black is good, right?

After doing a little degreasing on the frame, I broke out the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator and brush and got to painting the exposed portion of the frame and the exposed metal around where I've been cutting and hacking. Still have more to do, but it's progress. Then the reconstruction begins...

Carlisle is coming, Carlisle is coming

So we finally score a major door prize, a fuel injection set up from Affordable Fuel Injection and I can't stay the weekend at the show. Doh! On top of that, I'm slaving away making the show program. Not that I'm complaining mind you. Well, yes, I am complaining, but only because I can't be at the show. I'll make a brief appearance on Friday, but will have to jet early in the afternoon.

Work on Hanky wil be suspended for the weekend while I attend a family reunion. I did manage to get a little more sand blasting and clean up done last weekend before my back gave out. I've been hobbling ever since and haven't done a blessed thing to the truck.

Meanwhile, Nats inches closer and I don't have a floor...

Inching closer

Yes, I did get to work on the Scout for a few hours on Saturday. Got the rest of the rusty metal cut off of the bottom of the A-pillar and then cut the 'new' rocker/dogleg to match and did a test fit. Not half bad. I'm going to POR-15 all around the area, then tack weld the rocker in place, then weld in the inner panel. Then I'll move to B-pillar where the reconstruction really begins.

Also did a little buffing on the new truck to give it a little bit of a shine. It looks good from 10 feet, but the paint isn't perfect.

Home again...

About 5 and a half hours round trip driving, but the 'new' '74 200 4x4 is home from Ray's. Now I just need to wash and buff it back to a shine. Ran great all the way home, save a slightly rich carb. Just a little tinkering here and there and this baby will be good to go. Thanks to Alan for being a copilot and sacrificing the blood flow to his right butt cheek to drive the Crossfire home.

Here we are on the way home:














And after we got home (just after sun down)

A little bit at a time

Got in a few hours of work today. I removed the last of the old inner and outer rocker under the A pillar and ground down the bits left behind. Now I just need to do some more rust removal and prep and I'm close to being able to put in the new one. Speaking of which, I separated the donor rocker from its A-pillar and it's ready to be trimmed, prepped and lined up for installation. I'm actually getting close to installing something, rather than cutting it away!

Sand hurts

Wow, I actually got down and dirty this weekend, literally. I pulled the Scout out of the garage on Saturday and blasted all the to be welded areas around the B-pillar and the seams in the rear wheel well. Went pretty well, but with only about a quart of dry sand, I had to keep gathering and reloading.

This morning, the sand I put out to dry was, well, dry, so I had at it again, blasting the A-pillar that Alan dropped off last night (along with the other sheet metal and exhaust parts that we scavnged off his parts rig). That A-pillar with inner and outer rockers looks pretty good now. Just need to decide how much of it I am going to use and graft to the new metal.

Starting to look like I'm making some progress. Gives me some energy to continue. Maybe I'll finish by Nats after all! (holding your breath?)

Cut and Paste

So, last Sunday I actually sat down in front of the Scout and did a little work (just a little slow to post this week). Very little. I managed to mock up a few of the pieces I'll need to fab to fill in some gaps of what I had to cut out of the B pillar dog leg. On the top side, I think I can manage with 3-4 pieces of scrap. I really need to get the A-pillar done first so that I can get everything aligned just right. Looks like I'll need to scab in a piece of floor at the front too.









































Alan is going to drop off the pieces that I saved off his last parts rig and I plan to break out the sand blaster to work on a few areas underneath to eliminate the rust. I hope I can find my plastic sheeting, so I can tape everything off so I don't have sand everywhere.

Why am I doing this again?