F450 Restoration Detail

[mrclean81]

When this truck showed up at work with the rest of the fleet that my boss purchased at auction, it was in HORRIBLE condition. The bed had been painted blue, and was beat to pieces. Glue, deep scratches and chunks taken out of the paint, the interior was disgusting as usual, and very beat up as well. It was CAKED in blue overspray, the front bumper was beat to hell..you get the picture. Before I got it in my shop, the utility bed went through over 100 hours of body work. Thanks to a couple guys at work who are VERY skilled in restoring these beds, it came out flawless. I had to make the rest of the truck as nice as the bed.

First, the front bumper was removed and sent upstairs to be straightened, dents removed, and painted.

Some before shots of the body

 

[mrclean81]

The dash had what I believe was tar all over it in random piles from one side to the other. Car Brite Take Off was used to remove it.

Car Brite Xtra Duty, a jumbo vent brush, and an air gun was used on every square inch of the interior. The headliner pics didnt turn out, but I went though an entire can of Xtra Duty and 3 mf towels on it lol. While the interior did come clean, Im just not that happy with it because of how beat up it was under all the dirt and filth. Not much I could do about that..

 

[mrclean81]

On to the exterior. The entire cab was wetsanded with 2000 grit after touching up all the chips and scratches that could be. Heres some 50/50 shots to show the extent of the overspray.

I used the 3in Griots polisher and cutting pad with some 3M compound on all the tight areas before using the rotary and wool pad. This was the first time Ive got to use the 3in machine, and I have to say that I love it. It could stand to have a little more power, but I wasnt expecting the results that I got from it. Heres a section I done with it. This is after compound only.

Wheels, steps, frame, fenderwells, and everything behind the front bumper was painted.

The correction process consisted of 3M Perfect It 2 compound with rotary and wool pad / Griots 3in with 3M cutting pad, 3M Machine Polish with Griots 6in polisher and LC CCS white pad / Griots 3in Polisher and 3M polishing pad, and 3M UltraFina with Griots 6in Polisher and modified UltraFina pad, 1 coat of Car Brite Paint Sealant applied by hand.

I had a total of about 60 hours wrapped up in this nightmare, and while its not perfect by any means, nor is it a "cool" ride, its a good example of what we do on a daily basis at work. Thanks for taking the time to check it out

 

[Mister B]

That was one messy work truck.

A lot of sweat and elbow grease had to have gone into that truck to get it to where it is now. Nice transformation. Looks good. :bigups

 

[C. Charles Hahn]

Beat to hell sounds like an understatement. Nice work!

 

[sullysdetailing]

Came out great

 

[tuscarora dave]

Very nice work Nathan, That must have given you a knot in the stomach when that rolled into the shop. The truck looks great now.

 

[mrclean81]

Thanks guys i appreciate it

Very nice work Nathan, That must have given you a knot in the stomach when that rolled into the shop. The truck looks great now.

I wasnt looking forward to this one at all. I put it off for as long as i could lol. I wish the pics had turned out better, but we havent seen the sun in a month :wall

 

[CelebrityMobile]

Looks great. I hope you got paid on that job.

 

[mrclean81]

Looks great. I hope you got paid on that job.

I'm just an hourly employee, and they don't pay much better than any other dealership. I could get away with doing the bare minimum but I choose not to. There's no gratification in doing hack work. I just try not to crunch numbers to figure out exacally what I made on each vehicle I do for them. I'd probably get mad and quit lol.

 

[Concours.John]

Nice transformation! Did the police auction cars part time for a little while. It's amazing what you find and have to clean up. Perfect-it II was always my go to. works great with what ever you use hand or machine. Again nice turn-around.:bigups

 

[JohnHenry]

Overspray of what... nuclear winter?! Holy crap! Nice job!!!

 

[mrclean81]

Thanks guys

Nice transformation! Did the police auction cars part time for a little while. It's amazing what you find and have to clean up. Perfect-it II was always my go to. works great with what ever you use hand or machine. Again nice turn-around.:bigups

Its been my go to for a while too. I had stopped using it for a while and went to Car Brite Black Pearl compounds. They are excellent products for dark colors, but even their heaviest compound won't cut like Perfect It 2 will.

 

[YellarStang99]

WOW, that is a great transformation!! The before interior shots, especially that cup holder made me sick. Truly great work :rockon

 

[njcarting1]

On to the exterior. The entire cab was wetsanded with 2000 grit after touching up all the chips and scratches that could be. Heres some 50/50 shots to show the extent of the overspray.

I used the 3in Griots polisher and cutting pad with some 3M compound on all the tight areas before using the rotary and wool pad. This was the first time Ive got to use the 3in machine, and I have to say that I love it. It could stand to have a little more power, but I wasnt expecting the results that I got from it. Heres a section I done with it. This is after compound only.

Wheels, steps, frame, fenderwells, and everything behind the front bumper was painted.

The correction process consisted of 3M Perfect It 2 compound with rotary and wool pad / Griots 3in with 3M cutting pad, 3M Machine Polish with Griots 6in polisher and LC CCS white pad / Griots 3in Polisher and 3M polishing pad, and 3M UltraFina with Griots 6in Polisher and modified UltraFina pad, 1 coat of Car Brite Paint Sealant applied by hand.

I had a total of about 60 hours wrapped up in this nightmare, and while its not perfect by any means, nor is it a "cool" ride, its a good example of what we do on a daily basis at work. Thanks for taking the time to check it out

I gotta say bud you sure make them nasty trucks look like gems, wow nice work...:bigups:bigups

 

[Mr. Clean]

First, good job to you and your paint/body shop folks. What amazes me is that there is margin enough available to include the initial purchase price plus 100 hours of body shop billing plus your 60 hours and likely some time from the staff mechanics and still expect to make enough on re-sale to make all those efforts profitable for the dealership.

 

[chet31]

Wow.

 

[Chris@Optimum]

Thanks for sharing! That's beyond detailing and more like restoration work. This is a perfect example of your talent. Great job.

 

[mrclean81]

Thank you for all of the compliments. MC, I can't give out a whole lot of info on prices and stuff of course, but I can tell you that most of these trucks are bought dirt cheap because of their condition and normally sold above blue book. They still make out well even after the extensive work.