Where to Stop?

I've had some time off. I had to travel out of town for work - training. It was nice to get away. It was nice to not have to come home everyday, open the garage, and see my incomplete truck staring back at me. It was nice to sit and think. 

I had some time to figure out what, of all the thousands, rust products I wanted to buy. I'd could say that I spend a good week of my two weeks away reading and rereading. Why, really, does anyone need more than one rust remover? They've got products that convert the rust. They've got products that dissolve the rust. Um, why? Why do I need both? Both products leave the metal in a protected manner, ready for paint. My friends at Eastwood have about 23 rust removal products. Some in gel, some in paint-like, some in liquid. They've got 26 rust treatment products that then encapsulate the rust - or what was once rust, now it's been converted or dissolved. They've got products that prevent rust, which is kinda like an encapsulant, but not exactly. How is rust treatment any different than rust removal? I spent a week just trying to figure out what products to use, what order to use them, and what combination of those products should I use? Ugh.

Before I left I did get a few products for undercoating before I left. I got a plasti-dip, rubberized undercoating, and rubberized coating. Only one was specifically for vehicle applications and it was that product that I will not use, too much voc and not enough undercoating. The rubberized coating that I will appears to be designed for hvac, concrete, lots of stuff, just not specifically FJ60s.

The back panel is coated with some rattle can special. The rest of the interior will be sprayed with some Eastwood Heavy Duty Anti-Rust then some Rubberized Undercoating. 

My intent is to use rubberized undercoating in the interior to 1. cover any surface rust and 2. deaden some road noise. I pulled the entire interior out and other than finding lots of corroded change, .22 shells just waiting to kill me, and rust, I also found lots of opportunities to deaden road noise. My truck was put together with lots of voids that seemed to fill with either rust, dirt, or .22 shells. I will use these voids to be filled will be rubberize coated and then use residential-style expandable foam. Boo Ya! I've thought about using contact cement with thin rubber sheets (and I may just do that in the doors) or 1/4 inch foam board (and I may just do that in the rear quarter panels), but overall ... ah who I am kidding I don't know what the hell I'm going to do.

I did get my Eastwood order in, though. I got a frame kit (heavy duty anti-rust, rubberized undercoating, and a spray gun w/ extensions to get inside the frame), rust converter, fast etch (which is really a rust dissolver), and a couple odds and ends.

I had to call on my brother this weekend to call me down a bit. I pretty much have every panel off my truck. Well I don't 'pretty much' I do have every panel off my truck now, except for the rear lift gate. I have rust everywhere! Where to stop? If I 'treat' the rust that means I have to 'encapsulate' it, which then means that I will have to handle having door jams that are no longer body color. What to do, what to do?

'Joe, do what you planned to do.' Yup, needed that one. This stage of the project is not dealing with body issues that I had no idea existed. This stage of the project is to make the truck shell light so I can pull it off the frame, so I can get to the suspension. Stay on task. Yup, needed that one.

Perhaps, we even figured out a way to take advantage of having all the panels off. I don't want to spend 10k on the body. I have no interest in making a trailer queen. I have no interest in making my truck too pretty that I won't drive it outside. I want my truck to look good and I don't want to have to pull everything off all over again. Ah, I don't want to develop my rational right now, but in my head it seems good for my budget. Let's leave this to my noggin to deal with for a while. I hate the idea of going to Maaco for a paint, but if it works for a good 3-5 years that may be good enough. I've got all the panels off and the interior out, so I may not have to worry about overspray. Ah, don't make me justify my thinking. I'm so far off from this right now. Like I said, stay on task.

On task for this weekend was to prep the interior for pulling it off the frame. I want to spray it with my frame kit before I pull it. I've got all the rust issues that I found where my jack and accessories were stored beneath the driver's seat. I converted all the rust I could find, but it needs 48hrs to cure, so no spraying this weekend. I did get all the body bolts off - 8 in total. Most of the bolts came off easy enough. The rear cargo bolts though were hidden. I could see the bolts from the frame side, but the bolt head in the interior were hidden in some dirt box. The bolt head was not flush with the floor pan like the rest of the bolts, it was in some sort of future rust box. How many words are pictures worth?

A grommet hid the body bolt. Thankfully, my vacuum fit perfectly inside to remove most of the dirt - 28yrs of dirt. Someone wasn't thinking when they decided to box in this bolt rather than making it flush with the floor pan. 

There's a bolt in there somewhere.

The body bolts were quick work with my 14mm once I figured out how not to scrap my thumb knuckle. Only 2, the body bolts located in the dirt pit in the back cargo area, were in bad shape. I remember digging in our yard when I was little and finding some nails that must've been in the ground since our house was built - yea it was that bad.

This thing looks like it's been in the ground for 28yrs not holding my truck's body in place. 

Ah well, it was nice to get back working on my truck. One section at a time. One little project for one little project. Don't look at all the bolts and parts and panels that will have to put back. Don't think about how much work remains. Stay on task.

Dirt, Moisture, and their friend

Working on this truck, I was expecting to learn, I don't know, about this truck and how things are put together. In my quest to keep my hands and the back of my head clean, I am still working on the interior this week, so along the lines of learning, I learned the interior sucks. Give me a frame with brake lines, strange brackets that go no where, and grease and dirt and rust.

So much easier to get in and out without doors

Instead this week I found dirt, which was expected and discussed previously, but I didn't really think about Dirt's best friend - Moisture. When Dirt and Moisture get together bad things happen - Dirt pulls out his own tooth and gets married, meanwhile Moisture locks his buddy on a roof and steals a tiger - weird things. I know that when Dirt and Moisture hang around too long they invite their mutual friend Rust and Rust does not like to leave parties. Rust likes to close the place down. Rust likes to make everything about him. It's all about Rust. Damnit. Dirt and Moisture are manageable, but Rust - I don't care too much for Rust, in fact I hate him.

Finding Rust on certain locations on my, now bare, floorboard confirmed a suspicion that has been waking me up this week well before my alarm. I've been fighting the thought as I pull and catalog each little trim piece with its oh-so-loseable-screws. I've been telling myself that this project is just that, a project and it's supposed to take time. Projects are supposed to be challenging. Projects are supposed to keep you thinking. Projects are supposed to be rewarding.

This past week, I talked to a company about putting a motor and transmission in my truck. I was excited. The company was very responsive and willing to brainstorm with me on directions for my truck. I like this company. I got an estimate for the work I want done - OM617 Mercedes diesel with NV4500 transmission. I saw the total, thought - 'yep we're doing it', texted the wife. All is cool, until I scroll down the spreadsheet and learn that the total I had seen was the subtotal, before labor was factored - all is not cool. What am I going to do? I refuse to let this project be that expensive.

Go back and wrench on the truck. Give it time. Think.

I got the interior bare. I started on the front seat then back seat area. All the seat belts are out. I was able to use a wire brush to get all the carpet padding off the floorboard. Nice. It took time to get it vacuumed and padding removed, but 'ok there's a reward for me'. Good let's move to the cargo area... Hey wait a second, it was sunny and now it's all cloudy - strange.

Alright, gotta pull the rear seat backrest, seems easy enough. Remove a screw here and there and it's out. Nice. Things are going well. Geez, it looks like it's going to storm any second.

Hey, what's that on the wheel well and why is it on both sides and in the same spot on both sides? Rust!

Finding Rust made me realize that which I have been avoiding. I think my truck is conspiring to kill me! I can handle surface rust here and there, but not this, I can't handle this rust. Give it time. Think.

Evidence found of my truck's conspiracy to kill me