Angie - 71 GMC C25

[rgunlock]

I got this truck in July 2019 and have already been working on her. We've named here Angie because... well it is hard to come up with a name for an orange truck. My wife and I like to give our vehicles female names so orANGe became Angie.

I don't know the history on this truck, but its pretty apparent that she had a previous restoration. Maybe 12-15 years ago if I had to guess. I can see rust repairs and things are a little too clean for a 71. Most of what this build is about is reverting PO "upgrades", and finishing where shortcuts were taken.

My intention is a nice, reliable driver. A mulch getter for my wife, and a trailer hauler for me. No plan to ever put her in a show. I only tend to work on her a few hours on the weekends so this isn't going to be an overnight rebuild, but I've already made some decent progress. Here are some pics of when I got her. The SPID was on the glovebox door. The VIN matches the title but the sticker is in too good of shape so I don't know that I believe much of the rest of it. Very little of the truck currently matches the SPID.

[rgunlock]

This truck obviously had a few fuel tanks in its lifetime. Still had the filler for the in-cab tank. The bed (maybe not original to this truck) at one time had dual aux tanks. There was also apparently a rear tank with a filler in the driver side wheel well in the bed. When I got her, it was a rear tank with the filler in the bedfloor. With tailgate open, it was like a 4 foot reach to get to the cap. I live in Texas so putting your hand on the bedfloor to lean in wasn't a good option. It all (except the original filler on the cab - wife likes it) had to go.

[rgunlock]

I am NOT an accomplished welder, and I do have to slather some body filler over my patches. But I'm happy with the results so its all good. Some shots of patching up the bed.

[rgunlock]

I decided to go with a Boyd side fill rear tank. Fits well and tucks up pretty nice.

[rgunlock]

And a couple more shots of the tank.

[rgunlock]

And I went with a Hagan fuel door. I extended the fill and vent pipes with stuff I kept from a donor vehicle. I had to cut the inside of the bedwall and floor to deal with the angle of the fill. I made a cover that shouldn't make it too hard to sweep out the bed.

[7dee2]

Nice project Rick! Is it blasted yet? How bad is the cab?

[rgunlock]

Thanks Brett. I've been dawdling, both about updating this thread as well as blasting the cab. I have already dealt with some rust in the front floor corners where the sloped toe boards meet the flat floor. There are like 3 panels that all come together there. The rust wasn't too obvious until I flipped the cab onto its back and got a good look from underneath.

Also filled something like 30 unnecessary holes (drilled, bullets, etc), including where fuel lines went through the floor in the back of the cab. But I got the floor into pretty good shape and ran out of excuses to postpone blasting. I got the roof portion done and didn't find it to be any worse than what I could see once the outer roof was off. I want to get the underside of the floor blasted, primed and undercoated before I flip the cab back upright to work on the roof and blasting the rest of the cab.

[7dee2]

Yep, I understand dawdling! Takes me forever to get things done these days.

Do you still have your 69 Camaro project?

[Gregski]

hey another '71 GMC, luv it!

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by 7dee2

Yep, I understand dawdling! Takes me forever to get things done these days.

Do you still have your 69 Camaro project?

I do still have the Camaro Brett, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a project. I'm not even sure it qualifies as a parts car. This thing has a LOT of rust, to the point I'm thinking I need to go the route you did. I just need to convince myself that a) I can afford it, and b) I can figure out how to deal with the delivery.

Originally Posted by Gregski

hey another '71 GMC, luv it!

Thanks Greg! I am following your Dusty build (as I did Rusty and Busty!). You're stepping out into a bold new world on Dusty!

[rgunlock]

Been fighting covid the last few weeks, and finally got over it so I can get back to work on the truck. First the inner roof. Got it blasted and as I mentioned it isn't any worse looking now than what I could see earlier. I have the parts to fix it now. Just need to figure out how to take it apart. The last picture shows rust through the edge of the inner roof. I'm going to attempt to fabricate a patch for that spot.

