1962 GMC 305V6 4WD Slow DD Build - Cecilia (Pic Heavy)

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Originally Posted by WDShaffer

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HVLP means high volume low pressure, and they mean it. If you are painting single panels or a few at a time, your compressor will keep up without a problem. The secret to HVLP working very well is an air pressure regulator (not a"cheater valve") on the supply hose set to the gun's specified working pressure. I repainted my brother's stock car twice before I figured out the rental booth was using a separate compressor for the HVLP supply line. After that, I was laying down polyurethane in smooth sheets.

Gravity feed guns like that are easy to clean, too. However, the 1 quart pot is about the limit for painting a single coat on a sedan or a truck cab without the bed.

If it is inexpensive, consider a second gun for primer, so you can set up the fluid jet and pattern for the thicker material. I use a Harbor Freight source gun for primer, and a very nice composite DeVilbiss for paint. But paint is my bag, and I have had great results with low-cost tools. Like anything, you need to learn the techniques first then adapt to the tools at hand.

Thanks WDShaffer! Man youre the paint GURU! I nominated you for the contest here for all your help.

I too had great results with cheap parts. I dont like to spend money ever so i have a lot of MAKE DO equipment. I just fixed up this old air compressor and its workin. cost = 15.00 for a baking mat plus 4.00 for compressor oil. Pretty good I think. I probably better post the writeup on it since its all Ive been doing this past couple of weeks.

[FetchMeAPepsi]

My compressor works great now, but it didn't before. All four legs were broken off the motor. So I called around to get some info and maybe buy a motor casing from the manufacturer. They said no way. I called a repair shop. They said Nope.
I called another repair shop. They said they'd check to see if they had a busted motor in. They did. It didn't have motor mounts

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So I fixed it myself the only way I know how - Cheap!

I first decided I wanted something to dampen the noise. I needed something both flexible and heat resistant so I chose one of those blue cheap silicone baking mats. Folded in half it fit perfectly.

Here's the Powder Puff mechanic sliding it under while I lift the motor:



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Then I tied it down by running two bits of a coathanger through the outside screw holes and over the motor.



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Then it was time to put some compressor oil in it. I chose Porter Cable brand.



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Finally I plugged 'er in and plugged all the leaks, put plumbers tape on the fittings, and she ran great. She holds air! Now time to spend a small fortune on air gadgets.....



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[FetchMeAPepsi]

Well this weekend was a great one. I got my Krud Cutter bottle in and sprayed it on the fenders to remove that old yucky rattle can primer.



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I ran out and sprayed it all over the fender. According to online accounts I only had to spray it on, wait a few seconds and then spray off. Volia! Old paint restored.
Well not exactly...I sprayed it on, scrubbed it off. Did it again and let it sit longer. What could be wrong? Elbow grease! That's got to be it. I threw some kids at it. First one kidpower tied to a scotch brite...



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Then I tried two kidpower tied to sponges.



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Still nothing to speak of. Ok, it came off a little, but it was a LOT of scrubbing and hard work. The kids had fun, but dear ol' dad was wearing down. The Krud Kutter was a big fat fail. We waited anywhere from 30 seconds to a full hour between scrubbings and it still didn't come off well.

In a fit of frustration I grabbed a bottle of degreaser and sprayed it on, waited 1/2 hour, and took a power washer to it. It's funny how things fall together in your darkest hour, isn't it? I sprayed it and WHAMMO! The stuff just fell off like I had a selective sand blaster running over it! I almost peed. Really, two drops of pee came out. I was so excited.


I immediately started spraying little spots and running a timer to get the numbers down. This stuff didn't seem to hurt the original paint at all. I finally hit on a time that worked well enough for us. Spray it on, wait 30 mins, spray another coat on to re-wet it, then hose it off with a power washer. It's like freaking magic.

It was so much fun the oldest daughter came out of the house to run the washer on it.



