I have been doing prep on my LUV for about 2 months now, i am about 100 hours and 1500 dollars deep into this project and want to see a finish that will reflect that. So far I have in chronological order:
1. Removed all trim, mirrors, bumper, etc.
2. Stripped the entire body down (door jambs included) to bare metal, I started with chemical stripper and made sure to seal off seams and what not. I then DA sanded it with P80 grit, and finally I went over all of the very rusty spots with a steel wire drill fitted brush.
3. I hammered high spots on the body in with a hammer so that they were just slight indents rather than bumps (how they became bumps, I do not know?). I then filled all of the dents with bondo making sure to clean the surface with wax/grease remover before filling.
4. inserted heavy guage wire between the rubber window seams so as to create a lip where fresh paint would not have otherwise been able to reach.
Now, I have encountered some problems and made some mistakes that I had to learn the hard way about. My number one concern as of right now is concerning my air compressor. It is a 11hp briggs and straton on a 30 gallon tank, it runs excellent. However the electric ignition system has been removed so I have to use a jump-start box to get it running (this works fine, but I have to wait for the jump-box to charge-up every time I need to start it. and that is a problem when I plan on using it for HVLP.) I was told by the guy I purchased it from that all I would need to do is rig up a solenoid and get a battery. Can anyone here explain how I would go about doing that? Also, the compressor has recently had a problem where it will shut off at around 70psi, it used to shut off at 150psi. I tried to fiddle with the pilot valve but so far have not had any luck. I want to know if there is a way that I could by-pass the pilot valve on-off feature and just make the compressor run continuously, blowing off excess air from the safety blow-off valve when needed. that way I would not have to worry about the compressor shutting off in the middle of spraying.
Another problem I have had is flash rust, every where my finger oils touch turns a pinkish hued rust spot, I am currently going back over the entire truck to get it all off (I am wearing disposable gloves now). I have a bottle of rust mort that I planned on using for the really bad rust spots. My question is, would it be a bad idea to coat the entire truck in rust mort so as to take care off flash rust and worst rust, I have read that it should not be used in places where there is no rust, so would this be a bad idea?
Also, what is the best way to remove the exterior door handles??!?!?!
My camera is charging, pics will come soon.
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