first project.. codename patches

[Dino11]

after admiring these trucks for several years i decided to get one. and what i ended up with was a 72 lwb.

has a fresh rebuilt 350 4bolt main. fresh built 350turbo . i got what i thought was a pretty solid truck. but that kinda changed after i got into her.

this was someone elses old project that i ended up with. i paid 1900 for the truck and drove it home.

it had been lowered nicely, with drop springs in the rear and control arms up front. all of the front suspension is new and in good tight shape.

it was missing the grille assembly, front bumper etc as you can see.

it has a great condition bed. which i have shaved the trim holes, bed post holes, and marker lights (that i somewhat regret). i had the rear pan welded in and i am still working on it.

good condition tailgate.

cab has usual rust issues, nothing too bad, but plenty of work for me.
missing pass. inner fender and has the fender cup completely rotted away.

these are a couple pics i took the day i drove it home.

lol when i went to look at the truck, the guy that had it was covering up the surface rust with flat black paint. so thats the reason for that.

[Dino11]

here is how she sat for quite some time this winter, as i was broke and it was verryyy cold in the shop.

everything is 'good' on the truck as far as in driver condition. safety is another issue

[Dino11]

once the weather became tolerable, i cleaned out the shop so i could move around somewhat. haha check out this nice wiring. it had me scared to death once i uncovered it all. i wouldnt have ever drove it if i knew there was so much wild spaghetti everywhere!!

wiring is something i have never done... and rewiring this entire truck intimidates me somewhat. but i do plan on buying a complete wiring harness for the truck when the time comes...

it honestly shocks me how everything worked with this wiring.

[Dino11]

here are some miscellaneous pics... my seats that i removed to inspect the floorpans... i think they are some late model 02-ish? chevy buckets and console. they fit good and sit nice in the cab. i plan on dying them black when they go back in.

there is a pic of my dash, which is kind of sad. it has fugly cheap electric gauges in it. which are half assed wired to nothing with trailer wire.... those are on the way out at some point but gauges are expensive
the previous owner took out the heater box, switches, fan, etc i guess to make it cleaner... but he riveted an aluminum patch over the hole in the firewall.... but its all coming back and all i need is to find a decent shape selector switches... i figure i might need heat at some point?

and here is the worst of the rust on the cab, the driver side rocker. someone had replaced the outer rocker at some point but didnt think the inner was bad enough at the time.... so someone followed suit and siliconed and screwed an aluminum patch... ugh. makes me sick. anyways i need to replace inner and outer rockers a small piece of floorboard and then cab corners...

[culp7]

looks good man! what are your plans for her?

[Dino11]

ehh my plans? haha im just going to treat her well. clean up the frame and coat it. cut out and replace the cancer. i guess im kind of 'smoothing' her out. i got rid of the holes in the bed... im leaving the doorhandles and tailgate handle i believe...

i bought an excellent condition front grille assembly, door panels, front windshield, solid back glass, heater box, blower motor etc, for 400 bucks... ill try to get pics of those sometime.

i have this awesome metallic-ish blue in mind i would like to paint it... but a good paintjob is expensive according to my research... but thats a long ways off ...

i just want a nice condition driving truck... nothing too wild but something somewhat unique... being my first build and all this is a huge learning experience for me as far as bodywork, wiring, etc...

i guess u could call it a low buck resto? haha idk.

i also plan to weld the diff...

but its come time in this project that its time to spend that money... and i dont like letting go if it... but o well