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Howdy. long time 2nd gen owner, first time old school/restoration attempt.
Picked this up from a friend down in Florida....its been sitting for quite a long while. there is quite a bit of rust but structurally it looks salvageable. The plan is rebuild the truck in a restomod sort of fashion. I want to be able to use it as a truck and take it to the dump, haul crap, or show up at cars and coffee and still look presentable.
So, it will be coming down to "bare metal" but it also wont have the flashiest glossiest paint job. The bed will get bedliner so its usable and it'll have a turbo 2 driveline
Here are some photos after getting it home and starting to take it apart
And the donor truck..
Last edited by driftxsequence; Jul 28, 2020 at 03:24 PM.
Some more disassembly this week. Bed came off nicely, pleasantly suprised to not see any holes on the frame. Yeah, its gonna need some love but Its better than expected. It looks like it had a tar undercoating or something at some point? Its got some beautiful untouched metal under some of this crud. Hopefully I can get the cab off soonish, and then roll the frame in the garage to start cleaning the rust off.
The tank looks like a lost cause. I'm all ears to solutions for another tank esp something for EFI. I was looking at the mazda B2200 tank as it appears to be the closest fit.
b2200 tank for reference
The pick up would need to move but the EFI pump setup would work easily, i imagine the level sensor info would need some massaging.
Second donor truck arrived! This one has a complete turbo 2 setup. The cab is just as ugly unfortunately. Frame is solid but needs just as much restoration.
I started cleaning up the green truck frame and threw a coat of black over it to protect it from rusting more. It's temporary until I can do the rust encapsulater from Eastwood.
Any able to confirm if the courier cab is identical besides the dash area? A good cab would speed this up exponentially.
Spent about an hour yesterday on a corner of the frame...good god this is gonna take a while.
I wire wheel'd the rust off so its nice and smooth and threw a quick coat of black over top until I can properly por15 it. A friend is convincing me to sandblast it instead of doing this so the inside is done as well, i just cant seem to justify the expense.
You can get one of those bucket sand blasters. They are cheap. In this case, use cheap sand. If you can get it by the 1/2 yard it cheaper that way but you will need a pickup to haul. You'll need to screen the sand before using it because it will clog the blaster. I made a simple frame and used some window screen. This will take out the big pieces. Then you just sweep it back up and reuse. This is much faster then a wire wheel. You'll need a decent compressor. I've used a cheap 20 gallon before but the cycle time is terrible.
You can get one of those bucket sand blasters. They are cheap. In this case, use cheap sand. If you can get it by the 1/2 yard it cheaper that way but you will need a pickup to haul. You'll need to screen the sand before using it because it will clog the blaster. I made a simple frame and used some window screen. This will take out the big pieces. Then you just sweep it back up and reuse. This is much faster then a wire wheel. You'll need a decent compressor. I've used a cheap 20 gallon before but the cycle time is terrible.
This would be ideal since I want to paint it myself as well....but I'm limited on space. Time to start looking at Facebook marketplace for a compressor.
This is awesome.
I just got a 75 REPU that is complete, but needs pretty much everything redone. Most of the metal on mine is salvageable.
Subscribing.
This would be ideal since I want to paint it myself as well....but I'm limited on space. Time to start looking at Facebook marketplace for a compressor.
That REPU is a cool project! If you're still looking for a compressor & other tools for the build, you should check out this place for used tools - https://www.delawaretoolexchange.com/
They are right by us in Newark, DE, and sometimes you can score some good quality tools reasonably cheap.
Nice! Glad to see these went to a good home. I was over at Landon's years ago when he was putting the turbo motor in the blue truck. Was a shame he was never able to finish it. The motor is good to go.
