Introduction

[DKSpringer]

Hi Folks. I've finally pulled the trigger on fixing up my dad's old 79, affectionately nicknamed (and licensed) "4MYCOW".

It is a 3/4 ton Custom Deluxe, in red and white two tone. The engine is seized, the clutch is locked, and the frame is nearly rusted through. Luckily, I found a donor chassis with ~25k miles. That chassis is a 400ci small block, auto transmission, full time 4wd, but no good body panels. I'll be pulling the cab and a few miscellaneous parts from my dad's truck, installing it on the new chassis, and going from there.

I will post pics one some work actually gets done on it, but for now, wanted to introduce myself and my truck. And since I like pictures, here's one of the truck on the way home....

[1774btcrew]

Welcome to the board! It looks like you will have a nice truck when it is done!

[Sodak]

Welcome. sweet truck

[Gregski]

welcome and good luck with the transplant, share some pics

[DKSpringer]

It has been a while, but the chassis is nearly done with cleanup. The frame has all been blasted, primed, and hit with rubberized undercoating. Transmission and transfer case were blasted and painted. Body work is up next!

[TKCR]

Looks good!!! And welcome

[Super_Dave]

Welcome to the C/K20 crowd. Looking forward to you getting it done!

[conman24]

What in the world? Is that a Gremlin or Pacer or a stretched pinto in the background?

[Super_Dave]

Originally Posted by conman24

What in the world? Is that a Gremlin or Pacer or a stretched pinto in the background?

Not a Gremlin... I "knew someone" who owned one...

Not a Pinto... I "knew someone" who owned on of those too...

Could be a Pacer... I "knew someone" who had to drive one of those... when their Gremiln was out of service.

[DKSpringer]

Actually a Pacer "Wagon".... not mine, just borrowing some shop space at the moment. Good eye though!

[Super_Dave]

... Any progress?

[DKSpringer]

Well, after an unbelievably crappy experience hiring work done, we're now a year and a half later, missing a few parts, with some very questionable body work to show for it. The guy that I originally hired to do the work has been through a nasty divorce, lost his shop, had his mother die 3 times, car wrecks, sharknado's, bankruptcy, and can't remember what else. He hired "one of the best in the business" to finish the job without talking to me about it, and after 6 months of no decent work happening there, I convinced the wife to park outside and let 4MYCOW take up both garage bays for a while.

If questionable work is going to be done several months behind schedule, I better be the one to blame.

Here she sits. I'll start posting pictures now that I can actually get in touch with the schmuck doing the work (yours truly).

[DKSpringer]

On the plus side, she did drive up onto the trailer. Here's the engine, I'll be stripping that intake manifold back to aluminum and throwing some chrome valve covers on it. I'm saving that project for when I get discouraged fixing shoddy body work and need a quick and shiny pick-me-up.

[1774btcrew]

Nice! It looks like you will be happier with your own work! I have had the same issues, it doesn't seem to matter what I have done, most shops around here have very poor work ethic! That is why I do most of it myself!

[KQQL IT]

Originally Posted by 1774btcrew

Nice! It looks like you will be happier with your own work! I have had the same issues, it doesn't seem to matter what I have done, most shops around here have very poor work ethic! That is why I do most of it myself!

Painters and machine shops.

[DKSpringer]

Got to wrench on it for the first little bit last night, disassembling the bed. Good news: I only rounded off two bolts. Bad news: a long bed acts like a big drum, and an impact driver makes enough of a racket to wake up any 1 year olds who happen to be sleeping nearby. After getting demoted from the cordless impact to the 3/8" drive ratchet, I quickly discovered that my forearms are no longer in wrenching shape. Does that mean I get to call this "exercise"?

The bed looks like it is in pretty decent shape, except for one of the cross members supporting the floor. Anyone know of a decent spot to buy a replacement? It didn't look like LMC, etc. sells them. I may just pick up some rectangular steel tubing.

[DKSpringer]

Searching on here, found a post by Adis looking at a similar problem. I don't have a good bed to pull a sill off of, but I'm liking the look of the 1.5"x3" steel tubing, especially since I need to replace one whole cross sill, the others are solid.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ght=cross+sill

Has anyone done this?

[DKSpringer]

Got the bed pulled apart, not too terrible all things considered. My garage keeps shrinking though...



Also did a little bit of an inspection on the cab. We have some rust in the dash where the windshield seemed to leak at some point, nothing unmanageable though.



I got the heater box and all of the ductwork out, the pedal assemblies are up next. Does anyone know of a good write-up for removing the pedal box and disassembling it for painting / powder coating?

Also, the rocker panel appears to just have surface rust from underneath, but I'm thinking I might-oughtta just replace it before I go through all the work to paint this beauty. Any good step-by-steps out there, how big of a job is this?

[DKSpringer]

Well, I removed the pedals, steering column, kick panels, instrument cluster, and a few other thingamajigs last night. For anyone doing this in the future, a few helpful tips getting the pedal assembly out:
The pedal box has four threaded studs that go through the firewall, and also serve to hold the brake booster on. When I went to pull the pedal assembly out, the upper structure (where the clutch spring attaches) pinched a harness bundle against the back of the instrument cluster, and wouldn't allow it to come all the way out. So, after yanking and prying and scratching my head for a while, I saw that interference, removed the instrument cluster, and the box dropped right out. You'll need to gain clearance for the brake pedal shaft, I just pulled the booster away from the firewall to allow the pedals to drop. It might be possible to get the pedals out with the steering column and brake booster in place, but it took me less time to get them out of the way than to ponder the geometries involved.

As she sits:

[DKSpringer]

Let's try that last picture with sky-side up.

[DKSpringer]

Well, Mr. Angle Grinder and I got real well acquainted over the weekend. Did some good, found some bad....

First the good: Bottom of the bed cleaned up real nice.



Aaaand the bad: Need to replace the inner wheel wells in the bed sides, and patch a few rust holes where it has spread. What makes this especially entertaining is that the yahoo working on the truck replaced the outer wheel well and welded it to this inner wheel well in all of its swiss-cheesey goodness.



And the ugly: Found this when I pulled up the seam sealer in the cowl where the dash meets the firewall. What in the frack do I do here??


I've got new floor, inner and outer rockers ready to start on next. Anyone know of a good step by step that exists? Do I need to support the cab at all to keep things square while I'm cutting and welding? Do I need the front fender on while I'm lining up the outer rocker, or can I assume I can make it fit later? Any help would be appreciated, I've never done any body work before.

[DKSpringer]

And in case anyone is wondering, ratchet strapping a hand truck to the bed floor is a fantastic way to move it around by yourself. Double points if the ratchet strap has been tied back together where it previously was cut. "I sureare classy".....

[daddyjeep]

The build is coming along nicely now that you are doing it yourself. It is good to see that you are taking it all the way down and doing it right. As far as your rocker replacement questions...I just finished the driver's side of mine and it was also my first time doing this. I did not have to support the cab in any way. You fit the panels from the outside in and weld from the inside out. I did not line up to the fender because I could line it up with the fender bolt hole in the bottom. It is important to re-install the door before you final weld everything to be sure it lines up good. It took me a while to figure out exactly how all the parts went together. I documented everything fairly well in my build thread.