Well, long time no see. But I'm back!!! Between work and building a new shop, there wasn't much time for resto-work. The shop is almost done now, and spring is here again, so time to get back to work on the ol' beast.
I ended up leaving the truck in tact and tearing into the box first. Looks like the cab will be the last thing to go under the knife. In the mean time, I'm still driving it once in a while. I never get tired of being able to park it for a month or two, then come back to watch it fire off with less than one full crank rotation. Love these old IDIs.
One side of the box is 95% done.
I removed the inner wheel well to make sure there wasn't any surprises in there (we all know this is usually the first place for rust to come through).
There wasn't any pitting, but the primer and zinc coating was under attack. With a good coating of oil it probably would have been fine. But I'm fussy.
Cleaned it up with a grinder and gentle sand blasting (tried my best not to remove the surviving zinc), then primed/re-assembled everything with 316 alloy stainless hardware.
Yes, the carriage bolt heads will be visible if you look for them, but this way future corrosion problems can be fixed without having to cut welds out. This also means that the panels are placed over a fresh bead of urethane sealer, which should seal better than the factory pinch weld joint. Weld through primer is never perfect, and I didn't feel like trying panel-bond.
I also like the idea of having these stainless steel bolts as attaching points for whatever mudflaps I end up installing. The bolt can be sealed to the body, while the bolt stem can be left raw without risking a rust spot down the line.
This box side actually needed a LOT of spot pulling to get the shape where you see it now since there were previous dents that were repaired with copious amounts of "pink stuff". Hoping it turns out ok once its painted. The upper box rail isn't perfect but... well, nothing is. The plan is to either install an aluminum bed liner that covers the top of the box (have one from the F150), or get a plastic liner that does the same. May decide to line-X or rhinoline as well. The bed will need a sandblasting to get all the surface rust off anyway.