how long did it take to get your truck on the road?

[400smallblock]

i had a 71 c10 in high school .im 40 years old now. i bought a 70 gmc 2 summers ago. couldnt resist.i love these old trucks. gathered motor/patch panels/aother parts untill 6 months ago. im in the rust repair stage. this is my 1st project like this. ive rebuilt engines,transmissions before and insalled/tuned them but this bodywork stuff seems to take forever.there was more cancer than i thought. am i going crazy ? anyone else feel the same way? i ve been trying to work on it every friday and saturday. well you know how that goes, family functions, etc. this saturday im helping the wifes friend move. another lost truck day. but there are more important things than my truck.it will be there when i flip the light switch on. i see a lot of fellows here taking cabs,beds off and painting the frames etc. i dont have the time or patience for that.not that its a bad thing. they look really good. i want to drive this puppy. im planning on rust repair, a yellow or orange paint job. relpacing the mid 70"s 350 with a 400 sb. and relpacing the 3 speed manual with a 4 speed truck trans. also going from 3.73 to 3.08 rears. no cab/bed removal. just looking for a solid driver, no show machine. something to take to local cruise ins. how many of you have trucks like this? how long did it take for your project from start to finish?

[rogergodding]

What finish? Mine was in the garage for about 2 years before I drove it for the first time....

[GASoline71]

Originally Posted by rogergodding

What finish? Mine was in the garage for about 2 years before I drove it for the first time....

Me too... Mine was in the cleanup/degrease and complete drivetrain rebuild stage for almost 3 years. Then it came outta my shop and I drive the crap out of it. It'll never be "finished"... I drive it too much.

Gary

[GuyO]

400, we just finished a father/son project and it took us exactly six months. While I thought it should have been done sooner, everyone tells me many take years. I had the 70 GMC under a cover in poor shape in a garage. I bought it 30 years ago when I was 19 and have kept it because I loved it. We changed the oil, bled the brakes and drove it to my office where I have a shop. Having it at work was a huge help. We worked on it after work and weekends when we could. We swapped the 250/6 w/powerglide with a new 327 w/200r4 AT, 3.73 Eaton posi., Hellwig sway bars, Monroe sensa-matics. 4 row radiator and hidden hitch w/rear camera. White spoke American racing rims, Painted Cadillac Infrared with Cadillac Cotillion White roof and cab posts. Tinted windows, Inside has full guages including vacuum and tach, heated/massaging leather seats, Tilt, DVD/CD/TV/iPod/AM/FM, Nav. My advice (if it matters) is take your time. enjoy it. It was fun, and both my sons friends and my friends enjoyed it as well. In a way it was their project too. Yeah, the truck rocks - but I am sorry it is over! Good luck! Guy.

[Zoomin]

I went from this



to this



in about 18 months.

The bad news for me is that I enjoyed the hunt for parts and twisting wrenches more than having it done, so I immediately bought another.

[Shyguy]

It seems to take me forever to do stuff since I have minor health problems and live on a farm. I am 6 months on my latest project and only have managed to just finish the rust repair which was pretty extensive, do a 5 lug swap and I guess the next step is going to get the body work done on the cab.

I still do not have a clue what color I want it to be.

I did drive this truck for a while before I decided to do a restoration on it.

[Tmwoodall]

I am 10 years in (4 actively working on it). First ever vehicle I've built. I have redone lots I previously did. Total frame off. Cash flow ends up being almost as big as a factor as time/know-how.

I have NEVER driven one of these trucks, let alone mine. Not even sat in one that was a "truck" not just a cab on a dolley.

[slikside]

Time is relative...the only time frame that matters to you is yours. You have all kind of folks on here at all different phases. Not just in their truck prgress, but in life as well.

In my own limited experience, all I can say is, don't be in a hurry. It'll wind up taking longer.

[vectorit]

I have been working on my burb since the late 1990's.

All shoe string budget, and long dry spells of not working on her.

Then again I have been restoring a K20 Suburban, and suburban's are like restoring 3 or 4 pickups...

[Tmwoodall]

Originally Posted by slikside

...

In my own limited experience, all I can say is, don't be in a hurry. It'll wind up taking longer.

Hence the reason I am redoing lots of mine...

Young, dumb, and in a hurry.

[BossHogg69]

I'm at 2.5 years, and I just now started the bodywork & sheetmetal two months ago. Overall, the project has been a slow process, at first held up by a tight budget, but now I just lack motivation. Once all the 'fun' stuff was finished - for me that was drivetrain, chassis & suspension, I was kinda over it. Now I just have to grin and bear it through this whole bodywork deal and find someone to shoot some paint on it!

[PanelDeland]

I bought mine as a running driving project,15 years ago.It is now a running driving project.The front suspension has been rebuilt,the engine updated,the PS,PB installed,different seats,new clutch,new winshield,new fuel system,new cooling syatem......the list goes on.
I can hardly wait to get to the paint/bodywork side of it though I have worked at that part some.I just hope I get to drive it finished before I can't.

[67anthony]

2 years from this to this frame off lot of time waiting on money and paint lol

[screaminchevypickup]

Frame off in 10 months!!!
Posted via Mobile Device

[mcbassin]

Started on mine the fall/winter of 2009. Still not close to being done. Hmmm. maybe one of these days

[screaminchevypickup]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Started on mine the fall/winter of 2009. Still not close to being done. Hmmm. maybe one of these days

Get busy!!! I done a frame off on a 72 vette in 6 months also!!!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Zoomin]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Started on mine the fall/winter of 2009. Still not close to being done. Hmmm. maybe one of these days

Maybe if you didn't fab up all those custom parts and insist on learning to do your own wiring harness you'd be done by now!


Posted via Mobile Device

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by screaminchevypickup

Get busy!!! I done a frame off on a 72 vette in 6 months also!!!
Posted via Mobile Device

Yes, but I ran out of that kind of energy along time ago

[400smallblock]

wow, kinda what i thought.everones situation is different. time to work/money flow,etc. i guess my passion would be building the engine and installing it and trans/tuning the engine. im not a big fan of body work. but i dont have the cash flow to pay someone to do it. so guess what. i gota man up and learn it as i go. so if it takes a few years to fix her up that seems to be the "average" fixer upper time frame.

[midniteblues]

Mine took three years to get road worthy almost a year for each, frame and drivetrain, body bed n paint but I'm always finding other things too do or changing/fixing something next in this order will be fixing butchered radio hole, tilt,tach dash,buddy buckets all will be weekend projects come to think of it is a project ever really done

[flashed]

Mine was a daily driver project beater for the first 2 years ,then I sold my wife's 68 Chevelle project car and she wanted me to get the truck done the way I wanted it and it has been in 2 different bodyshops for 14 months .It is in many piles and pieces with no finish line in sight.

[Steve Hafner]

Three years for the "basic" restoration - but lots more to do !!!

[BLOWN72]

I owned the truck in the end of August 2011 from my father in law. I broke my foot not a month later and had to get a screw put in it before I could go get the truck. Had it towed up here in late January, sat in the garage until last month. Needed full tune up, all fluids changed, timing issues, rebuilt carb, front calipers, brake lines and other odds and ends to get it road worthy. Other than that it is good to go so from the time I owned it, it has been 9 month from getting to start of working on it until it was on the road it has been about a month.

[Ackattack]

My 68 took me about 3 years.

From this:


to this:


2 years after getting it on the road, I'm still not 100% complete. But having another truck project, moving halfway across the country, and generally being busy does that.

[c10seconds]

Im not even close after 4 years.