Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I got my cab back from the sandblaster and 4 coats of epoxy on the underside. I also built an attachment for my engine stand (idea from builtbykane's build thread) so I can wheel my doors around and make it easier to paint them. I put a first coat of filler around the door edges to take care of the dings that come from hammering on the skin.

I also rebuilt my door hings. I got a kit from SOKY (by Woodall) which is a 55-91 kit and it was an easy job and could be done without a press as long as they aren't very rusty. The pins have to be cut to length and the bushings are sintered metal. I was surprised to see that the old bushings I pulled out were plastic, not sure if they were factory or not. My hinges don't feel any tighter, but they do pivot more freely now.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Those doors fit pretty well. I had to work my drivers adjustment over and over and over to get it satisfactory. You are getting a lot done. I like the door holders on the engine stand.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

They do fit pretty well, I was pleasantly surprised. But my method has improved since doing the doors on my dad's 64. I am on a mission to get the cab, doors, and fenders painted before the cold weather comes so that I don't have to worry about cold temps and painting since my dad's shop doesn't have a heating system that can sustain itself. Then I can spend the winter wiring and finishing the chassis and resume bodywork in the spring.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Great job on the skins, you did it right leaving the door bottoms on before skinning to get the right contour and length. I had to do some trimming and hammering on mine to get the gaps right.

I'm stealing that engine stand door holder idea for when I paint...

Keep up the good work!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I got the inside of the cab seam sealed and epoxied the rest of the cab last night. I forgot how strenuous it is to do yoga inside the cab in order to get underneath all of the dash area without touching the floor too much.

I'm excited to start filler work. I know that sounds crazy but it's not that I like doing filler work, but that it means I've reached a milestone and that it's progressing.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

That's a big milestone. As you know, you will quickly be tired of the filler and sanding process. I'm still waiting to get in the booth for primer...

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I like the gloss black engine paint a lot. I did charcoal gray and it looks decent but black would have looked better in my bright red engine bay.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I love seeing guys plow through a large amount of work quickly. I can remember the days...:lol: Are you planning on staying with the same color? I believe I will also nab that excellent “builtbyKane” door holder attachment when it’s time to paint. Keep up the great work my man!!!:chevy:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Awesome man :metal:

Looking forward to seeing your muddin progress :thumbs:


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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I love getting big chunks of work done. I'm ridiculously anxious to drive this thing again. It's going to be so much fun with the new powertrain.

I am staying in the blue color family, but am going with Voodoo Blue (Toyota). It's on the new TRD Pro Tacomas, Tundras, and 4Runners.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

That color catches my eye every time I see one of those Yotas. It is going to look great.

How were the door skins quality-wise? The doors look good in your pics.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

The skins were pretty good. Where the inner and outer are welded together inside the door, I had to rebend that tab to line up better but that was easy. What I should have looked at before test fitting the door was the lower front corner - I should have hammered the edges over with a little more inward force. The corners stuck out a little bit and hit the rocker at the front edge when you open the door. I had to grind the first couple inches and reweld it to get the gap right. But the skins fit the contour of the inner structure well and they seem to have good EDP on them so I'm happy with them.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I spent a couple hours last night just laying mud, probably 15 batches. I have my work cut out for me. Clean Sheets are awesome for mixing filler, I just wish I didn't have to clean the spreader off every time.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I bought a decent amount of cheapie spreaders so I could keep the work going, then clean them up later.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Does it chip off pretty easy after it's set up for a couple hours?

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I found it super easy to clean them off with a rough cotton rag and some thinner/pre-prep spray. And if you wait like 2 minutes after your done, it's not brick hard, and its not sloppy still either, take another scraper and just knock it right off, then use the thinner for excess. Takes like 5 seconds the whole process.

If you wait too long and its brick hard, it's not that easy to clean off, but it's still not bad. The material those scrapers are made of the mud doesn't soak in so they are to clean.

And yeah, good progress there man, you will be sanding and sanding, then more mud, then more sanding. We will see you in a month lol.


:chevy:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Haha I'll be pretty frustrated if I'm still sanding on this cab in a month. Famous last words!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I found that the areas that had more than a 1/16th of filler would break off with a quick twist of the spreader, but if it was less than that it was more of a chore.

I bought a pack of 3 different size stainless steel spreaders with plastic handles, and I like them better than the plastic. For one, they are more rigid which I found made it easier to lay down a thin uniform skim coat and also because they clean up real fast by pressing them against my bench grinder with a 7' wire wheel, and don't get damaged in the process.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

This is what 5 hours of sanding looks like. I've got almost all of my first round of filler sanded down. I got sick of sanding the other day and decided to work on brake lines for a bit and then got stumped so I'm stalled on that too.

It's a little harder to find time to work on it nowadays with my fiancee taking classes and a new puppy at home, but we're figuring it out. My dreams of having the cab, doors, and fenders painted before winter aren't realistic anymore so I'm just working to get the cab painted. Sometimes life gets in the way of our hobbies and that's okay. I'll just be happy when the cab is done as it is by far the biggest chunk of bodywork.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Hang in there. It's hard to stay motivated through sanding. I too was hoping for paint, but opted to just leave it in primer for the remaining 80 percent of the build. Once I can actually start, put in gear, and role in either direction I will then take it apart and block and paint. I'm tired of sanding :)

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Yeah I agree, hang in there man. Looking good. And I like that 64 in the background. Are you daily driving that?

