Project: Mistress

[gcburdic]

Well

I finally scanned in my pictures from my original truck prior to resto....
First a little intro....I bought this truck in High Point, NC from a guy in July 2004....I now know I paid WAY to much for what I got, but this was only the first of many lessons I have learned on this restore project!!!!.....Also, did not join this board till I was 3/4 of the way done.....Yet another lesson learn....My original plans were to have this truck as a daily driver since I only had a 15 mile round trip commute to work at the time....but I got laid off, found a new job an hour away and moved....thus my brother inspired me to do a frame off and get her back looking good!!! (he just finished his frame off '72 454 corvette).....My brother owns a landscape company and had a little room in the back of his shop for us to start this resto.....so here are the pictures of when we rolled her into the shop....her final resting place for the next 2 years and counting (these pics are from June 2006)....

[gcburdic]

I forgot to mention in my first post that I really just wanted a newer truck to have for projects around the house, but again my bro said i should get an older truck and fix it up....he said "they'll hold their value much better than these newer pieces of junk!"....And lucky for me Dad and bro are hardcore Chevy fans.....
Okay...on with the story....So once we got her rolled into the shop...disassembly began.....It was pretty cool, since I have never EVER worked on a vehicle to this point (thus my nickname 'Restoration Virgin'), but with my brother and dad both car freaks....I thought this would be a great bonding project for us all....and I must say....It really has been....
I put ever nut, bolt, piece, piece of a piece, etc in ziplock bags (should've bought stock with them), labeled, and kept in a box for later use (yet another one of those lessons learned from my bro and dad)....I began learning SOOOO much about how these truck went together, and come apart quite easily I must say....pretty much all original stuff except the tailgate (it was bent/ bowed pretty good, and of course that cool wooden dash/ radio/ glove box area)....
The frame seemed to be in okay shape, except for in the last picture you can see where someone (maybe PO) hacked the frame horns off to put the roll pan in the front....Cab floor had some patched areas, but could see to much rust at this point....the core support was rusted in the usual spot under the battery tray and of course the PS fender...so here's some more pics of disassembly....

[gcburdic]

Okay....on with more disassembly....we took the cab off next (8 guys, pizza and beer did the trick...they all work for my bro)...that thing was super heavy!!!
Stipped the frame down so we could get it over to the sandblaster.....Don't know if you can tell, but the PO used the ol' vintage technique of lowering the front and rear by heating the coils.......and yep those are original drums in the front and rear that needed some attention.....

[gcburdic]

Okay...I guess you may be wondering why I call it the 'Mistress'....so at this point I met my further wife (got married Nov. 2005).....And of course you know like I do women require some of our attention too....Well it seemed I gave this project truck a little more at times so she dub it my "Mistress"...and of course the name stuck.....
Now....got the frame to the sandblasters for some work, and in the mean time we stripped the motor down to the block (we felt that the way it had run prior to disassembly, that it was in pretty good shape) so we cleaned up the block, gave it some new gaskets, fuel pump, harmonic balancer, and paint along with some other various small tweaks....
The last couple pics show my bro painting the frame....used a couple coats of Eastwood's chassis black....( frame came primed w/ rust inhabitor from the blasters)....

[gcburdic]

From my previous post, the suspension definitely needed some attention....so I made my first large purchase (whew).....I ordered the 'Grand Slam' from CPP...2.5" drop spindles in the front/ 4" drop coils in the back, rebuild kit for the rear drums, and upgraded the front to 6-lug disk brake setup, new shocks front/ back, new MC and prop valve, and new tie rods, bushings etc...
Took the driveshaft to the DL shop for new bushings, center collar, etc...and took the TH400 tranny to the shop for a rebuild and 2500 stall upgrade....changed out the trailing arm bushing to polyurathane, and added new bushings in the front A-arms....also added brand new stainless steel brake lines....I also began to realize what a wonderful thing it is to have all the right tools in one area while doing this (thanks bro and dad)....AND the blaster box and wire wheel is your BEST friend of all!!!!
Okay....This thing is really moving along for me at this point, BUT the next decision I had to make was to put the cab and bed back on and strat driving her and do body later, or look into paint and body work now.....A REAL HARD LESSON WAS LEARNED HERE!!!!....I'll give more about this next time....

[jb4short]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

Okay...I guess you may be wondering why I call it the 'Mistress'....so at this point I met my further wife (got married Nov. 2005).....And of course you know like I do women require some of our attention too....Well it seemed I gave this project truck a little more at times so she dub it my "Mistress"...and of course the name stuck.....
Now....got the frame to the sandblasters for some work, and in the mean time we stripped the motor down to the block (we felt that the way it had run prior to disassembly, that it was in pretty good shape) so we cleaned up the block, gave it some new gaskets, fuel pump, harmonic balancer, and paint along with some other various small tweaks....
The last couple pics show my bro painting the frame....used a couple coats of Eastwood's chassis black....( frame came primed w/ rust inhabitor from the blasters)....

