72 C20 "Old Mustard"

[gdavis]

I know it is cold up there. so try and stay warm and spring is just around the cornor.

[Mustard72]

OK. I was going to get out in the garage today and do some more prep work on one of the fenders, but didn't quite get to it due to a diversion to a house wiring fix I've been intending to get to for several years now (got it done, though).

So, tomorrow (MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY!!!) I'm going to get out in the garage in the evening for some fender work. And this time I mean it !

If I don't get a post up tomorrow night (with some pics to prove the progress, of course), I fully expect no sympathy from you guys. I have some reasonable goals set up for the coming weeks for progress on Mustard. If I can't at least get half of that done.....well.....heck, I dunno, but it won't be pretty...

I've been slacking for so long, I'll have to remember my way around inside the garage. I've got some other car maintenance coming up (glorious minivan work), too, so I need to break the ice (literally) and get out there and get busy.

[Low Elco]

Bring it.

[swamp rat]

Do what you can when you can, if ya push too hard ya burn out.

[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Mustard72

OK. I was going to get out in the garage today and do some more prep work on one of the fenders, but didn't quite get to it due to a diversion to a house wiring fix I've been intending to get to for several years now (got it done, though).

So, tomorrow (MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY!!!) I'm going to get out in the garage in the evening for some fender work. And this time I mean it !

If I don't get a post up tomorrow night (with some pics to prove the progress, of course), I fully expect no sympathy from you guys. I have some reasonable goals set up for the coming weeks for progress on Mustard. If I can't at least get half of that done.....well.....heck, I dunno, but it won't be pretty...

I've been slacking for so long, I'll have to remember my way around inside the garage. I've got some other car maintenance coming up (glorious minivan work), too, so I need to break the ice (literally) and get out there and get busy.

Glad to hear from you again. We need some pictures of your progress to prove your work. Good luck man on the future progress. I painted the doors today come on by and take a look.

[Mustard72]

OK. Here we go. I've got parts invading the woodshop again, but I'm going to try to keep it under control a little better and balance out my projects (home improvement stuff, Mustard, and RC car racing), so the fender is only in there temporarily.

This is one of the originals from Mustard (one of the few body parts that still is original). The inner front lower corner was pretty rusted and thin/non-existant in parts. I used some rust converter on it last spring before my hiatus, so we'll see how that holds up. I've had mixed results with that stuff. I did some filler work on the lower parts of the fender in front of and behind the wheel opening. Loyal readers will recall the patch I installed last spring. It warped the fender sorta bad, thus the filler work trying to level things out a bit. I still have some sanding and maybe another skim of the wonderful aromatic putty to put on, but I couldn't help but throw a coat of primer on most of the fender before calling it quits for the night. Gotta do some more cleanup work on the inside of the fender, too, before getting it completely primered up. The other fender I got from Mr. Duckworth last year, and it's in better shape than this one. It's mostly ready for primer already (a little more filler on that one, too, but not much). After I get through these fenders, it's on to the core support, and combining too crappy ones to make one good one. Looking forward to digging into that one.

Anyway, let's see if I remember how to post pics......

[Dean'smeanmachine]

looks great

[Mustard72]

Thanks. Before you know it, I'll be painting stuff yellow like George has been painting stuff orange. Looking forward to it. Still saving up for the rear leaf springs so I can make this thing a rolling chassis, which'll be a cool milestone, too. Granted, all I have for tires are the four leaking but newish tires I had to pull off the 87 earlier in the winter, but they'll hold air long enough to roll the thing around if I want. Getting back into this project

[mjensen]

Well there you go!!! Keep it up.

[sduckworth13]

Looking good Nick!

[gdavis]

I have been there and done that. Body work on the fenders. It brings me back a few months. But keep it up. I am going to paint the cab and front clip tomorrow. Them my painting will be done. Then comes the fun part. Putting it all back together.

[Mustard72]

Fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand, spray.

