Well.... I've been avoiding the hard metal work. Dreading it really. I got the sandblasted parts back from the blaster. Remainder looks great. They blasted the fender I was trying to finish up, and it looks great after taking out all the welding discoloration. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would, and really only needs a little more cleanup and straightening to fix the "main" rust issue.
There is a small area on the side of the fender that is rusted through that I wanted to see what it did during blasting. Fortunately it came back pretty much the same size - blasting didn't eat it up, so I've got a lot of good metal around it. It'll be an easy patch. I'll post a photo later - can't find it now.
The big thing I've been dreading is of course the metal work on the BIG panels, but I've also been dreading the paint process. Stroking the check. Paying the piper. Yes, doling out the greenbacks. I found a possible recently after meeting a new local FJ40 buddy recently. He is Doug aka
@oldschool4wheeling on mud, and he has a connection here in town with the local auto diesel college. Friday, we are going to visit their paint and body instructor, who is always looking for classic vehicles upon which to train his students. When Doug mentioned his 40 to the instructor, he said you could see the drool forming in the corner of his mouth.
Long story short, it sounds like Doug will get his truck body work done and painted for the cost of the materials and the trust that it will be done fairly well, and in less time than 99.9% of all paint jobs. If that goes well, then I might be able to go that same route.
Wait - before all you purists yell and scream - how many of us really need a $10,000 (or more) paint job on a 40 year old truck? Unless I am making an investment in this truck to sell it at Mecum's and need the pedigree of a professional restoration paint job, even one at 95% of a pro will look good even at the 2' mark (remember, Maaco paint jobs are 20 foot paint jobs, and Rattle Can paint jobs are 30 footers). I'm not trying to be cheap, but I was having a lot of heart burn over paying that much money for this work, and being assured it would be at least a year before I got it back (and we all know, when it's said and done, that's about how long it ends up being most of the time).
We will see. Perhaps I will get lucky and keep this investment below the $30,000 mark. If not, then I'll bite the bullet and let Hot Rod Johnny do his thing on my paint, but I won't be happy about it for a long time.
Next task - rebuild that #$@#$ diff I've been putting off.
Need motivation.... Someone remind me how much fun it is to actually finish this job and drive it.
