so having finished the wire wheeling i had to remove the cover hooks on the top edge of the panel,so that my hard cover will fit all nice ,now this was rather a slow process and took a while to get it done right,but basicly i used the hack saw to cut the main hooks off,then very very carfuly i used the angle grinder to grind down the bulk of the metal till the hook came away from the edge then i had to remove 2 small squares of the hook from the edge, so heres a few pics of the process.............





































so i got the 4 hooks off the left side after a long time but it worked well,and pretty happy about how it looks with out them also gives a more smooth look!

so back to the inside wall ,it had been 40#ed then wire wheeled next i smoothed out the ruff etal with 80# on the air sander,




ahhh this looks better!!!! getting a bit cleaner !!!










so thats the majority of the paint all gone its all reasonably smooth and very clean,

so next a bit of body filler on the really ruff parts ,then smoothed it all out and got it ready for a bit of primer ,so i masked up the area ..........................










then one coat of etch primer and then five coats of 2pak primer to seal up all the work













and finally a quick compare




and then the other.....










so finally i managed to get one side almost done horay!!!!!!!!!!lol

so anyway i have a bit more to do tomorrow basicly sanding back what i just sprayed fixing up a few small bits and pieces and then sealing the hole side properly and the repriming it again so its ready for what ever i decied to do next !!!!!!!!

so i went back and have blocked down the whole thing again and the resealed it with fresh sealer and then masked it up again and then sprayed it again with primer ,and thats it for that section ,had the full bare metal and double putty work done to it ,so next week ill be starting on the cabin back wall ,ahhhh the joys of removing a ton of crusty paint again....

AAAAHHHHHH
My favorite online car build keep up the good work evil cant wait to see her finished.
I think this thread needs to be kept on file for others so they can get an idea of how much work is involved in a full restoration (or at least an edited version in the tec section)

yeah that would be a good idea, im sure there alot of people out there who really dont know exactly how much work really does go into something like full restoration,
so far i would have clocked up hundreds and hundreds of hours just in doing small things i really would hate to know exactly how much as it probably be a shock!!!!ahh welll ill just carry on and see how we go......

ok so heres a question for the readers do you think i should shave the tailgate handles off or keep them?????

whats everyones opinion on this??????????

been thinking about it lately as im getting closer to the tail gate work ,so comments please
handles or no handles????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Shaved with remote unlock via remote with internal locks. Are you putting on a hard cover ?

yes mate theres a hard cover going on the ute ,thats why im shaving the hooks on the tray ,just thinking that i like the look of the no handles and would be better also cause less parts to paint and stuff around with,
can you offer any good advice on how i would set up a internal lock ????the ute cover im using has an internal release cable so that would have to be released first in any case to take the tail gate down

i say smooooth as a small child is much better. by taking of the knobly parts it gives the effect of a fast sleek design. definetly go the remote locking with no handles. i did it to an old xm falcon i did up and it improved the wow factor so much when i did it i opted the cheaper option and built the locks with a solenoid that you could get at any smiths dick or tandy

ok cheers guys so thats
2 for smoooth
0 for handles

ok guys keep the comments coming .more the merrier!!! also if anyone can offer more details on ways to do this that would be good