Saturday, March 18, 2006  -  Well, I decided to hit the ground running today, and get started stripping the front fenders down and getting them ready for paint. Both front fenders were already completely sandblasted and then coated with several layers of POR-15, and then several coats of paint, so I just needed to do the front side of each.

On much of my paint stripping I've been using a knotted-wire wheel attachment for my 4-1/2" grinder, and started on the fenders with this as well. However, it was just going very slowly, and I really didn't want to spend all day on a couple fenders, so I removed the wire wheel and attached the 3M composite stripping wheel, and MAN, it made all the different in the world! I was able to get each front fender completely down to bare metal in only about an hour each. I then spent a little time with each fender blocking it with fine sandpaper to get it as smooth as possible, and to make it easier to find any imperfections (Figs. 1 & 2).

Each fender has some small dings here and there, most are too small to see with the naked eye but you can just barely feel them, and since it's very possible this truck is going to be painted black, I decided to spend the time to get these fenders perfect. Anything not addressed now will definitely show up with black paint. It seems that the bodywork 'expert's are split almost 50/50 on whether filler should be applied directly to bare metal or to primer, and since I already had the fenders stripped, I just decided to go ahead and do all the necessary bodywork now.

Most of the small dents were easily tapped out from the back side to about 99% straight...a very thin coat of filler will be all that's required. The lower/rear section of the driver's fender was just a little wavy, right where the brace is attached on the back side. Because I couldn't get access to these to tap out, I'll just be using filler to smooth it out. Fortunately the worst section is still only about 1/8" deep, so it's still well within reason. Most of the areas on the fender with filler was sanded down to paper-thin thickness.

The first trip through the sanding process was a learning experience. I tried using a hard rubber sanding block at first but found that it was still too flexible and it tended to try to conform to the dent and I sanded off TOO much, so I ended up going back over some of these with another thin layer of filler.

In between applications (while it was drying) I was getting started stripping down the rest of the '68 parts truck. When I first put the truck in the shop several weeks ago I tried removing one of the top header bolts, and could see the head of the bolt start to turn but the other end wasn't. It's been in the shop for a couple weeks now, and I've been religiously spraying the header bolts with PB Blaster and letting it do it's job, so I wouldn't break any off during removal. Today I tried removing them...with great results. Most came right out with a wrench. (That PB Blaster comes through again....man, that's some good stuff!) I got them all out except one, but only because I couldn't get to it! I'm going to have to just leave that header on when I remove the engine and then try to remove that last bolt.

Anyway, I got sidetracked with the parts truck and didn't get around to sanding off the final layer of filler on the fenders, so that'll have to wait until next time. But I only have maybe another 30 minutes worth of sanding before they're ready for paint.

I decided to spend my shop day next weekend getting the '68 parts truck completely stripped and out of the shop, just so I'll have some room to work in there. Besides the 390/T-18, about the only other thing worth salvaging is the factory rear overload spring setup. Stay tuned!

Fig. 1 - A shot of the passenger fender stripped and blocked.

Fig. 2 - Same fender, different view.

Fig. 3 - Both fenders are stripped, blocked and have filler applied. This was taken just before sanding.

Fig. 4 - This shot was taken after sanding off the first layer of filler. I'd applied the second layer (due to my getting a little over-zealous with the sanding block) and was waiting for it to cure before sanding. I'd estimate that 98%-99% of the filler will be sanded off.

Fig. 5 - Here's a view of the already-finished back side of one of the fenders.