Body's Done, but missing a Front Bumper and Grill Guard

[LJHagen]

It figures that I finish my body work less-bumper right at the beginning of the deer rut. As you can see, my limited budget made for a difficult decision to forego paint in lue of bedlining my entire truck. I know it looks pretty bad, but it beats the alternative of a failing factory paint job, and here in the midwest seemed appropreate to hold-off the rust enhancing salt a little longer. (Neighbor kids think it looks 'cool', but I just did it to keep the body in one piece a little longer).



Now that the body's repaired, if anyone knows of a good source for an inexpensive bumper (preferably heavy duty) or grille guard in the Minneapolis or La Crosse areas, please send me a message with some advice.

 

[champspa]

It's going to look great when it's painted , nice work

 

[dclassens]

champspa, reread that post. He put bedliner on the ENTIRE truck. (haha) I think that truck looks great. A big bad bumper, and some big tires... give me a call if you want to part with that. I will make it worth it!!

Dave

 

[champspa]

that's different , wouldn't you say. :--) :--)

 

[LJHagen]

After Driving It...

The wife and I took it out for it's first drive with the coated body today... Came out to the parking lot of the store to find an older lady "petting" it to see if it was real or something... And now the neighborhood kids cheer when they see it come home (strange kids).



Unexpectedly, it's a LOT quieter, inside and out. Since the stuff I coated it with is a rubber-based polymer, I wonder if it deadens the sound somehow? Other than that, no adverse side effects that I've run into yet. Next step is to do the undercarriage and frame with a rust proofing, as well as the replacement bumper (once I find one).



One thing's for sure, if I have any job interviews soon I'll borrow my wife's Saturn... It's a little strange looking, and folks in this small town really seem to have noticed.

 

[Moab4x4]

I would expect quite a bit of sound deadening. Engine noise from outside is probably down quite a bit too. I deadened my sound by putting Damplifier on the entire inside of the cab. Probably a bit more work, but similar result.



I have seem some interesting liner work, around here the thing is to coat the rockers. My question goes to the prep work to make it not fall off like the paint.



Anyway, looks fine, looks durable (deer scrub shouldn't scratch it), looks like it should generate some respect from other motorists too!

 

[benhall]

I plan on doing the rockers and the back of the cab on my 82 when I get to working on it. I did the back of the cab and front of the box on my 02 when I had a used box put on after an accident. I was going to do the rockers at the same time, but lack of funding stopped me. I'm glad I did it and I won't have to worry about rust back there now.



Ben

 

[RSchwarzli]

If you are looking for bumpers etc, go to NAPA, they have att of the factory styles (pre 91, and post 91).



Robert