New World Datsuns...

DRIVEN wrote: ↑Thu Oct 18, 2018 2:55 pm The bedliner will be the sealer. If you aren't going to paint it, just keep it dry until you line it. Primer isn't a sealer.

I guess my point was will it be sealed better with paint and liner.
I know that the primer I am using is not a sealer, when I was applying the primer there are two tight places between the front of the box and the inner fenders as I took 15 inches off the bed, there is around 3/4 inches room max, when I stuck the paint gun in there and pulled the trigger the primer just shot back at me instead of going on the metal, I had to soak it just to get it to stick, I suspect the paint will do the same thing.
The liner would likely be rolled/brushed on and will be thicker but not uniform either, but in the end I need to buy more paint anyway, so maybe I should just paint the shit out of the inside of the box, it will likely look better that way anyway, I just changed my mind again.

Oh, the sides of the box look way better now, and I decided to fill a trailer hitch tow plug hole in the bottom rail below the tailgate, so I will likely only get that done and some parts primed I cleaned this afternoon, so Saturday or Sunday will likely be paint day, I have a morning job and I need more paint so I will not likely have time to do any painting tomorrow.

Haha. I thought you were looking for an excuse to take a shortcut. If you have the materials and want to paint it, by all means do it.
I'm excited to see this get finished. I think this might be my favorite of your creations.

Or buy a tintable bedliner and have the bedliner in body color. I know its after the fact, but if you knew beforehand you were going to bedliner it, you would have been better off spraying the inside with epoxy. That would have given better protection for the metal when/if the bedliner gets scratched. Anyway, so long as the primer has good adhesion to the metal, there should be no reason to paint it before the bedliner.

Good job on everything so far!

I thought about the tintable bedliner, I was going to ask about it at the paint store tomorrow, if that is a good option at a reasonable price I might go that way, I look at this bed floor and think it needs Hammerite crinkle paint, if it all had the same rough texture it would look better, but some areas are nice while other areas are awful, I actually took the primer in the bottom of the cup and poured it in the rough areas and spread it out with a brush.

I am just going to paint the inside of the bed for now, they have tintable bed liner, but I don't have the time to mess around with different products.
I filled the plug hole and welded the taillight housing back in, then primed all the loose parts and the area I filled the hole, all I have to do now is sand the primer with 320/400 grit and paint it, maybe tomorrow, maybe Sunday.

I went and looked at the 320 box in Oregon City, the sides of it were beat, especially the rear skirts, my tailgate is in same, or maybe better shape, the rear axle had been removed and replaced with some other lighter trailer axle, I could lift one side off the ground myself, 12 inch rims/tires/4 lug, the bed floor was in great shape, so were the inner fender wells, but I could not rate paying $300.00 for a set of inner fender wells, so I passed on buying it, but I told him if he were to cut it up/scrap it I would buy the inner fender wells for a more than reasonable price.
I painted the box today, I have a few runs on the inside front but I didn't care about them, but the sun was playing tricks on me, it looked like I missed an area so I made another pass on that area and it ran on me, but I didn't get the hook properly, so I will sand the run lines and paint the sides and hooks again tomorrow, I have lots of paint.
The inside of the bed looks good for what it is.
The run lines, the sun made it look like I could see primer, but I had plenty of paint on it.

This was caused by painting the gas filler hole, I got a couple run lines and it just got worse trying to fix it.

The box





Parts that needed painting.

The inside of the box.

Tomorrow sanding and more paint, lots of paint.

Progress. Setback. Progress.

I am not very good at bodywork/painting, but it's a lot cheaper than paying someone else to do it, and it will not rust.
I will fix it like I did the cab when it had run lines.

I've got nothing but respect for what you've done here. I know enough about bodywork to know that I don't completely suck at it but absolutely detest doing it. It really is an art. It takes patience. I'm more of an instant gratification kind of guy. Your truck looks great to me. Runs happen -- you'll get them fixed.

I like that white. It is blue based, not yellow. Looks way cleaner.

