The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Truck is Home!

Hi all,
Truck is home and painted. Now where the heck do I start in putting it back together? What is the secret to doing so without messing up the paint?

Thank you for the help...

Jon

darn, She's pretty!

Hey all,
How do you tighten painted bolts and nuts without chipping the paint off? Also, I am putting the parts back in the dash. there is paint build up on the holes. I am having troube getting the switches through the holes. How do I do that with chipping? example: heater switch, choke, throttle, radio..etc. holes...

Thank you

Your trucl looks great Jon~!

Jon,your truck looks amazing.
As far as the build up,do as Bruce suggests,take your time and use plenty of tape and help.
Re; the paint build up, I would be tempted to use some rolled up wet/dry sandpaper and try to open the holes up that way.
Maybe someone will chime in with a better suggestion.

Lots of tape and be very careful. Yes, on the sandpaper, I just touched up the bolts after tightening them, worked for me. I have not found a good way to keep the bolts from chipping. I replaced a lot of the bolts with stainless ones. My son and I did it together with some help from my wife. Definitely need a helper or two. Truck looks great, nice paint job!!!
Coach Frank

Truck looks great , just take Your time , and the sandpaper rolled up works good for that paint on Your dash and for putting bolts thru any holes I got some wood rod of different sizes for that and some real fine sandpaper .

Pete

Great thanks everyone!
I have been very very slow on doing the work. I think I will be putting the wire harness in first to get that out of the way. Just hard to know where to start! But lots of fun doing it ahead. Is it possible to paint stainless steel? Does the paint chip down the road?
Jon

Looking good Jon. You are moving right along.

I used a tapered reamer (http://www.mcmaster.com/#3018a4/=541z85) to clean the paint out the holes and ran a tap through all of the threads. Put a dab of anti-sieze on the parts that go through the holes and it should keep the bare metal from rusting.

To tighten the bolts, you may want to consider using washers and assembly lube under the bolts that thread directly into the sheet metal (otherwise tighten on the back side). The biggest problem I've had with new paint is bulging around the area of compression. Unless the new paint was baked, it's probably going to be soft for a while.

Start with the things that are hardest to get to first. That way anything like instruments that would block access won't compound your work.

Hey all,
Thank you for the help! I see what you mean...there is a way to the assembly. I am thinking about putting the grill back in before mounting the radiator. Looks like much better access to the mounting bolts and nuts that way. I was able to get the holes cleared out and bolts are going in very well.