Great start! Trust me though....no one that's built one had any doubt about why you named it mistress. Neither did the wife of any member that's built one.

[72BlckButy]

Well well well.... it's about time! The truck looks great and looks like it's coming right along.

Keep up the good work, as I can't wait to see where this ends up.

[68 short step]

keep up the good work and keep the pics comeing...

[gcburdic]

Thanks for the compliments guys!!!.....

I found a couple more pics of the finished disc setup and me and dad working on the rear drums....Love how it looks like the engine is watching over us while we work!!!
Oh....another lesson learned is the "Might as well" Rule.....My bro kept saying that since we have it apart we 'might as well' replace/ repair it so you won't have to later.....talk about a PITA, but it's well worth it.....chasing down new bolts, parts, etc was cool, but took alot of extra time I didn't expect.....but luckily I am patient (but it sure is wearing thin at times!!!)

[gcburdic]

After negotiations with the wife, I decide to pursue getting the body and paint done....I talked to a guy who said he could do it but not for 4 months....argh...I wanted to get it done sooner....so a friend of a friend (you probably know where this is going) came to look at it and price out replacing rockers, cab corners, floor supports and floor pans, repair doors, front fender repair, and other misc areas....$1200 plus $400 to sandblast....WOW...i am thinking good deal.....well, (LESSON #425) this guy was a joke, I paid him part of the money up front so he could start buying parts and primer, and after we got it back from the blaster it sat for 8 YES 8 months with NOTHING being done!!!....I ended up going to small claims court to get the truck back, but learned my lesson here (cheaper isn't always the best route!!!).....Luckily my bro knew a guy right down the street from the shop who did high end body and paint, but would cut me a deal b/c I wasn't looking for a show quality job......so here's ALOT of pics from when I reclaimed ol' Mistress from the 'jackass' (note the sign over the door of his garage 1st pic)...

[gcburdic]

more pics of reclaiming parts from 'jackass'...notice the lack of primer used on the blaster cab...all the brown spots are where someone's greasey little palms touched the cab...argh...Forgot to mention that when I went to pick up these items, I took my dad, and a couple friends just in case he wanted to get a little mouthy!!!!....I had to ask my dad not to beat the #$% out of him while we were there....and thank goodness he listened to me.....Dad was was talking to him through his teeth at points!!!!.....

[gcburdic]

and more

[ChevyDude]

Color looks NICE!!! Glad you reclaimed your truck back from the idiot! Good luck with the rest of the build!

[gcburdic]

From here, the body shop started working on my original bed....it wasn't worth fixin' (cause i didn't have enough $$$$ to fix it) so i went with a reprop bed....the complete bed cost me $2,660 delivered....it was a great deal....so here's some pics of the old bed and the new bed after paint...

[gcburdic]

and here's a couple more from the side as well as the wheel well detail...It's really starting to take the shape of a truck again....now I need to get to wiring and the other detail work (10% of the work left but it's taking 90% of my time!!!)....

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

From here, the body shop started working on my original bed....it wasn't worth fixin'...

What the hell do you mean it wasn't worth fixin'?

[StormRider]

Let's get that thing fired up Geoff so we can do some cruising! If I can't be there, I'd definitely love to see the video! Louie.

[Conroe trucker]

Nice work!
Take your time since you have a place to do it in.

[treveiger]

You said your new bed cost you 2600 dollars? did you just get the floor an fenders an brackets or a whole new bed? whered you find the new bed at?
The truck looks great i really like the color

[gcburdic]

Originally Posted by treveiger

You said your new bed cost you 2600 dollars? did you just get the floor an fenders an brackets or a whole new bed? whered you find the new bed at?
The truck looks great i really like the color

Thanks for looking through my thread.....A friend of mine picked the bed up in Hickory, NC....it was a complete bed with all hardware....

[GKsport67]

Originally Posted by gcburdic

From here, the body shop started working on my original bed....it wasn't worth fixin' (cause i didn't have enough $$$$ to fix it) so i went with a reprop bed....the complete bed cost me $2,660 delivered....it was a great deal....so here's some pics of the old bed and the new bed after paint...

Whats a reprop bed? Do they sell them whole with all the parts to it? I would like to change my bed also,because of the same issue$$$. Besides i think my bed has had it!!! any phone numbers or website would be helpful ...thanx!!


Nice color choice!!

[Spray-Bomb]

That is looking really nice

[Riveted1]

Lookin good man! I wish I had as much room as you do to work on my ride!

[SactoJim]

Quite a contrast from the first pics when you started......looks great!

[Painter D]

Nicely done!