The 'Don't Do This.... ' - Thread

[LostMy65]

It's only after you've done this, you wish you hadn't.
When you first get one of these trucks, you have great ambition.
You're going to strip it down to the frame and make it so cool. In your mind's eye, you can see it finished and cruisin down the road.
So you start pulling things off and out.
No real concern, because you're going to replace everything with new.
.
Now, fortunately, this isn't me.
I knew from the get go, my limitations.
But we see this happen to so many.
They buy a truck, start a build thread, and the last post in their thread is a truck tore down to its frame.
.
.
So I'll start,
Top on the list;
Don't tear the floor mat out and throw it away.
I made this mistake on my 66.
.
What's your mistake that you can warn others not to make?

[naynay]

i did exactly what you said, i tore it all apart, in 2008, and it's been apart for the most part sense then, i'll throw it back together for mock up purposes, but sadly i've never driven mine other than on to the trailer once

[Oldtruckfanatic]

To this day I dont do a good job keeping the small parts marked and separated. By the time I do get to putting the trucks back together certain fasteners or clips or pins or linkages that arent easy to get are always missing.

[Ronw435]

I have had this problem in the past with different things. I solved this with taking plastic sandwich bags and a permanent marker and write on the bag what the bolts are when I take them off and put them in the little bags. That way when I put it back together I look for the bag, say for inner fender bolts, and then clean, paint and re-install. So far has worked ok. I put all the bags on a shelf and then go to the shelf, look for the bag that holds what I want then re-install and throw the bag away.

[LostMy65]

Yeah, I take lots of pictures when I go to take something apart.

[Ronw435]

Pictures are good!!!!

[siggyfreud]

When I was younger working on one of my first car projects (and old TR7) I thought it would be funny to label bolts "sumsa*****es" and "whatchamacallits" and etc. Mainly because I didn't know what the part was that I was taking them off of. Going to put the car back together was a nightmare!

[Bears63]

The two that have bit me in the rear are chucking the old floormat from my '63 and not doing more to salvage the inside firewall pad. Other than that I have taken tons of pictures and label the heck out of everything. So far so good. Other than not having enough time to work on my truck the last few years....

[oem4me]

Pressure washers ... friend, or foe? Countless engines with intact original paint have fallen victim to overzealous clean-up. Harsh degreasers and point-blank aim @ 2000 psi leave little chance of survival for factory engine color. Yes, go ahead and clean off the gunk, just go easy..

[1963c-10]

When doing an install or restoration on a part....see it through from start to finish. I see so many small things left undone. I've done it myself. Spend the extra few minutes and install that hard to reach bolt or it'll never get installed. The " I'll get back to it later" or the "I'll fix that next time" seems to never happen. I find it easier to complete it and be done with it.

Also.....and this happened recently. When installing starters don't get distracted by cell phones. I almost caught a starter with my face last night as the lower bolt I installed and thought had caught threads hadn't. Luckily I stuck my hand up in time to catch it. (I know....rookie mistake)

And don't throw any oem parts away. Can't tell you how many leads I've chased down to find out a OEM part was tossed because it was replaced by a repop in better condition. Evens nuts, bolts and certain screws have value to another truck builder. One mans trash can be anothers treasure.

[WhippinSaw]

When it was my daily driver I Cut out dash to put in cassette player, wore out seat cover, Pitched the floor mat and radiator shroud instead of repairing then drove it through a chicago winter

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by WhippinSaw

When it was my daily driver I Cut out dash to put in cassette player, wore out seat cover, Pitched the floor mat and radiator shroud instead of repairing then drove it through a chicago winter

The funny part is we all did stupid stuff like that when we owned our vehicles as kids
Back in 83, I hacked my radio hole too.
Also cut 6x9 triaxle speaker holes in the doors.
Triaxles were cool in the 80's

[supercharged]

Platic baggies and pictures are great - except when you start to many repairs all at different stages of completion and then forget where the hell you placed all the baggies and pictures!

I'll start one thing and while I wait for paint to dry or adhesive to set - I'll tear something else up .....

Then can't remember where the hell I placed the parts, or worst, accidently throw them out while trying to find something else in my nightmare of a shop.

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”

― Albert Einstein

[Bears63]

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

And don't throw any oem parts away. Can't tell you how many leads I've chased down to find out a OEM part was tossed because it was replaced by a repop in better condition. Evens nuts, bolts and certain screws have value to another truck builder. One mans trash can be anothers treasure.

To expand on this a little, during disassembly of my '63 I would bag up in a Ziploc bag all the bolts of an assembly item. Like say, the left inner fender bolts. If any bolt or screw or clip broke, I added the remnants of the bolt to the bag for that assembly item as well. That way when you go to put it back together you know how much hardware is supposed to be there. Just a small tip that saves some head scratching and cussing sometimes.

[69chevytrucker]

mine is painting something and then trying to put it on before it had a chance to dry and then having to repaint it again when it gets messed up

[scottofksu]

One thing I noticed was that I would get fixated on one area of the truck - generally doing repair work that I don't feel comfortable with (e.g., bodywork) - and then let this area stall out all progress as I procrastinate on work that intimidates me.

