Looking good! The stuff i use to get old 50 year old paint off is aircraft remover. You can get it at Autozone for 7$. It is bad stuff to get on you it takes it right off with a razor blade.

Joe I'm loving this thread! I so want a cab!

Duke, you need a cab for the 1650. :biggrin2:

And the 125 and the 1200!

Oh yeah, can't forget those! :biggrin2:

Been a busy weekend, didn't get much done on the cab. Haven't been able to get over to the metal shop to pick the bottom piece up either. Did get the rest of the white paint off the roof ,and did some scuffing with some 80 grit. I hope the POR-15 will stick to the scuffed steel. I have never tried using it on clean steel before.


I used to use aircraft paint remover, and that stuff is great. I use the oven cleaner now because my 2 1/2 year old daughter likes to help and the oven cleaner is not near as bad for if she gets into it.

Well I got some work done on the cab tonight. I got the welder out and fixed up the cracks. It has been a while since I welded sheet metal. I burned a couple holes in it, but got them fixed up. They will look great with a couple coats of paint on them :biggrin2:. Still haven't made it over to get the bottom mount yet.

I also finished scuffing everything down with 80 grit. I was going to try to put the POR-15 on tomorrow night, but I think I might go make the guy an offer on that Speedex s23 That I mentioned in another thread.

I was checking some led marker lights out on ebay last night. I may have to put a couple on it. Does anyone remember the cross reference numbers for the tail lights on the 82 series ? I can't remember, but I thought that someone had figured out that they were the same as the side marker lights on a 70 something vega or citation or maybe it was a chevette.

Thanks for the update and pics. :beerchug:

You can get new 82 series taillights from some of the site sponsors, as well as from Charlie Proctor at CC Specialties, they go for about $10 each, including the lens, fender gaskets, new ss screws, light socket, and I think even the bulbs (194's, I think). I bought a set for my 149 and am very happy with them.

You might find a side marker in a junk yard that would work, but they won't be as pretty as the new ones. Now that you mentioned it, they do look like GM side marker lights, the way they mount and the manner in which the bulb socket fits the lens.

Got some done tonight. The rain was starting so I had to call it quits earlier than I was wanting to.

I am going to put a coat of POR-15 on everything then do a standard sealer/primer, Valspar paint job on top of that. For anybody not familiar with the POR product, it requires some very specific steps to followed to get the desired result.

You supposedly can just paint it on over the rust and have it work but I have never had that luck. So my first step is to wire wheel, sand blast, sand ,strip, whatever I need to do to get back to bare metal. I don't worry about the rust anymore then what any of the above will do. Then there is a POR brand cleaner (marine clean) that is specified to use to get the steel clean of grease and such. It is expensive ,I use purple power.

Then POR has a (metal prep) nothing more than a Phosphoric acid wash. Metal etch from Home Depot has worked just as good for me in the past, and is allot cheaper.

Well tonight I got those to steps done. Then I had to move the pieces inside do to rain. The parts have to be completely dry to paint anyway. It is chance of rain for next couple of days here, so maybe Sunday I will get to sling some paint.

I took a couple pictures of the pieces after the acid wash. I hope you can see the "streaks" and that the bare steel is turned gray. This is what the acid does. I read some were what exactly it is , but can't remember now, it is some kind of coating from the reaction of the acid wash.

Anyway , I will be picking up the bottom mount tomorrow for sure and will get some pictures of that up sometime. I have to apologize, I feel like I am rambling and going on about nonsense, but I am just trying to be thorough in explaining the steps from start to finish.