My Practice Restoration: 70 lwb

[VA72C10]

Nice work so far!

[Gobbles]

Thanks guys! I am doing a lot of learning and I am happy with most of the work I completed but the timeline needs to be sped up, I want to get body panels prepped for painting over the next 4-6 months, but that might be a pipe dream.

Also, does anyone know how I might go about straightening up my frame? I want to rid it of the porous, previously rusted look that it has. The paint makes it look better but it does not cure all the holes. Is there a common practice?

[RCbowtie69]

looking great, keep up the hard work,keep picture's coming.

[Gobbles]

Originally Posted by RCbowtie69

looking great, keep up the hard work,keep picture's coming.

You asked for it!

Well recently I have been preparing for my Air Over Leaf kit by painting the rest of the frame and all the suspension parts. I again did the POR15 thing from degreaser to top coat, so it takes quite a while considering I need to make a tent over my frame to get it to heat up and dry!

I have also ALMOST finished patching my frame, 8 patches so far and only 2 left! One of them is going to be a ***** to do, Ill put a pic of it up next time I head down but the other is already cut and ready to go. I just need to get my cross member in before I weld it in place.

The picture on the left is the top of the patch, the second pic, the one on the right, is the weld I did from underneith on the same patch. Since I don't have the luxury to flip my frame over, I have been slowly mastering the art of welding upside down! Also, for anyone considering doing inverted welding, COVER YOUR NECK!!! I got some pretty nasty neck burns once or twice before I smartened up.

Pics!

[Gobbles]

Final painting picture, this is of the rear of the drum and part of the axle. I was painting in the dark, so I can already see touch ups that need to be done. I had already planned for that though.

[VA72C10]

keep up the progress! Looking good!

[Gobbles]

Well I havent had a chance to do any work on my truck since my girlfriend came back to town, she is only here for a couple weeks and the girl is quite a treat to have around so I put the brakes on the truck.

I figured that wasn't reason enough to stop my thread though! I can still brag about the stuff I picked up for it over the winter season.

I finally got my Air Over Leaf kit from Ride Tech and can't want to install it! I have a few touch up welds and some paint to apply before I am ready but it shouldn't take more than a day including paint drying times.

I then couldn't pass up some of the great boxing day sales. I figured I want a stereo system in this truck when its all done so I picked up the some ultra clearance stereo equipment. I got a Pioneer deck with all the fixings, iPod, CD, MP3, ports for 2 amps, etc... Got a 1000W Mono Alpine amp (picture is of the one online, they actually oversold this and I can hopefully pick it up tomorrow). The final piece is a pair of 6.5" Alpine Type R speakers w/ 100W max.

I intend to run these pieces with a pair of column mounted tweeters, two 10" JL/Pioneer or Alpine subs, depends on pricing I can get, and a 100W per speaker multi channel alpine amp! It will be quite the system in the end.

I am a LONG ways off from installation of the electronics but I probably saved about $500-$600 by buying on clearance prices!

I will be up and running following January 9th and I will give'r to the max to make up for "lost" time. Thats a joke because girl>truck, shes a wee bit more satisfying!

[Gobbles]

So I made some reasonable progress with my old lady back at school, she wouldn't let me outside to work on the beast as long as she was around.

I welded in potentially my last rear end frame patch! Actually in the picture is the only place I am still considering patching, its that indented "pool" looking section just to the right of the new patch.

I then actually began putting it back together since I have most of the parts I need. I used gr8 bolts, but am considering a stainless gr8, do those exist? It didn't cross my mind when I ordered the gr8.

[Gobbles]

I also did a bit of a mockup of my Air Over Leaf setup but it looks like the airbag I have is a wee bit too big ~2". When I ordered it I expected it to be 8-9" as they claimed, I then read about 10.5" ride height, but this beast currently sits at a whopping 13" !! I am going to speak with them tomorrow to see if it will compress down with some weight and air in the bag. I really don't see it shrinking that much but we will see! I included a few pics of the mockup.

