Almost time for some paint!

[layedout72]

Well, as some may know, I have been stripping the front of my truck down for some time now. I had my motor rebuilt while I did so, and I can't throw a good pretty motor in a crappy looking engine bay! So, I stripped the firewall to the best of my ability. It is by no means going to be show quality, but it will stop what rust may become a problem for a while. Pictures below.

[trukcrazy]

Man, that is going to do great. I always get excited when certain times come and new paint time is one of them. That's the payoff for all the hard work. Now, hurry up so we can see new pictures. We need our project pictures fix daily. Great job.

[FORDification]

Just my opinion, but it would only take a few more minutes to get rid of a bunch of stuff you've got taped up right now. The wiring harnesses and heater controller could be fed back into the cab, to get them out of the way, so you're not having to work around them. The radio antenna too...that aluminum bezel just pops on and off, and then four screws to remove the antenna completely. And one screw each for the windshield washer nozzles, and the wiper arms will pop right off too. All told, you might spend another 20 minutes getting rid of that stuff, but I think you'll be glad you did. Good luck!

[layedout72]

keith, thanks a lot. i wasnt sure if the wipers just popped off, so i left them. same with the antenna. I will pull them both off tomorrow and feed the harness back into the cab as best as possible.

[jzjames]

Looks good to me, (damn good, for that matter). Just my , dont kill all that nice prep work with tons of primer. To me the spray can primer is not that good, and you only need a mist of it on the bare metal parts. The rest you can just spray out your color with some good spray can paint. And I dont mean Plasticote. Man I swear by Duplicolor engine enamel. Resist to 500 degrees, and superior adhesion.

[RebelRider]

Looking good layedout!
Can't wait for the next pics!

[layedout72]

Looks good to me, (damn good, for that matter). Just my , dont kill all that nice prep work with tons of primer. To me the spray can primer is not that good, and you only need a mist of it on the bare metal parts. The rest you can just spray out your color with some good spray can paint. And I dont mean Plasticote. Man I swear by Duplicolor engine enamel. Resist to 500 degrees, and superior adhesion.

I am spraying house of kolor DTM primer. I believe the product number is KP2000 or something like that. It is a epoxy primer that is formulated to go directly over metal. POR-15 is pretty much the same stuff, but thicker I believe. It is an epoxy based product as well. Should do very well. If it bubbles, I have more problems than paint. You can spray basically any paint on a motor, because if it tops 300*+ you are in more trouble than you care to think of paint at that time.

[layedout72]

how can I pull the speedo cable out that goes to the tranny, as well as the I guess throttle cable that is on the driver side of the passenger side firewall hump. if that makes sense...


I can't find where the throttle cable goes once in the firewall, so I didn't push it all the way though. Also, the speedo cable is too stiff to push through.

Any help on this or the gun type/pressure would be awsome.

[dcbullet]

That looks great. I really look forward to seeing it painted.

What was your method of stripping / sanding the paint?

[averagef250]

Speedo cable unscrews off the back of the gauge cluster, gas pedal comes out with 3 screws on the inside. Looks pretty decent so far. Kieth is right on about going the little extra mile at the place you're at right now. The tiniest little details during prepwork can really make a world of difference in the finished product. Remove as much stuff as you can to make the job cleaner.

Most siphon guns shoot from 35-45 PSI or so. HVLP is far less. I use a crap $10 siphon gun for most of my painting. I have several nice binks guns, but I'd rather just use the old crappy one that I'm familiar with and not worried about getting it dirty. It's sprayed some nice work too. The primer you're shooting sounds like it might be some spendy stuff. The only suggestion I'd give is if you haven't used the gun before and after catylizing the primer you find out it doesn't work it might be a good idea to have a backup gun on hand so you don't have to toss $50 worth of primer.

Also, taping the window pillar at the bottom is going to leave a noticeable tape line. If you tape it at the top, say under the rain gutter, the line won't be nearly as visible. Good luck.

[layedout72]

im not sure i understand what you mean by taping it up?

[layedout72]

is there some sort of clip that holds the antenna on? the actual square mount thing. I don't want to break it, and it doesn't exactly just pop off from what I can tell messing with it. Same with the windshield wipers.


also, can anyone tell me what the red/black/white wires are coming out of a small hole in the firewall would be? seen in this picture:

the black wires have those little u shaped connectors on them.

[FORDification]

The antenna bezel does just snap on. Just get a flat-tipped screwdriver up under the edge and lift up...don't pry it, just push the bezel upwards, and it'll pop right off. Then you'll see the screws holding the antenna to the cowl.

[layedout72]

maybe i am doing something wrong, but when I try to pop the square mount for the antenna off, it wont do anything. not sure what i am doing wrong here. also keith, you say the windshield wipers just pop off? just pull on them to get them off?


When you say bezzel, you mean the square piece correct? It sits on top of a foam spacer deal? Or are we talking about the part the antenne pivots inside of?

[cjs_72f250]

When you say bezzel, you mean the square piece correct? It sits on top of a foam spacer deal? Or are we talking about the part the antenne pivots inside of?

yes, the bezel is the metal "cap" that gives the antenna the finished looked. I pulled one off of a junkyard truck recently. you should be trying to push the square metal piece (a.k.a. the bezel) up. when you get it up, you'll be able to slide it up and down the antenna since it's got that hole. once it's up, you'll see the screws that attach the antenna housing to the cowl like Keith mentioned.

those wires you mentioned: looks like on my truck those wires are going to the ignition components like the distributor, but i know someone else here can be more accurate about that.