Project Super Duty

[Blown F-150]

Thanks Guys, I hope to finish up the dash tonight. I will probably hit the carpet again with just water to see what comes out.

Still on the detailing list.
 - Opti-Coat the roof
 - Wheels, Tires and wheel wells
 - Dash and interior plastics
 - Running board plastics and chrome polish
 - front upper bumper cover polish (may paint it, not sure yet)
 - Grill peel and paint

Can I Opti-Coat over Opti-Coat? I may have a few areas I didn't get enough coverage. I don't think I used as much product as I should have. Only about 5cc on the truck, but I haven't done the roof yet.

[Too Stroked]

Can I Opti-Coat over Opti-Coat? I may have a few areas I didn't get enough coverage. I don't think I used as much product as I should have. Only about 5cc on the truck, but I haven't done the roof yet.

With the newest stuff, yes. I asked Justin the same question. Apparently the original stuff wouldn't stick to itself.

[sscully]

...<snip>...

Can I Opti-Coat over Opti-Coat? I may have a few areas I didn't get enough coverage. I don't think I used as much product as I should have. Only about 5cc on the truck, but I haven't done the roof yet.

Yes you can do multiple coats.

The time delay between coats, or if something needs to be done I have seen multiple answers to.

I always recoat within 30 min if I am unsure on coverage.

I have seen 30 days up to 90 days ( sounds like BS to me, but that is supposition on my part ).

might want to see if Justin answers up, as the process to re-coat after a cure is to polish the surface ( need to rough it up a bit ), but I don't think it is a good idea to polish what you have, as it is still in a curing state ( some might be done, others not in direct sun might not ).

Sorry I don't have a good answer on the how long between, I have just seen too many answers on it, and none of them were from Dr G.

[Blown F-150]

Thanks for the responses. Maybe Just has some info too.

Now onto my paint over-spray problem... I seem to have been able to remove the over-spray from all surfaces but the black textured plastic on the dash. See photo. Any chemicals I have tried (Wax/Grease remover, Final Solvent wipe, Acetone, etc.) all see to hurt the plastic before the over spray comes off.

Clay worked well for the flat plastic "Wood Grain" and acetone on the gray textured plastic (using with extreme caution)



Any thought or suggestions are welcome. If I can't get it out, I will just end up re-painting the piece.

[sscully]

do you have a spot you can try a Mr Clean magic eraser on it ?

It looks like textured black plastic, so it might be OK to use.

I have used them on older Dodge fender "flares" ( the black plastic cover over the body to give it the buskwacker look ) with good luck, they were textured and any marring it induced was hidden with the texture when viewed up close.

Just a thought short of painting them.
- denatured alcohol I would suspect would melt them or at least make them soft.  It does with latex house paint ( good way to cover small nail holes without patch and paint ).

[Blown F-150]

Great thought Steve, I do have a "test spot" that I can give that a shot on.

I'll post up results!

[Blown F-150]

Well we had to hit the road before I could get anything else detailed on the truck. It has worked really well and I must have a tank at least double the size of Dave's. I figured roughly 14mpg's going through the Rockies pulling 6000#'s. I was able to get 560 miles to the tank. After dropping the trailer and with just a loaded up truck, I can easily get over 600 miles on a tank. Probably 17ish mpg's.

Truck made a pit stop in Winnipeg to get the front end fixed. It only needed the tie-rod ends and inner/outter Drag links. Ball-joints, hubs and track bar were all good and are still original. I ended up going with MOOG parts for the warranty and I know I can keep them greased.

We have about 1700 miles on the clock now as we are doing some visiting in North-West Ontario for a week before heading south. I'll post up some pics once the car is up on the car-hauler.

[GreyMichFX4]

Glad you're truck is performing well. My 5er is like towing a brick wall behind my truck and if I remember the best I got was 14.5 towing the car trailer with a SCAB 4x4 F150 on it and running winter blend diesel. How far down are you running the tank before you fill up? I try and never let mine get much below half.

