Project: "Ol' Rusty" 1969 C-30 Dump

[Shaun1162]

For the past couple years I've been trying to find a decent 67-72 for a project... Didn't care much what it was, just had to have one. Most of the ones I found were rotted out, cobbled together, way overpriced, or a combination of all three. The truck I bought is definately peiced together and definately got some rotten spots... But overall for $1000 I don't think I got robbed.. Hey it runs and drives and the bed goes up at least! Of course I was too anxious to start working on it, so I don't have any before pictures other then the ones from the craigslist ad, but I saved those at least:

[bucketObolts]

Very cool. My first vehicle was a 71 c30 dumpbody I bought when I was 14 in 2002, with my very first two paychecks. First time I ever seen an eight track before too It looked just like yours. black too. Yours looks to have far less holes however. But hey, the dump bed worked! I cant wait to watch your build

[Shaun1162]

It’s definitely got some things going for it.... 350 that doesn't smoke, tick, or knock, and a fairly new clutch. It's of course for the big 4 speed, with the granny low, and a rear end that doesn't seem to make any odd noises. It's got decent brakes, but one of the wheel cylinders seems to be leaking. The previous owner also put 4 new tires on the back on regular rims, but up front it’s got dry rotted tires on split rims.

After the hood was off:



Engine (little dirty.. Probably hasn't seem much love lately haha):



Interior (and box of free parts):



Some rust:





Fortunately someone did at least a halfway decent job patching the cab corners and rockers.. I should be able to make them look alright:



Over the weekend I checked a couple junkyards to see what I could find for body parts. One guy told me $100, $50, and $50 a seat, but the ones he had were all junk. There was another guy... A little on the strange side.. Who wanted $125 for a door, and I didn't stick around to ask about fenders.

But I remembered a '70 C-30 that I had stopped and asked about a couple times. I knew he wanted to get rid of it, but the frame is too rusty for me to take on as a project. However, it did have pretty good sheet metal and some other parts (like regular rims) that I could definitely use. So I stopped and asked him on Saturday and bought it for a whopping $400. It's got a steel flatbed, as well as a PTO winch and a 350 that runs, but he said it always overheated. It should be here in the next day or two, so I'll take some pictures of that when it arrives.

I knew that I'd be switching all the sheet metal, so I started pulling it off my C-30. I got the hood, grille, bumper, fenders, and doors off in one afternoon. Not bad IMO.



Some more rust I found (Does anyone happen to know who makes a good patch panel for the cowl?):







The plan as of now it to weld in some patched (on the cab and the dump bed), get the better sheet metal on it, slap a coat of paint on the outside, and drive it like that for the summer. I'll worry about the interior later, well other then getting a recovered seat... Afterall it is still a work truck!

[Shaun1162]

Originally Posted by bucketObolts

Very cool. My first vehicle was a 71 c30 dumpbody I bought when I was 14 in 2002, with my very first two paychecks. First time I ever seen an eight track before too It looked just like yours. black too. Yours looks to have far less holes however. But hey, the dump bed worked! I cant wait to watch your build

Thanks for the reply! Actually I'm only 17, but I've been saving some money on the side in case I found a project like this. So far I'm in it for $1400 (my Dad picked up the towing bills.. He trades work with the guy). It's definately going to need some work, but I don't mind. This truck has been all kinds of colors... Originally it was red, then white, then a weird turquoise, then flat black, and someone decided that was enough and painted the roof white... With a brush lol. Glad you've enjoyed it so far! Do you have any pictures of your old C-30 on here??

[bucketObolts]

Sounds like you got a good deal. Even just the 4 new rear tires. Obviously different rubber, but 6 new tires on my daily driver ran me 1200 bucks! and thats with a discount and they're certainly not the greatest tires out there. You're already ahead of the game. that interior looks pretty good too. A little spit and elbow grease oughta clean her up real nice. Plus I'm a sucker for black trucks with red interiors.

[bucketObolts]

I don't have any pics on my computer. I didn't get my first digital camera til like 2007 or something I think my girl has a scanner at her moms house though. Ill try to dig some pics up for ya. Good pick at the junkyard too

[Old School Kid]

Going to be a cool truck... This is a Fellow members and Rottenwood Garage regular. Keep the posts and updates coming..

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=377814

[Shaun1162]

BucketObolts, I'd definately like to see some pictures if you could dig them up. As for the interior the floors are patched, and actually they did a really good job on the passenger side, but the drivers side is a little worse. For now I'll just throw some black paint on it and call it good. The seat is the worst. Half the fabric (and foam) is missing. I'll pull the one from the parts truck and have it recovered while I leave the ratty one in just to move it.

