The last piece of the puzzle was to call the team at Keystone Automotive in Dubuque, Iowa. They are one of 136 Keystone stores in the U.S. and Canada. These guys know intimately what it takes to prep and refinish a vehicle and they sell every item needed to get the job done. They sell to walk-in customers as well as dealerships and body shops. We outlined our plan, and they sent everything we needed to get the job done from tape to paint.
This month we detail the cab and front end refinishing up to the application of primer.
7. Our cab corners were very rotten, which is typical of older trucks in the Midwest. Anyone who says they're going to "throw on" some cab corners either hasn't done 'em or may end up with them looking like crap. To install them right takes a significant amount of time. First the old corners had to be carefully cut off. Here you can see technician Chris Gerrits as he removes one of the old corners. After the old cab corners were removed, the area was sandblasted to remove any rust. | 
8. When replacing cab corners, the team at Vintage likes to only remove as little of the corner as possible. We used about the bottom third of the new LMC Truck 'corners. The new cab corners are positioned, tack-welded, welded, ground smooth, filled (shown), and primed. It's easier (and quicker) said than done. | 
9. With all of the new parts installed, the team prepped the stock body. This lengthy process included removing all of the dents on our ol' work truck. They were all painstakingly removed using a weld-on stud and either a pop-rivet tool (for smaller dents) or a slide hammer (for the larger ones). After the dents were removed, filler was applied to these areas, and the area was hand-sanded using 80-grit sandpaper in an 8-inch block. The entire cab was then DA'd using a progression of finer sandpaper. First was 36-grit Stikit 8-inch pads, then 80-grit Stikit 6-inch pads, and then 180-grit Stikit 6-inch pads. |
10. Before the body was primed, it was taped (shown) and then wiped down with degreaser. Just before primer, it was wiped with a tack cloth to remove lint. | 
11. Here you can see the Keystone Automotive PPG K36 primer surfacer being applied over the PPG DPX 170 self-etching primer. Self-etching primer isn't always used by body shops, but we felt it was mandatory due to the harsh conditions our truck would endure. The self-etching primer bonds with the metal and is said to stop corrosion caused by rock chips and things of that nature. | |
The Dream Team
Bodywork is inherently slow and tedious, and on top of that it requires years of experience to do it right. With deadlines hanging over our head like a guillotine, and the ever-present realization that hogging a bay at Vintage Iron & Design isn't a good thing for them, we assembled a Dream Team of experienced body technicians to swarm our project in an effort to complete the restoration as soon as possible. Many thanks go out to this team for giving up seven Saturdays and many weekdays of their lives in trade for pizza and our sunny disposition. They are: (front row, l to r) Jon Wise, Craig Schiller, Erick and Summer Wells, Chris Gerrits, and Roger Wells; (back row, l to r) James Wells, Jared Pulver, and Adam Reihl.
Next Month
In the next installment of "Project Fiery Redhead," we complete the cab restoration and we show you how we installed new bedsides, inner fenders, and tailgate. Of course, we'll also show you the eye-popping finished product.