First Build Thread! (picture heavy)

[TbirdIV]

Hello All, I've been lurking on the forums for a long time, and figure it's about time to start contributing some myself. I have a 1967 C10, base model that has had a heck of a life, My dad and I think it was a state truck based on the orange and the obscene amount of rust. It came with a three on the tree and an I-6 though those were long gone before we got a hold of it. It came to us with a shelled out (3-4 main bearings spun, several rod bearings spun, serious rust in cylinders, sat with no carb on it for several years...) 350 and a TH350, P.O. said "it made some noise when I parked it, still ran though..." and many, many shoddy repairs. It is also missing the box, it came with a wooden flatbed on it which was promptly removed.


How it came to us, on the back of a tow truck fresh outta the weeds


this is as it sat for the last year


Nasty rotted out fenders, and a surprisingly good cowl and grill.


Frame sans cab.


And, cab sans frame.


lots ‘o’ rot… riveted in patches seem to make things much worse.


rocker remains, these were patches, and they were held in by all of six rivets each, but that’s par for the course.


bracing in progress, cheapo harbor freight welder doesn’t make it any easier but you use what you’ve got.


Mo bracing.


one more


gross, but reasonably strong.


And there it is, no more floor! I just ran a sawzall across this, close the flange but being careful of the firewall braces. I’m currently in the process of drilling out all the spot-welds the remove any remains, then it’s on to fitting the new piece!


drilling spot-welds, using the harbor freight centerless cutter, it works well, cutting lube of some sort definitely helps with longevity, and my drill doesn’t always fit in there the best so I have to over cut a lot of them, but considering my plans I suppose that isn’t much of an issue.


So this is how it sits, hopefully with more to come this weekend. A big thanks to all the members on this board, Many of the builds on here have given inspiration and/or instruction that has already proven invaluable.

Wish me luck!

-TbirdIV