GrumpyGhost Rusty 1999 GMC Sierra Z71 Ongoing build!

[GrumpyGhost 27]

I finally got the rocker welded in, well mostly, Still gotta weld the bottom to the inner rocker. As you can see I had to do quite a bit of shaping and hammering and bending. But it's in! I am not happy about the quality of of this new rocker. But from what I have researched, I got pretty much the only aftermarket rockers that can be had besides specialty places for lots of money.

 

The cab corner of course fits like crap. That's a whole other issue and tommorow problem.

 

Moving the bed tommorow as long as it doesn't rain and should finish up last of body work on it. I'm thinking the bed will be painted by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. Depends on how long it takes to block out the primer, plus I gotta spray primer over the new body work I have yet to do.

 

As always, I'm getting burnt out on this project! #whiskey

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

I finally got the rocker welded in, well mostly, Still gotta weld the bottom to the inner rocker. As you can see I had to do quite a bit of shaping and hammering and bending. But it's in! I am not happy about the quality of of this new rocker. But from what I have researched, I got pretty much the only aftermarket rockers that can be had besides specialty places for lots of money.

 

The cab corner of course fits like crap. That's a whole other issue and tommorow problem.

 

Moving the bed tommorow as long as it doesn't rain and should finish up last of body work on it. I'm thinking the bed will be painted by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest. Depends on how long it takes to block out the primer, plus I gotta spray primer over the new body work I have yet to do.

 

As always, I'm getting burnt out on this project! #whiskey

 

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*tomorrow, my phone isn't so smart after all!

 

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[jgl25 6]

Kudo's to you man. Reminds me of doing work to my old 99 Sierra 2500. It had similar issues compared to you. I finally threw in the towel after I was done messing with its million problems and dumping my paycheck into it. Man I do miss that old truck. My 07 just doest give me the same feeling that one did.

[GrumpyGhost 27]

Bought 3 quarts of base coat and 1 gallon of clear today. I gotta finish welding in the passenger cab corner which was a real pita of course. Hate metal work! Absolutely!!

 

Got my truck bed moved to the other shop where I'm going to do all the painting. Didn't get any photos cause well, it was heavy and pics was last thing on my mind. Tomorrow I will do some minor last touch-ups to the body work on the bed and re-prime those areas. Then I'm going to block out the bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

 

So come Wednesday, hell or high water I will be painting the truck bed!

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

First photo is the cheap clear I had bought, my brother in law said no to the acrylic type clear and I had to go buy more expensive clear! Blablabla!

 

Yesterday I also sandblasted the bed side supports and primed them in black and bought all new bolts to mount them. Of course it took 3 hours to do because everyone knows it's the little things that take forever and the sandblaster needed new hoses cause its old and yadayadayada!

 

You can see where I missed spraying primer on the bottom of the bed sides. Not a big deal since I have to do some bodywork touch-ups and I'm also going to spray another coat of primer on tonight.

 

Tomorrow morning at about 5 a.m. the color painting shall begin. I may post my progress later tonight!

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

Took me about 4 hours to "block the bed".

Gotta be awake in less than 3 hours from now.

 

Why you ask do I have to start painting at 5a.m. well the answer is because my brother-in-law who is helping me works nights, so as soon as he gets off work, we paint! Or really he paints as I watch/sleep!

 

Will update with better pics of a painted bed later today!

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

One more coat of clear and it's done!

 

Been a very long day!

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

11 hours total to paint the bed! Got a few 10 min cat naps in-between coats. The base coat flashed and layed down really well. Then when we started clear it got humid outside, so it orange peeled more than I was hoping.

 

4 coats of base coat green and 5 coats of clear.

 

Thanks to my brother-in-law for all the help and pulling an all dayer to get it painted (He works nights).

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

Sanded it down, working on buffing it out! Literally!

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

First pic is final buff with mirror swirl remover polish compound.

 

2nd pic: first cut with buffer 3m cutting compound

 

3rd pic: 2nd cut

 

4th pic: 3rd cut

 

5th pic: 4th cut

 

6th and last pic: 5th cut with swirl remover polish

 

Took about 5 or so hours to buff

I start with top sections and work my way down. I used a mix of 3m and meguiar compounds. Wool pad for cutting and a foam pad for polish. Used a borrowed 8 inch electric buffer.

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

Used red Scott Brite pads to sand off the loose overspray in the bed and scuff up the new paint. Got it taped off and mixed the raptor bed liner.

 

It recommended 100ml of color Max for the mix. I put in more than 100 ml and it still didn't darken up. I'm not spraying puke green on my truck. I may not have enough base to paint the rest of the truck either, I'm gunna try to make it work, but I'll be sure to paint during the day when I can go get some more made.

 

So I wasted one of 8 bottles of bed liner and 100ml of my valuable truck paint. Lesson here is you live and learn and at least I got to practice different spray patterns with the crap color bedliner. It'll be fine, just gotta go buy some black paint tomorrow.

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

Truck bed is finished, just need to let it cure now.

 

Supposed to rain through Thursday so im going to get the truck ready for paint on Friday.

 

Also give the truck bed time to cure before I move it.

 

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[2017_whitez71 296]

I must admit I am addicted to this build. Check everyday to see how it is going. Keep up the good work.

[GrumpyGhost 27]

I must admit I am addicted to this build. Check everyday to see how it is going. Keep up the good work.

THX, ive been told I should have made a YouTube channel and recorded all this, but editing video doesn't sound like my cup of tea

 

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[GrumpyGhost 27]

So one of the bottles for the bed liner exploded. I didn't notice because they came in plastic bags from shipping in the mail. I saved about half the bottle and used it to paint the tailgate.

 

I guessed on the mixing amounts cause I was too lazy to put it in one of my nice new mixing cups. It was a big pain in the arse to spray it. I'm trying to be better about not writing essays on here so I'll spare yall the details.

 

The new paint it a bit lighter than the 18 year old tailgate paint. You won't be able to tell the difference after the bumper is on. (Don't compare color from inside the taillight housing. Wasn't sprayed the same.)

 

Overall I'm happy with it!

 

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