[Blown F-150]

Glad you're truck is performing well. My 5er is like towing a brick wall behind my truck and if I remember the best I got was 14.5 towing the car trailer with a SCAB 4x4 F150 on it and running winter blend diesel. How far down are you running the tank before you fill up? I try and never let mine get much below half.

I'm really not pulling the same loads you are, but I will let it get down to the quarter mark. There are some pretty big gaps between fill stations crossing some parts, so I have to plan well in advance.

I'm sure that most spots I am getting diesel from are out of winter blend. In Vancouver, one fuel truck driver told me they never even use it because of the moderate temps.

[Blown F-150]

Pulls the car like a champ. In Minneapolis now and hope to arrive at the new place by tomorrow night.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[Rollingrock]

looking good.

I can get 14 towing our 5er IF   we have a 20+ mph tail wind and I am tucked behind an 18wheeler.   :)

[Blown F-150]

Well the big trip is all done. 3100miles total after going to visit into Ontario and back.

Pulled the car for pretty much 1000miles. Truck did great, I averaged about 75mph and still saw 14mpg's. I was able to get better mileage via foot vs. Cruise control, so I went with foot as much as I could.

Empty I saw great numbers, around 17.5-18.5 cruising around the 65-70mph mark. Zero issues during the whole trip and the truck will be needing another oil change soon.

Looks like I will be putting some miles on for work in the next little while to go see clients and such in the area. I'll need to ask RR what he did for a subwoofer and may look at 33" tires.

[Blown F-150]

We have arrived and are all set up. I was pleasantly surprised that we get a garage as part of the rental. It's pretty small, but I can squeak in the truck if I need to store it for while. Since all my house duties were completed, I wanted to get a couple things on the truck done.

The big one was getting the grill stripped and painted. I knew this one was going to suck, but I don't have cash for a new grill (I would rather spend the coin on a bigger polisher...) So I popped the grill off and found that I could easily separate the black "Mesh" from the chrome part of the grill. I pulled them apart and then began the process of peeling. I basically just used my fingers and a scraper razor blade. It took a solid 5 hours to peel the whole thing, some parts were better "adhered" to the plastic than others. I am pretty sure the bubbling was caused by moisture getting in between the plastic and chrome and then freezing. Once the chrome was all peeled off, I hit the whole thing with 600 grit and got in all the nooks and crannies. I chose to go with the Krylon plastic paint mostly because it would stick. I applied approx. 8-9 coats of the white to the grill and went through to whole cans of paint to do it. I then hit it with the Krylon clear which is meant to have some UV protectant in it. I will let it cure for a week before I buff it and hit it with Opti-Coat.

If anyone does try this please be very carful, the chrome is very, very sharp. I am a pretty cautious guy and I still had to run for the band-aids on a few occasions.

This one DID happen...

Chrome separated from the black backing


After the whole grill was peeled


Close up


All sanded down, hung up and ready for paint


After the first coat


Paint used


All done. It doesn't match 100% but it will have to do for now.


Close up


I also decided to strip the Ford Emblem as it was peeling/fading and looking like crap. I may order a custom painted one, but not sure yet

Here is what it looked like before


While I was at it, I also wanted to tackle the rest of the emblems. They were peeling, so I started with the old "Acetone" trick and soon became bored of it. I thought that a "plastic" scraper would probably work to get the paint off without hurting the chrome. I was right! It saved me a lot of time and with the bonus of not having to deal with Acetone...



If anyone is interested in the "Skrapr" here is a link. It has come in handy more than once...

http://www.theskrapr.com/the-original-skrapr

Next up, Wheels!

[Blown F-150]

My custom black Ford Emblems arrived int the mail today 

I'll have to get them on tomorrow and post up some pics. They look pretty good.

[sscully]

...<snip>...
If anyone is interested in the "Skrapr" here is a link. It has come in handy more than once...

http://www.theskrapr.com/the-original-skrapr

Next up, Wheels!

Just ordered a set of these off Amazon tonight.  Thanks for the suggestion, sure they will go great with the trim tools that I have