64 Ford F-100 – Muscle Truck – Project update
It’s been a little while since the last time we updated the progress on the truck. Since we knew we were going to have to repair a substantial amount of rust we wanted to make sure our replacement sheet metal was lined out and ready to go. Most of it is here and we’re ready to rock and roll.
Before we go cutting this frame in half we need to make sure the body is solid. We will be fitting the frame to the body and not the body to the frame. This means we need to have a solid body before we try and modify any part of the frame. In order to have a solid body we must first repair the existing rust. This means floor boards, cab mounts, A-pillars, rocker panels, and cab corners.
Stripping the truck unveiled a ton of rust. Most of which was just filled with body filler. (A common theme among poorly restored vehicles). We used three different sources for our sheet metal parts. LMC, Mac’s Antique Auto Parts, and NPD were among the sources.
We’ve started this process by first stripping and sandblasting the outer shell of the body, and the underside of the floor. This revealed all of the hidden damage, while also exposing the problems we already saw.
The next steps involved etch primer, and sealer to prevent any flash rust on the good surfaces. The etch primer bites into the bare metal giving a strong surface for any other materials that will be applied. The sealer creates a non porous coating to prevent any moisture penetration.
We are not in the process of removing some of the severely rusted panels. Removing these reveals even more rust that will be media blasted before any repairs are made. Once the rust is removed we can start fitting, fabricating, and welding our new panels in place. Check back soon for more progress.
