RPU, bodywork underway.

[donsrods]

In the dictionary under "patience is says see Don"

My patience was actually running a little thin ! lol But, this morning before 11 am he called and said come get your parts ! Miracles will never cease ! So, I went over and they looked good and he actually had all 8 pieces I dropped off.

I went back to the shop and installed the front panel on the framework and then had to leave because my one cat is sneezing and I have a vet appointment at 2 pm. Tomorrow Dan is off and we will get this bed finally all bolted together and installed. At least, that is the plan. That only leaves the tonneau cover to clean up, prime, and paint, then we can start making the rear nerf bar.

Here are a few pictures from today of the powder coated pieces.

 

[Torchie]

Torchie

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, Torchie. Last night I started to assemble the bed and got one side on and both stake pockets on that side. It is starting to look like a bed finally !

I had a couple of small parts to paint black, like the halves of the hinges for the tonneau cover that did not go to the powder coater, and also 4 small plates that go on top of the bed wings. Those should be dry today and I can get those on.

The plan for today is to get the other side bolted on, and then run some wiring up the two stake pockets for the tail lights and then get the tail lights mounted for the final time. Forgot my camera again, but will remember it today.

 

[soltz]

☆☆[p☆☆

 

[donsrods]

Every car build has certain days that are bigger than other days, like the day you bring it home, or fire up the engine for the first time, or actually get to drive it around the block. Today was one of those monumental days in my rpu build, I finally got the bed assembled and back on the car for the very last time !!

All the paint work was dry, ,so we were able to start putting all the panels onto the framework. We must have used 100 chrome button heads to do it. When we were done we lifted the bed onto the car and got it all lined up and bolted down. This is the first time I have seen this car looking all the same, in the same color, and it was really a good feeling. All that hard work Dan put into building the bed paid off, it went together just like it should with no glitches.

Tomorrow I am going to start prepping the tonneau cover for primer and paint. That will be one of the last big projects, except for making the rear nerf bar. After all we have done, that should be a piece of cake.

Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures from today. After putting that heavy bed on the car, some of the rake went away, so I will have to jack up the coil overs in the rear to compensate, but I am going to wait until I drive it for a while to see where it settles down to.

 

[DozerII]

It's looking awesome Don the the hard work has great rewards. [cl[cl[P[P

 

[BillM]

That looks great Don!

 

[Old Iron]

Now it's coming together.
I may have missed it if you posted but, are you gonna run it topless all the time or will you be building a top for it?

 

[smallfoot]

Excellent!

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, guys, much appreciated. No top, OI. I am kind of a topless guy ! (well, you know what I mean) lol I love to get the top of my bald head sunburned as often as I can.

 

[bob w]

The quality goes in before the Donsrods name goes on.

 

[Torchie]

The quality goes in before the Donsrods name goes on.

^^^^^ [cl ^^^^
[P [P [P
Torchie

 

[soltz]

Looks really nice[cl
I'm with you on going topless, except the bald part

 

[Skip]

Sweet. [cl

 

[donsrods]

Thanks again, guys. Today was tonneau cover day. This thing has 224 louvers in it, and it was VERY interesting cleaning and sanding it to get it ready for primer. Those louvers are like cheese graters on the fingers !

It took a full 8 hours of wire wheeling, DA-ing, and scuff padding to get between all of those louvers and get the thing clean enough for primer, but Dan knocked himself out and did the majority of that work for me. I just finished it up once he was done with the wire wheel, and got it sanded smooth, and wiped down with wax and grease remover.

It was raining off and on all day, but around 10 oclock the rain stopped and we decided to try to shoot the epoxy primer on. Luckily, the rain held off long enough to get two coats of primer on the cover and also the two tail lights. Dan held the spotlight while I shot the primer on in the driveway of the shop, and surprisingly, the primer came out smoother than any previous one I had done. Not one run and really smooth coverage !

So now we plan on spraying the black paint on maybe tomorrow night, but we are not sure what this hurricane is going to do, so we will play it by ear. Anyway, here are some pictures from tonight of the cover in bare metal and then with primer on it.

 

[bruno]

Excellent work[cl[cl[cl

 

[donsrods]

Thanks, Bruno. Today we had the tropical storm EVA passing by and it was raining cats and dogs, so I took a little nap. When I got up, the sun was coming out and the rain had stopped, so I ran over to the shop and got the tonneau cover and tail lights ready to spray in the final Hot Rod Black.

The new gun I got from Harbor Freight that I have used to prime these parts was doing such a good job that I used it again to spray the final paint on, and it again did a great job of laying it down smooth and I did not get one run for a change ! I may never use my DeVilbis or other guns again ! I got 3 medium/wet coats sprayed on which should give me enough film thickness to clean over the years without cutting into the primer ever.

So now, I will let these parts dry all this week and then assemble them onto the bed on Friday, probably. The only things left to do are to build a nerf bar/ license plate mount, and also two little filler panels that will go between the doors on the car and the floor to fill the void there. But both of those jobs are pretty simple, compared to everything else we have done.

Here are a couple of pictures of the tonneau cover and tail lights from today. They are still wet and shiny, but will tame down as they dry.

 

[Torchie]

[cl
I was never a big fan of louvers.( I like yours though.) Now I know why. Too hard to sand.
[P [P [P [P
Torchie

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

Black? Looks like chrome! [cl

.

 

[donsrods]

Yep Torchie, think cheese grater ! I had cotton gloves on while hand sanding and I had to make sure I stayed away from each louver. Somehow I escaped any cuts.

Dr. C, uh huh, in the picture it photographs funny, especially since it was still wet there. The odd thing about this Hot Rod Black is that as time goes on it keeps toning down until it finally gets to that 70% gloss look. I have to say that the louver shop Dan used years ago to do these louvers did an outstanding job. They are perfectly aligned to each other and each one is exactly the same shape and size.

This week I am going to pickup some seam sealer to put between the cover and the framework so that no water can lay in there and create any rust.