My '77 K-30/V3500 Monster Truck Build

[Engineer]

My bare metal OCD is in full bloom......



Stripped the hood to bare metal today. Put the base grey primer/sealer on it. Will top the primer/sealer with 2K urethane filler/primer to fill any small imperfections. I have three light dents that look like hail dents that need filled with putty. Will do that before putting on the urethane.

Haven't decided wether or not to paint the underside of the hood basic black like I did the bottom of my cab, or paint it with the body color to match the inner fenders, and firewall. Thinking color, but just not quite sure yet. I wont be putting the fiberglass sound blanket back on, so color it will probably be. I hope the color, and clearcoat that I bought a while back is still good. It has been sitting in my shop floor since I did the cab, doors, and fenders....and that has been a while.

I'll be glad when this phase is done. Stripping all of the paint off is major time consuming......... But really the only thing left to strip is the passenger side of the bed, so I really can't complain. As can be seen above, the driver's side has already been stripped, and primed.

[Engineer]

OK, so I told you guys that my wife was neighbors to the guys who owned the Bearfoot 3 truck. Here are some pictures that she took the day that they had the two trucks together when the professional photo above was taken:















Sorry if the photos aren't of the best quality. It was, after all, 30 years ago.

[Irish_Alley]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ my inspiration lol

[81_Chevy]

Ones a Chevy and the other is a Ford? am i seeing that right? lol

[Engineer]

Ones a Chevy and the other is a Ford? am i seeing that right? lol

Are you referring to my pictures?

The Bearfoot 3 truck is a 1985 full size Chevy. The Little Bearfoot is a 1984 Chevy S-10.

[81_Chevy]

Ah, the little bearfoot looked like it had ford taillights. my mistake.

[Engineer]

Had a little issue with the latest phase in my build.

After stripping the hood I needed to cover it with a primer/sealer. The one I used on my bed was the same one I tried using on my hood. However, it is not going to work. Here is why......

My bed is grey steel. The hood I have is off of a 1991 Suburban, it is galvanized. All of my body panels are galvanized except the bed. To this point I have been using a DuPont epoxy primer. Epoxy is compatible with the galvanized panels, as well as the parts of the cab that are not galvanized. I didn't want to use the epoxy on my hood because I will not get around to using the 2K urethane on my hood until spring. By spring the epoxy will have cured, and at that point sanding becomes difficult. Cured epoxy is harder than $9.00 worth of jawbreakers.

So to seal my hood, and to have a sandable base I chose to use the same primer/sealer that I am using on my bed. The primer sealer I chose is an alkyd resin. Alkyd resins cannot be used with galvanized sheet metal because the chemical reaction causes a process to start called saponification. Saponification will eventually cause the primer to lift off of the galvanized steel.

Now I get to re-strip my hood. Not a big deal. All I am out is the primer. Thank goodness I had not yet started the body work, or finish coats. Moral of the story: make sure your paint systems are compatible with what you are working with.


Found some more evidence of my past....... Since owning a real monster truck was not possible when I was in high school I settled for the next best thing. Here are pics of my Clod Buster that I built back in high school:

Right after completion:


Playing in the surf at Daytona Beach, FL on Sr trip:




Yes, it really did float. I drove it around in the swimming pool at our hotel:


After I got back home the Clod Buster had to have all new bearings. The salt water in the Atlantic, and the chlorine in the pool did a number on the metal parts. lol.

[jaredts]

Interesting problem...it brings up all sorts of questions for me:
1)  Alkyd resin sealer?  Is that a good choice for bare metal? Under 2k urethane?  Same as alkyd enamels? (just asking)
2)  Is there really any galvanized coating left on the hood after the aggressive sanding and rust removal?
3)  Epoxy primer doesn't sand well, but I've never had a big problem, even on old stuff.  If this was just a precaution I think you may be overestimating the difficulty.

[Engineer]

Jared you can see from my picture there were some spots that were sanded through. However the bulk of the hood is still galvanized. Enough so that I can't risk the incompatibility.

I am going back to the epoxy. I know it works. I'll just wait until warmer weather and put the 2K over the epoxy at the same time so sanding the epoxy won't be an issue. The main reason I want to immediately apply the 2K is so I get the benefit of solvent bonding. You don't get solvent bonding if the epoxy is allowed to cure, and then need to sand it for adhesion.

[jaredts]

Gotcha.  Wet on wet is definitely less work.  Can't wait to see more of the crazy build you're planning.

[Engineer]

As far as your question about alkyds. It is my understanding that no type of alkyd should be used on zinc galvanized steel. Bare steel is fine, just not the zinc.

More reading:

http://www.coatingsconsultants.com/articles/21PeelingCeiling.pdf

[theace27]

Andy shoot me an email sometime K. I have plenty of Bear Foot 3 info to chat with you about. Thanks, Mike

theace27@hotmail.com

[Engineer]

Here is the steering valve I will be using to set up my hydraulic steering. When I say "set up" it is somewhat likely this valve will have too small of a displacement to adequately steer the cylinders I plan to use.

I am planning on using 2) 2"x10" cylinders in a single acting ram configuration for the steering. This valve has a 5.9 sq/in gerotor in it. That should give me a total steering range of 5.3 turns of the steering wheel lock-to-lock. As I say "set up" because I'll just have to see how it works out. Who knows, it may just be what I need.

The nice thing about the Char-Lynn valves is that once mounted, they are all almost 100% interchangeable in their mountings, and fittings. So if I want to go to say a 7.3 cu/in valve I can, and still use my factory power steering pump. This will give me a 4.3 lock-to-lock steering range. An 8.9 cu/in valve will give a factory like 3.5 turns. Anything larger than the 8.9 cu/in valve would most likely necessitate going to a larger GPM aftermarket power steering pump.

If the 2" cylinders provide enough force to steer the tires then the 8.9ci valve would be most desireable since it most closely mimics the faster stock type steering. Again, it will have to be seen how it works once the truck is in operation. Other things to consider are how wheel backspacing affects the steering radius. I may not have enough steering arc to fully utilize the total range of the steering knuckles before the tire lugs interfere with the suspension, and frame of the truck. It could be that the 8.9ci valve may only give me 2.5 turns before I run out of steering arc. If that is the case it would be too fast, or too responsive for off road use.

I don't have access to CAD, so all of my blueprinting has been done on paper. I have a good estimate of how much steering arc I'll end up with, but there are so many things to consider that paper, and slide rule are just too much work. Will I be able to use the full travel of the 10" cylinder stroke? Suspension height, suspension component location, wheel width and backspacing, tire shoulder radius, suspension cycle arcs. The engineering minded will understand.   

To keep pressure off of the king pins, I plan on a deep back spacing for the wheels. I am trying to minimize the scrub radius, but this may increase steering effort more than I want. That can be offset by boosting the output pressure of the power steering pump to the max 1400psi., which I plan to do anyway. It isn't like the pump will be producing 1400psi all of the time, it will only build that much pressure when demand is required.

[STxMunky]

This is an awesome build. That old M54 was so cool. I love some of the detailed step-by-step you are sharing with us. Keep it up!

[silverj]

I have a dana 60 in my Jeep and use an 8" stroke cylinder, I get full lock to lock steering. 10" will be a bit too long IMO.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk