I feel a bit duped here.....

[Techy]

You guys are getting Rain? I want some. Actually, we're supposed to get rain today. Welcome to the Board from Winter Springs. Looks like a Nice little project ya got there.

[novajess1972]

First: don't feel bad at all, BigFish. This C10 is my fourth classic vehicle and I still very much consider myself green and a novice. I learn at least 50 new things with each project, and hope to continue to learn a ton more. Look at is this way...the more screwed up your vehicle is, the more knowledge you gain by fixing it yourself.

Second: understand that with these trucks being 35-40 years old, many have changed hands more than 5 or 6 or more times. Everyone has to leave their "mark" on it somewhere. And trust that I have been yelled at by my wife enough to know the frustration of buying something that needs more work (read:money) than we initially budgeted.

Last: know that as long as this site is here you will always have support and guidance. I still ask the silliest questions on thsi site, and there are always folks that are willing to help....and they're really good about not making you feel like you never should've asked to begin with. These site members and supporters don't even know us, yet are willing to jump in and send help.

This concludes my mushy moment

Good luck, BigFishBobby and we are here if you need us.

Jesse

[BigFishBobby]

I am hoping this windshield thing is fairly minor. Since I work in the fishing industry (see username), I work dark til dark. I think I may go out tonight and put a flashlight on the floor board and see if I can spot any light from the wiper arm area. My suspicion is that I am going to find some rust right under the windshield seal. From what I hear, it is a popular problem on these trucks.

As far as a long term fix goes, is it recommended for me to try to pull the windshield and do the repair work myself? Seems as though this one might be one I would pay someone else to do with the right equipment, but heck maybe I am selling myself short.

[jimmydean]

I have to say, I am quite happy with the overall lack of problems I've had. I only paid $600 for my truck and as things need replacing, I see it as an "upgrade opportunity". by this time next year, my truck will be so well off, you wouldn't know it was 37.

[69TowRig]

Nice truck. Mine looked like a POS that needed a million things done to it. At least looks didn't deceive me, I have a ton of time and $$ into the thing and from a quick glance most that have seen it over the last two years don't recognize how far it has come.

Patience and luck be with you.

[68GMC454]

just once i wish i could start with soething this nice..good looking truck..mine wont look that good when im done with it..

[BigFishBobby]

Just came in from looking for leaks. Found some rust in the driver side heat intake vent. Very very minor. I am sure there will be some more under there, but my preliminary reaction is positive.

[shifty]

Hey Bobby,

Just caught your thread out of the corner of my eye, I'm not in here much anymore. Wish I still lived in Florida, could swing by and help out, but ... had to get the hell out of Dodge, because FL sucks! It was time to move on.

I just wanted to chip in some stuff here, since most of what I see above (I didn't read all of it) deals with the windshield leakage which is pretty popular in these trucks, as are all those great rust spots. Living in FL, getting that daily shower between 2-5pm doesn't help much, I'm sure.

The two things I wanted to comment on were this:

Swapping out your master cylinder is pretty easy. You can "bench bleed" the new MC when you get it to save a lot of hassle (search around for more info on bench bleeding), then it's as easy as unbolting the old one, bolting on the pre-bench-bled replacement, hooking up the brake lines and then bleeding your brakes. If you wanted to go the extra mile and spend ~$450, you could upgrade to power brakes. $450 should cover the following parts: (1) brake booster + master cylinder combo, (1) extended push rod (attaches to brake pedal to activate booster/MC), (1) new set of brake lines from www.inlinetube.com (get the power brake lines for your year). It's a bolt-on upgrade. It is a bit more involved. You will need to slightly bend some of the tubing to get it perfect, but ... the joys of power brakes are worth the time.

Second, I just wanted to say that electrical gremlins are a bane to us all. This is one of those things you can slowly fix here and there and HOPE TO GOD your truck doesn't burn down to the ground one day. OR, you can 'do the right thing' and get a replacement harness for inside the truck. There are several companies out there who sell replacement plug-and-play harnesses for a truck like yours. Ultimately, though, I would probably go with a Painless harness and install an upgraded fusebox to go with it. Yes, it will be a little spendy (few hundred bones), but ... Imagine what a stupidass you'll feel like if your truck burns down ... and the insurance company only values it at $1,000 or something

Last bit: Go get your truck appraised by someone who deals with classics as soon as humanly possible. Make sure your insurance company is covering it at the full appraised value so you don't end up getting burned.

I think all of the above are things people may not tell you and I hope nobody above has mentioned any of it.

This forum is a great place to ping people for ideas. We have a lot of FL members, and lots of members in the SE USA also, which is a definite perk. My family and friends are still down there (bradenton, stuart, leesburg, miami, tampa), so maybe when mine's up and running, I can take a trek down there and hang out with some of you guys. I'm headed down to hang out with the parents in about a week. Hoping weather is nice enough to trek out into the gulf and pull up some grouper

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by shifty

Last bit: Go get your truck appraised by someone who deals with classics as soon as humanly possible. Make sure your insurance company is covering it at the full appraised value so you don't end up getting burned.

I just saw pics of your truck in the TOTM thread. VERY NICE. Working the bugs out is the fun part

[BigFishBobby]

Thanks for the advice and compliments guys. I guess a lot of my frustration is that these things were unexpected. In the big picture, all seem fairly minor after hearing you guys advice.

[shifty]

There are some guys on here (esp. up north) that pay $1000-3000 for a truck that "isn't that rusty - just the cab corners, cab supports, rockers, fenders and floorboards". Your truck looks far from being that far gone. In fact, it looks pretty damned nice. If your stuff is well-intact, you can reach down in the rar cab corner pockets and not feel rust everywhere, and your area under your battery tray is relatively rust free, be happy.

Also - be aware of something. There is a guy named Ed that runs a truck shop named MotherTruckers down in Bradenton, last I checked (might have moved north recently?). He does a lot of work on these trucks, carries a lot of parts -- he might be a good guy to get in contact with.

[Jimbotronics]

Welcome to the board from Rockledge, Fl! Sharp looking truck ya got there my friend. You've found the best place there is for help and/or advice.