How do you stip the other side of fenders? I assume we can clean it as best as possible and then hit it with aircraft stripper followed by a 3M stripper disc to get the rest? We are going to 1790 wash prime then DP epoxy followed by rubberized undercoating in the bomb can, good plan :confused:

By the way the jobber said if you shoot the PPG DX1790 over bare steel it will not cover at all on the first coat or 2 AND if you try to make it cover it will run all the way to the floor! is that true, ie.. just shoot it on lightly ie.. tach coat 1st?

Etch primers are not meant to cover or should say hide, most are darn near transparent. All you need is 1-2 light coats, if you cant see throu that dx1791 then you applied it TOO thick and will need to remove some it!! You apply it too thick you run the risk of poor adhesion and drying characteristics.


Just a thought for the underside, why not send them off to get spray on bedliner??

That's a great idea Eric, what would we need to do to prep them for the bedliner?

How to strip the inside of fenders? Here is a good example of rust cleanup at extremes. Hope the link works.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/117226417/121384977UmfLOb

My 14 year old son is building a 70 Nova SS (with a little help from Dad). Funds for this project are limited so we are restoring as much of the original sheetmetal as possible. If you notice in the photo all of the innerstructure on this fender has been removed for cleanup access. The panel was stripped with chemical stripper and sandblasted, Yes-sandblasted at low pressure to avoid warpage. The patchwork is done now along with the bumpwork. Next step is to remove the epoxy from the weld areas, apply 3M weld through primer and put them back together. Every speck of corrosion has been removed, and the panel will be reprimed and completely rustproofed before installation. This is a lot of work for sure but at 14 he has more time than money and has learned a lot restoring what most people would have thrown away. Fenders for this car have been impossible to find in this area for quite a few years now. Southern fenders were found but shipping was costly.

Thanks for the pic Bob. If I knew I would have a kid that would like doing cool stuff my wife might be pregnant already. We have time to worry about that though I am only 29 and I have a young Harley that needs paid for.

I am still nervous about having a video game freak or a whigger with no interest in any hobbies that subject you to any sort of work.
Oh, well I guess if you are a nice guy and don't push the kid ,they will take up some of the same interests that you have. I would help him out and thank god he isn't at the arcade! smile.gif

Mr. bad Bob,

What type of sand did you use? How will you treat the undersides for rust/ rock ship proof?

Thanks again, Zach

Hey Zach, the Nova fenders have a bolt in wheelhouse so they aren't as suseptable to rock chips like the truck fenders you are working on. I've done a lot of work on the older models like your truck, street rods etc and even 60's fords and mopars that have open fenders like yours. I've used 3M rocker panel spray with good results then primed and rubberized undercoating over the primer. Use the stuff in the blue can with the seperate dip tube, about $20 my cost. I can't remember the part number but I have a can in the garage I'll try and find it this afternoon. This stuff is not an aresol and requires the use on a special gun attachment for the dip tube. You should be able to find a bodyshop that will loan you the gun for the weekend or buy one, they are handy to have. I'll try to post the part numbers for this stuff later. Bob

I blast with regular silica sand and sometimes blackjack, you can blast the inside of your fenders if you use a large nozzle to keep the vlocity down and hold the blaster about 20 inches from the surface on a 45 degree angle. If you concentrate the stream of media to one spot at close range it will warp the panel. Hold it back and wave the nozzle back and forth so it removes the corrosion alittle at a time. It takes quite awhile but the results are great leaving the surface ready for primer. Another alternative is to remove as much as possible with normal abrasive sanding, wire wheels and clean and strip disks then follow up with muriatic acid, let the acid eat the rust while occasionally brushing with rubber gloves and a scotchbrite. keep the acid area wet with acid untill all the rust is dissolved then water wash and metal prep to keep it from rusting again before primer. Do the acid deal outdoors if possible and stay upwind :rolleyes: the fumes are nasty. And if you do any blasting wear the best particle mask you can. This cleanup work isn't any fun but once it's done you know you didn't shortcut the job and it will hold up really well, probably for generations :D

Zach, last week we did a truck box on a 00 Dodge, replaced with a OE take off. I painted the outside of box but owner wanted the inside done with box liner. We called around and found a place near by, cost was 390 bucks. What they did was scuff the paint, spray on sometype of adhesion promotor then the coating.

A couple of years ago the owner of the shop was finishing up his 46 ford convert. He had the undersides of the fenders sprayed with box liner. All we had on the undersides was S-W 980 etch and P48 urethane primer, we scuffed them up good delivered to the guy's shop and he sprayed.
Still looks good after the 2-3 years the car has been on the road.

Thanks guys I will keep you updated. We tood off the front fenders and a door for dad to start on. I was amazed at what a diffence it was taking apart a truck that has never seen road salt. We have a truck of the same year from Iowa that looked restorable but once we started looking underneath it I am glad we found this other 53' five window 1/2 ton for $750 with hardly any rust at all. smile.gif

I was going to try the por-15 in my fender wells, but found some bedliner in an aerosol spray at Wal-mart for about six bucks a can. It's made by duplicolor and they also have it in quarts and gallons if you want to go that route. I thought the spray cans were perfect for doing small pieces. I tested it on a piece of metal, it dries hard and fairly smooth and seemed to even take paint afterward. Although I haven't tried it on my car yet, I think it will work great, and the price is right!

Originally posted by zachscc:
Thanks guys I will keep you updated. We tood off the front fenders and a door for dad to start on. I was amazed at what a diffence it was taking apart a truck that has never seen road salt. We have a truck of the same year from Iowa that looked restorable but once we started looking underneath it I am glad we found this other 53' five window 1/2 ton for $750 with hardly any rust at all. smile.gif My wife and I have been looking for a 47-54 5-window Chevy Pick-up. Beleive me, you don't see em around here for $750.00 needing fenders and floors. Thats a steal! Any Pics?