Decided to spend the rest of the day getting the rest of the front clip stripped down. The cab is already 99% down to bare metal, as are fenders, and now I needed to get the upper and lower valance panels and the hood done.
Here's a shot of the hood right after I got started:
In the background you can see that the valance panels are about 99% done, and just need a touchup with the sandblaster to get the nooks and crannies. The fenders there are also 99% done, a little light sanding and they're ready for paint.
...and here's a view of the finished product:
Man, doing this inside the shop wasn't one of my better ideas...I've got red dust all over everything! I walked around with the air nozzle blowing everything off, and then spent some time sweeping it up, but it hardly made a dent.
I used the 3M composite wheel in the angle grinder for the stripping. Since this will tend to heat up the metal, I was careful to keep it moving to prevent sheetmetal warpage. However, after I got done I noticed there were two high spots, which I believe was caused by heat.
I'm going to mess around with it a little and see if I can't straighten it out, but if not, I've got another hood....and needless to say I won't be using the angle grinder on this one.Well, I'm off to the showers to rinse off some of this red paint dust.
BTW: if you're wondering what the hole in the hood is for, CLICK HERE.
Guess I'll be a little more observant in the future.
