Ya cant beat a good polish!
Well seems like I have a load of jobs that will be coming together in a couple of weeks, all behind schedule but such is how circumstances have dictated the build. The material for my interior, didn't happen until Mick's time slot for me had past " Oh Bugger" so hopefully Mick can fit me in when he gets back from his hols, not Mick's fault at all, in fact Mick had my seat stripped, new foam in for the job and the Gold Metalflake material within a day. Just the vinyl to match the door cards that has scuppered the Job, ordered by someone else. But in the next couple of weeks I should have them all back and look stunning so I will be one happy chappy!
Garage that is doing the bed paint hasn't ;o( promised me a time slot this week 8th April... but we will see. I still have a few jobs I can be doing but I want the bed on and finished NOW!!!! ;o)
Anyhow to keep me busy, I had the power steering to make look nice, so when people look in the engine bay they go ooooww that's nice. The Brackets I made did look rather sad and also a lot of work to mint up.
I set about re-welding where needed, grinding bits that stuck up and generally tidying up, before paint.
I draw filed all the brackets for a nicer finish and much better prep for the Kermachrome paint I intended using.
All nearly done now and only took a few hours and lots of sweat.
I painted the brackets in Kermachrome and stuck em in the oven (my mrs was out) they needed 15mins at 150degrees and 1hour at 500degrees. After the 15 mins I put the fan oven on full blast and left them for 45 mins.. meanwhile I sprayed the P/S pump and rad bracket to. When I went to check the brackets in the oven, I found I had turned on the top oven not the fan oven whaaa whaaa. So I had to re-do by turning on the right oven, needless to say I got found out, oh how we laughed ;o) Not!!
Here they are fitted and polished, they look ok, not perfect as I expected but Ok. And look oh joy, when I was in California I bought a new harmonic balancer, but turns out there are three or four lengths.. ah now you tell me.. Bugger again! so have ordered a spacer through Langy (Langy's rod shop) So another job waiting parts.
Rather than make no progress I plumbed in the power steering and the Rad.
This was another sweet job, fitting the lower cab skirts. A doddle if you have the fuel tank out but a fukin nightmare if you haven't and hadn't ;o) Passenger side done in no time flat, this one took hours and hours and lots of swearing and aching arms... It is a weird shaped length of rubber that fits in a c shaped channel up in the inner cab floor... but its done now "phew"
I re spayed the fan shroud as it was real shit, even by my standards. So that will be the next job to finish, the fitting of the twin fans. The blades have cleaned up ok and the motors and covers are all painted to so should look good or better than the shitty mess they were in before.
Some time ago I mentioned I had set the grill back to stop the front lights looking as Bug eyed... Well I moved the centre section didn't I, that now sits back. But the lights are still in the original place.. ahhhh So what I have achieved in fact is to make it even more bug eyed Ha Ha.. bloody typical eh!! Mind I quite like it now I have got over the initial shock and astonishment at being so damn thick ;o)
I love the grill treatment now it is fitted and in colour. I struggled a bit to fit it all on me own again ;o( I did only chip one bit of paint.. Grrrrr Oh and I spent one more morning on the panel fit, and after I had made it 10 times worse I put it back to where it was when I first started and I am leaving it as is. OK but not perfect. Looks ok in the photos but believe me it is not lined up to well and annoys me when I look at it! but I couldn't spend any more time on it I had had enough and needed to move on.... er so I did.
This is the latest shot of the Truck same position as the one taken on the very first day I started this prison sentence 3 1/2 Years ago.... wow... 3 1/2 years ago. It only feels like 10 years ago to me. 3 1/2 years of my life I wont get back and it still aint finished. more fun to come.
Just a cheeky shot of it out side so I could stand back and see how it looks and have a little dream.
I am hoping for big leaps forward in the next three week, Just the wiring that holds some kind of trepidation for me, hiding it all and making it all work.... oh Boy!
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