My 78 k10 4x4 build thread -454 install / build -1 ton axles- frame restoration

[dvdswan]

nice job on the frame.

[FearNoMan78k10]

Hey thanks Dave I greatly appreciate it !

[bake74]

     You guys made short work of that frame, nice job.

[FearNoMan78k10]

Thanks bake! it was 3 solid days , Friday , Saturday and Sunday, and with a sander , dremel tools and bits , a wire wheel on a grinder, and a few other simple non power tools to get the job done , one thing I really really wish I would of done is take pictures of the frame when it was finished with all the final sanding, wire wheeling etc. the braces and brackets attached to the frame were sanded it its entirety. But as you probably know there is just a couple areas we just couldn't reach with the power tools and hand tools. I would humbly say ..... That about a true 90 percent or more of the frame was restored completely and the other missing areas that were impossible in every human way to get to I told my wife this summer we will look for some odd shaped sanders and tools for the 90 degree corners inside the frame rail. Bake I never thought it was humanly possible for me being disabled and my wife helping every second during the day to be able to get it done in just 3 days . The last few days I have done nothing but sit around like I normally do. A seventeen year old hit me doing 45 to 50 when I was stopped and rear ended me and broke my back in all kinds of places, then I went 10.5 months with a broken back he sure no doctor believed I was hurt they all thought I wanted pain pills because of my tattoos and earrings ,,,, so I deal with a plethora of body pain and problems so for us to he able to even physically work on the truck is hard for me let alone how much work it took to get it done !!! I'm very happy and thankful that's for sure !!! Bake thanks for the positive words brother !

[FearNoMan78k10]

Can SOMEONE or one of the staff members PLEASE tell me  how to get 40 years of oxidation and whatever is keeping the body from returning back to the original factory shine without spending 150 hours buffing and waxing it ? What products should I use, what is the steps and process, any professionals out there in BODY and paint restoration please HELP me , I'm not a body pro . I spent 3 days jut getting mainly the front right fender panel and the passenger door buffed to a point where I said wow this is just unreal how beautiful the paint is but my goodness fellas this is INSANE how much buffing pads , carnauba wax ( did I spell that right ) and the wax that restores or helps to restore, from meguiars car products. I am using a 5 inch buffer from craftsman with a 3500 rpm rating, ALSO . Long story short, previous owner replaced bed with new one painted it to match feels like and looks like NO clear coat, now the front half is buffing out very very slowly , I haven't even touched the hood . So basically the front half of the truck isn't going to match the back half and it will look off, you body and paint experts please please help me so i can attempt to restore the paint to a high gloss shine . Any help would be much appreciated!

[FearNoMan78k10]

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[bake74]

     Others will chime in also.  But paint and oxidation is what it is.  Unless you are willing to strip, or go out and buy a high speed orbital buffer, it is time spent trying to "peel" back the layers of oxidation the years have put on.
     If it was a cheap paint job the oxidation can go all the way through the paint, if it was several layers (good paint job) then maybe it just went through 1 or 2 layers.  It just depends, sorry but that is the best answer I can give you.

[minus1]

It can look just as nice minus if you do it yourself and take your time you could totally do it bro!


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Thanks for the vote of confidence. I didn't take mine down to the metal just worked with a wire brush and degreased everything. I'm going to try my luck with Chassis Saver (right or wrong I don't know). Any way nice work you're doing. Really like the color of your truck. 

[FearNoMan78k10]

Hmmm seems then I will have to repaint the bed to  get it to match the front.  And try to buff out everything but the bed. If it doesn't work out then I will want to repaint the whole truck the same exact color it was. Hopefully .. We can get the paint to match exact, I wonder if I would save myself a lot of headache by stripping the paint and having it professionally paint matched first, buy the paint , strip the truck, sand and clean then primer and paint it. The entire truck, I just worry they won't be able to get the exact color . High gloss burnt orange is what it looks like to me. Any thoughts guys? Repaint bed and call it good ? Or strip it all down and repaint the truck the same color? I'd really like to do that but wonder just how much I might be looking at spending to do that. We'll hey man I will be keeping up with your build minus. I would go with that product I looked it up seems pretty good stuff, it ought to look really nice when it's done minus !!! Thanks I'm glad you think so, thanks bro I like the color too! And want to save that color !

[FearNoMan78k10]

Anyone know about where to find paint that would look exactly like the color I have on the truck so I can do some painting ?

[FearNoMan78k10]

The bed of the truck is going to look way off unless I do something about it, any suggestions ,,,, how much would paint cost for the entire body ? Question ,,,, once the bed is painted even if it is color matched it will always look off am I correct ? Is it worth a repaint? I'm stuck as what to do

[bake74]

     Look through the GM Heritage pages in our tech section which has a link, here, you just need to open and find your year of truck and browse through all the information.

[FearNoMan78k10]

Thanks for the link and the info , it's 177 pages to scroll through , I'm still trying to go through them all ... I appreciate it bake right on !

[minus1]

You can go ahead and paint mine while you're at it....

[FearNoMan78k10]

Lol that would be awesome wouldn't it? I think I'm going to do that this summer ,,, paint the truck,