Project Big Red

[laserjock]

[emoji15]

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It's bright.

A quick walk around in the sun reveals a rough spot on the drivers door that may or may not buff out. May end up sanding the door down and re-clearing it. If that's the biggest issue I have, I'll be thrilled.

So I went to getting the hood and fenders in color.

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I gave them a quick go with 600 to try and minimize the sand scratch issue. I don't know if it made a huge difference or not but I feel better about it.

If you look close you can see some marks in the picture but it's no worse than the cab was. I put on 3 wet coats of base.

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Hopefully if I'm not too stuffed and it's not pouring rain, I'll get clear on this stuff tomorrow.

 

[DaveBen]

That gives a new meaning to "Arrest Me Red!"

 

[IDIoit]

flippin awesome! I cant wait to see the front end on!

 

[laserjock]

That gives a new meaning to"Arrest Me Red!"

Thank God it's on a slow ass truck.

 

[DaveBen]

 

[laserjock]

Fingers crossed I actually solved the air problem. I thought it was the autodrain causing the problem (which it might be yet) but I really think the issue was the temperature of the unit was set too low. It was below freezing. I might have been getting away with that in mid summer but it's too cold now. So I raised it up to 5 C from -10 C. It was frosting up internally and choking the air off. Shouldn't get cold enough now. Fingers crossed.

 

[laserjock]

Well, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or vodka shooters, I can never remember how that one goes. Little one is under the weather so we stayed home for Thanksgiving. With 50 degree weather, time to make lemonade.

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So there's 3 coats of clear on the fenders and 4 on the hood. They look pretty decent. Had to sand a spot of dirt out of the base on the hood and spot it back in with the detail gun so I didn't have to clean the big gun twice. They look pretty good.

Now to get it hardened up enough to get everything installed and put this thing back together. Still need to paint the cowl and air dam. I'll catch a good day and try to get them.

 

[F350camper]

looks fabulous. What all does the bed need? or are you going custom/utility/flat bed?

 

[laserjock]

It needs flipped over and cleaned up and painted top and bottom. It's pretty straight but I suspect I'll be doing a little rust repair over the wheel arches. This I'm just sure is not the original bed to the truck. It was not nearly as rusty as the rest.

Big thing I need to decide on is the tail gate. Mine is worse than I originally thought so I'll either buy new or try source a clean new one.

 

[IDIoit]

now the real fun begins.
the part where you put it together without scratching it hahaha
looks awesome, im jealous

 

[laserjock]

now the real fun begins.
the part where you put it together without scratching it hahaha
looks awesome, im jealous

That's not lost on me. [emoji15]

 

[FORDF250HDXLT]

looks awesome, im jealous

yeah.he's done a killer job putting on base/clear.rather than be jealous,he's shown us that if someone who isn't a professional can end up with professional results,then so can we.now i wish it were warm out,id get to building a plastic enclosed paint booth and get to work on log truck.

 

[laserjock]

I don't know if I'd call it professional or not. We will hold judgement on that until after it's buffed out.

Now to the next set of problems. I went to install my r134a retrofit kit while access was good and that has spiraled into a nightmare. I'll put up a new thread but in short the dryer that came in the kit was crap. It was all aluminum and the fitting going to the evap core pressure welded way short of tightening. Like I was putting on with my fingers to check fit and it hosed up half way on. Destroyed the dryer and still couldn't get it off so out came the evap core. I have a spare used core and dryer. Is it worth reusing them or should I go all new of questionable quality? I was planning on a new set of hoses and a new condenser.

Why can't things be easy. Does everything have to be an uphill battle?

 

[dieseltruck]

I feel your pain!

 

[laserjock]

In other news, I tore open the box of stainless hardware.

This is what you get.

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Of note, there are more interior bolts/screws than I expected. Is it worth it to buy the kit? I'm not sure yet. The front bumper kit is nice looking. I'm not sure I'll use the bed bolts or not but I just don't know. One big omission is that there are no nuts or speed nuts what so ever here.

For reference, here is the retrofit kit I bought for the AC. If you see this accumulator run far and fast. You and see it, but the connector on the side is hexagonal and not square like the stock one. The connector ripped right off the side of it way too easy.

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New stuff coming. Should be here Monday. That's money I wasn't planning to spend.

I ran the heater hoses. I'm short one clamp. [emoji849]

Think tomorrow I'll work on the hydroboost system getting it plumbed up and flushed. Then I'll work on getting the clutch master and slave together.