Project Pumpkin

[c10guru]

Hello fellow gearheads!
My name is Julian, I'm 26 years old and I live in Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada.
I've always been a Chevy guy since well birth. My friends dad had a 72 LWB C10 and I've wanted it since I first laid eyes on it. So I bought it. Well here she is.

[c10guru]

Well, what to do now? Beat on it of course! There is something to be said for driving a classic truck. I have an 09 Sierra as a daily driver and that 37 year age gap makes a difference. So for a joy ride I went! Didn't make it that far but hey its a project!

[c10guru]

So after 4 new-er tires we were on a roll. How did it drive? Well it had an 80's 350 SBC with a mild cam and a temperamental quadrajet. Worst part is that it had a 700R4 and a 3 speed shifter so it was a handful. Aside from the usual squeaks and the drivers door that liked to fly open it wasn't bad. But hey, i had a 72 C10 and i was in love.

[c10guru]

So now that I had put about 100km i had some concerns like the drivers door didn't wanna stay closed and since it had been some time since the last resto it was time to throw her on a lift.

[c10guru]

So, what did I find? You guessed it! both rockers, rear cab supports, cab corners and rear trailing arms were swiss cheese. Shocker right?

[c10guru]

So after seeing that it was no quick fix for a safety i had the previous owner insure it for me and off i went. Yes posi is coming in the future haha.

[c10guru]

Now that friggin quadrajet was a real pain so a rebuild it got! Oh and a distributor, plugs, and wires.

[c10guru]

So at this time its now winter and time to put her away for storage. Never did get it running right. But ah well, i've got all winter to figure that out.

[c10guru]

After winter was over the plan changed to dropping an LS into it and ditch that carb. So out the 350 came.

[c10guru]

So now the power plant is out i've decided i'm going for a full resto. Lets take a better look at what we're dealing with. I love the colour of this truck. It looked like grabber orange house paint that had sit in the sun for 30 years so it was a matte finish. Which of course why i deemed it project pumpkin.

[c10guru]

Not sure who painted it but prep surely wasn't their strong suit...

[c10guru]

Well I know its been a while but I've learned so much from this forum I should give back and maybe you guys can learn from my mistakes. So here we go!

[c10guru]

Disassembly here we come!

Started with the interior, got to see the original paint!

[c10guru]

Being an automotive apprentice in the 2000's really makes me happy how easy it is to take apart these vintage trucks. 1/2 and 9/16 sockets and wrenches will pretty much cover you for the entire truck. Well, that and my 1/2 Electric Snap-On impact of course :P

[c10guru]

At this point of disassembly I've hauled my truck to my buddies body shop so i can finish gutting the interior and pull the cab. Notice the paint under the mirror brackets. The sun sucks!

[c10guru]

So we pull the windshield and this truck really starts to show its true colours, Rust! I know a lot of you guys have been in this situation and well I lost a lot of faith this day but i've come this far, lets keep goin!

[c10guru]

I always had a hard time shutting the drivers door but I figured it was just worn bushings in the hinges. Wow was I wrong. Took a tape measure and this cab was far from square. So off to the metal yard we go to get bracing just in case this thing pretzels when we pull the cab.

[c10guru]

So now that I'm confident the cab will stay some what together a way she goes! Remember building model cars as a kid and all the parts were set on one piece of plastic and you had to cut them apart? Well kinda looks like that with real trucks too!

[c10guru]

So at this part of the story my body man says "I'm not touching anything till you get it blasted and see if its worth anything. Well off to the blaster we go!

[c10guru]

I found a local guy who does wet blasting. What the machine does is it uses compressed air, glass media, and water to remove paint, rust, bondo etc. Its quite expensive but its the best. $1600 to blast and primer seal the cab, cowl, hood, doors, and rad cradle.

[c10guru]

Now, discouragement is an understatement as to how I felt after getting my "baby" back. This day ended at the bar and you'll see why.

[c10guru]

I'll leave this here just for effect.

[c10guru]

So now I'm thinking i just paid $1600 just to see swiss cheese. Not a happy camper but hey, "That's Hot rodding"

[c10guru]

Not wanting to even look at the cab I went for the box. Maybe i can sell it and re-coup some funds.

[67seaten]

this is gonna be awesome