This is the eighth installment of stories covering the buildup of the California Hauler. The first seven were published in previous issues of KIT CAR and are available online at www.KitCarMag.com. This episode covers damage control rather than fabrication.
Though it may be true that into every life a little rain must fall, we'd rather keep it off the bare metal found on our California Hauler project truck. But just like Mother Nature, there are some things you can't control, and we recently lost the use of our company tech center, which is where the buildup had occurred thus far.
Our company decided it was better to move the tech center to a smaller facility, but in doing so, some of the car projects being worked on by various editors of other publications (we publish over 60 magazines out of our Southern California offices) got pushed outside--literally.
Even though we kept the truck protected with a car cover, it still managed to quickly rust, as the metal bed had never been primered. So a few steps forward, then a few steps back--just what you should expect with most car projects!
The first step in correcting the rust problem was to find a place where we could unbolt the bed, get the parts to a media-blasting company, and then get everything primed and bolted back together. Hot rodders in Southern California already know about Dagel's Street Rods run by Gary Dagel for his hands-on approach to rod building as well as his large parts house. He graciously allowed us some space so we could get the work done.
We rolled the truck, which originally came as a (rust-free) kit from Auto Classics, into the back of Dagel's shop and began twisting wrenches. Auto Classics supplies a 'glass cab, fenders, and hood, but the bedbox is made of heavy steel, and the rust had gotten so bad it felt like 60-grit sandpaper when we ran our hand over the bedsides. The S-10 chassis on which the project sits has very light rust on some of the exposed areas (I had sandblasted the frame a few months back), but not enough to worry about at this point. We'll take care of those areas when we start prepping the project for paint.
With the bed disassembled, we drove the parts over to Orange County Sandblasting & Powdercoating, a business owned and run by Don Gravley for the past 10 years (though the business has been in place for the past 45 years). I've been a customer of theirs off and on for at least 20 years, and I've never had a problem with the parts they've given back to me.
Orange County Sandblasting uses five different media (garnet, Starblast, plastic, walnut shell, and glass bead) in its blasting, depending on how bad off the item is. They also do regular paint stripping from a variety of products (wood and metal included), but most rodders are interested in the hardcore blasting.
The media used on my parts is a custom blend of Starblast, a mined, sandlike material that quickly stripped the layer of rust from the bed's surface without warping any part of it. It looked so nice when it came out of the booth that I wanted to get directly back to work on it, but it needed to be primed so I wouldn't have to go through this expense and effort again.
A set of rear leaf springs from Eaton Detroit Spring also needed blasting and primer. The springs, which are not re-arched stockers but rather a brand-new set of leaves made to my specs (to lower the truck's rear a few inches without lowering blocks or any other product), were unfortunately left outside in the truck's bed. They were attacked by rust, too. You'll see more on their installation, along with lowered front coil springs, in a future installment of the California Hauler series of articles.
I took the bed and parts back to Dagel's Street Rods. Gary's son, Chuck, sprayed self-etching primer over every surface, which will virtually stop any more rust from ever gaining a foothold in the box. With that necessary work done, I can now turn my attention back to assembling the truck and installing the engine and transmission (which needs to be done before the fitment of the front fenders, grille piece, and hood). Dagel's Street Rods will help us with that aspect, too, manufacturing a custom set of mounts. I'm looking forward to the next bit of progress. In the meantime, check out www.KitCarMag.com to see where we came from, and look for the next installment in the May issue of KIT CAR.
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Though you may remember a similar photo from KIT CAR's coverage of the Association of Handcrafted Automobiles' Fun In The Sun event at Knott's Berry Farm in SoCal, you didn't get the whole picture that showed the nose section, which was also part of the magazine's display at the show. (The nose section is actually four individual pieces clamped together to illustrate what it will eventually look like). This was also the last time the project was seen without any primer on the exposed metal bed. |
Within a few short weeks after the Knott's show, the bed began to rust (yes, even in California!), then it quickly got so bad it couldn't be easily sanded or wiped down with any kind of cleaner. |
The last time we checked out the bare metal bed before the elements got a hold of it and turned everything to a heavy coat of rust brown, it was light gray. The rust was eating into the metal so bad the once-smooth bedsides felt like 60-grit sandpaper! |
Besides the bedbox itself, other bare-metal parts and pieces also began a trip down the rusty highway, including the new set of lowered leaf springs for the rear suspension that we picked up from Eaton Detroit Spring. |
We delivered the bed, along with all the smaller pieces, to Orange County Sandblasting, where they offloaded the box by forklift and set it in one of their three big blasting booths. |
Orange County Sandblasting uses different types of media for different blasting needs. They used a custom mix of Starblast on the truck bedbox so it would strip the rust without warping the metal. You can really see the difference between the area that's been blasted and the areas that haven't received attention. |
The bed was set up on edge so the underside could be blasted, too. |
Once the springs were blasted, we quickly took them to the spray booth so they could get covered in a few coats of self-etching primer. |
Before the rear valance was blasted and primed, we added some bracing to stiffen the corners of the pieces I'd previously welded together. |
Once the rear valance is attached, you probably wouldn't need the braces Dagel's Street Rods added, but since the part will come on and off the truck a few times while the bodywork and paint are being done, it is a good idea to beef it up before there is a problem. |
Suki, the inquisitive shop dog at Dagel's Street Rods, inspects the job they did on the newly primed box. |
The inside of the bedbox looks as good as the outside. Now I can weld and grind on the sections I need to without fear of rust coming back (as long as I get some primer back on it ASAP!). |