In which a 4x4 620 is built

[]2eDeYe]

Those mirrors work pretty good, easy to replace when they get broken and it looks like the holes are already in the door for them. Win all around I'd say. :thumbup:

[SandyMush620]

Those mirrors work pretty good, easy to replace when they get broken and it looks like the holes are already in the door for them. Win all around I'd say. :thumbup:

 

 

Yeah, it would be nice if the new mirrors matched the four biggest holes in the doors. 

 

[heretic]

I say go with those mirrors for sure :) 

 

[SandyMush620]

 

 

 

Nice truck.  That must be the M&M green you mentioned.

[heretic]

hahahaha indeed it is :)

[greybeard]

I'

John, I think you did a great job on the blue truck and I would love to see any other pics you may have of it.  Feel free to post them here if you have any.  The one I have is probably tired of me staring at it, lol.  I may have said it already, but that truck has the perfect stock survivor look, and I think it would get a lot of attention around here where 620's are rare.  Lifted, lowered, and custom all have their place, but originality never goes out of style, IMO.  The dual tank idea is interesting but isn't likely to happen because I found out recently that I am running out of time on this build.  My dad is going to retire in a few months and my shop access will go away (and the grading isn't even complete for my garage yet).   :(   The good news is that the mirrors have arrived and I should be beating on the doors this weekend. 

 

 

I'll see what I have,  most will be old school film Photo's of the truck, I'll see if I can scan a couple,  I think I have one of it when I first got it, 2wd, with White spokes, and another of 

it 4wd out in the Mojave.

 

I just don't want to Hijack your thread.

 

There's lots of pix in Juns thread, He's really cleaned it up and made it look nice again.

 

Oh, by the way, your truck would look good BLUE  :thumbup:

[SandyMush620]

I'

I'll see what I have, most will be old school film Photo's of the truck, I'll see if I can scan a couple, I think I have one of it when I first got it, 2wd, with White spokes, and another of

it 4wd out in the Mojave.

 

I just don't want to Hijack your thread.

 

There's lots of pix in Juns thread, He's really cleaned it up and made it look nice again.

 

Oh, by the way, your truck would look good BLUE :thumbup:

I will get you an email address via pm. I looked for a build thread by Jun and couldn't find one. I'll search again, or if anyone has a link, post it up.

[Mirrorimg]

Build is coming along nicely! What are you using to take the paint down to metal? Looks like some type of sanding disk on a pnuematic grinder.

[SandyMush620]

Build is coming along nicely! What are you using to take the paint down to metal? Looks like some type of sanding disk on a pnuematic grinder.

 

For large areas I use a single action pneumatic angle buffer with an 8" sanding pad and 80-grit sandpaper disk.  For smaller areas, or if I already have it in my hands, I use a dual action (DA) orbital sander, like the one shown in post #171, set to single action.  That just means it spins on one axis like any rotary tool whereas dual action moves the whole pad in small circles while it is rotating.  Even with the same 80-grit paper, single action is quick but can dig holes in the metal if you don't keep moving and doesn't really smooth anything as it strips.  DA is slower but safer and leaves a nice smooth surface with a finer texture.  All single action stripping is followed by dual action to achieve this surface before applying primer.  For tight corners and places to small for a sander, I use an angle grinder with a coarse (brown) Scotchbrite pad as seen in post #162.

[jrock4224]

wow man been a while since i been in here... looks great .... tape trick on seam sealer is a good tip .....

[Mirrorimg]

I see you are in need of a tranmission. Are RWD transmissions different than 4wd transmissions? Im thinking they are, but figured I would ask since I have a 4 speed sitting in my garage.

[Raggleflaggle]

nobody seems to have noticed the rather interesting custom grille on the parts truck in the 1st pic...
DO WANT

[SandyMush620]

I see you are in need of a tranmission. Are RWD transmissions different than 4wd transmissions? Im thinking they are, but figured I would ask since I have a 4 speed sitting in my garage.

 

My understanding is that the RWD trans will work fine, but the 4WD has a slightly lower 1st gear.  For now I am holding out for that.  Thanks, though.

 

nobody seems to have noticed the rather interesting custom grille on the parts truck in the 1st pic...

DO WANT

 

Yeah, unfortunately, the grill appears to have been cut with a torch and is a real hack job.  I'd give it to anyone that wants it, but up close it's not that great.

 

 

[]2eDeYe]

I think that one at least deserves a B for effort. :lol:

[SandyMush620]

Finally got to give some love to the 620 today.  I stripped the right door and welded up the holes from the various mirrors it wore over the years.  None of the holes lined up with the new mirrors I bought.  None.  The paint remaining on the door in this pic indicates the shallow dent that started on the fender and got into every panel on the side of the truck.  In fact, there was a matching dent on the other side, from bumper to bumper.  Would love to know how someone managed to do that.

 

 

There was access to some of the dent from inside the door, but some of it had to be pulled with weld-on studs.

 

 

Sometimes I grab multiple studs with visegrips and give it a tug with a larger slide hammer to pull more of the dent at once, which can give you a more even result in addition to being a little quicker.

