The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1952 Chevrolet 3100 Project

I had a similar experience with 2K primer, the paint shop said my tip was too small and/or I was using too high a pressure. I have not gotten back to my project but plan to try a larger tip gun next time.

I Googled how to measure a spray tip and it turns out that my Husky HVLP gun has a 1.3 tip. Eastman 2K Urethane primer recommends a 1.8 to 2.2 tip, so the tip was too small. The 1.7 tip In my Eastman Contours 2 was a bit small but did work. I either need to buy a larger tip for my Husky HVLP gun, which may not be possible on a 20 year old gun or a new gun specific for primer.

Phil, I bought a 3M Accuspray gun that has interchangeable disposable spray nozzles from 1.2 to 2.0 and I've used it for everything, primer to finish coats. What I really like about it is the ability to clean it up in about a minute, as the cup liners are disposable. The downside is that the supplies are a little expensive. You might consider it for an all-around gun. They're around $300 now on Amazon.

I’ve already have a decent finish coat gun so I’m going to look for a gun I can dedicate strictly to primer.

Harbor Freight has one for sale for $10 now. I understand it has a 1.4 nozzle, but guys have drilled them out. Cheap enough that you could toss it if you don't get it clean enough and it starts messing up. You definitely don't need a $300 gun for just primer.

I was at HF today and saw that and passed because of the nozzle size. The next model up at $30 has a 1.8 nozzle and comes with a pressure regulator at the gun. Unfortunately, it was not in stock at that store. That is probably what I will buy.

I did buy a disposable cup starter kit that should help with cleanup.

12/5/24: Today I finished the bodywork on my doors. One door was really straight and required only a skim on a few areas. The other had previous work done so that required a quite a bit more work . Both are primed with three coats of 2k urethane prime, ready to be blocked out in the spring.

I did try the disposable cup system from HF I recently bought and it worked great. Clean up was easier but after removing and trashing the removable cup, I realized that I can’t run some lacquer thinner thru the gun, so I removed the adaptor (for the disposable cups) and screwed the original cup back on which enabled me to run thinner thru the gun.

If any ‘Bolter has this system, I would appreciate your method of cleaning.

My 3M gun has a small funnel part on the nozzle where the disposable cup attaches. I just fill that with lacquer thinner a couple times and spray it thru the gun. I don't know how big the adapter is on your HF stuff, but maybe a few fills of thinner in that would work. I use a small poly bottle with a squirt top to fill it. The attached pic shows the 3M Gun & Nozzle with the cup attached. When the cup is removed, the orange part stays in place and can be filled with thinner. All it takes is 2-3 ounces of thinner and the gun is nearly clean. Taking the nozzle (the orange part) off and wipe down the needle and you're done.

I have one of the HF $10.00 paint guns, I love it. But as Kevin said you need to open up the nozzle to use it with primer, I have another nozzle that I drilled just for that.

12/14/24: I retrieved the two front fenders from my storage unit and started to weld up a few cracks and rusted thru holes. On the passengers side fender on the rear of the fender by the flange, the rusted area was too thin, so I removed the rusted metal, fabricated a replacement piece and tack welded it in.

Day two: I finished welding in the patch and ground it down, applied Bondo and smoothed it out. I also welded up a crack near the grille and the aftermarket turn signal hole, removed a bunch of little dents , filled and smoothed.

Day three: added another coat of Bondo to the passengers fender. Started work on drivers side. This one has far less dents but I did weld up the other turn signal hole. Applied initial coat of Bondo to the repaired areas.

Day four & five: This is taking allot more time than I anticipated. LOL, it always does! Finally completed both front fenders and got them in prime. Of course, after spraying the prime, I spotted a few spots that will need a bit of spot putty.

Along with the fenders I also primed a few other items including the cowl vent and some interior covers.

One issue I ran into was I didn’t have the disposable cup for the spray gun seated properly and I found out in the middle of the second coat and it dripped three nice sized blobs. I lightly smogged them, then added another coat so hopefully it will sand out. It made a mess of the spray gun too, so I needed to clean it before finishing the second coat.

I am so glad that is done and happy with the results.

Phil, As always your work looks awesome! Those fenders look great. Ya know it just wouldn't be so much if fun if it was easy.

Phil, that's quite the transformation on those fenders. Mine had a few cracks but not the rust pits like yours had. Nice Job.

