CPO Dave's restoration thread. (Ser#14690)

Dave, you have a lot of good wheel to start with. Mine was painted red (must have gone to a fire company) and I just wiped it down several times with alcohol. Eventually all of the red blistered up and it didn't touch the original OD from the factory.

Lookn' good my friend!

Newport News, Va.
26 November 2015

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner today.

Recent progress for ya alls enjoyment. Many thanks to Don Cavey for kicking me in the butt and getting me to do my steering wheel restoration myself.

It's slow work but coming coming out good I think. I will say that the smell of the old hard rubber when sanding and using a Dremel tool is absolutely hideous. It rates up there with pure 90 weight gear oil to me. The smell seems to permeate the skin and hair too. I'd highly recommend wearing a respirator if you are going to tackle this job and leaving your work clothes well away from other things.

As for the actual restoration work, It's not hard at all. A lot of slow hand sanding to keep from disturbing the original curves and radius's seems to be the hardest part. Just put on some good music (old classic 1960s-1970s country for me) relax and sand.... and yes since I have nothing but time while waiting on everything else, I'm going after every possible little stress crack and repairing.

Take care everyone and be safe!

73-
W4CPO
Dave-

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...126_151727.jpg

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Very good, that's the way to do it. I takes a few days, and you can't hurry it. But the results are fine. If your truck spends most of its time indoors now, not out in the sun, you should not see any more shrinking. My steering wheel still looks as good as when I finished. None of the cracks have opened back up. I am happy.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.

if your going to do power steering the jb weld will hold up but with no power it wont last long

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Originally Posted by md1970

if your going to do power steering the jb weld will hold up but with no power it wont last long

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That has certainly not been my experience. My truck was "converted" back to NOS manual steering and the wheel has no cracks whatsoever in it. JB Weld is amazing stuff. I fixed the water jacket in the head of my friend's 50 HP Mercury outboard when it had corroded through. That was 9 years ago.

Another product that can be used on steering wheels and is what some of the so called "professional" restoration places use is a product called PC7. It's like JB Weld, but stronger. Good stuff to use.

Newport News, Va.
04 December 2015

Good afternoon everyone!

Finished up all the JB weld applying and sanding. Ed wet sanded the entire wheel last night and filler primed and then rattle can sprayed the first color coat of flat OD Green. Tonight it should get the final paint treatment of semi gloss 24087.

I think the repairs came out pretty good for an amateur. :-)

Best wishes all!

Dave-
(W4CPO)

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...015/12-4-1.jpg

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Bingo, winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Looks great. It just takes time because you have to do it in steps. You gotta build up the missing hard rubber with the JB Weld.

It should be good to go!

Looks good!

if you,d put power steering on your truck it would make it a lot easyer on you steering wheel also don't use wheel to pull yourself into the truck.

I think it will be just fine, and if it does crack eventually, it will be easy to refresh:)

I did the JB Weld trick on mine back in 2005 and it has held up just fine and is showing no signs of new cracking. Mine also does not sit out in the sun very much but has seen quite a bit of driving since it was done. You should be fine and have nothing to worry about.

Newport News, Va.
14 January 2016

Afternoon all!

Finally! War Pig's cab tub came home from the painter. Now we can get something done. Hope you all like the pix.

Best wishes everyone.

73- Dave
W4CPO

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...202016/WP7.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...202016/WP6.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...202016/WP5.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...202016/WP1.jpg

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http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...202016/WP3.jpg

Looking nice, I bet you can't wait to get it finished up and driving. Maybe by the time weather starts to turn nice you can get her back on the road.

pretty, pretty, pretty.

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Originally Posted by Von

pretty, pretty, pretty.

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Very much.

Wow, that is awesome


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Good thing do come to those who wait. :) This restoration is so professional. Not the hack work like I do...:lol:

Dave the pictures look great!!

You have come to the most enjoyable part of the journey. Take your time and savor it.

Hey, no fair! :eek:
I see shiney, new looking NOS defroster ducts;):happy10:

Keep the pictures coming.:)

Newport News, Va.
31 January 2016

Afternoon all!

Reassembly work gaining some progress now! As usual, I trust you all like the pix.

Best wishes everyone.

73- Dave
W4CPO

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...129_165655.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...114_214002.jpg

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http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...95459751_n.jpg

Sorry for the spam. We are only allowed to post 8 pictures per post so I had to do it in 2 posts.

Dave.

