1954 Chevy Truck EV Conversion: Grilling in the Hood

The front grille that came with the truck was in sorry shape. One of the cross members was crushed, several were split and overall it was covered with a category EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Rust scale. In other words, it was a disaster. So instead of spending countless hours repairing it, I decided to purchase a refurbished grille on eBay. This way I could spend my time at the brew pub instead of the hillbilly garage.

The eBay grille came primed and ready to paint, according to the seller’s description. The dilemma was, did the seller really do a good job with the prep work. I thought about asking TSA to help since they could x-ray scan it, but they just don’t have a sense of humor. As it turns out I waited about four weeks before I was able to work on the grille and I was disappointed (but not surprised) to see rust blooming everywhere. Glad I waited.

My friend Dale came over to help last weekend and I asked if he would work on the grille. He agreed and proceeded to take it apart. Drilling out the rivets did required “special” tools, which I knew he was itching to put to use. Once the grille was disassembled he used a sander/grinder to remove the paint and rust on every dad gum piece.

My task for the day was to weld in a replacement part on the hood support where it had rotted out. We both worked all of Saturday and Dale shamed me once again by completely finishing the prep work on all the grille parts. I did weld in my little part, but it didn’t seem like much by comparison.

The next task was to prepare the underside of the hood before it was primed. It took most of the next day to wire brush and sand off the rust and old paint. When I was done the underside of the hood was shiny and bright just like new. However, the next morning everything had flash rusted and I was back to ground zero.

I am convinced that Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, was not weaving and unweaving a burial shroud to stave off her suitors, but was really working in a chariot shop. During the day she would sand the rust off the chariot fenders and each night they would flash rust. She would start over the next day and repeat the process. In fact I think Odysseus was really a used chariot traveling salesman.

Once again I resorted to my chemical dependency and was able to remove the flash rust with Eastwood’s Fast Etch. With the rust converted I sprayed on the epoxy primer. Sweet.

I am finding that as I get more experienced and skilled with each stage of the restoration, it is harder to find interesting stories. Only Penelope would be interested if I described the technical details of applying body filler and sanding it to a smooth contour. But I do find that Stephanie is much happier with my progress.

The plan for this weekend was to finish the top of the hood. I sprayed on the urethane sanding primer and was disappointed by the rough texture of the coating. In discussing my technique with Dale, my spiritual and technical advisor, I discovered that I was spraying at 10 psi when I should have been spraying with a pressure of 50 psi. Here is the deal, at 10 psi it is like pooping out mash potatoes onto the hood. And of course they are lumpy. However at 50 psi, even mashed potatoes get atomized and a fine mist coats the part being painted. Employing my new technique I put a black top coat on the hood a dayum it looks good. The next step is to take it to Boo Jack to put on the final color coat.

Happy Day