[rgunlock]

And some of the bad spots in the floor I'd mentioned earlier. This was both corners where the flat portion of the floor joins the sloped part that goes up to the firewall. And the bullet holes. The welds that you see are from a PO's patch repairs. I've got these spots mostly repaired but I need to get pictures.

[rgunlock]

After blasting the floor, I did find a couple of spots I hadn't noticed earlier. One was a simple repair in one of the cab braces. The other is rust all down the passenger side edge of the floor. I thought I could just patch the bad spots, but it's in too bad shape for that. The driver side floor edge had already been replace. I've got the patch panel to do the passenger side. I also found a little rust in one of the cab corners. Hope to get that done this weekend.

[7dee2]

Originally Posted by rgunlock

I do still have the Camaro Brett, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a project. I'm not even sure it qualifies as a parts car. This thing has a LOT of rust, to the point I'm thinking I need to go the route you did. I just need to convince myself that a) I can afford it, and b) I can figure out how to deal with the delivery.

I can tell you it's not the cheapest way to go for sure. Glad to hear you are beating the Covid and back at it.

[rgunlock]

So, it turned out that the right inner rocker/floor edge was pitted. The left side had been previously replaced. I'd butchered the cheap replacement rocker on the right trying to get the inner out, and the metal was too thin for me to be able to weld so it came out too.

Got the new inner welded in, sprayed the underside of the cab in epoxy and then raptor liner. I'm calling the rust repair on the floor done, but still need to replace the right rocker and cab corner.

[kev2809]

nice progress..

howd those inserts work for the mirrors? i welded mine up a while back and i want to add my mirror back, and add one on the passenger side (67's only had driver side). i never even thought of the insert idea

[rgunlock]

Thanks Kev. These haven't had road shaking and rattling time yet, but I did the same on my '78 and they have held up very well so far.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice work on this 71. I've got a cab I'm working on right now that has rust in weird spots too. Just when you think you're done you find another spot. Keep at it, you're getting really close. The bottom is looking great!

[rgunlock]

Thanks Ryan! Yes, for a cab I thought was pretty much rust free, it has turned out to be a lot of work and I still have the roof to deal with. I don't spend a whole lot of time in any given week on this, but I'll get there. Slow but sure.

[7dee2]

Looks really good, nice job Rick!

[rgunlock]

Picked back up on the roof. This structural piece over the door is a real pain to remove. Spent the better part of this afternoon on it. I don't think I am going to use the whole patch. Just square up my cuts at the bottom. Felt like I needed to go this length because I also had to deal with the inner roof edge rust. What I've cut takes care of that too.

I plan to fab my own patch for the inner roof edge. Then its more blasting of the newly exposed area and primer for the whole inner roof. I will do the same repairs on the other side before I do blast & primer.

Oh, and started buying new exhaust starting with some manifolds. Some PO thought that welding the pipes to the header was a good idea. Maybe it was... but I don't like it.

[Dieselwrencher]

Nice work Rick. It's good to know that patch panel is available. I agree, the header having no flex spot may not be a great situation long term. I've un headered the last 2 4x4 trucks I've had. I just went back with ram horns on them. That no exhaust leak thing for months and years is nice.

[7dee2]

I'm a big fan of exhaust manifolds.

[rgunlock]

I like the ramhorns as well, and are what I went with. LMC specials. I have to admit that before I sprayed some high-temp exhaust paint on them I felt compelled to grind off the country of origin. They did bolt up easily and seem to be pointed in the right direction though.

It didn't even occur to me that manifolds would need different bolts than the headers. I probably have all the correct bolts in my unsorted buckets of thousands of bolts from part-outs, etc. that I am genetically unable to throw away. I just didn't feel like sorting through them now so waited for an order of exhaust bolts before mounting these.

Last picture is of this year's bluebonnets in my backyard just because I can post 5 pictures and really only had 2 that were relevant