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After the paint was removed, the bodywork could begin. The first task was to grind down all of the rust pitting that had occurred over the years. This involved approx. 25 hours of labor. A high r.p.m., (revolutions per minute), grinder with a steel buffing wheel was used to get rid of the top layer of rust. In the particularly bad regions, 50 grit sandpaper was used on an orbital sander to grind  back to good metal. In the photo above, you can clearly see the regions of rust pitting, (those black areas on the bare metal). A grinding disk was used after the buffer, and sandpaper grades from 80 grit to 150 grit were used from that point until the metal was clean of all pitting. After grinding the rust pits, "Dupont," Metal Conditioner, (an acid etch solution), was used to burn away any remaining rust in the metal. The worst area, (the drivers front fender), can be seen in the above photo. This fender required a lot of extra grinding and two coats of acid etch to create a smooth rust-free surface. The lower door skins were not stripped, (you'll notice the paint is still on), since they will be cut off and new metal will be fabricated and attached as the body work progresses.

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Another area of very bad rust pitting was the passenger side door. This also required a great deal of extra time resurfacing the metal.

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Two other areas, (clearly seen in the above photo), which contained very bad surface rust, are the front lip of the hood and the front insert between the headlamps and the bumper. I've actually seen these areas completely rusted away on some of these old trucks. Luckily this one just has surface rust. Both areas required 3 times the work of other areas and multiple applications of acid etch to smooth them out nicely. Due to the likelihood of warpage, sandblasting was not used during the metal restoration. The high heat and pressure from sandblasting can warp sheet metal quickly leaving you with a ruined project piece. Soda blasting was considered, however it was not used in the end due to it's inability to properly remove rust.