Well, the warmer March temperature is giving me a chance to clean off my bed sides today so I pulled them out of the molasses to see how they were looking. After blasting them with hot water via my pressure washer I got a better idea of what they need. The rust has begun to come off in many areas and I plan to sink them back in the bath soon, but first I would like to see about stripping the old paint and bondo off both. I was able to shoot off a lot of the undercoating on the one, but will need to address that more later. I thought I might use a wheel on my angle grinder to remove the paint but I think a chemical strip might get more off more quickly. I know there are a number of areas that are holding bondo and I want to clean the things to bare metal and do my own re-repairs of any areas. At this point the sides both look pretty bad and make me wonder if I'm not crazy for attempting to rebuild them. But, then again, that is the challenge, right? To see if I can do it!
Just like when I first was cleaning up the frame and removing all the road dirt and grease from that and was finally able to see exactly what I was dealing with, these sides too I would like to get to a point where I can plainly see what they need. If I can get them down to bare metal I can feel better about what I need to do with them.
Just like when I first was cleaning up the frame and removing all the road dirt and grease from that and was finally able to see exactly what I was dealing with, these sides too I would like to get to a point where I can plainly see what they need. If I can get them down to bare metal I can feel better about what I need to do with them.
Another reason I wanted to pull these sides out of the molasses bath is that with them out I now have room to soak the remaining components of my front suspension and my trans crossmember. Then, after I clean those parts off I am ready to POR15 a whole bunch of parts at once.