My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble

[rgunlock]

Well, for color I'm thinking 1) medium brown with copper highlight, or 2) a blue green more blue than green, or 3) a "steel blue" that is silver grey with blue tint. I've only got a paint code for one of them. But that's just this week's choices. Ask me again next week

[srt6]

Those are great choices! Your painting oor having it done?

[rgunlock]

Plan to do it myself. So far, the only work I've had done by someone else is the transmission and transfer case rebuilds. I just didn't want to have to pull them for a redo if I didn't get them right once the truck is back together. I think I've got pretty good paint equipment, just need to figure out how I want to make a temporary paint booth. That, and making a final choice of color still are a few months away though.

[srt6]

My cousins made one out of one of those carports you can close all the way in. Turned out pretty good. The ones that are poles and canvas.

[rgunlock]

So the wife said "you broke it, you fix it" so it didn't seem like a good idea to buy a better tailgate. So, its as fixed as its likely to get. All I know is that if I did bodywork for a living I wouldn't be eating nearly as well as I do After 4 layers of filler and countless hours of sanding I think its good enough. On to fenders next.

[mjensen]

Good work! I would have just pulled the skin off and hid it underneath the rug, thrown a new one on and say I fixed it!

[Greenlee]

Looks good!

[y5mgisi]

Good enough is an important phrase!

[srt6]

Looks great!

[rgunlock]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. 2 full weekends for one tailgate, should have looked into a skin like you suggested Mike. Since the whole thing looks like one sheet of metal folded over and tacked together along the bottom, that would have been a new tailgate and no more time than placing an order

Hope everyone has a merry Christmas!

[boynton]

I could make a suggestion to your children for a late Christmas gift if you aren't happy with it

[Bomp]

Good job on the tailgate. They are one of the hardest pieces to get right. IMO

[rgunlock]

Thanks for the offer boynton, but the kids are already kicking in for the vintage air and the tailgate did turn out pretty well. And I agree with you Bomp. There are a lot of creases and contours to those body lines that were hard to get right with the filler. I got creative with sanding blocks, using paint sticks, pvc pipe, etc. but a couple of those contours I haven't found anything quite the right shape. I can still do touch up though right up to the point that I paint it.

You fellas have a Merry Christmas.

[Dean'smeanmachine]

Nice Repair

[rgunlock]

Thanks Dean! Not much to post but I had a heck of a time figuring out how to reassemble the handle on the tailgate. Couldn't find much info searching, so thought I'd post a pointer here. Seems the only way this will go back together is to first attach the rods to the latches and install the latches. The ends of both rods needs to point up where they attach to the handle. In order to get the rods attached to the handle, you need the clips (got mine from LMC), and best I can tell you have to install them with the handle outside its hole as shown in the photo. Then shove the handle up into the hole and bolt back in. The hinge on the handle sticks up enough that it is difficult to get back into the tailgate. I don't think I could have done this without scratching up a lot of paint, so I think its best to reassemble before paint.

On a side note, adjusting the tailgate is not child's play. Must have had it on and off 25 times tweaking the pivot mounts.

[rgunlock]

I've also stripped the paint from both fenders. I've now got many hours work into them between my initial attempts at patching the rust, and time spent stripping the paint. Found some additional rust pitting which I cut out for yet another patch. Found this mess behind it. At this point, I know there is still rust between the inner and outer skins. My body lines look like total crap from the patching and I don't know that I can make them look right with filler. I've resisted, but I think after posting this I'm going shopping for new repro fenders and just take my chances on them fitting.

[rgunlock]

Its done now - ordered both fenders from supporting vendor Classic Heartbeat Pickup Parts.

[mjensen]

I think that was the right call! Good luck!

[srt6]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

Its done now - ordered both fenders from supporting vendor Classic Heartbeat Pickup Parts.

It's great that's you did everything to get them to work! Unfortunate you have to order new but I'm sure they'll be great!

[quadzero]

What a gold mine of info here. Keep up the great work.

[y5mgisi]

Cant wait to see what you think of the fenders!

[rgunlock]

Thanks for keeping an eye on my thread Mike, quadzero and y5mgisi.

Fenders did arrive today. Had to get them shipped to a friend of a friend that had a small business somewhat near me because the shipper wanted an extra $100 to ship to a residential address - what total crap! Just made it a hassle for everyone concerned.

Any case, they arrived in reasonably good shape. Wound up that they came from 2 different Taiwanese manufacturers, Key Parts (passenger side fender) and TRIPLUS (driver side) so I'll get to compare. Packaging was about the same for both. Each came with one ding (that I've noticed so far) that is not big enough to deal with the hassle of exchanging and shouldn't be a big deal to fix.

[rgunlock]

I'll reserve comments for fit until I have time to spend with them, plus have to put on the hood, grill, etc. to really know. For now, just kind of hung them up on the truck. Definitely going to need to do some shimming, but the ones that came on the truck had plenty of that. For my inexperienced eye, the stamping and body lines, etc. look pretty good. As long as I can get them lined up and the bolt holes line up, I'm pretty sure I'll be satisfied.

Didn't notice that the metal was significantly thinner than what came on the truck, but to be honest on a 37 year old truck I'm not sure that the ones that came on the truck were OE fenders either. May pull out the bathroom scale and see how the weight compares to what I had.

[y5mgisi]

Well at least they arent garbage! Im sure they will be just fine. There has got to be so many show trucks out there with those exact fenders on them.

[srt6]

Starting to look good! I wish I had the time to do this!