'55 International Metal/Body/Paint Work

[NONHOG]

Love the IH of course. But are you holding out on us? Cougar project?

[franken]

Can I send you my POS Camaro!?

[duallyjams]

Attention to detail and perfection, ah just a normal day in the life of theastronaut.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Love the IH of course. But are you holding out on us? Cougar project?

Not one of my projects, dad is doing the upholstery and glass work.

Originally Posted by plainred65

Looking reeealy good!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by franken

Can I send you my POS Camaro!?

Sure, donations are welcome!

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Attention to detail and perfection, ah just a normal day in the life of theastronaut.

AXE Apollo Fireman Ad - YouTube

[theastronaut]

Cut the fender beading to length and trimmed the ends to match the panel edges. The top one was rounded off where it ends, thought that would look nicer than a straight cut.






Helped the owner with the headlight wiring. He's down for a couple weeks to help with reassembly.







Detailed the tires using 303 Aerospace Protectant. I've been using Duragloss with good results but the owner brought this stuff and wanted to use it. Seems like a good product, goes on a little thicker than Duragloss. Not greasy or glossy, has the perfect amount of sheen.




Started re-rewiring the turn signal switch. The owner and one of his buddy's had attempted it but didn't have all the wires, and they ones that were there weren't in the right spots. Ever tried to look up a '55 International wiring diagram? Found one from a Ford that had the same contact pattern so we tried that. Worked great except the L/R contacts were reversed on the Ford diagram... easy fix after swapping the L/R connectors under the column. These are the before pics, forgot to get any after pics.







Everything back together and working properly. Also test fit the hood and adjusted the grill support panel up about an inch to get the hood to fall where it needed to be.

[duallyjams]

Looking good, won't be long you will have room for another project.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Looking good, won't be long you will have room for another project.

Hopefully it'll be gone in a couple months! Still gotta paint the bed and buff it, and work out the rest of the issues. There's always issues that pop up during final assembly!

[theastronaut]

The new heater switch didn't match the old switch so I had to rework the switch and knob to get them to fit together.


Before cleaning the pieces.




Different shafts.




Soldered a nut on the original knob, then filed the excess solder away and buffed the joint. Not the best looking fix but it's reversable if anyone ever wanted to go back to the original style switch.






Installed in the dash.




Heater wires hooked up. The ground wire will be hidden by the firewall pad.






Cleaned and packed the door glass regulator spring with fresh grease.




It had steel rollers so they were cleaned with a wire wheel and greased.




The gear box was flushed with carb cleaner to get the old lube and grit out. The parts I could get to got slathered with axle grease, and inside the gear housing was soaked with spray lithium grease.




Bottom door seal installed and detailed.





The door catch plates were pretty chewed up from years of use, so I smoothed the rough edges before blasting, painting, and installing with new hardware.








Same process on the door latches.




Window channels were blasted and painted.




Passenger door installed.

[theastronaut]

The floor mat, firewall pad, kick panels, and headliner came in late yesterday.




Finishing up the heater wiring; added quick disconnect sockets to pull the heater easier next time.




Wiring hidden behind the firewall pad.




Extra insulation in the roof. Should be pretty cool with around .040" thick Lizard skin ceramic insulation already on it.




Heater installed.




More floor insulation, trimmed it to fit and glued it down.




Jute-type padding added.






Test fitting the floor mat, needs to be stretched in a few spots to fit better.

[theastronaut]

Got the windshield and left door installed.





Bed is wetsanded and ready to shoot. Should have paint on it today.

[theastronaut]

Paint is finished!

[plainred65]

This is getting exciting!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by plainred65

This is getting exciting!

Yes it is!! It's looking like a truck again with the bed installed! It'll be off to get the bed shot with color matched Line-X next week. We've started building the vent glasses so we'll have the doors assemble soon. Gotta sand/buff the bed, install the running boards, and finish up a bunch of small details before it's ready to go home.

[duallyjams]

Oh yeah it's looking good.

[BlueJeep]

Is the bedliner going to be sprayed over the bedrails? If so, where will it be taped off?

[flashed]

WOW ,that is looking goooooood .

[MalibuKasey]

You guys really do stellar work!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Oh yeah it's looking good.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

Is the bedliner going to be sprayed over the bedrails? If so, where will it be taped off?

It's going over the rails, and will be taped off underneath where the rail meets the bedside.

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Wow!!! That looks great!

You rarely ever see Internationals of that era around here, and that's by far the nicest one I have ever seen. The fit and finish of that truck is top notch.

Thanks Alex!!

Originally Posted by flashed

WOW ,that is looking goooooood .

Originally Posted by MalibuKasey

You guys really do stellar work!

Appreciate it dudes!!

[theastronaut]

Got the bed and running boards back from Line-X... Not happy with how it turned out but there's too much risk in stripping it and starting over. They shot regular black liner with a thin top coat of red, and the black is showing through on the peaks of the texture. If it gets scratched them the black liner will show through. It's supposed to be a tinted texture coat, and a colored top coat to match. I guess if the owner is happy we'll leave it alone, it just sucks to spend that much time to get the bed as perfect as possible and they don't do their best. Used them twice before with great results, not sure what happened this time. It looks fine from ten feet, but the thin red top coat barely covering the black texture is noticeable up close. It was suppose to be satin instead of gloss too...

Rant over, on to the pics.

[duallyjams]

Sounds like you need to have a talk with the owner of the company you are using to spray the bed lining and express if they would like to keep your business.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Sounds like you need to have a talk with the owner of the company you are using to spray the bed lining and express if they would like to keep your business.

Definitely, and I might contact Line-X directly to let them know that he's not giving the customer what they're paying for. If it was something our shop paid to have done then it would be stripped and redone, and any damage to the bed's body/paint work would be taken care of as well by the shop that sprayed it. The owner arranged to have the liner sprayed himself and paid them directly, so it's not our place to complain, the owner would have to do that. He hasn't seen it in person yet since we picked it up for him. If we were the paying customer then we probably wouldn't have loaded it up and brought it back to the shop, we'd be working out the details of having it stripped and resprayed properly.

[Bomp]

Truck looks great. Don't think the owner is going to haul fire wood in the bed. Should be okay.
The work you did on the truck is 110% that should cover you.
Spray in bed liner guy not gettin my business.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Truck looks great. Don't think the owner is going to haul fire wood in the bed. Should be okay.
The work you did on the truck is 110% that should cover you.
Spray in bed liner guy not gettin my business.

Thanks Greg, most people that look at the bed will probably never look close enough to notice. He actually does want to lightly use the truck, that's why he wanted a spray in liner instead of paint.

I do want to say that I'm not against Line-X in any way; I'll just find another dealer to have future work done. They have the best looking liners IMO.

[theastronaut]

Bed and fenders are sanded/buffed and mounted.

Guide coated with sharpie marks.






After blocking with 1000 grit, marked some areas to go over again.




Guide coated with powdered charcoal before wetsanding with 2000.




Fenderwells shot with bed liner after sanding with 2000, 2500, and buffing.




Fenders bolted on.

[MP&C]

We're talking car show quality here comparable to something that only gets driven out of the trailer into the event... and he will be hauling with it

Can't blame him, I'd be showing it off too... As always, awesome work!