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That lasted all of 10 minutes because as you know power washers don't have music plugins or pump out brownies at 350 degrees. They just shoot water and that gets old to a teenage girl after a while even if Daddy is jumping around behind her like a lunatic that just found a gold tooth.



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I made a video of it too to show just how easy it fell off but I can't seem to figure out how to upload it. I hate videos anyway. So here's a pic. Nom nom nom. See how clean the power washed area is? And this is a little 5.5 horse 2400 psi 2.4 gpm washer.



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I should have a blue truck in a couple of weeks at this rate. Or at least I'll have a better idea of what Cecilia's bones look like if I have to do a full repaint. I am one happy camper!



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[FetchMeAPepsi]

Today was a long, loong day. I took Cecilia to the dump and dumped another load of junk. That was good though because I can't toodle around in her when she's loaded with crap. I have missed her!

After that I just ran her a bit and slowed her timing to 2.5 BTDC. She's been backfiring through the carb on acceleration so I needed to find a fix. She's running alot better, but now the battery is crapping out big time. It won't charge past 75% and it won't turn her over more than 1/2 second. I'm running her off of a jump box for now.

I also put in a new radio antenna. Now my radio works!

Finally I was pretty worn down but I sprayed her down with paint remover again and power washed another layer of primer off of her. That's 3 hours of fun. I found out my GMC letters on the back weren't white nor blue like the rest of her, they're kind of a shiny silver color. Really pretty!

Then I sat down with the kids, got bored and started hammering out dents in her fenders while I sat. Lazy bodywork FTW.

I can't wait until I can bend over with this hip again so I can work under her. Even if I leave the outside of her patina'ed and blue I want to open all of her underneath parts and give them a good cleaning, priming, and spraying with bedliner.


I didn't take any pictures this time because I left my phone inside. I'm a loser.

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So here's a pic of someone else's truck to make up for it.



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[FetchMeAPepsi]

Well the kids are out of school now and I'm itching to do some work on my truck with them. Weather wont cooperate though. Its been raining cats and dogs.



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I played with my Eastwood hammers some, banging on my rear fenders. You can

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. I paid 80 but they're on sale right now. Go figure!

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The hammers work GREAT! The dollies are very heavy so they hold the metal still while you're pounding on it so you don't rip it all to shreds. And the fiberglass handles don't ring your bell every time you land a solid whack.

I kinda want to pull the rear bumper off this weekend (weather permitting) and get it cleaned and sanded.

So I've been sitting here researching paints, primers, and polyfills. It's making my head swim. And I've been collecting parts and pieces.

I have just about decided to paint her instead of going with the patina, but I change my mind every day or so on that. My Powder Puff loves the patina look and so do I. It's more authentic to us. Paint is stupid expensive too at $400 a gallon or so. That'll make your butt pucker. And that's not including the parts associated with it too. So yeah, Patinas are great, but on the other hand Cecilia was abused alot growing up and she might not be able to walk out in public without some paint on her face.



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So back to my parts blitz. I just acquired a compressor and thought I'd use a particular type of low volume paint gun with it but I changed my mind. I have read of others that did well with HVLP guns on similar compressors just taking it easy and not getting in too big of a hurry. I'll be painting one panel at a time if I paint so I think I'll be OK. Worst case I have to buy a big compressor. May as well open a shop after that huh?

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Here's the list:
A creeper that folds up into a chair for my bad hip. I needed a rolling chair anyway. 2 in one! $80.00
An RPM gauge $15.00
A vacuum gauge $14.00
A radiator overflow hose. I want to put a coolant tank in eventually. $5.00
A clay bar for paint removal in tough to spray areas $8.00
A wire brush cup $10.00
A gallon of Slick Sand $97.00 Ouch
An inline water and oil filter for my compressor $5.00
A new HVLP primer gun $40.00

I'm I'll be getting my DP90 primer and extras ordered this week some time then it's learning time! I plan to make a lot of mistakes but hey, in the end I'll have a fat head full of knowledge right?