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...94667354_n.jpg

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That's all for now Folks! :happy10:

Great work. WOW! I am very impressed!

why red cyl block ?

the engine block is a late 1960's GM red/orange. I didn't want black. Lighter color so if a oil leak develops, it will be easier to see. I'm trying so hard to stay 100% resto but feel some things needed to be changed for looking towards the future for me with this truck.

Second reason is we happened to have 2 full cans of 1300 degree GM Red-:-) Orange block paint laying around left over from our last resto hot rod build.

Dave-

ok,no problem I was just wondering because the rest of your truck is so pristeen. nice work pal

I propose we ban Dave from this forum because he's making the rest of us look bad ;)

Truck looks fantastic, great job!

Fantastic job!

absolutely gorgeous.

I didn't keep a record of all the parts I sold or who I sold them to, but it makes me feel all tingly inside and proud that some of my old truck parts might be in that truck.

Von,

I'd have to look back at my records ( a shoe box crammed full of receipts and e-mails ) but I really do believe I did get some parts from you about a year ago if I remember correctly. So feel good my friend. :-)

Seriously though - Everyone on the M-715 Zone should feel happy. A part of near every one of you are in this build so far because of all the advice, suggestions, help, prodding, support, questions answered and parts. I know I'm bothered the hell out of this community over time with questions and even questions that were already answered multiple times before.

With all the love on here for our red headed step child like trucks, this just isn't my build, it's OUR build. Hope that didn't sound too cheezy. Each one that goes back together and get put back on the road safely is a victory for all of us.

As usual, many thanks to everyone for the help so far these last 2 and a half years.

Dave-

Has it been two and a half years already?
Wow, time flies when your having fun:)
Your right on track Dave, I had three years in doing mine.
Looking VERY good.

I hope you realize that your truck will eventually end up in a museum! It looks better than any new truck looked like from the Kaiser Jeep factory. Very, very nice.

great build thread i just spent the last hour looking through the whole thing the truck is looking amazing. Can you post some close up pictures of the battery box hinges on the front of the battery box. the fire department that had my truck used some small gate hinges on the front of my box and it looks terrible and i cannot find any pictures to help me find what i need

Dave, Where have you been?
It's time for more pictures.:)

14 August 2016
Sandston, Va.

Hi all, I'm at work right now. Finally got the doors back from the painter. They look good. Almost ready to send the bed and tailgate out.

Kinda took a hiatus from working. It's like deathly hot here and well, I was laid up for awhile. I went down on my Harley back in June up in Maryland and was O.O.C. for awhile. Nothing too serious, just some broken and cracked ribs, bruised sternum, concussion, dislocated shoulders and a lot of black and blues. I'm back to almost 100%. Take more than that to put this old dumb Pollock out. Too bad the 06' Electraglide isn't. It was a total. From what I understand from witnesses, it was a spectacular craptastic crash. Me? I didn't see too much, just road, sky, grass, sky, grass, sky and then a 800 pound sun glo blue monster landing on top of me :-( After that, the workshop/garage decided to need a new roof. I swear I can't win.

Any how, my question is- did any one ever solve the door gasket supplier issue out? I'm ready to install the gaskets so I can get the doors hung. This is the door jamb area wrap around gasket that origionaly was metal backed and had push pin attachments.

Thanks and hoping you all are having a fun, safe summer.

Dave-

Wow Dave, sorry to hear about your misfortunes this summer.
Glad that you are OK.

I never did find a real solution for the early type weather stripping, that fastened around the inner part of the doors.
At this time, that is the only unfinished part of my truck.
If it weren't for the holes showing, I really wouldn't miss the weather stripping.:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by David Zelinski

14 August 2016
Sandston, Va.
From what I understand from witnesses, it was a spectacular craptastic crash. Me? I didn't see too much, just road, sky, grass, sky, grass, sky and then a 800 pound sun glo blue monster landing on top of me :-( After that, the workshop/garage decided to need a new roof. I swear I can't win.

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That 3 second flight that feels like a half hour and all you can think is "this is gonna suck..."

Glad your bike didn't land on anything important... and glad you're back. Now stop slackin, you've got a truck to finish.:)

Glad to hear your ok. The truck looks amazing!

Dave, sorry to hear about your misfortune with the scooter. I have not ridden for years and I can't say that I really miss it... except for riding a dirt bike and not going crazy. I am 68 now.

Your truck looks great and I admire your tenacity (today's 75¢ word :rolleyes:) and attention to detail. It looks great and I would love to see your truck in person one day.

Thanks Dan. To be honest, it it wasn't for you all on here, I wouldn't have the attention to detail to restore it honestly. I originally wanted to slap it together and drive the wheels off of it :-)