A little project update on Chug A Lug

OK OK stop your whinning don't make me stop this Jeep and come back there! (wow that was a flash to my youth LOL)

So its 11:00am Saturday of Memorial Weekend. The Tub the Grill and the Fenders are currently Sealed waiting curing time to be able to sand smooth. The Underside of the Hood is also Sealed (just couldn't figure out a good way to do both sides at once)

And here are some photos. The lighting and the color sucks cause Florescent lights and way to many of them. And of course how tight the spray booth is.

Overall view

interior view showing masked off floor

underside of Hood

underside front end

underside middle

underside rear

Grill

Left step

Right inner fender

Fenders

Left side panel

Left Quarter view shows firewall

And last but not least the goobered up left side of the dash

I have some sanding to do but I'm very happy with how much, Most of the sealer laid down smooth enough to paint without any sanding. So The sanding Sunday afternoon to get the Tub and hopefully Fenders ready for Blue will be doable. If I can get the Sealer on the hood to come out near perfect I might be able to Paint Blue on it as well Monday. If not painting a single piece after work this week is very doable.

OK I got a bonus day off work today. Turns out they didn't need all the trucks today so my begging first thing yesterday morning paid off LOL.

SO a status report as of 5:00 pm Friday of Memorial Weekend. I currently have the Tub covered in 2) Full coats of White Epoxy Sealer. The job came out pretty good. I'll have some sanding to do Sunday (soonest the stuff will be set up enough) The worst for some reason is the left side of the dash so super easy to sand. The exterior of the Tub looks almost good enough to just paint. But I have one small run on the Firewall and 4-5 places drips stuck to the left side when I was spraying the underside so they look like upside down runs. I also found two places I put spot putty that didn't get sanded out so that will have to be taken care of and a little Sealer sprayed over top.

The rear sections of the inside of the Wheel houses was as I assumed a BITCH but I got pretty good coverage. I used a small brush to cut in the lips and a few other places the gun couldn't reach.

A couple places on the underside where it looks like I sprayed Sealer on Oil or something. But yet I had washed it down well with Prepall. Glad its on the underside.

The aluminum that will surface the inside of the Tailgate showed up today. SO I should be able to catch the Tail gate up with the rest of the pieces soon.

I bought a couple of new 1 qt paint cans and transferred the balance of the SUPER JET BLACK paint into them so there is almost no air above the paint to help preserve it.

Getting very tired of cleaning that silly paint gun.

Tonight I will close up the Spray booth tight and run my 1000 watt work lights and my little 1500 watt heater to help cure the Epoxy as fast as possible. Running the fans until then to clear any fumes.

Tomorrow I will jockey stuff around and Seal the Grill and Hood. Then get to work sanding on the Tailgate and Windshield frame.

I'll be running out to the real nice PSA 3M Blue 400 grit I been using but I can make due with what ever NAPA or ACE has in stock.

BLUE comes either Late Sunday or more likely Monday.

I could actually come real close to making my deadline.

I also have the Fenders with a good coat of Sealer and will most likely just go with whats on there now sanding out the external surfaces.

I just woke up in my recliner and realized I needed to lock up the shop etc. Next thing I knew I was pulling tape and masking paper off CHUG. Looks pretty good. Tape pulled a tiny bit of primer here and there, I will smooth that out with some 400. The edges of the Black look pretty good. I found one tiny (like BB sized) place right next to the Riser under the tank where there is a bubble in the paint must have been some Prepall or something that kept the paint from adhering.

Lot of dry over spray on the right side (that side was up when he sprayed) wipes right off with your hand.

Now it sits Wed night I will come in and tape and mask off the floor so the rest of the Tub can be Sealed and then this weekend Painted Blue. MAN I WANT TO SEE THAT BLUE.

OK what a PITA I got the Floor sanded out to 400 grit took the couple of runs out of the rear section where I want the Floor to be nice smooth Jet Black. And I fixed the front of the Riser where about 5-6 spots of the Epoxy Sealer did not attach to the base and ended up wrinkling all up. What started out as a few small areas ended up being about 1/2 the surface area of the Riser. I had the same thing to deal with under where the gas pedal goes that was a real PITA the more I worked on it the more the sealer lifted off the base. I finally got an area almost as big as the bottom of my shoe stripped down and feathered out.

