In the wake of 911, the Orange County Register of Santa Ana, California, ran an interesting story about the history of Line-X and its amazing properties. It told of how the product's inventor stumbled onto the process while searching for a better way to protect his race-car trailer's bed. The feature went on to reveal that while rebuilding the Pentagon, Line-X was sprayed onto the walls due to its incredible ability to resist explosions.
When the time came for us to clean up our '72 Ford F-100's steel bed, we were just looking for a fix until we could locate a better example. Our bed was hammered from years of extremely hard service, and we erroneously assumed it was beyond saving. It was 9 a.m. when we showed up at Line-X of Huntington Beach, California, with our '72 shortbed Ford. We asked Marcel Venable if they could hammer out the major dents in the wheelwells prior to spraying in the Line-X. Before we could say, "You can't find replacement panels for these things anywhere," Ivan had the wheelwells and bed floor roughed out almost to perfection.
In retrospect, knowing what we know now thanks to Line-X, it wouldn't have taken much more work to cherry it out completely. After the '72 was Line-X'd, we mentioned this to Marcel, who told us it wasn't too late because the dents can be knocked out after a bed has been coated with Line-X. With that news, there's a good chance it won't be too long before we get out a hammer and dolly or section in a new floor, forgetting about another bed.
Beyond the obvious gains in our truck's appearance, as soon as we drove away we discovered a benefit we had anticipated, but not with such a dramatic difference. All the squeaks and rattles that were in our bed when we drove up were gone, and there was a lot less road noise in the cab. CCT
After years and years of extreme abuse, the '72's steel bed was hammered from the fenderwells to the bed floor. |
From inside the bed Christian Peralta backed up Guerillmo Peralta as he hammered the inner fenderwells back into shape. Did we mention they are brothers? |
Christian applied heat from a MAPP gas torch as Guerillmo used a Snap-on Porto-Power and a hammer to knock out the major dents. |
Here's a before shot of the '72's steel bed floor. Notice the fenderwells have been restored to their original shape. |
After the Peraltas straightened the bed floor, Guerillmo used a DA with 80-grit sandpaper to prepare the bed's surface for Line-X. |
Guerillmo used special masking tape with a nylon line incorporated to lay out the bed's perimeter. Then he laid conventional crepe masking tape on top. |
To prevent overspray, metal tape masked off the holes left by the emblems on the rear bed sides. |
With the bed masked off in paper, the next step was to cover the remainder of the truck with Visqueen. |
Guerillmo laid on the first several coats of Line-X in a slick, heavy concentration. |
Then he stood back at a distance and sprayed the Line-X on in a mist of black fog to create the attractive appearance Line-X is known for. |
Immediately after spraying the catalyzed Line-X, they pulled the masking tape and paper before the Line-X set up too hard. |
Guerillmo blasted in a hot and heavy coating of Line-X that reached every nook and cranny, including high inside the bedrails. |
After the crew at Huntington Beach Line-X finished our '72, it was hard to believe it was the same truck. |
There are two types of spray-in bedliners, cold and hot. Cold bedliners depend on the air to dry, whereas hot processes such as Line-X are catalyzed and cure in less time to a more durable surface. |
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