12/19/24: I exchanged the front fenders for the rear fenders from my storage unit. Both fenders need the front lower sections replaced. I previously bought the replacement panels but was quite disappointed when I found they don’t cover the entire lower portion of the fender. Of course the part it didn’t cover was the lower portion of the wheel well rolled edge, which needs work on both sides.

To help keep the shape, I clamped the flange to a piece of plywood. I started on the passengers side and found a fiberglass patch with loads of rust forming under it. Whomever did the repair didn’t fiberglass the inside of the fender, so water seeped thru the cracks migrating between the steel and the fiberglass. I removed the fiberglass and cut about a six inch piece from the patch panel to splice it in. The arch didn’t match so I cut slits into the rolled edge to allow it to curve it a bit more. I reshaped the wheel well rolled edge, welded up the cracks and ground them out. Turned out pretty good.

On to the drivers side and ran out of MIG gas before I got too far. I couldn’t just run out to my local welding gas supply (almost an hour away), so I spent the next few hours hammer and dollying out the dents on the drivers side. Some of these dents were just filled and never flattened out, which would have eliminated 90% of the Bondo.

I did get my MIG gas tank exchanged, which is really getting expensive, but with Christmas just days away and family coming up for this weekend, I’ll have to sideline this project for a while.

More nice work, Phil. Although pretty ugly, your fenders were in better shape than mine. I needed to use nearly the entire patch panel and had to locate the running board holes prior to cutting the rusty crap away. I see that you could have used a new tool, a shrinker which would have let you avoid cutting the flange on the bottom to adjust the curvature of the patch panel. I was able to use one of those (actually a stretcher) on part of my project. A shrinker/stretcher set would be a nice addition to your metal working tools.

I’m lucky with the running board holes as I can just use the old inner support plates as a template, and there is enough holes on the fender to relocate the inner support plates.

I would love to have a shrinker/stretcher tool, but I’m not sure I‘m going to get this deep into another project and my garage space is limited.

Thanks for your continued support!

I have been following along on your progress in fits and starts, but just a couple of days ago sat down with time, to follow your purchase/use/restoration from the beginning. Wow. The detail you have included is incredibly informing, but I also found myself sharing your frustrations when a plan went sideways and you walked away to regroup. It’s always easier to only print the good stuff, but good for you for telling us about your not so good stuff. From the look of your welding, you had some experience with putting sheet metal back together. As I get closer to the “repair of sheet metal department”, I’m sure I’ll be referring back to your adventures to help me with mine. Thanks for taking the time to document your restoration.

Thanks! I have worked allot with metal but new to MIG welding sheet metal. I was trained in Tech School over 50 years ago replacing panels by brazing them on. The present method is head over heels better and it doesn’t really take very long to learn. I suggest practicing on scrap pieces of steel equal to the gauge you’re replacing. I viewed several YouTube videos and several post by MP&C a fellow ‘bolter. His posts have been assembled into a sticky thread and eventually a Tech Tip.
Here is a link to his post.

12/23/24: I started back on the drivers side patch. It’s been pretty cold here for the last few days with night time temps below zero and daytime temps around 12°. My garage was 28°when I started, and my compressor traps were frozen. I broke out my mapp gas torch and thawed out the traps before I did anything.

I decided that I needed to expand the patch due to some pin holes that were disguised by a small amount of plastic left by the sand blaster. I sure wish I had noticed before I cut the first patch.

I complete adding the new patch and finished welding and grinding both patches smooth. I used the old running board stiffener that I had removed from the fender as a template and fabricated two. I punched a few holes in the stiffener, sprayed some. weld thru primer on the stiffener and fender then plug welded it into place. The stiffener doesn’t appear to be located quite right so I’ll wait until I install the running board to drill the last hole.

Some really good work despite the COLD... My Dad used to say '"The Heat is in the work".

I have to make the same plates for the back and was trying to decide if I should spot weld them or just leave them with a big washer on each bolt to hold them .

When I put those reinforcing plates on my rear fenders, I had everything epoxy primered and then ground off a small spot on fender and plate so I could spot weld them like Phil did. I also put seam sealer all around the plates in an attempt to keep water out. Any place that traps moisture is a rust haven.

I think the spot welding (or plug welding like I did) the support plate would make a stronger attachment point for the running board.

Kevin, great idea about the seam sealer.

