Well, I've had to push back paint by one more week, so in the meantime I started on a few other things. I wasn't really happy with the alignment of the bed even after adjusting it for a second time, so I pulled the bed back to do it again (third time's a charm!). Since the second bed mounts for the longbed became the front bedmounts after I shortened the truck, apparently they weren't quite in the same position. So I pulled the bed back to modify these mounts so the bed would sit where it needs to. I used a string to make sure the bottom body line is now completely straight down the full length of the truck. I realize now that I never took a photo of this, but trust me it's straight!
After messing with the bed, I started working on preservation of the original paint. I tried several different techniques, some of which are popular approaches and some that I pieced together myself. I originally laid out a seven step process for restoring the original paint to a mirror shine. This process was CLR, clay, Meguiar's 7 conditioner, 1000 to 2000 grit wet, Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut, Meguiar's M205 Ultra Finish, and finally wax. This process worked really well but was very tedious and time consuming. I was fine with the work required and it produced an amazing shine, but I realized I did not necessarily like the look of shiny patina. After some experimentation, I arrived at a revised (and much simpler) process that left a finish somewhere between matte and gloss. I combined my original process with a process outlined by member disturbinglykool
here. The procedure I ended up using was CLR with scotchbrite, 2000 grit wet, buff by hand wet with #000 steel wool, and final clean with mineral spirits. The final result is a very smooth and clean surface with a dull shine, exactly like I wanted.
During the process of finishing off the cab, I did discover a paint oddity. On the backside of the cab, there appeared to be a dark blue paint under the green. I know GM used red oxide primer on the cab so this immediately stood out to me. Upon closer inspection, I realized that at some point someone primed the back of the cab and resprayed it with a matched dark green. In certain spots, I could see the matched green/dark primer/original green/oxide primer layering. I have no idea why this was done as the passenger cab corner is rusted through and does not appear to have ever been touched and I was slightly disappointed to discover this. Despite this, the match is very close and my truck is not completely original anymore anyway, so I suppose it isn't that big of a deal.
I hope that in my next update I can include the painting process and my approach to fauxtina on the bed to match the cab.