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I looked around for some cheaper primer to practice with but it seems like there's only a few dollars difference in all of the epoxy primers. Disappointing. It's a wonder that anyone ever gets into body work anymore with these prices. You'd have to charge a fortune for any bit of work just to break even!

[FetchMeAPepsi]

The kids are out of school now and it's great. Some people get tired of their kids but I'm not one of those. I really dig spending time with them.

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Today the eldest wanted to have time with the youngest (Baby syndrome? She better not drag home some boy!) and my boy was tied up with the Nintendo Wii. That left the Powder Puff and I on our own. I had work I needed to do but she didn't have anything really going on. What's a good daddy to do?
Flake off and pull the old truck out for some wrench turning of course!

I started Cecilia up - Side note here, she has had a kind of cough'y, hammery sound lately in her passenger side of the ol' 305 V6 that was kinda scaring me. I thought her oil might be low but it checked out fine. I haven't changed it her oil because I can't get under her, but she has a sufficient amount that she shouldn't be having trouble. Anyway, I took a shot and gave her a dose of

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and let her run for about 10 minutes. The cough disappeared. PP (The Powder Puff Mechanic) started calling the stuff Cough Medicine for Cecilia. It's about the size of a bottle of Nyquil so I think it fits.



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Ok, back on track, I started her up and pulled her into the front yard this time. I know, brave, huh? All the neighbors are reasonably friendly so I think they'd tell me if I was disturbing them. I try to not be loud. We tossed the door that CoyoteRun gave us in the back and thought that might make a good project for today. We figured it'd take a couple of hours or so.



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It took five.

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Tools you will need:
1 Large Philips Head Screwdriver
1 Regular Philips Head Screwdriver
1 Pair Needle Nose Pliers
1 Can PB Blaster
1 9/16 wrench



We started by removing the three screws that hold the mirror on. The new door had some funky upper panel mirrors so I'll have to drill new holes. Later. I had problems with one screw that was apparently stripped out. Had to put my fingernail under it and pull up while I turned the screwdriver. It's a good way trim your fingernails if you don't have clippers. It wore mine down into the quick.



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There's a rubber gasket under the mirror so be careful of that. Mine had marks under it too where the previous owner tried to line up the mirror.



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Now shoot some PB Blaster on the door side of the hinge bolts. There's 6 bolts in there. Don't forget any of them. Then tap them with a hammer a couple of times just enough to ring their bell a bit and set up vibration.






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Remove the cotter pin here and it'll let you open the door more. I didn't do this until afterward then was kicking myself because I was in such a tight area the whole time.

cotter key and pin:


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Then take your 9/16 wrench and get ta' screwin' around. I took out the two over/under bolts out from each hinge, leaving one single bolt in each hinge for support. You don't want to run all of the bolts out at once or you'll wind up walking funny when the door falls off and jumps in your lap.

Now put a jack under the door for support. They're pretty heavy but not unmanageable.




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While your helper is busy jacking up the jack (and letting it down, jacking it up again, sitting on it, putting rocks on it, etc...) you can keep your sanity by taking out the panel screws. There's 12 of them IIRC (If I Remember Correctly) and you'll use your big screwdriver on them.



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Now grab your flathead screwdriver and poke it in the back of the handle like this to unscrew this screw a bit. It's just a pressure screw so run it out about five turns and it should be fine. You don't need to (or want to) run it all the way out and lose it.



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Same with the other handle



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Then gently lift the panel off and put it in a safe place where you won't trip over it or kick it because you busted your thumb with a hammer.



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Then take the side screws out to release the vent window. There are four screws, longest two on the side, shorties on the top.



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Then remove these two large screws about midway down the door. They're one on top of the other. Don't remove any other screws:



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Then push down on the vent window, GENTLY. It could shatter and cut you to ribbons! Once it's down about a half inch pull it to the right gently, taking care to not tear up the corrogated window channel on the top of the window.



