The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop new paint job, and more eventually

Closest I've ever come to doing a complete restoration all at one time. At least that was the intent but once the bed was off and the hottest part of summer (2021) spent wire brushing, scraping, and cleaning the back half of the frame, day after miserable day....let's just say I burned out on the idea of a "total" resto. 
Rear frame turned out nice though.

And she doesn't really need a total resto. There's little to no mechanical improvement to be had, because fortunately, everything works perfectly (for now). haha

That 30 year old paint job though...I'm tired of staring at my mistakes, and 30 years is a long time for any paint to last, especially on one that's regularly driven and used.
 
Getting the sheet metal prepped, re-painted, and buffed took from July through May of this year and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. It's red once again, 1982 throwback color paying homage to an amazing time in my life, and it's the one color I don't think I'll regret or wish I'd went with the tan, or white or seacrest green...all of those were considered, as was original forester green, which wouldn't have been a big enough change to make me feel it was worth the hard work, plus it's HOT as blazes in the AZ sunshine and magnifies flaws, as dark colors are prone to do.
 
So I'll go ahead and post a few pics of the exterior.  Should have bed wood refinished and installed within the next couple weeks; more pics when that's done.
 
Then perhaps this winter pull the engine and do a thorough job (by my standards) prepping and repainting firewall and everything else under the hood. Original 216 still runs great but I'd feel better replacing phenolic timing gear with aluminum, and bearings could use adjusting. Plus a new hi-quality rope main seal, if such a creature exists.
 
First pic is with yours truly 40 years ago...then and now. 

That's a nice red. Beats resale red by a mile.

What happened to the West Coast mirrors? Those looked cool.

Thanks. Got rid of the west coast mirrors after I removed the camper.

Looking good

Nice job! Your paint look’s amazing!

Looking great sir!

The old vs new pics were cool to see.

Dan

Wow, that looks very nice. Good Job!

Gorgeous truck!

Thank you, you're all too kind.
I mentioned the rear frame turned out nice but forgot to include a pic. After obsessive cleaning, went with straight Rustoleum Rust Reformer, applied with a brush. New shocks and rear spring shackles. Can finally crawl underneath without dirt falling in my eyes.
First bit of stain on bedwood today.

What are you using for stain? I bought an opaque black stain, and am having trouble getting it to dry. First coat was brushed on, and the thicker spots weren't dry after a week. I rubbed off those areas and sprayed on a second coat on the underside, which is doing better. It's only been a day on the second coat and the instructions say it can take 24 hours. I'm thinking I'm stuck with it, but just wondering what you're using and how it's going.

I'm using Varathane brand penetrating wood stain (dark walnut) from Home Depot on my red oak. Applied this afternoon and it seems to be dry/drying as expected. (Says allow 8 hours if using oil based topcoat or 24 if waterbased top coat.) Plan to apply more in the morning just to make sure it's all even and consistent.

What's your weather like? When I was in TN with its high humidity/rainfall, it seemed like nothing wanted to dry sometimes. My oak (purchased early 1990s) has been here in AZ for seven years and I stipped the finish last winter, so it's had ample time to get much drier than we could ever get in TN.

Good point about the weather. We just had the 2nd wettest summer on record. And August was 3rd wettest. I've used up a 5 gal propane cylinder to heat my tent to help dry it out.

wow, that's a great color !!

I really seriously enjoyed looking at your pics.

Thanks folks.

Finally got the bed floor finished and installed. Glad to have it done. Think that's all it needs until engine comes out, hopefully over the winter but who knows.

Nice!

Ready for your first load of gravel or manure!

I want to see a picture of that airplane reflected in the bed!

Speaking of reflection, the bed wood looks amazing. What is the finish?

Thanks. It's clear red oak with walnut stain and tried to incorporate what I learned building a kayak a few years ago. Some of those things are mirror gloss works of art and I stopped working the bed wood about halfway to that kayak level of perfection. On top of the stain it's encapsulated all sides of the wood with epoxy, then marine varnish on top of the epoxy for UV protection. All System Three products except the stain was Varathane brand.

What do you do with the remaining paint left in the gun? You spray it out on the crappiest used Sig Liberty Sport R/C biplane you can find. Picked it up on trade and the covering was terrible and needed re-doing, so I chose to empty the paint gun on it, with virtually zero prep or cleaning on the plane.

cool

Hey Scooter. Your truck looks fabulous.
The bed wood is also great.
What wood did you use? A precut kit, original wood, your own sizing of planks?
It looks great.

Thanks. Bought the red oak from Home Depot 30 years ago, so I had to do all the cutting.

30 years! And I thought I was slow!