the glass to a "smoked" to contrast against the green color. Once they were completely apart I wire brushed both back to bare metal to get all the rust off and took them to a local powder coating company to get them coated a semi gloss black.
I wanted the whole interior floor and seat base semi gloss black to match the black seat covers. I also had the lower part of the fire wall the underside of the fenders, running board and underside of the cab covered with truck bed liner after painting semi gloss black.
I thought the bed liner under the fender would be a little more protection against upward "dings" from rocks hitting the inside the fenders. Once the vent frames were coated I reinstalled the new gasket material to that part of the vent. The rivets were not too hard to install but I had to grind down the tool used to have access to them. Even the rivet for the pivot point wasn't too bad but was a 2 person operation, balancing the whole assembly over a dolly for backing at the proper angle without hitting the glass or messing your paint up. I volunteered the wife since she was the only one around at the time and I could not wait to finish them.
Setting the new glass in the frame with the setting tape was a job but I eventually got them in the correct position trimmed off the excess tape with an Exacto knife to make them neat.
Replaced with new latches to keep them closed (the old latches were very pitted) and adjusted the nut with nylon against the spring to put enough tension so they would not blow closed going down the road.
