Years ago, I had this idea of making faux rivets as part of a vehicle graphics scheme. I was going to use a round mask and an airbrush. Now, I’ve decided that fake plastic rivets would be better looking. I got these at 30 for 69 cents; they’re probably Teddy Bear eyes. I sanded the backs and glued them on with waterproof adhesive. I haven’t finished the other body work yet, but I was itchin’ to see how this would look.

Over the years, I’ve had fun with different graphic schemes on my own trucks. It goes against some people’s view of what conservative behavior is; but I say that they need to be careful that their traditions haven’t replaced the teachings of the Bible. That’s actually a dangerous practice that’s easy to be in.

Info update (from a discussion at a sign forum): Dianne, the first thing I did was to take steel wool to the existing paint on the truck. I sanded the back of each half bead, then used Goop brand plumbing adhesive. I hope it works; they seemed on really solid. I had to test that because the next step was to take a small wire brush to the tops. Everything must have microscopic scratches in order for paint or adhesives to stick to the previously glossy surface. It was a lot faster to wire brush them after they were glued on. Then I sprayed them with grey primer, which is surprisingly similar to the aged silver paint.
Getting a system down is obviously important, the slowest part is picking up each half bead. They’re only 8mm wide, and I guess all the restoration work I do makes my hands a bit coarse. Anyway,what I’m contemplating is a small box, no top, 3 sides. Maybe a grippy type floor, something rubbery. That way, I can shake the box full of half beads side to side, and some of them will turn over, with the flat side facing up. They’re a lot faster to pick up that way.
It might also help to have a flexible pre-marked tape like tool. That way, I wouldn’t have to look for 1 and a half, 3, 4 and a half, 6, etc. Not a huge time saver, but everything helps.

First off, the Toyota truck runs great. The previous owner must have put a new muffler on it, it looks like one was welded on, plus, it’s quiet. The truck is so smooth, I doubt it was smoother when new. Everything in the cab works. door locks, dome light; and the heater, man does it work. On the lowest setting, I have to alternate between off and on, because constant on is too hot.

So, I’ve been driving it, but a few days I had this emergency mental note: CHECK DIFFERENTIAL OIL NOW! The differential cover looked as bad as everything else under the truck. Maybe it had an aftermarket undercoating applied, but whatever it is, it has a 100% fail rate. The entire underside of the truck looks like major flaking metal. Turns out that it’s not metal, but this coating, with rust underneath. I didn’t want the flaky stuff falling into the oil.

In the picture below, you can see a 4 inch angle grinder with a wire wheel attachment. As a note, you cannot be serious about DIY build and fix projects without one of these tools. Get one with a 5/8″ arbor; you’ll have an easier time getting accessories. The wire wheel attachment cleans some things like no other tool. I own a number of different tools, and that combination is way out front of other power tools in some situations. It’s faster than sandpaper, usually doesn’t scratch like sandpaper, and there’s realistically no other way to do things like old style rivet heads.

Below, you can see the differential cover after the wire wheel treatment. Should have taken a ‘before’ shot; I’ll do that on some other part. There’s a pile of metal pieces from a cubicle divider section that I disassembled. I wanted thin sheet metal with bends in it, man did I get my share. The divider thing is quite well made. Layer after layer of different kids of insulation. Sound barrier I guess. Anyway, if You don’t own a metal brake (large heavy shop tool for bending nice corners in sheet metal) you’ll start having an eye for scrap pieces with nice bends. In one of the pictures, I’ve laid one of the pieces next to the tailgate that I want to fix with it.

What’s interesting is that just a few days prior to disassembling the divider, I figured out a way to fix a very bad crease/dent on the 1951 Chevrolet truck body. It looks as though somebody was driving in reverse with the door open, and the door snagged on something, leaving a 3 inch deep dent the height of the door below the window. The dent was pushing against the door hinges, interfering with them. So I took the 4 inch angle grinder with a thin composite metal cutting blade; and cut up the length of the dent, right in the center. I pulled it out -some- with a dent puller and channel locks, but one side is still way down. I figured I needed a stout piece of steel with holes in it. I’ll lay it across the dent, and then use long self drilling screws to grab and pull the lower side of the dent up to the other side. The metal has stretched to the point that there’s a significant overlap, even after losing the cut kerf. Then I’ll wire weld next to the metal with holes, and move to new place. In with the other pieces of metal in the cubicle divider was the piece with holes that i needed. Looks a bit like God’s providence.

Here’s a picture of the resident Tom cat wanting his ears scratched. A Bible verse relevant to fixing the underside of the vehicle, not just the top?…maybe Psalm 51:6: “Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts…” “Thou” being God, who wants truth in our hearts.

The 1987 Toyota desperately needs body work, there are rust holes that I can almost fit my hand through. But if there’s one thing I really dislike in an old truck, it’s to have the back end sagging so much that it looks lower than the front end. That’s just about how this truck was when I got it, so fixing that was appearance job #1.

I thought short of getting new leaf springs, the quickest way of doing the job would be shackles. They’re simple metal brackets that the truck already has, the new ones are longer, so it raises the truck up a little or a lot. I chose a little, when the tools are loaded, the difference isn’t much. The two pictures below were taken at slightly different places, that’s enough for the ground slope to distort what I did. The top (before) picture doesn’t really show how much it was sagging.

As for the work, the first side I took off was a LOT more difficult that the second side. The trick is to get a jack between the leaf spring and frame, in addition to the jacks used to lift the truck. this allows the bolt/pin parts to be aligned for easy removal. The difference being something like 3 hours vs. 15 minutes. Really. I also painted part of the roof a dull blue, to create a visual line that eliminates that dumb white domed up look.

Think about how the Lord Jesus restores a man; he doesn’t merely do the superficial. In the Bible, the book of Isaiah, chapter 28, it talks about learning Line upon line, precept upon precept; a little, and a little more. Read it for yourself, it’s amazing how something written thousands of years ago is still relevant.