Recently I have done two things to address this issue:

1. I do whatever work that sounds interesting at the moment (my truck is a "target rich environment" when it comes to the number of "opportunities" for repair/refurbishing).
2. I do whatever work I have time for and document where I left off. Too often I would allow no work to occur on the truck because I didn't have time to start and finish a given project.

I also am really bad about putting my tools away after I finish a project as I am typically exhausted by the time I am finished. I now force myself to clean and put away my tools when I am finished or walking away from a project. I have found that this saves me tons of time when I don't have to search for tools before starting the next time.

As an aside, I too do really regret tearing out my rubber mat...

[encasedmetal]

as an at home engine builder and enthusiast:
do all research and get the correct tools to get the job done right the first time. big word of advice is to not believe everything you read on forums- do your own research too.

as a first time restorer- I get pissed and break bolts instead of soaking them etc, and end up having to buy $$$bolts and nuts

[69chevytrucker]

im bad for putting tools away my shop is a pig stye and i have all the tool boxes and bins a guy could want but im still very bad

[hotrod66]

mine as well is cutting the dash in my 66 it was my first car and thought it would be nice to have a cd player,thank god i never cut speaker holes in doors on any of my cars. oh yea i fixed the holes in the top of my bed and got weld splatter in my big back window glass.

[sandiego65]

If your truck just needs a carburetor and maybe a master cylinder, wheel cylinders to get it going just do it have a nicely tuned running truck you can enjoy working on and updating while still driving, going to shows and cruise nights. Not sitting for 3 years because you take out a perfectly good Muncie to make it an auto completely gut the break system to do "disc's" partially bag the front and never really finish then life gets busy. I get a little sad every time I see a awesome "patina" or "ratrod" style truck and think that could have been me If I didn't take my truck apart because I wanted to do a "frame off" show quality truck. In reality I don't have the time or space to do it and I should have been happy just to get my old full of character short bed just cruising. Well maybe at my pace my son is 1 maybe by the time he's old enough to drive it'll be done haha. Well good luck with your builds I thank everyone for there information, tech tips and hours of entertainment drooling over your builds. It seems like there's guys that can build a truck ground up in a couple months maybe I just need a push. Good luck and please don't take your trucks apart if you don't see your self having tons of time in your future and just enjoy your builds. I know in San Diego the weather is perfect to take a cool old truck for a spin, but mines sitting in the drive way.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by sandiego65

If your truck just needs a carburetor and maybe a master cylinder, wheel cylinders to get it going just do it have a nicely tuned running truck you can enjoy working on and updating while still driving, going to shows and cruise nights. Not sitting for 3 years because you take out a perfectly good Muncie to make it an auto completely gut the break system to do "disc's" partially bag the front and never really finish then life gets busy. I get a little sad every time I see a awesome "patina" or "ratrod" style truck and think that could have been me If I didn't take my truck apart because I wanted to do a "frame off" show quality truck. In reality I don't have the time or space to do it and I should have been happy just to get my old full of character short bed just cruising. Well maybe at my pace my son is 1 maybe by the time he's old enough to drive it'll be done haha. Well good luck with your builds I thank everyone for there information, tech tips and hours of entertainment drooling over your builds. It seems like there's guys that can build a truck ground up in a couple months maybe I just need a push. Good luck and please don't take your trucks apart if you don't see your self having tons of time in your future and just enjoy your builds. I know in San Diego the weather is perfect to take a cool old truck for a spin, but mines sitting in the drive way.

I actually felt a little sad from this post. Because I can imagine the feeling.
Great post that should be right at the top of these forums.
Some have the time and resources.
But most of us just have ambition.
So, keep her rolling and tinker when you can.
Do one upgrade/fix - but get her back together.
That, I would guess is the way the majority of us should approach this hobby.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by hotrod66

...clip.... oh yea i fixed the holes in the top of my bed and got weld splatter in my big back window glass.

I actually laughed out loud at your post.
I did the same thing on my 66.
And on my 65 I cut some rot out to have the hot metal flakes burn into the windshield.
Funny how much stuff we learn the hard way.

[hotrod66]

Originally Posted by LostMy65

I actually laughed out loud at your post.
I did the same thing on my 66.
And on my 65 I cut some rot out to have the hot metal flakes burn into the windshield.
Funny how much stuff we learn the hard way.

yea and some of it hurt lol!

[gimmy 64]

i bought a 55 chevy big window truck that i will call a basket case. went gung ho for six months stripping the frame and painting it. rebuilt thr nova front clip.etc. then everything kind of stopped. ennded up parting it out. with my 64 gmc i tried to do one project at a time. worked way better. now thar i have my 66 burb i am going to do one project at a time so to keep it on the road.

[Rac65]

I bought my truck from my Father in law in 1981 and it was my daily driver for over 20 years. In 2009 I took it apart because it had gotten pretty rusty. I got off to a good start and got a lot of the metal work done only to have my job eliminated which meant my truck budget went from small to nonexistent . Now it's 2014 and it's still in pieces in my back yard and I really miss driving it. I have even considered selling my boat to get truck money.I did pretty good on organizing and labeling so hopefully it will go ok whenever I get back to work on it.