 

 

Some of the holes were pretty big, maybe 1/4", so I cut a few plugs to weld in, something I learned in one of DanielC's threads.  I don't have the type of hole saw that he uses, which makes a solid plug, but I do have a spot-weld saw, which made the right size plugs but has to be pilot-drilled first, so there is a 3/32 hole in the center to weld up.  Worked out fine, though.

 

 

This pic shows one of the holes with a plug set in place prior to welding (center) and you can also see one after welding and grinding.

 

 

Here is the door after the dent-pulling and hole-plugging.  There's a small amount of rust to patch near the bottom and it will take some filling to smooth out the skin, but it's a lot closer than it was.

 

 

Mud and primer tomorrow if all goes well.

[SandyMush620]

The right door is roughed in and primed.  I cleaned up some minor rust at the bottom of the door, then slid a piece of scrap sheet behind it to weld in.

 

 

 

I always use fiberglass as the first layer of filler over welds because it won't absorb water like bondo if there's a pinhole.  It sands hard, so I keep it minimal.

 

 

Then some body filler.

 

 

The whole door skin was a little beat up, so I skim coated the majority of it with finishing glaze after getting the filler in shape.

 

 

An 18" Durablock smoothed it out pretty good.  The glaze isn't as thick as it looks, but the door was kinda rough, so the full coverage worked out.

 

 

Primer!

 

 

 

 

I will have to redrill for the new mirrors, but I will wait until the door is mounted to aide in positioning, plus it gives me time to change my mind on the mirror style if I want.  :rolleyes:

[Mirrorimg]

I hope my doors look half as nice as yours when I get around to them. The holes you had look pretty flat. Did any have a little flare from being pulled by the screw the previous mirrors were installed with? Mine look like little volcanoes...

[SandyMush620]

I hope my doors look half as nice as yours when I get around to them. The holes you had look pretty flat. Did any have a little flare from being pulled by the screw the previous mirrors were installed with? Mine look like little volcanoes...

 

The holes were mostly flat already, but you can use a hammer and dolly to flatten them if they are flared out.  If you are going to close them up, I would try to end up with them countersunk a little, so you can fill the hole to the level of the door instead of trying to blend in a high spot.

[]2eDeYe]

Looks fantastic.

[SandyMush620]

Saturday I managed to get a few hours in on the other door.  It's welded up, filled, and primed.

 

 

 

 

 

I missed a few things that showed up when I sprayed the primer, but I will get it in the block sanding phase, which pretty much starts now.  I also need to fit in time to play with the transmission and mix some leftover paint together to see how close we can get to the steel blue. 

 

Slow but steady.

[]2eDeYe]

A little bit closer :thumbup:

[SandyMush620]

Today I started the first blocking.  I hung the fenders so they would be in the correct shape for working, and I went back and forth between a fender and a door, blocking and touching up with finishing glaze.

 

 

 

The guide coat highlights the low spots.  I use rattle-can primer instead of paint to avoid incompatibility issues if any of the guide coat is missed.

 

 

A little glaze on the low areas...

 

 

Same with the door.  There was a pretty good dent under the style line that had to be worked:

 

 

Moar primer.  Three heavy coats of high-build urethane to be exact.  There's one full sprayable (mixed) quart on these two panels for this application if anybody's wondering.

 

 

Also, for inquiring minds, I am using 180-grit on Durablock sanding blocks.  They are made of a rigid foam rubber material that flexes just enough to hug a slight curve but finishes nice and smooth.

 

 

 

That's it for this weekend but the dog lot is done and the pool is up so daddy's getting back on the datty.  From now on spending time with the fam means the seven-year-old gets a sanding block!

[SandyMush620]

I managed to get the other door and fender blocked and back in primer today.  I was in go-mode, so I didn't take as many pics as usual, but here is what I have:

 

This door blocked out a bit nicer than the other but still needed a little glaze.

 

 

Here is the fender during the blocking process:

 

 

...and blocked to show the low spots.

 

 

 

They are primed, but that's one of the pics I didn't take. :rolleyes: Then I started on the hood, which needs more love, as expected.

 

 

Here's how it blocked out; again, about as expected. 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I will keep beating on the hood and hopefully get it back in primer.

[]2eDeYe]

Not too bad at all really, looking really good now. :D

[SandyMush620]

This has been a fairly productive weekend.  I'm almost satisfied with the hood, although I have enough time in it by now to have had one custom made of pure lunar gold.  The low corner ended up needing quite a bit of work to get it blended in with the rest of the panel, but it's definitely getting close.  I only need to work out a few small imperfections in the center ridge area to be confident it will look good with shiny paint on it.

 

 

 

I also blocked the cowl panel and valance.  The cowl had several small dings that may have been hail damage, but the valance blocked out really well.  It is a new panel from Rock Auto, but I still expected to have to do some work to it for the low price.  Not perfect, but not worth adding any filler.

 

 

 

 

Once all that was primed I started blocking the cab.  I got about half of the roof and one side of the cab blocked.  Roofs are about as awesome to work as hoods, but it isn't looking too bad so far. 

 

 

A lot of the low areas in the cab could be lightly sanded with a flexible block and called good enough, but I will smooth it all out because OCD.

 

 

The small spots of bare metal that came through on the cab were coated with a touch of self-etching primer to keep it protected from moisture until I can get back on it next weekend.

 

 

Thanks for reading.