Sandblasted Clean...Friday Sep. 13th, 2002

A huge thanks is in order to Carlson Decorating & Sandblasting Co. Ltd. Winnipeg, MB. (204)233-0671. They did an amazing job sandblasting the truck. On Sep. 10, 2002 the Dude was dropped off at their 1035 Mission Street facility for a comprehensive metal cleaning of both coarse and fine sand media blasting. There was considerable rust on many of the interior, engine bay, chassis and frame components. Mark Phillips, (Shop Foreman), worked magic on the 30+ year old steel. As you can see from the picture to the left, there is a great deal of usable metal on the cab floor, much more than I had first thought. I was certain that new cab floors would have to be ordered in, but now it's pretty clear that all that's needed is several hours of metal fabrication around the front cab mounts, (the Dude's cab is mounted to the frame by 6 support mounted bushings, two are located inside the cab at the drivers & passenger's feet. The other cab supports are located in the engine bay and at the rear of the cab, (under the gas tank).

The picture at the right shows the revitalized, "super clean," engine bay, thanks again to the sandblasting. The process of sandblasting does not harm plastic, rubber, or other chassis components. The result in the end, (as you can see from the pictures), are clean, "like new," wiring and rubber parts. The next step is getting in there with a metal anti-rust paint, (Tremclad's 'Gloss Black,' for this project), and sealing up all that metal! The metal will rust again within hours after sandblasting. Especially deeply pitted areas. In fact these pictures were taken only hours after getting the truck back and already some areas had begun to rust. Check out the very last photo on this page.

To help protect the metal from rusting before the body work can be attended to, I doused the entire truck with, "SEM Rust Mort." A 1 liter bottle was enough for the whole truck. This stuff is pretty amazing. You can paint right over it and it will protect the metal from flash rusting for over a month, (this is of course considering you keep the vehicle garaged and away from the elements). One tip... Never use any rust inhibitor solution without wearing a breathing respirator. The vapors from the rust inhibitor's gases will burn your throat and lungs as well as make you sick to your stomach. It is basically a mild acid.

There was a lot of surface rust around the cab doors, cab floor, door hinges and rockers, (what's left of the rocker panels anyway). The sandblasting removed the unstable portions of metal which wouldn't have been any good to weld new panels to in the end. Sanding down the dull grey  freshly sandblasted metal back to a smooth bright clean metal is the next step. After that, a self-ethching primer will be applied. Then, plenty more metal fabrication to create the pieces which have rusted away over time. After the pieces are created and properly matched to where they will permanently stay, they'll each be lined-up and sheet metal screwed into place. After their overall alignment is double, (and triple), checked, they'll be MIG, (Metal Inert Gas), welded together. The sheet metal screws will then be removed and the holes from the screws will later be tack welded. After some grinding and re-surfacing nobody will ever be able to tell where the factory lines stop and the fabricated ones begin. Well... everyone except for a great bodyman, (those guys know way too much - it's crazy).

Some great news when I picked the truck up after sandblasting... they were able to shoot several areas of the truck which initially they were concerned might warp. When I dropped the truck off I was hoping that the metal would be thick enough for blasting around the front marker lamps, (seen to the left - now ultra clean). This area was very badly rust pitted and I was worried that if I had to use any filler around them, the filler would eventually separate from the metal over the years. Now, since this would also involve ruining the look of the restoration, I was somewhat concerned. However, sandblasting with fine sand did the trick and they turned out awesome! By the way, the marker lamp area can be seen on the passenger's front fender - right behind the headlamp. As a side-note, check out that super clean underside of the hood. Ever try cleaning a hood without sandblasting it? It takes hours and totally sucks. This hood will be a snap thanks to the sandblasting.

As I had mentioned earlier, sandblasted metal rusts FAST! In the photo to the right, you can see the driver's side front shock mount already rusting. Also, in this same shot you can still see some of the original sub-lime paint on the top of the cab floor transmission hump. This will have to be removed with a quick application of Morton's Aircraft Paint Stripper. I can't stress the importance of properly cleaning all surfaces before shipping your vehicle off to get sandblasted. The sand particles need to hit bare metal and then explode to do their job. If they hit globs of axel grease, they literally just bounce off. Scrape the undercarrage of your vehicle with a putty knife and wire brush to remove as much of the road dirt as you can. It'll save hours after you get it back.