Chassis Rust - Part 2:

The next 2 phases are almost one...spray chassis cleaner "Marine Clean", allow to dry over the day, then spray "Metal Ready" an acid to help the POR-15 stick.  Parked the rear of the truck over the lawn so the cleansers and dirt won't harm the driveway.  Old wheels are still on the truck.

Same layout when it was in the garage, a pair of jack stands allow the wheels to be removed for better access.  Quite a bit of dirt was removed, although the chemicals themselves didn't appear to change much of the appearance of the underside.

Pushed back into the garage to dry for the final time.  I also washed the truck so I can start polishing the paint while the chassis paint dries.  This meadow green metallic should glow in the dark with a little care.  It currently has ZERO wax on it.  New tires are to the left and the fuel tank was cleaned and etched too.

Finally Phase 4, paint!  While I've got everything torn apart, its time to do some painting.  Below is my new etched tank, covered in it's first coat of a non-sanding sealing primer.  Also note the rear end cover.  Three coats later gave it a nice flat black appearence.

I did not use POR-15 on the gas tank due to it's size, it's just too big.  After the primer I applied a topcoat of gloss enamal black.  Same with the rear end cover.  It visited the wire wheel on the bench grinder to remove flaky material before painting.

After drying, I dropped in the fuel pump, and the tank is ready to go.  While the tank was drying, I did a rear gear lube service.  I had to take the rear end cover to the parts store as these trucks come with two 10 bolt rear ends;  8.5" and 7.625".  Long story short, I've got the 7.625" rear.

I'll provide better shots as it was late at night, but 2 days, about 8 hours of work, the underside of my truck had 2 coats of POR-15.  It goes on pretty well, but takes forever trying to paint on to rust.  The 2nd coat only took about 2 hours and was used to hit areas I had missed.  The entire bed/frame took one quart.

It is a very gloss black.  During this time, I'm also replacing a fuel line and I changed both rear shocks.  It makes an amazing hard surface.  More pictures to follow.  Project still needs to install the fuel line, fuel tank, change the automatic transmission filter, and double check the front end for state inspection.

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