Thanks for the link Old School Kid! Nice to see someone embarking on this same project!


As for updates-

Well I got the parts truck delivered today. The sheet metal is all in good shape and will need only little to make it pretty nice. I haven't pulled the fenders yet, but from what I can see the cowls look to be in MUCH better shape... Perhaps I can cut those off and weld them onto my dump truck instead of just trying to patch peices in. Guess I'll find out tomorrow. The interior is in pretty good shape. It's got a dash with no cracks or blemishes, and hopefully I can transplant it into the dump truck (maybe dye it a new color before hand). The motor won't turn over, but it might just be a really drained battery (the lights came on at least), and I did get an original style snorkel air cleaner that I'll clean up and paint.

The parts truck also has chrome trim around the windshield and the rear window- does anyone know if I can put it on the '69? I'm not a big fan of chrome, but it does make it look a little better.

I'll be sure to get some pictures of the parts truck tomorrow... It's days on the road are definately over, there's quite a bit of frame rust/rot on it.

[coops714x4]

WHERE do you guys come up with these 1 tons I WANT ONE I keep looking and looking and all I find is ones that have been redone with BIG price tags or JUNK

[Shaun1162]

Originally Posted by coops714x4

WHERE do you guys come up with these 1 tons I WANT ONE I keep looking and looking and all I find is ones that have been redone with BIG price tags or JUNK

Well if you take a trip up to New Hampshire I could show you where there's two more... But they're more or less under the junk category

[Shaun1162]

Well, got some bad news on the C-30 today. My mechanic friend pulled the rear wheels on the passenger side, and the U-Bolts and the bracket (for lack of a better word) were broken, and the rear-end is actually pushed back a couple of inches.

On the brighter side, it isn't a whole lot of money to fix. There's a local guy that bent up 2 new U bolts for $12 a peice and Napa had the center bolt right in stock. The parts truck is already helping to pay for itself as well. I was told that no one really knew where to get a bracket, but thankfully the one on the parts truck was good and not too rusty either.

I'll be sure and update the thread with some new pictures tomorrow.

[Shaun1162]

Finally got some new pictures to share! I took out the old seat and cleaned the floors. Then I sprayed some bed liner on it. Didn't turn out too bad, and at least its all the same color now!

Before:



And After:



Also spray-bombed the radiator support just to help dress it up a little:



Also some of the patches I've had welded in:





It was raining out today so I couldn't get any pictures of the parts truck... I wish I had taken a before shot... It's pretty much stripped now.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Nice work good to see the younger generation getting into these trucks..

[Shaun1162]

Thanks Frenchblue72! Honestly I prefer to work on the older trucks... Well other then the rust part. It's nice to be able to actually know how to work on things, unlike some newer trucks.


Anyways, I'm on school vacation this week, so I'll (hopefully) be doing alot of work on it. Today, we bled the brakes, got the old rubber cab mounts out (got some new urethane ones coming for it), did some more patching and broke out the fiberglass to make things nice and smooth.

Firewall/cowl patches:







Not the prettiest patches, but hey it's still just a 43 year old work truck...


Instead of getting new inner fenders, we decided to just patch two of the bolt holes... I know it's not really the "right" way to do it, but with the number of bolts that hold these fenders on, I don't think we'll have to worry about it falling off...

[Shaun1162]

Forgot my camera today, but moved some of the old parts out of our shop. Loaded it on my Dad's 78 Chevy Luv... Used to be a camper:

[Shaun1162]

And I know this is related at all, but I wanted to post it anyways. I got a free door out of an old junkyard near me, and had it lettered up for my Dad for Christmas last year:

[Shaun1162]

WOW... I really nned to remember and bring my camera tomorrow when I work on the truck...

Since my last update we've:

-Put in new floor supports
-Put in new cab mounts
-Finished fixing the inner fenders and the cowl patches
-Fixed the turn signal and horn
-Fixed the headlights (they worked when we got it, but then it had a short)
-Put new taillights on it
-Bolted on the new(er) doors, fenders, and hood
-Put in the new radiator
-All new belts and hoses
-Picked up 4 tires and 16" rims (had 16.5" on the back)
-Bought a different set of mirrors, had them sandblasted, and almost ready to put on

I need to replace a few other little lights on the body in order to get it inspected, but I plan to also fix some other things. So far these need attention:

-Passenger fender/door out of alignment (was in an accident at some point and shifted the cab pillar some)
-Fix PTO control set-up: currently a little cobbled up
-Patch dump body & fix the tailgate
-Replace cab lights
-Find parts for carb (apparently someone robbed parts off of it??) or buy new carb

I'm looking for some help though... The "new" body panels that we put on had been spraypainted a while ago. Anyone know a good way to get it off?? I tried some laquer thinner but it didn't touch it....

