Cutting Compound on Dog

Made a start on bringing Dog up to spec. This will be a slow process obviously, but first thing first, tending to a bit of bodywork. Not going to do a huge amount, just enough to make sure it doesn't look abandoned. Wife won't let it on the drive.

My vague idea so far (although it does change daily) is to cut the paint (80% is still on Dog), and to treat the surface rust (eg sand it off). Then seal the whole lot with a clear lacquer. It'll look old, it'll give the red a bit of life still with a protective layer, and it'll slow that rust down several years.

The photograph shows my square masked off area where I tried the compound to start with. In real life, this area is a lot more obvious than the photograph. Reds always photograph badly.

Final bit will be a rust type paint for the sills or at least the bottom 3-4 inches. In the UK we had Hammerite. But there is nothing I can do with rust holes apart from slowing the rust down, and considering there are a lack of inspections in the here, rust holes are the least of my problems.

So after getting it home yesterday - did it start this morning? Yup, first time, just about on the button. For a 32 year old pickup, I think that's quite encouraging.

Exhaust manifold definitely has issues as there is next to nothing coming out the exhaust. Gonna have to take advice on that. I reckon if the manifold was sealed/fixed then it would run a lot quieter as well, not that it's bad right now.

Quickly changed the battery terminals as well, and ran into an immediate problem that the earth strap to the bodywork is rather short. I'll be replacing that sooner than later then.

Nearly on a first name basis with the manager at AutoZone.