Spot weld it is I think you are right will make it sturdier and yes seam sealer around as that may help preserve the fender longer I put some seam sealer in the cowl area as well as going to spray some fluid film to cover the inside area

12/27/24: I continued on the passengers side rear fender. I finished fabricating and installing the running board support plate. This one went on straight, however I opted not to drill the last hole until I fit the running board to the fender.

I continued banging dents. This fender was worked before, maybe several times and not very well. The rumpled areas are not moving very well so I suspect it’s a bit work hardened. I’ve spent more than a day working them out to the point that there won’t be any more than 1/32” of plastic so I’m calling it good and proceeded to apply the first coat.

With the temps in my garage in the high thirty’s, the Bondo takes a bit to dry so I let it dry overnight. I sanded the first coat and found a few high spots. I welded a few tacks with the MIG, ground them flush then cooled them down. It shrinks the high spots nicely. Added another coat on the problem areas, then set it aside to dry.

I started on the drivers side again. Getting it ready for the first coat of Bondo, I spent another hour banging and dollying to further straighten the fender, then applied the first coat of Bondo.

My bodywork kit has three hammers and four dolly’s. So far I’ve used one hammer and all of the dolly’s. None of the hammers have a convex head so I substituted a 16 oz. Ball Peen hammer from my tool box and used that to massage out some of the low spots. The other two hammers have one square and one round head that are flat, with one that has a shrinking head. Also I’ve never been a fan of a shrinking hammer as it leaves [censored] marks on the metal. I don’t understand why I need two hammers with square heads. I could really use a hammer with a blunt chisel end instead. I think I’m going grind one of the round heads to give it a a nice convex head. I really should have looked at the kits a bit harder to see what hammers they actually contained. Water under the bridge!

Phil, that brings back memories for me.

My favorite hammer is a Snap-on BF-618 that I picked up on eBay. It has about a 1/8" crown face and a blunt chisel on the opposite end. It works well for shrinking with a donut dolly (I use a 1-1/2" PVC coupling, sometimes backed up with a flat dolly). I don't believe they're available new anymore, and I didn't find one just now on eBay. The donut dolly can be used to shrink crowned surfaces like your fenders with a flat hammer. Robert (MPandC) clued me in in the donut dolly and the BF-618 hammer.
[on edit]Snap-on lists a BF618B, but they don't have any in stock till June '25, and they want $125 for a single hammer.

You’re giving me something to look for! Who doesn’t want more tools!

Sorry, but not sorry.

12/31/24: I finally finished the bodywork on the two rear fenders. I don’t know why it seemed so hard to get these in prime but it was and it only took twelve days and about four coats of Bondo. I was thinking since these were rounded fenders it should be easy. Boy was I wrong but they are finally done.

The weather in upstate NY has been cooperating nicely with temps above freezing, so working in the garage was not bad. The plan today was to get the garage heated enough so I could prime. The priming went on nice and smooth now that I figured out the proper technique. Par for the course, a couple of spots needing additional work were revealed when I applied prime, but with three coats of high build prime it should not be much of an issue. We’ll see in the spring so it’s on to the hood!

Looking good, Phil.
I too spent days working out tiny high spots on my rear fenders. They had been run with loose tire chains, which peppered them with dings. Block sand - hammer the high spots with a pick hammer, rinse and repeat.

1/03/25: With my body working season winding down (heading south for the winter), I wanted to finish my project on a high note by tackling the hood, a project I was dreading. First I needed to remove the center moulding, as there was evidence it was hiding some rust. The first tab I tried to straighten, snapped off. I was previously considering replacing the center moulding with polished stainless, so a quick look on a few vendor sites convinced me that was the way to go. I continued to straighten the tabs and unbelievably they all cooperated, so the moulding was off. There was a small amount of rust but really no issue.

I started on the straightening the hood and it didn’t look too bad, but once I started sanding with a 10” block and 80 grit, the dents started to show themselves. A bit of hammering, dollying, a little bit of Bondo and most of the issues were resolved. However a couple of areas needed a little bit of weld repair. One front corner had a small crack and the hinge support had a few rusted thru spots. I was able to repair the areas with a few dot welds.

On day two, while waiting for the garage to get to priming temperature, I sandblasted some miscellaneous parts that also needed prime. I finished blocking the Bondo on the last repaired area, sanded the rest of the hood with 120 and applied some prime. The first coat went on spotty as the gun was spitting for some reason. I added a bit more of reducer and it didn’t help. I had a spare 1.7 nozzle set, changed it out which resolved the issue and finished priming. Prime went on smooth and revealed a few more wavy areas. I hope they will block out with the three coats of high build urethane prime I applied. We’ll see in the spring!

