Definition of the word 'tedious"

[Aspen500]

Tedious: Adjective. Example is sanding a cowl panel from your '96 Dakota, with 52 air intake slots to sand inside of. Ideally I'd have it soda blasted but I'll be damned if I can find a place to do it in the area. Closest I came up with is down in Wisconsin Rapids, 50 miles away.
Reminds me of doing the Aspen hood but those "only" have 44 slots Tedious but it has to be done so I better get back at it.

 

[volare 77]

Your right. What a pain. I think the aspen hood may even be a little worse because of the underside access.

 

[Aspen500]

Your right. What a pain. I think the aspen hood may even be a little worse because of the underside access.

Now that I think back on it, I do believe you are correct on that one. The really hard part was sanding the top of the inner panel, the part of it that shows through the slots. Yes I know,,,,,,,,,,,,,,anal son of a you know what

One big difference. The Aspen I wanted as perfect as I could possibly make it. The Dakota,,,,,,,,,as long as it looks half ass decent and, more importantly, isn't a rotted out heap anymore, that wasn't even safe to drive, I'm happy. It's a winter daily driver, NOT a restoration. Guess I could have left the cowl panel as is but that white chalky remains of what used to be clear coat looked HORRIBLE, and the roof is even worse. Half the clear is non-existant anymore.

 

[Oldiron440]

I remember seeing in a Ford forum about removing paint from the plastic cowl panel on Mustangs the guys were soaking the parts in a tray of brake fluid, this would remove the paint and not hurt the plastic.
I've never tried it but it should work.

 

[Duke5A]

 

[Aspen500]

Cowl panel on the Dakota is metal. I'm not looking to take it down to bare metal, just get the oxidized clear off and any of the base coat that's bad. If you can preserve the factory undercoats it's the best way. I looked at the roof earlier and it should be a piece of cake. At least 50% of the clear is gone already and what's left is more like dust. Funnily enough, the black base coat looks to be in good condition.

I know this is an F/M/J body sight but maybe an N body can sneak in just a little bit once every so often. At least it is a Mopar.

 

[Oldiron440]

View attachment 31257
Yep that's the stuff for metal but it doesn't work like it did twenty years ago.
View attachment 31258

 

[Aspen500]

Modern paint stripper is probably made from a "new, environmentally friendly formula" which always means,,,,,,,,,,,,IT DOESN'T WORK, whether it's paint stripper, brake cleaner, carb cleaner, whatever.

 

[Oldiron440]

It will still melt plastic though!

 

[7T8 Custom]

The Wurth brake cleaner we use at work still works great but I`m pretty sure it`s not all that environmentally friendly.

 

[Aspen500]

We use a lot of Wurth products at work and they make some good stuff. Our brake cleaner isn't Wurth though and it works OK but, no where as well as the old type stuff did. It'll still find every little cut on your hands that you didn't know you had

 

[slant6billy]

Old school guys used to go with bottles of diet pepsi to strip paint. My thought for a part like that is get a kid plastic pool. Especially now that they are on clearance. Get some "Washing soda" from the detergent isle at the supermarket. Then about 8 or so gallons of distilled de-ionized water from the detergent isle. An old wall pack plug in transformer and a power strip (to turn it on/off). $30 dollar electrolysis tank. Submerge the part. Plug in and let it automatically remove the rust. I did a crossmember a few years ago.

 

[Aspen500]

I've used that method and it does work very good. Kind of slow but, it does the job. I used a battery charger hooked to a stainless steel anode. Best part is, it removes the rust but doesn't affect the non-rusty steel at all.

What I found yesterday, as I spent the entire day in the garage working on the Dakota,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I really do hate bodywork, especially when I feel rushed like I am on the Dakota, and don't have the time to do as good a job as I'd like.

 

[Aspen500]

That darn N-body butting into an F/M/J site again. Next weekend,,,,,,,,,,,PAINT! Was going to do it yesterday (Sunday) but it was in the 80's and muggy as all heck. Not good for paint or the painter. Soon as I put the paint suit on,,,,,,,,,,nope, not today. Even in primer it looks 100 times better than it's looked in 7 years or more.

 

[Aspen500]

OK, I promise to not post about the N-body again after this.
It's far from perfect but given the time I had to do it all and get it done before the stuff that starts with an "S" comes, it'll do. Regardless, it looks better now than it has in at least the past 10 years and today, the switch was made from Mustang to Dakota for daily driving duties, until next spring sometime.

 

[7T8 Custom]

Looks pretty damn good to me. More than good enough for a winter daily driver. Nice work.

 

[Aspen500]

I kept having to tell myself "it's NOT a restoration", over and over. It looks better than it has for at least 10 years ago, when the first rust showed it's ugly head. Now it's closer to how I remember it from the day I brought it home waaaaaaaaaay back in May of 1998 when it looked like brand new.

 

[Oldiron440]

It's nice you got it done just in time for SNOW!
We got are first accumulation today.

 

[BudW]

My hat is off to you!
A job well done! It looks very sharp!
BudW

 

[Aspen500]

Thanks! Being my own worst critic, I'm not really happy with the way the box sides turned. It's what happens when you try to rush something because you have to. However, others seem to not notice. Stopped at a gas station on the way home from work and got "that's a nice looking Dakota" and just a little bit ago at the grocery store, the same thing so maybe it's not so bad. If I had an ego, it would be inflated, lol. One "problem" I've got, basically have no ego whatsoever.

Yeah OldIron, that snow. That bleeping snow last Sunday. Guess what's on the agenda for tomorrow? Yep, snow. Still say it's WAAAAAAAAAAY too early for this crap. First snow isn't normally until December, or late November at the soonest. grumble, complain, moan.........
Guess I should think about getting the new winter tires for the truck sooner than later. The ones on it now (Firestone Winterforce) are down to about 25% tread and that will not do around this neck of the woods. Don't forget, it's a 2 wheel drive and without winter tires, you'll be stuck in 1/4" of snow. Seriously. With the winter tires, I've driven through almost 12" of snow without getting stuck, provided it isn't that heavy wet stuff.