Daddies Little Fatty Is back home.

Jeff finished up the last sanding and buffing of the cab last night. I can't say enough about how talented this guy is. He ironed out all the wrinkles in the body and did an amazing paint job. It really pops out in the sunlight. And he has lots more to do yet.
I got Bob Ertzinger, Dean Long and Tony Cetta together again this morning and we set the cab back on the chassis and bolted it down. We then winched it on Jeff's trailer and tied it down for the ride home.  We met up again at my place and un-loaded my baby and put her back in the garage.  My girl Nancy made lunch for everyone and after thanking everyone profusely. the guys all headed on home.
I did some clean up on the chassis that was dusty from setting., and vacuumed out the inside of the cab. Will start the wiring in a couple of days. Hope it doesn't go below freezing for a while.

Cab is Painted

Jeff the painter had a bad day on Thursday. First the motor on the fan that evacuates the fumes and overspray burnt up.  Luckily he had a spare motor and changed that out. Then in the late afternoon, the motor on the compressor burnt up. He called me and said he was going to try to get one first thing Friday morning. If so, he would call me to come on down for paint. He called me at 8:30 AM and had a new motor and was on the way home. By the time I got there he had just finished hooking it up and was testing it. He said this was a bad thing and a good thing. Bad that it burnt up and had to buy a new one, but a good thing that it didn't happen in the middle of painting the cab. Anyway, it was a long day, with a coat of sealer and then 4 coats of blue and 4 coats of silver. After that it was three coats of clear. Didn't get finished until 6 PM with no lunch break. Never sat down in that 8 hours either. I was very happy with the results and went home a tired puppy.(Old Puppy)  Jeff let it set yesterday and went at the final sanding and buffing today. He will finish that up tomorrow if all goes well. I will gather the usual suspects together Tuesday and we will put the cab back on the chassis and load it back on the trailer and bring it back home.  Jeff will work on the other parts as winter progresses. I will start on the wiring. WHEW!

Wet Sanding the Primer

Jeff was teaching me the finer things in wet sanding the primer today. There is a lot more elbow grease to this than the average person realizes. Anyway, Jeff will finish up blocking the cab and tomorrow he will paint the dash and upper cab visor area the blue color. I wont be there for that, but Friday if all goes well I will watch him paint the exterior. Both the blue and the silver will be done then. The upper part with the blue first. Then re-tape and the lower silver goes on. Probably three coats of color first then the whole cab gets about three coats of clear. This should take about 5 to 6 hours to complete. Then it has to set and then the final block sanding and polishing begins.  It's gonna be awesome!

While we're waiting

Well, while I am waiting for the cab to be painted, I thought I might get to rewiring the headlights and parking lights.  The headlights were pretty straight forward. I got 2 new wire plugs for the back of the bulbs and a couple of grommets. I clipped off a short piece of the new wiring harness that has the right color and printing on the wire and spliced short pieces on the new 3 prong holder. Then I put some shrink over it and put it through the grommet.  After attaching a new 6024 Halogen 12 volt bulb, I put all the parts together in the headlight buckets. They are now ready to install.  Next, I wanted to change the one wire parking lights to a 2 wire system so I could use them also for turn signals. I had to push out the existing bulb socket and bought a set of two wire sockets. Got them pushed in and I added a couple drops of JB Weld around the sockets so they can't slip back out. Did a battery test and both filaments light up. Should work as I want If I wire them correctly to the harness.  The wiring kit is going to be a real test of my ability.

The rest comes apart.

Today with the help of Bob Ertzinger, Dean Long, Tony Cetta and Jeff Crow, we finished removing the cab off the chassis. We first took the bed off so we didn't have to lift the cab over the engine. We then lifted the cab and put it on the roller I made for the cab repair and painting process.  We put the bed back on the chassis for temporary storage and pulled it up to Jeff's other garage where it will wait until the cab is finished. May have the new paint on the cab by next weekend. WHOOT, WHOOT!

The truck come apart for paint

We started taking the truck back apart today. All the front end sheetmetal were removed and the back fenders also came off.  Tomorrow I will gather four other friends together and we will remove the bed first. Then we will lift the cab off and put it on a roller I made  for the paint job.  The chassis will be put away in Jeff's garage until the cab is painted. Then we replace the cab on the frame for the last time. I will then bring it home for the wiring. More to come tomorrow.

Gone to Paint

Well, the F1 has finally gone to paint.  Sunday November 1st 2015 we loaded Daddy's Little Fatty on a trailer and sent it on down the river to Warsaw IL (about 43 miles south of me) to Jeff Crow for the final prep and then the paint.  We went to Abbotts Paint supply in Quincy Il, on Tuesday Nov 3rd to buy the paint and other supplies that will be needed for the paint job.  We  then decided on what will be the final paint scheme, which is a two tone, and where the cut line will be.  Jeff will now do some final prep and then we will take the truck all apart again. The cab will be painted first, off the chassis. When it is all buffed out, we will put it back on the chassis and bring that back home.  Jeff will finish the rest of the parts over the winter and should be ready for final assembly next spring.
When I get the chassis and the cab back, I can then start on the wiring. Never done one of those, so that part should be interesting. I am actually looking forward to it.  This new coat will totally change the looks.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.