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Then you can pull it outside the window area like this but it's not cleared at the base yet, one more twist to pay attention to...



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Now twist the window so that it faces you like an axe falling on your head. This is because there's a little bracket on the bottom of it that won't let it come out without the twist.



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Then just pull it up and out.



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[FetchMeAPepsi]

Now inside the panel viewing port here you'll see two screws. Remove ONLY the one pictured but don't try to pull it out. It stays in the channel nicely because it has a big head like me.



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Ok, this part is another dangerous part. It's better with two people but I never have two grown people around. If you're like me and have no friends take your screwdriver and gently break loose the screw. Don't unscrew it!

Then grab the window like you see here. While you're unscrewing the screw, hold the window up so it doesn't fall when the screw backs out. Get comfy and get a good grip. After the screw backs out just work the window glass right out of the top.



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At this point your little helper probably has gotten tired of the jack and has wandered off after butterflies or ladybugs. If she left your jack in the right position (see pic) then you can now safely remove the final bolt from the lower hinge using your 9/16 wrench.



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With the bottom bolt removed you only have the top bolt and the jack holding up the door. Now is a good time to let your helper run the bolt out while you stand up and hold the door to keep them from getting crushed. That's bad parenting, crushing your children. Plus the government frowns on it if you don't have a permit.



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After it comes off you're left with 1960's air conditioning.



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Transferring all of the hardware and parts to the new door was pretty straightforward. The glass was broken so my fingers naturally ran all over it hoping to get cut. Only my thumb succeeded.

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I did have a problem with the window channel screw though. It wouldn't come out. I rounded it out with my big screwdriver so I used a skinny flathead screwdriver and it busted right off in my hand. See the piece in the screw still? Stupid Stanley tools.



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And when I went to put the bolts back in I forgot to mention that the two over/under bolts are washerless. Only the one on the outside of the hinge by itself has a washer. At least on mine that's how it was.



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And here's where I greased up all of the links and connections. I really hate that corrugated window channel stuff. It bites me and it's ugly.



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Anyway, we buttoned her back up and got her hung by the time the wife got home and called us in for dinner. Perfect timing! I still need to adjust it a bit but it's in there and it shuts. I'm happy. I still need to replace the rocker panel but that's a job for another day.

Special thanks to CoyoteRun, his lovely wife and daughter, and his oversized generous heart for the door.

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Here's a before:



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And an after:



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[FetchMeAPepsi]

I got a friendly verbal spanking over PMs for being lazy with the antenna build. Sorry about that

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I bought my antenna from

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. It's a direct fit replacement for my old one except my old one telescoped manually (you push it down or pull it up) and this is a whip style antenna.

Hope that helps anyone looking for a replacement. I'll try to remember to mention more details from here on out.

[Cayoterun]

Lookin' good, Pepsi! Much better there, than after coming out of a crusher.

Sorry about the big mirror holes, but the old door has ridden to a grain elevator many times on the grain truck it came off of.

Recycling at it's finest!!!!

How is that rocker panel attached? Is it bolted on, or pretty easy to get off without damage? Let me know, and I'll check an old cab I have. I'll have to roll this cab over with the tractor to see this one.
Let me know.

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Originally Posted by Cayoterun

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Lookin' good, Pepsi! Much better there, than after coming out of a crusher.

Sorry about the big mirror holes, but the old door has ridden to a grain elevator many times on the grain truck it came off of.

Recycling at it's finest!!!!

How is that rocker panel attached? Is it bolted on, or pretty easy to get off without damage? Let me know, and I'll check an old cab I have. I'll have to roll this cab over with the tractor to see this one.
Let me know.

Thanks Coyote! I really like how it looks. I believe the rockers are spot welded on. I've seen rebuild threads where other people have cut them out with a reciprocating saw so that was going to be my plan.