I bought a High Rider...

[Shran]

I'm using Nason 2K primer, and urethane base/clear from TCP global.

Sprayer, I have two of the $10 purple HVLP guns from Harbor Freight. I have a 60 gallon compressor with a oil/water filter setup on it - works great.

I'm pretty pleased with the HVLP sprayers. They are kinda cheap feeling but as long as I've kept them clean and lubed, they have worked pretty well. I think I could get away with a smaller compressor, especially since I'm just shooting one or two panels at a time.

 

[ford4wd08]

I've heard the harbor freight guns are great for a one time or a few time uses.

I'm strapped with a 20 gal compressor for now. I think I could limp through some stuff, but I should really upgrade it.

 

[Shran]

My one huge complaint them is that they do not come with teardown tools (8 & 10mm Allen wrenches and a thin 3/4 wrench are all that's needed) and you have to completely disassemble them and clean out a lot of assembly lube before use. I have sprayed several bumpers, a pickup box, this project, and a bunch of little stuff with the first one I got and it's still going strong, although I'm going to only use it for primer now and my other ones will be dedicated to base and clear.

For how cheap they are, you can almost just throw them away at the end of every project but you'll feel bad doing that after all the trouble you go through to clean it before the first use.

 

[Shran]

I couldn't help myself, I had to see how it's gonna look...while I was moving things in the shop, I stuck a fender on. It's gonna look good.

 

[ford4wd08]

Man those deer hoof wheels are my favorite from the first gens/second gens.

I would really like to find a set for my B2 and ditch the ugly steelies on it.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Make it a lowrider.

 

[Shran]

Man those deer hoof wheels are my favorite from the first gens/second gens.

I would really like to find a set for my B2 and ditch the ugly steelies on it.

I like them too. I think they fit the looks of this truck really well.

Steelies can look really good in certain situations too - Chevy rally wheels are one of my all time favorites, and I do like a nice set of black Ford wheels with dog dish hubcaps and beauty rings. I'd be awful tempted to go that route on this truck someday if I could find a full set of wheels and some hubcaps with a small center hole for RBV hubs... that part may be very difficult.

Make it a lowrider.

Go stand in the corner!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Steelies can look really good in certain situations too - Chevy rally wheels are one of my all time favorites, and I do like a nice set of black Ford wheels with dog dish hubcaps and beauty rings. I'd be awful tempted to go that route on this truck someday if I could find a full set of wheels and some hubcaps with a small center hole for RBV hubs... that part may be very difficult.

I was trying to find a source for plain old steelies in 16" awhile ago... I don't think they exist aside from Crown vic stuff (which isn't quite the same)

 

[Shran]

Yeah, I am not aware of anything either. It's possible that Dodge may have used 16" wheels with 5x4.5 bolt pattern in the 70's - they definitely had 15's with our bolt pattern.

If you don't mind using adapters to get to 5x5.5, the options open up significantly. Willy's trucks had some very narrow 16" wheels, as did some 60's and 70's half ton Ford trucks. My buddy has a set of Ford stamped wheels that are something like 16x6's or 7's. You can also source 16" wheels off of mid-late 90's Dodge half ton trucks and Ford half ton vans. One of my neighbors down the street put Dodge wheels on his Explorer using adapters:

 

[bilbo]

a South Dakota truck would have a rock solid roof and no floors.

For what it's worth, my North Dakota truck had no floors or roof corners.

I love all of my m12 stuff. On DeWalt 18V tools, they have an adapter you can buy so you can use the new lithium 20v batteries with the old tools. My wife picks up the old stuff at garage sales because people upgrade to the new kits. With the adapter and new batteries they work great. The adapter does seem to draw from the battery so I avoid leaving the batteries in there overnight and stuff. I think a kit with charger, two batteries, and one adapter is $100 or so.

 

[Shran]

For what it's worth, my North Dakota truck had no floors or roof corners.

I love all of my m12 stuff. On DeWalt 18V tools, they have an adapter you can buy so you can use the new lithium 20v batteries with the old tools. My wife picks up the old stuff at garage sales because people upgrade to the new kits. With the adapter and new batteries they work great. The adapter does seem to draw from the battery so I avoid leaving the batteries in there overnight and stuff. I think a kit with charger, two batteries, and one adapter is $100 or so.

I think it has to do with humidity... I assume it gets damp in there and rots out from the inside. Everywhere I've been in ND seems to be far more humid than western SD.

Those 18->20 adapters are decent. They don't fit certain 18v tools but for most, no problem. I never got into 20v DeWalt but I did find an adapter that allows me to use 18v Milwaukee M18 batteries in 18v Dewalt tools. I swear they work better with M18 batteries than they ever did before. Can't use them on grinders or saws though, I found out that the adapters will melt in high demand tools.

 

[bilbo]

I think they work better with the Li batteries as well. Definitely longer per charge. Interesting on the saws. I'll have to keep an eye on that, but the adapter ahs worked well in my circular saws so far. I think Milwaukee's batteries are better overall though. I got their M18 weedwacker after getting angry at my gas one this summer (I make a lot of anger purchases) and it just feels better built. We use mostly M18 stuff at work and it's truly amazing how much abuse those tools and batteries can take and still work. They are not nice to company owned tools here.

 

[bilbo]

I didn't notice WESTERN SD. I'm in the eastern half of ND and it's definitely more humid.

 

[Shran]

The last small panel, the passenger door, is giving me hell... apparently I sanded into a pocket of something that's reacting with my base coat. I was frustrated with that last night and moved on to examine the hole in the roof.

As I suspected, it was quite a bit bigger than it appeared.

It's in a weird spot too - there is kind of a hump that runs parallel with the drip rail. How to make that look right?

I know, clamp a file to my patch panel material and use a body hammer to form a piece.

I cut out the really awful section, leaving extra material around the edge of my patch to lap weld over... it looks ugly but the roof skin is really thin and burning holes through here would not be good.

Patch trimmed and bent to shape. Also ugly... but I think some creative use of filler will make it look OK.

I think I am going to weld the top and side edges and leave the bottom one alone... I got some 3M self leveling seam sealer that I could use to seal up that joint. Or I could try to weld it. I haven't decided yet. Also thinking about shooting that spot full of spray foam from the inside after it's painted. The inner roof structure is pretty crusty as you can see above... maybe it would help, or not, I don't know.

 

[Roert42]

The last small panel, the passenger door, is giving me hell... apparently I sanded into a pocket of something that's reacting with my base coat. I was frustrated with that last night and moved on to examine the hole in the roof.

As I suspected, it was quite a bit bigger than it appeared.

It's in a weird spot too - there is kind of a hump that runs parallel with the drip rail. How to form make that look right?

I know, clamp a file to my patch panel material and use a body hammer to form a piece.

I cut out the really awful section, leaving extra material around the edge of my patch to lap weld over... it looks ugly but the roof skin is really thin and burning holes through here would not be good.

Patch trimmed and bent to shape. Also ugly... but I think some creative use of filler will make it look OK.

I think I am going to weld the top and side edges and leave the bottom one alone... I got some 3M self leveling seam sealer that I could use to seal up that joint. Or I could try to weld it. I haven't decided yet. Also thinking about shooting that spot full of spray foam from the inside after it's painted. The inner roof structure is pretty crusty as you can see above... maybe it would help, or not, I don't know.

What are you using to weld on your body panels, MIG or TIG?