#50's radiator support and inner fenders!

[robroy]

Good evening!

Here's how my radiator support and inner fenders looked when I pulled them off the truck:




The inner fenders had lots of under-coating, with rust hiding under it! It was nasty.




Here's the radiator support, looking really great. I sprayed Rustoleum over the rusty metal ten years ago--here's what happened:





I'll post photos of the re-finishing process next!

Robroy

[robroy]

I washed them down, then spent days with an electric angle grinder (with a wire wheel) to get rid of all the under-coating and super heavy rust, then several more days with the sandblaster to finish off the stripping. It was hot and nasty work!



Once I get all three pieces pretty darn immaculate, I sprayed on three coats of Rust Bullet Automotive with an HVLP running a 1.8mm tip at 40-60 PSI. That Rust Bullet is really thick stuff; a 2.0mm tip probably would have been a lot better.







Then, after waiting two days for the Rust Bullet to off-gas, I hit the panels with about four thin coats of Eastwood Underhood Black. It's a super thin acrylic lacquer that's mixed 50/50 with lacquer thinner before spraying. I sprayed this on with a different HVLP using a 1.5mm tip and about 30-40 PSI. It sprayed on VERY smoothly.

I was a little disappointed with the rough finish. It's really that the Rust Bullet wasn't coming out super smoothly, so all the tiny specs of Rust Bullet are visually enhanced with the semi-gloss black topcoat. And the lacquer is SO thin that it hides NOTHING. I'm still happy overall, but it's not exactly the finish I had in mind at the outset.





The battery box area really cleaned up nicely at the end.



Here's my work area. That's the HVLP with the 1.5mm tip I used for the Underhood Black. You can also see a quart of Underhood Black, some lacquer thinner, a mixing cup and other stuff.



And here's the yard I was doing the work in. I tied the inner fenders to an engine lift to get them off of the ground. I wanted to work outside to avoid making any explosive clouds of paints and fumes inside of the garage!



The radiator support sitting back on #50's frame for the first time since the project began.




I'll post another final series of photos when the inner fenders and radiator support are all bolted up!

Thanks for viewing!
Robroy

[kaptnkaos]

50's comin' together real nice Robroy...

Thanks for all the updates and photo's, it's cool seeing people's projects come together.

KaptnKA S

[robroy]

Thanks KaptnKA S! I hope to make lots of progress over the next few weeks.

Robroy

[towtruckerfour]

The truck is coming together nicely.

[robroy]

Thanks Troy!

[robroy]

Today I started fitting the new inner fenders with their seals, and have already hit a minor issue (more on that later).

Here are two of the seals I used (C7TZ-16A054-PR on the left, and C7TZ-16B126-PR on the right):


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_3924s.JPG http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_3925s.JPG

This piece went on pretty easily with the plastic rivets (supplied). New rubber smells nice!


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_3926s.JPG

Here are the plastic rivets:



The piece resting in the inner fender to see if it would fit. The holes lined up very nicely on the first try! A rare experience.



And here it is with the rivets pushed in. I had to tap some of them in with a punch (with a wide tip), but they were undamaged when they popped through on the other side.



Here's what the plastic rivets look like when they poke out the other side. To my surprise, after installation they weren't tight in there. Since they're barbed they'll stay put and not allow the rubber flap to come loose, but there's a significant amount of play between the holes in the sheet metal and the diameter of the rivets. I'm not sure if this is a factory characteristic or not!



And here are the more mysterious pieces, including some staples they came with.



It's not easy to see exactly how to line this piece up. Thankfully I have some photos of how the factory piece went on for reference, but my factory piece was so badly worn that it's still not completely clear. I'm not even sure if this piece is a faithful reproduction of the factory seal or not.



And here's the real quandary. The sack that contained both of these seals and the staples included these 14 staples:



Since they included 14, that means I can use up to seven on each inner fender. Yet Ford originally used 13 or 14 staples per fender!

Did anybody else install these seals and notice this conspicuous staple shortage? Do ya'll think Dennis Carpenter intended the new seals to go in with half the staples, or did only half of the staples included in my sack?

Thanks very much for reading, and for the excellent advice!
Robroy

[robroy]

I replaced C7TZ-16A054-PR today. The old one was a petrified donkey ear.






The new one from Dennis Carpenter.





A side-by-side comparison.



The new one fully installed!



Robroy

[fordman]

lizard tounges and donkey ears. you get funnier everytime.

[robroy]

Thanks Fordman!

[robroy]

I cracked in to my Totally Stainless bolt kit today!


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_4021s.JPG




Robroy

[robroy]

I got the apron to cab seal installed! It wasn't easy to get those staples in there. The URLs under some of the photos have full resolution editions, if you want to take a closer look at anything.

Here I've poked one through the factory holes.


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_3982s.JPG



Here I'm trying to hold the seal up against the contours of the apron. It didn't seem like a very natural fit, but maybe the factory seals weren't either, when they were new.



I had to use this machinist's tool to poke tiny holes in the seal for the staples. Sometimes I could just press the seal over the staples, but that wasn't always possible. The seal was kind of thick.



Here I got the first staple poked through the apron and the seal!



I got the first staple ends squashed down, which was pretty hard to do. Of course I had a mental image of this perfect, compress staple, but it came out pretty messy looking. I promised myself I'd do better on the second one.



But my skills didn't improve very much for the second one! I tried all kinds of pliers and a punch and hammer, but couldn't get the staple ends to bend down in a visually pleasing way.



Got the third staple poked through.



Here I'm trying to bend the ends down on the third staple. This tool was the most effective.



And it's done! But not looking very much better. At least the staples seemed strong enough--they're not coming undone easily.



The fourth staple poked through, under the seal.



Here's how the seal seemed to fit the apron's contours. I'm not sure if I tacked it down perfectly or not! It was hard to tell from my ancient photos that I took before ripping the old seals off. The old seals were pretty beat!



Here it is pretty much tacked down. You can see my photo printouts that I took of the old seals, but they weren't very easy to see.




http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_3995s.JPG

The inside (the side that will show, once the truck is put together), looks a lot better.


http://www.robroygregg.com/Number50/IMG_3997s.JPG

The seal's supposed to bend up like this when the apron's installed, right?



Thanks for reading!
Robroy

[rjewkes]

I beleive so. It'll squash flat against the cab.

[robroy]

Hey RJewkes, thanks for replying!

This must be why so many of us have multiple Bumpside trucks. As soon as I figure out how to do something, and start to get good at it, the job is done! But with only one truck, I won't have the chance to do this again for a good long while!

I'm experimenting with smashing the apron up against the cab, and trying to allow the seal to move in whatever ways seem most natural. So far, at least the top part of the seal is pressing up against the cab in the way you've indicated is correct.

Thanks again RJewkes!
Robroy

[fordman]

i think it is suppose to bend downward. not upward. the help protect the water from going up past the rubber. not that water ever got up that high on any of these trucks.