:thumbs:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Thanks guys. I'm starting to see the light on the filler. Now that most of that first application is blocked down, things are close so the 2nd and 3rd coats should be less.

The 64 is my dad's, we finished it last winter and he does daily drive it. I drove it for a couple days this weekend and it's fun. Even though the AC isn't working right now and it's loud compared to my 2016, it's a good kind of loud because you can hear the engine and really be in tune with the truck. There's something about cruising down the road in this vintage of truck that can't be beat.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Seeing your build has given me a boost of motivation on mine. Keep pressing forward, it's looking really good.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Thanks JUN, I'm glad it could help motivate you. I was sanding on it last night and am getting close to being done with the filler work. I'm working on it as much as I can so I can get it painted this month.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Not great pictures, but just a quick update. I've been sanding on the cab every chance I get and I think I'm finally done with filler. I'm taking tomorrow off so I can finish prepping the cab, doors, and fenders fo a coat of epoxy so that I can shoot some high build on Thursday and block sand on Saturday. I'm on a mission to have these parts turned blue by the end of the month.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Looks great! I thought I was about 90 percent there until I shot another coat of primer...so many spots to still fill and clean up. I can't wait for paint, but I still have so many things to test fit etc. I need to hold off. Can't wait to see her in blue.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I hear ya man. I could spend probably another 5 days on the back of the cab and the firewall, but the return for spending that time to get a flawless surface in those areas wasn't worth it to me. I was watching a video on YouTube last night by United by Trucks and his truck "Teddy" is a patina GMC and it's so cool. No body work, just nice mods and driving. Made me second guess all this work I'm doing, so I'm hoping it pays off.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Well my day off yesterday was successful, I got everything done that I wanted to. Theoretically, filler work on the cab, doors, fenders, and cowl should be done now. I sprayed a coat of epoxy on everything in preparation for high build primer tomorrow so I can move on. I'm worried about the sand scratches that I can see through the epoxy though. On the plus side, the seam sealer came out well.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Self leveling seam sealer gives me the warm and fuzzy's ;) You know it just seeps into cracks that traditional seam sealers couldn't do. Looks great man!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

It is kind of enjoyable to apply and see. I used a single component at the vertical sections and that created a dam to keep the self leveling from running down too much. It did run all the way down the passenger side and kept creeping out the bottom, but I think it stopped after I put epoxy down.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I finally got a chance to check out your project. It's looking good for sure and I am excited to see the blue on it. You planning to two-tone it or stick with the single color?

Kudos for having the guts to tackle the harness.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

It'll be solid blue. I'm just hoping it starts and runs and I will honestly be a little surprised if it does, considering that I touched every single wire on the harness and had every single pin removed and repinned from the PCM connectors at one point. Almost every wire was either lengthened or shortened too. This was back when I had freetime in the evenings to tinker with such a task. But if it becomes a total failure, I can always buy one from BP or PSI.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I wasn't happy with the way the panels looked after I shot one coat of epoxy on them so after getting some advice from the guys on the SPI forum, I sprayed two more coats of epoxy and everything looks great now. More of the scratches are filled and there is no more mapping of the filler. I can't recommend SPI enough, their products are great, pricing is very reasonable, and they have unmatched technical support. I was afraid of epoxy after using it once because I didn't know how to spray it without getting craters, but I don't get so much anymore. What's great about this epoxy is that it has a 7 day recoat window, meaning you can apply filler or more epoxy over it within 7 days of spraying without having to sand first.

I'm actually a little surprised at how straight everything looks and don't think I'll do any blocking. I just need to take care of some cratering and scratches and should be able to seal and base/clear next weekend!

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Looks great! Come and finish mine :)

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Definitely looking real good! I feel your pain with the sanding. Can be very tedious.
Looking forward to seeing some color :metal:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Have you blocked the truck out at all besides filler?

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Yeah man, looking good. I'm bout to finish my can here pretty soon and I'm trying to figure out how to turn my epoxy into a thin sealer. I thought the sealer was the easiest thing to spray IMO. But I may have just got lucky. Keep it up man looking forward to some color!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

With SPI epoxy, you can reduce it by up to 50% with their urethane reducer and I'm told it will spray thin and flat like base. I've never sprayed reduced epoxy, but I haven't had any issues with runs or texture spraying base so I feel pretty good about it. Unreduced epoxy is another story though, it's more challenging for me.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Sprint talked some sense into me and I blocked the epoxy. I actually got pretty aggressive with it as I had 3 coats on it and everything blocked down really well, but I did have a few spots on the roof that needed more filler and one door had a slight wave to it. I now have 2 coats high build on everything. I don't think I'll have time to get to base/clear this weekend, but should be able to the next weekend. Don't worry, I wiped everything down after taking these pictures.

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