I then cleaned up and resprayed Sealer on the two areas. An hour later so far so good.

The Son in Law is coming over tomorrow evening to shoot the Jet Black. That can then set until Friday when I will reverse the masking off and cover the floor so we can shoot the sealer on the rest of the tub and as many of the other parts as we can. And baring any flaws in it then Sunday we can shoot the Pacific Blue on any pieces not requiring sanding out (the Sealer calls for a min of 2 days cure time before dry sanding. I cheated a little with the Floor doing it at a day and a half but I had a 1000 watt shop light on it all night warming it up to speed the cure.)

I doubt I will have it all done by dinner time Memorial Day (I'm back to work at least Mon through Thursday and maybe Fri.) But the Son in Law said he would come over in the evenings and shoot the color for me so it should get done by the end of the month.

This Paint stuff is wearing me out.

I promised the wife I would finish the front porch (a project I started some 7 years ago she swears!) its about 3) days work so depending on Saturday work I'll be taking some time off CHUG. I'll use my time in the evenings to reorganize and get ready for Chassis work and starting to stuff things into the Tub. I got plenty I can do in the evenings. Which the wife said she would be cool with as long as I am on the porch hard on the weekends.

I have my two little VIAIR 1 gallon air tanks on the way as well as the piece of 1/8" thick aluminum I am going to line the inside of the Tail gate with (its something to attach the Oak strips down to) That will end up needing to be primed and painted as well once I have the holes drilled and threaded.

Heck I bet while I am working on the Porch I can sneak in cutting my HUGE White Oak board into the rough strips I will run through my planer to prefect. She will never know LOL.

OK time to eat something and then go back out and get the spray booth cleaned up for some JET BLACK tomorrow.

Well I did a stupid thing this evening. I got the floor all masked off so I could spray the Sealer on it in case I needed to sand out the sealer before the Son in Law sprays the Jet Black on the Floor.

I got the gun working pretty good and it laid out pretty nice. I sat down to wait the 30 min before I was supposed to put on the second coat.

I put on the second coat it looked even better YEA

and then my frecking brain stopped working and I came up with a DUMBASS Idea I would turn the tub upside down so there was less chance of dust getting on it. As I walked around to the back side (underside as I sprayed with the tub standing up Right side high in the Rotisserie) I bent down and started to lift the left side up.

AND I HEAR A TERRIBLE SOUND!!!! the sound of the Tool box lid falling to the floor hitting something on the way down that left a nice ding in the edge of it.

It will have to be allowed to cure up then I can tap the dent out and using a little spot putty fix the damage. THEN I can sand the frecking thing smooth again and reseal it. All before the son in law comes over tomorrow after noon to paint the Black. It has to be in position before the Jet Black is painted.

DUMB DUMB DUMB.

Todays photos

Here is the Left side all blocked out to 400 grit ready for a couple Epoxy Sealer coats before Paint.

I was very happy with the way the corners came out after all the PITA the Reproduction Panels were to fit.

Here is the Lower Left Cowl section also ready for Sealer

Not as happy with the seam as I could be but I don't think at this stage I am going to screw with it.

My smoothed up and modified firewall (I filled holes I would not be using and drilled others I needed. The large hole is I assume what dad did when he needed to either install or replace the throttle linkage. I have a nice panel made to plug the hole.

And my modified Dash I removed the Governor hole as dad had smashed it flat to mount his little turn signal box in that location I also filled in a couple other Holes that were not stock. And I made a bunch of my own holes for Switches and the two additional gauges I will be using (Tranny/Engine Oil temp and an Air Pressure Gauge for the OBA system) I made a neat little plug for the Original Key Switch hole and will be keeping it.

The Tub only needs the Tail Light panels and the Rear Valance blocked out to be done. I'm just to pooped to finish that unless I get some energy after dinner. I'm very happy with how well the Body Filler came out you can really tell how good of job you did when you get it all primed and blocked out.

Going to sit down with my Deadline Calendar and try to figure out just when the next  Sealer and paint steps are going to happen. It gets a little confusing when you have to worry about recoat times. Then the time you have to wait to put on the next step and then worry about the short period you have to take the next step. OH and how long to wait before you can tape off an area and paint a second color!

 GEE'S