Worked on the fenders a bit last night again. The right one is original to the truck. I welded in a patch last spring in the bottom rear of the fender and it warped a bit. I have it about as good as I can get it at this point. Took a little more filler than I had hoped, but still nothing crazy. We'll see how it lines up with the door when everything goes together. Might be worth a test fit so I know sooner rather than later. We'll see.

The green left fender came from Mr. Duckworth (thanks again, Scott) last year, too. It's in much better shape from a rust perspective than either of the originals, and is straight with the exception of the little dent at the top of the wheel well opening from when Scott took out the mailbox at the pizza joint. No, wait a minute, I took out the mailbox at the pizza joint back in '86 and dented up the fender that this one is replacing.....I think. I'm getting it all mixed up now....

Anyhoo, I used up all of my meager body skills whacking at the back of the dent with the pointy end of my Bondo brand body hammer to get it back into some form of shape so I don't have to slather on the Bondo quite as bad. Still have a little whacking to do. It's a bit of a tight squeeze, as the wheel opening is rolled up on the other side, and theres a tab for a mounting screw that sticks up even further, blocking good whacking access. At the end of the day, a few holes drilled and the slide hammer might have been a better option, but it'll get there either way. If the fender that took the brunt of hte mail box damage back in '86 wasn't rotted out in this location, I'd have cut out a patch, but it was pretty bad. The Bondo we put in back in '87 to fill the dent from the mailbox is still in there, though, and it's pretty dang thick, as we didn't try pounding out the dent or anything before applying the magical putty.

[Mustard72]

Any suggestions on how to clean up these Custom 20 emblems? They are both covered with paint. The PO repainted the truck at some point before we got it in '86 and simply painted right over them. We followed suit when we did the paint again in '87 or whenever that was. The 8-350 emblems are easier to mask off (rectangular overall shape) so they were spared this terrible treatment.

Would paint stripper eat the chrome up, too? I'd like to "restore" them somehow, but could simply paint them black or something, too, if they are unsalvageable.

[Mustard72]

......and here's the next step after getting the fenders done. Sorry for the truly crappy picture. I've got two core supports and plan to make one decent one out of them. One is a GMC unit, and the other the original Chevy unit. Can't wait to get going on this and quit sanding.

[sduckworth13]

Your welcome for the fender Nick, I wish it didn't cost so dang much to ship to you. Hope you get that dent pulled out.

[sduckworth13]

You can use a product called " Goof off " to remove the paint. It's available at Home Depot or any hardware store.

[sduckworth13]

Oh wow you did get the dent ! Nice job it looks good.

[Mustard72]

As per the usual, the picture makes my work look better than it really is. It'll still need a wire wheel to get rid of the paint and some Bondo, but it's better than it was, which wasn't really too bad to begin with.

Goof Off, eh? Shoot, I might have some of that around the house. I'll have to look and see...

[gdavis]

fender looks good. it looked like a pro done it. I think that is the way it should have turned out. Good luck. George

[Dean'smeanmachine]

yeah, like was said above, some pro work there nick!

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Mustard72

As per the usual, the picture makes my work look better than it really is.

I know the feeling...

[Dean'smeanmachine]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

I know the feeling...

me too!

[Mustard72]

Got a little more done with the left fender tonight . Finished prepping the dent area for bindo by wire brushing off the paint and hammering down a few high spots. Also flipped the thing over and cleaned up the inside a bit. Sprayed some of the Rustoleum rust converter paint on a few areas, and it's getting close to primer time for this side.

[Mustard72]

Hmmmm. Can't seem to attach pictures using my phone.

Anyway, walmart didn't have any bottles of Goof Off, so we picked up some Goof Off wipes. I wrapped my Custom 20 emblems in the wipes and put them in a Ziplock to soak overnight. We will see how they turn out. I can always go to Ace and get a bottle if the wipes don't work.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Mustard72

Hmmmm. Can't seem to attach pictures using my phone.

I think its more headache than its worth.