M880's 2nd Life

I have a good friend (also a great Mechanic) who offered to help me fix up my 880. My Cab is in bad shape (Rust) but luckily , I met someone who had a complete Cab as well as 2 fenders and Doors sitting in storage for almost 10 years . He had an 880 2wd version that he bought back in 1990 with a blown motor and dismantled it and never got around to using the parts so I lucked out.
My 318 started acting strange ( main bearing) so I bought a remanufactured 318 from S&S Engines in Washington ($1,600 del to NY w/7 Yr Warr or 70k miles) and now we're putting everything back together with the Cab and fenders.
I thought I'd share a few pictures with you

Here's my old Cab ..The Floor is pretty well rusted out

Here's the bottom of the "new" Cab we're putting on. The floor is in great shape ..he said the Truck only had 18 or 20K miles on it when he bought it .
The main thing here will be cutting out the floor panel correctly so we can put the cover for the hi-lo range shifter. That's the only difference we can see between the 2 Cabs.

The new 318

I've ordered quite a bit from Jim at Shade Tree as well as Saturn and several others. They've been a great help. I'm having the 727 rebuilt this week and then we are installing one of the Army rebuilt Transfer Cases ..I bought it years ago for around $300 , no sense saving it for a rainy day with all this work being done ( and I'm sick of looking at that Crate ).
The front Dana was already rebuilt as well as new Brakes/Rotors/lines. I bought new Wire Harnesses .NOS Bumpers/Grill/ Seats /bushings ..hope I'm not forgetting anything.

One thing we have to figure out ....he's grinding the surface rust and we wanted to "treat" the steel with some of that chemical that converts the Rust to a neutral substance (not sure of the term ..it's late so bear with me )
The Mechanic is telling me to use "Pour15" (or something) to coat the frame and under the Cab ...I wasn't sure if we should use primer and then paint the Frame (Black ?) and maybe undercoat the Cab ? Is Pour 15 better than the old undercoating spray goop ?
Maybe he's right and that Pour15 should be used everywhere?
When it's all finished ...I'm having the Nato Camo pattern put on it , I want this to be done right and last because I intend to keep this one for years ...don't want to be fighting Rust again anytime soon.
If you have any ideas ..let me know . I think now's the time for me to fix some problems before they happen

Also ..Was the 880 318 originally painted Blue ? ..and do any of you know what color the Frame was when they were delivered ?

I believe the frames were black on the M880s when they came out of the factory. My old M890 had a black frame....

I like por-15(paint over rust) follow the instructions and it is pretty tough stuff, but it is slick as snot so it is tough to get other things to stick to. I also like ospho which is a water thin treatment that turns the rust into a hard black surface. I would probably use ospho on it if it were me. I spray it on with a squirt bottle (like windex comes in)then scuff off any excess then prime then paint.

POR-15 is a good product that will allow you to seal up the metal and keep the rust in check. If you can get the cab down to bare metal prior to painting would be better than using the POR-15 on top of it.

Keep us posted on your work and how it comes out.

Looks like a good project you got going there. I look forward to seeing it all restored.

Yea, keep us posted on your project !

Thanks guys ...dropped off the Tranny today , I decided to have them go through it before we start putting everything back together. I thought I might as well have the shop change the pump etc and make sure I won't have any surprises.

Here's a picture of the inside of the "new" Cab ...it does have some small pin holes and minor rust that we'll have to fix. I've been reading about por15 and Rustbullet and Ospho and and and
I'ma gitten a little confused
It sounds like the best thing would be to sandblast everything then prime it & por15 it . BUT ..If we can't sandblast the frame and cab first, what are my options ? I've seen where some guys say to grind and clean it the best you can then put the por15 right on . Others say it doesn't last long that way.
Have any of you been in this situation before ?

It looks like you have the cab down to just metal, glass, plastic, wire etc have all been removed. Fix the rust and then media blast. Or if you want to spend the money get it tanked. That will not only take the rust off the surface, but will get into the channels etc. But be prepared to fix more holes when it comes back. Since your this far along in the process might as well get it to clean metal and start fresh!

I agree , I know that would be the right way to do it ..but I don't know of a Company who could hot tank it around here and , I can't find a profesional Sand Blasting service . Then even if I found a company to do it ...I'd probably have to bring it to them...I guess I could balance the Cab on my M38A1(that would be a sight !) I thought about buying one of those small Sears style sandblasters but I've read where a lot of guys have had problems with them . I wish there was some sort of liquid stripper I could apply that wouldn't leave a residue ..and wouldn't burn a hole through my glove

If you are just looking to remove the paint and then sand wire brush the rust you might try one of the citris base strippers like citris strip. (I think that is the name) You brush it on and let it sit and then the layers just peal off. There are a few others that are eco freindly and even reuseable. You can do a web search for them.

Just a thought.....

I've used POR15 and Chassis Saver and will be using Chassis Saver from now on. Does everything that POR15 does better and doesn't shrink or peal. POR15 came out first and has the bigger name but Chassis Saver seems to last better and work better.

Huh...I used Chassis Saver on my civilan vehicle and it didn't do good at all. The rust came right back stronger than ever....It was probably my fault in the prep....

Proper prep is everything.

They all claim you can just paint it on rust and go but yeah...the rust just spreads underneath it.

POR is AWESOME, IF you follow the directions, It will permanently stick to bare metal or rusted metal only.
It will peel right off anything else like paint, dirt heavy rust flaked areas.
If you scrape or grind the heavy rust off, liberally apply the POR15 with 100% coverage on the steel, both sides and then prime it while it is still tacky, it will last. If there is dirt or oils or paint on the surface, don't waste your time.
Also if you get POR15 on your skin, it will be there for at least 2 weeks

The principal behind any paint over rust product is to seal out oxygen & moisture.
If you completely block all oxygen from rust, the oxidation (rust) stops. Not magic just science.

Oh yeah, avoid Eastwood's rust encapsulator product. They sell it like it's POR15 or Chassis Saver but it's basically just one of those generic rust paints. Doesn't turn into this hard as nails "skin" like POR15 and Chassis Saver. I have a metal stir stick around here somewhere that is coated with the stuff and you can whack it all day long and hardly make a dent.
The Eastwood stuff...much to my annoyance and the loss of $30 or so...could be chipped off with any object harder than grass blades.