Seen better days .....

Yesterday and today I removed the metal bed floor. The boards under it had seen better days .... looks like someone caught it on fire several times while welding (?)

I also started shaping a piece of metal to fit the grill where someone cut part of it away.

 I will be out of town again for a couple weeks soon so I wont be posting much for a while. As previously posted I am taking the fenders and grill with me as well as the shift part that broke to work on while I'm away.

Started it up today.

Started the truck today and let it run awhile. Still good oil pressure and no overheating.

Then I cleaned the radiator up a bit. I did not strip it down ... I don't think it will need it. I was not quite ready to drain the fluid so I will paint the radiator later on.

I also cleaned up and painted the inside of the grill with the rust Reformer, then I did the outer area with etching primer.

I also replaced all of the hood bolts with stainless ... I don't know if this is the correct size or if they were even there originally (rivets?)

And I cleaned up the hood hinges ... I wont put these back on until later .... easier to get the hood on and off.

I also jacked the truck up and removed the shifter mechanism .... again! This will go to WI with me and get repaired ... I hope!

More on the grill

Spent the day working on the grill. I wire wheeled off some more paint, then went to work on the bent grill slats(?). The bottom right section is pretty much the only slats(?) that needed straightening and they were in pretty bad shape. After a lot of heat then cold water to shrink them, I just about have them as straight as they will be.

Before

After .....

I will probably shoot most of this with either the Rust Reformer or etching primer to protect it until I do some welding on it.

I plan to take them, as well as both rear fenders and the shifter, with me on my next trip to WI  to do some welding while away from home.

Metal Shaping

Today I removed the grill and the splash pan from the truck.

The splash pan was in pretty bad shape, but after a lot of heat, cold water, and a hammer I got it back into shape. It is somewhat presentable now.

Here are the before pics ....

This pan bolts between the frame rails, just under the radiator.  Here are some after some pounding.

Here is after a shot of Rust Reformer. It's not perfect, but 100% better!

Here is the grill shell before .....

Here is a mock up after pounding a bit ......

There is still some more to do on the grill. Especially around the fill neck opening ... I'm not sure why that was cut out and it will not be fun replacing it .... anyone have a beat up old grill that I could get that section off of?

Progress

Finished prepping the hood and shot it with Rust Reformer. I still need to clean up the hinge rods and assemble the hood.

Hood Prep

Today I finished wire wheeling & knocking a few small dents out of the 2 hood side panels so I shot a coat of Rust Reformer on them.