It's actually a very light blue, the can says it is "Big Band Blue", it was the closest to the lightest blue Datsun color I could find for 1960 something thru 74 I believe, if I had it to do over again I would have just a little more blue in it, but I like the color and can live just fine with it.
The sun plays tricks with the color, in shadow like when a body line creates a shadow when the sun is at a certain angle, it looks primer gray, that is why I have them run lines, I thought the low spot under a body line didn't get enough paint as it looked primer gray to me, so I angled the gun in such a way that it put to much paint in one spot and it ran on me half the length of the box as there was already so much paint there that it could not stay where it was anymore, it was perfect before that pass, I am learning slowly, I suspect my eye sight has something to do with it also.
I have not learned yet how to tell when it has enough paint on it, I keep adding more and more paint, the bed has a shitload of paint on it, but it is mostly horizontal and it will dry eventually, I again used the paint in the bottom of the paint gun cup to fill pin holes and other imperfections in the bed, it looks way better than it did when I started.

So I sanded and painted the sides again and it almost worked out, two of the hooks dripped on one side, I was able to fix one but the other one is a lost cause, it will have to be sanded and painted again, but it is at the rear and I am done for now.
I put it on my garden wagon I bought from Harbor freight a couple years ago so I can move it around, I am going to talk one of the neighbors in to helping me put it in position later today or tomorrow afternoon.



The freaking drip can barely be seen in this photo.



And here is the bed, it's kinda grumpy, I mean lumpy, it has seen better days.

The box isn't in that good of shape, but it is what I had, going to have to start on the tailgate now, I do not know how to shrink metal, but that is what it is going to need in the middle two sections of the gate, stuff banging around in the past has stretched the metal, that guy with the other box suggested getting each section really hot with a torch and then throwing a cold wet rag in the middle of each section, does that really work?

It does really work. I've never done it myself but have seen it done many, many years ago. Lots of videos on YouTube about it. If you only have that one 320 gate to work with, you may want to practice up on something else first.

Ive seen conflicting things about the hot/cold method. Basically it works right away, and then the next time the panel sits in the sun it pops back.

I think you're referring to oil canning. It's explained and discussed here https://www.autobody101.com/forums/view ... =5&t=17242 .

I think that it is beyond oil canning, it is stretched from weight being dropped on the gate and from stuff shifting around in the box and hitting the tailgate, I have a feeling that it will not ever be flat again in them 2 sections out of the 4 sections, the 2 outer sections are still semi flat, I suspect that for me to fix this I will need to cut slits in the metal and flatten them out and then weld them back together.
I will try pounding on them first.
The box is mounted on the truck now, but the tail end appears to be to one side, the frame didn't appear to be bent but I was not looking for that, I am likely going to have to oval the rear mount holes to get the box on straight so it doesn't look bent in the middle.

The heat/quench does work to a certain extent. I’d try getting a dime size spot red hot then immediately drop a wet rag there and see what it does. May have to do it in multiple spots. I have had to do what you are contemplating as far as the cutting a cross in the metal then welding it back if the metal is badly stretched. It sometimes helps to tack weld a couple flanges and use some clamps to pull the metal to weld it back together.

wayno wrote: ↑Sun Oct 21, 2018 5:23 pm I think that it is beyond oil canning...

Yeah. What you're describing just sounds like good old fashioned dents. My reply was directed at Jacob's post. The oil canning would be a result of conflicting metal tension within a panel. Sometimes that is brought on by doing quench-shrinking. You may still find the link helpful should you decide to try it. That sight may have other useful tips too. Good luck.

I just went out and brought the tailgate into the garage, it's not as bad as I was thinking, but it has a shitload of small dents everywhere in them 2 middle sections.
The way the gate is built is about 5 inches down, and 4 inches up there are ridges/body lines, in between the 2 body lines it is flat and sunk in a 1/4 inch, in one middle section it is pushed out an 1/8th inch past the tops of the body lines(3/8ths of an inch pushed out), the other side is only pushed out a 1/4 inch, this area might be hammered back flat, the other side I don't know, there are also a few dents above and below the body lines.
I think the hardest part will be figuring out how to hammer on this tailgate, normally I would find a flat spot and lay the metal on it and start tapping away, but this gate will not sit flat on a flat surface as the outside edges are higher than the middle on all sides.
The top and sides are straight, the bottom is only bent about an 1/8 inch out, it is perfectly straight across the bottom, for how old it is it is pretty straight, I have seen a lot worse.

Well it appears I am going to have to lift the box off the frame again which depresses me as I got it on there without screwing anything up, I will have to oval a few of the mount holes, I have it basically straight(almost) but the rear mount holes are not even close now.
I have another idea also that might let me just lift the rear up a little ways, basically I need the rear of the box to move sideways 1/2 inch which is one hole width, maybe I can drill another hole beside the ones that are there.
I will figure it out tomorrow after I do the 3 small jobs I have scheduled.