Thanks for reading!

[Shaun1162]

Well, today was a pretty big day for the ol C-30.... Mainly because, well it doesn't have a dump body on it anymore. We decided that the body was just way too far gone to save... So either we'll make or buy a flatbed, or maybe get a utility body and paint it up like on of my Dad's old shop trucks. Anyways, here's some pictures I thought I'd share.

Seeing the light of day again:





Bye-bye dump body:





A little lighter now.. and in it's new "home" (at least for a while):



Frame definately needs a good cleaning and some paint, but I was suprised just how solid it is (compared to how rotted the body, cab floors, etc. were):





I'm thinkin the hydraulic cylinder leaked... It's about half an inch thick at least:



Got some "new" shoes for her, and now I have 16" rims all around:



Anyone know what kind of rearend this is??







At least I can get to the cab corners easier now:





Like my exhaust system? (Hopefully changing it soon)



Not sure what I'm going to do here yet....



Got the inner fenders done anyways:




Sorry for the overload of pictures... But it's been quite a while since an update and it certainly needed it!

Thanks for stoppin by

[sgaylord]

Looking good. What's the plans? Driver, heavy hauler, ?

[Shaun1162]

For now I'd like just a light duty flatbed.... Something I can put a few old garden tractors and go to shows with. If I get a good deal on one though, I might put a steel utility body on it. Have to do some looking...

Thanks for the comment!

[Shaun1162]

So, I've been working on this truck quite a bit lately (almost every night, weekends, etc.). The actual pictures don't look like much, most of the work has been mechanical I guess. Anyways I thought I'd share a few pictures... So far this is a list of new (or newer) parts I've put on:

New belts
New hoses
Radiator gone through by a shop
New plugs
New wires
Edelbrock Performer intake (Picked it up for $35 at a swap meet)
Edelbrock Performer 600 CFM Carb (Got it at the swap meet for $80)
New intake, valve cover, PTO cover, differential cover and pinion seal holder (?) gaskets
New pinion oil seal
New rear shocks (just have to put the front ones on)
New floor supports
New cab mounts
Seat recovered
Changed power steering pump and lines

And alot more that I can't think of... Currently I'm having some trouble getting the speedometer too work. I replaced the cable since the old one was almost rotted in two and thought that would take care of the problem. Nope. Then I thought it was the gear reducer box because the end looked a little rounded.. So I plugged the cable in to the transmission directly, think I would have at least something show up... Nope. The gear inside of the transmission looked almost new and isn't bound up, so I guess I'll have to look at the actual speedometer now.

So enough talking for now... Here's some pictures:

Before:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1303082484

After (not much look-wise, but definately an improvement):





I also powerwashed and degreased the entire back of the frame, and the painted it with some good frame paint.



The doors from the parts truck were in pretty nice shape.. Only one big hole and some pinholes on the drivers side:





Had the seat recovered:




So my plan for now is to finish all the bodywork and spray it a dark green, like the color of the body panels from the old parts truck. I'd also like to spray the interior a dark green to match. I have all of the green interior peices (steering wheel, sun visors, etc) so my plan is to spray all of the remaining orange a dark green to matcht the outisde. I think for now I'm going to use some aerosol cans to do it. I painted my interior on my M1028 and it turned out great, so I hope this will come out the same.

Tomorrow or the next day the truck is going to move to yet another new home. I have a guy that's going to pull this out for me:



As well as weld in some other patches and maybe paint it for me, not sure yet.

As for the body, I want to build a simple flatbed and just use it like that.

Hopefully I'll have some better pictures soon!

[Shaun1162]

Been along time since I updated this thread... Quite a change:



"New" Jasper engine went in on Monday. Have a few things left to do (bumper, headboard, and some work underneath) but she's pretty much set now. This is just a picture I had after the flatbed was finished in the fall... Have to get some more this Spring!

[threeonthetree]

Turned out nice love the dauls

[DD1]

Nice build you have going here. I was going to give you the info I had collected about patch panels for the inner cowl, however you seem to have gotten it all taken care of. Of course, now I feel like a putz, because you have fixed all the stuff I shied away from. I really did not want to cut sheet metal to fit the inner cowl. I ended up getting another cab with a perfect cowl, but needing some minor floor work.

I also just realized that this post is almost a year old, so obviously you have gotten everything figured out.

It's a shame you had to get rid of the dump bed, I just think it's kind of cool, but the truck with the flat bed looks sweet. You did a great job on it.

[JRBECK64]

Wow thats a cool old truck. I really like what you did with the Bed.

JRBECK64