Friday, Sept. 4, 2026

Today I started work on covering the interior side of my 55 wagon’s tailgate with black and white vinyl squares.

The 12×12 inch tiles are divided into 16 black and whites squares. They’re also available with blocks of four squares per 12×12 square. But since the tailgate is relatively small, I oped for the smaller squares. Once I install the plywood floor in the cargo area, I’ll have to decide if I want to go with the medium sized squares or the smaller squares like I’m planning for the tailgate.

This evening, once the sun was down and it got cooler (it was 105 degrees in the shop at mid-afternoon!), I used a gap filler compound we picked up at Lowe’s to fill the four large indentations in the tailgate inner panel. I’m not sure of this filler material’s properties, so I’ll have to evaluate it tomorrow. It spread really smoothly with a putty knife (I bought a rubber float to smooth it out, but didn’t need it). Once I run my hands over the tailgate surface, I’ll know if I need to apply a skim coat to level it up or not.

I need to also deal with the access panel I cut into the tailgate so I could installed the Chevy logo on the tailgate. Right now I have that panel cemented in with weatherstrip adhesive. I’m thinking of cutting that stuff out and epoxying small magnets on the inner flange of that panel that will hold the panel tightly without screws.

I still need to clean up and straighten the chrome trim that edges the tailgate. The trim covered the edges of the original vinyl material that was on the tailgate from the factory.

The original vinyl was about twice or three times as thick as the new vinyl, but I think it’ll work just fine. The sides of the cargo area are just painted steel,, though I think originally they had some sort of upholstery on them. My inclination is to get some sort of rubberized coating and paint the sides of the cargo area black. I need to refinish the window garnish molding for the rear side windows and the tailgate window as well.

I bought three rolls of window tint film because I would like to tint the tailgate and side windows, though I won’t bother to tint the door glass. The glass fits pretty tight going up and down the window opening, and I don’t want to damage the tint film. Besides, state law requires door glass to be a much lighter tint that back and rear side-facing windows.

I think window tinting will help reduce — even marginally — the amount of heat caused by the radiant heat of the sun. That’s my theory, anyway.

SATURDAY WORK DAY. My wife wants me and my son to pressure wash part of the house trim in an attempt to blast off loose paint. We’ve lived her for nearly 30 years and neve rpainted the trim. Its needed it for a dozen years, so we work on it a little at a time. I think we’ll get some work done this year on the trim after we pressure wash it.

On our trip to Lowes today, we bought six 2x4s to use to mount the old kitchen cabinets on the wall in the shop. I really need the storage space. Have parts and pieces to several projects in the shop, though I’ll have to delay any progress on that stuff until my wife is satisfied with our powerwashing to house trim. Wish us luck!