Looks good ,👍 I commend you guys that can have the truck taken apart in so many pieces for that long .i think I would either loose the bolts or forget how it goes together .

Was a stainless steel center hood strip an option on the AD trucks?

Ya. I'd lose interest and it would never be put back together.

That is a good question. I decided to add it because I’m adding the Stainless windshield trim as well as the stainless window mouldings and the chrome bead for the rear and corner windows.

Yeah, I’ll be scrounging looking for bolts. Most of what I took apart was a mismatch of various hardware mixed in with OEM. I did bag and tag but I’m not looking forward to it!

Yeah, I am over 3 year removed from starting my project and it is getting hard to push forward much less recall how things came apart. I bagged and tagged hardware but when I go back to use it I find I am not happy with the condition so I am primarily using the old hardware to define the features required for replacement hardware.

That is the same decision I came to on my 53. I made the switch to all stainless because of the condition of them. Some of the stainless bolts I polished the heads also, not a slick mirror finish but shiny.

Much of my hardware is so intermixed with junk, I’m going to buy the bolt kits they sell so I know what goes where.

1/08/25: Trying to squeeze in as much body work as possible, I picked up my tailgate and started getting it ready for prime. I found a couple of cracks which needed to be welded up, a bunch of dings in both top and bottom rails and a few more from unsecured loads.

The tailgates from the factory have a bunch of spot welds so they are not smooth. I decided not to smooth over any of those welds, just take out the dents that didn’t belong. Since I was leaving the spot welds, I taped them over so avoid additional sanding.

I tacked the cracks, ground them out. I hammered and dollied out the dents I could and applied some Bondo. Due to the low temperature in my garage, I let it dry overnight.

Although the tailgate is small, there are two exposed sides so it’s allot bigger job than it seems. I’d get one side fairly straight and then other side needed to be reworked. Turns out in this case, the metal was stretched causing an oil can. I used my OA torch to resolve that issue. I decided the outside of the gate was more important to get straight than the inside, so that I what I concentrated on. During this whole process I was battling how far I wanted go straightening this tailgate. I had to keep myself in check otherwise I could have spent another two or three days.

The top roll of the tailgate, you can see in the photos, was dented in pretty good. I previously fixed the dent by cutting it like a flap, bending it out to straighten, then welded it back. I had used a straight piece of wood on the back of the roll to insure it was straight but after block sanding the Bondo and finding a big dip in it, I checked it with a 4 foot level and saw it still had a bit of a bend. I placed a block of wood on both ends of the tailgate on my grandfather old woodworkers bench (2-1/2” thick maple) and used a a big C clamp and take the bend out. I checked the bottom roll and that was not straight either. Interesting though, it was bent out. I suspect the tailgate was shut with something between the bed and the tailgate.

A couple of days later, I did a final sand out with 120 grit then applied three coats of prime. I think it turned out pretty good.

2/12/25: With the rise of shipping cost and the threat of rising steel prices, I decided to make a trip to the “Truck and Car Shop" and pick up all of the oversized parts I still need to complete my build. I called to pre-order the parts needed and my wife and I proceeded on a three hour trip to Concord NC. The day called for light rain but it didn’t start until I pulled into the parking lot at the “Truck and Car Shop”. The predicted “light rain” turn quickly into heavy rain once I started loading all my goodies.

The parts I bought were the front bed panel, the lower radiator splash panel and SS angle and bed strips for the bed. I also bought everything I needed to get the cab back together, new glass for the windshield all of the rubber moulding to install the glass and some bling. Polished SS outside door moldings, polished SS windshield trim, polished SS hood center moulding and a chrome center bead for the rear and corner glass.
I also bought the front and center bed cross sills and support blocks.

Being that we are NASCAR fans and since we were so close the Charlotte Motor Speedway, we stopped at the Gift Shop but the weather curtailed any other activity. Still, it’s a really impressive complex and I plan on attending a race there someday.

On our way home, we stopped at the Wooden Robot brewery in Charlotte for lunch which I highly recommend.

The trip home was a bit nail biting, with the downpour continuing for most of our trip. It’s like Christmas, but a bit disheartened as they won’t be getting installed anytime soon. I’m still stoked that I’m creeping closer to that “light at the end of the tunnel”!

Smart move. Nice write up about the trip. That will be a sharp truck!!!