EDIT: Spoke with ridetech and they just said squish it into place and it should work out. I did that and the install went smoothly!

[Gobbles]

Some decent progress was made over the last week and this weekend. I finished all the welding/cleanup/painting on the frame and installed my Air Over Leaf system. It looks really good, super excited to take it for a short spin tomorrow.

I picked up a set of Monroe shocks part # 33033. The pics show them mocked up, I couldnt install them today due to paint requirements plus I forgot I cut the bottom bolt off when I pulled the old piece of junk ones out, so tomorrow im gonna get some nice grade 8 hardware and put'er together!

This airbag setup is my first experience with bags and though it was slow, I think it went well. I have good clearances and it feels nice and cushy.

[Gobbles]

I just reviewed my last post and you can really see all the dirt and dust that collects on nicely painted parts when you work outside. It definitely looks better in person and all cleaned up.

I did a fair bit of driving around this weekend running errands what what not. I spent about 4 hours on Saturday booting around. I met up with Gerry (Infanty) and got a full patch kit for shaving everything, light markers, filler line, door handles and box stake pockets.

I also picked up the amp I purchased on boxing day, a 1000W Alpine. I expect to run two 10" shallow kicker subs either under my bench seat or behind it.

Ill have more pics up tomorrow after the shock installation and some other small install pieces.

Cheers!

[Gobbles]

Well sorry about the delay in updates, I have been too hard at work to take pics!

I spent what felt like ages getting my bedsides apart, it took about 3 sessions of drilling and screwing around. I am actually considering writing a "how to" to take the bedsides apart. I did a lot of trial and error and it would have been nice knowing how others get em apart.

Anywho, the pics I attached show some of the spot welds that had to be removed. One is of the wheel well, one is of the end of the panel which would be closest to the cab and the final is an un-drilled spot weld, ie) what I was hunting for!

[Gobbles]

Next up here I have my box end piece, not sure of the actual name so it shall be referred to box end. I found that the bottomr 2 inches or so was all rotten and corroded, this is a common theme of the truck and the bottom 2 inches of all pieces will have to be replaced! Sucks, but whateva, I want it to last and I dont want to fork out 3 grand for a full rust free box.

So the first pic is of the whole panel with the new patch. I havent ground it all down yet but I did a small portion to see how it would come out. Looks good!

The second pic is of the back of the panel, unfortunately I didn't get great penetration so I have to run tacks along the back side as well. Also sucky but I expect to only make that mistake once.

The final pic is an attempt at the old bottom plus the lip, you can't really tell but it is all pitted and repairable only with bondo but it would never have been a nice metal finish.

Finally, I did finish my rear end, everything is bolted in minus a small part I am missing. Its painted too, I will get pics once I am done working on the body panels on my back end hah!

Also, ordered a gas tank relocating kit, gonna throw it under the frame rails.

Double also, I am going to cut wood for my bed this weekend, got some Rock Elm for cheap!

[VA72C10]

Nice work!!!

[Gobbles]

SO i finished working on my front bed panel just to realize that with the wood bed I am installing, I need a new one. Piss. I'm gonna get the Mar-K conversion kit after I cut my wood which should be starting next weekend.

[Gobbles]

So some decent progress,

got the seat and gas tank removed. My new tank should be in next week at which time I am also getting polished stainless strips for my soon to be wood bed.

Also, tomorrow I am ordering my steel-wood conversion kit.

[Gobbles]

So over the last week I started production on my wood bed with the help of a friend and his pop. His pop is seriously into woodwork and actually hooked me up with the wood.

We started with 4 X 2 inch thick rough cut pieces at about 136" long and 24" wide

The "fat" was then trimmed away and it was cut into boards using a skill saw, still 2 inches thick. We avoided the knots and cracks taking only the best wood for the planks.

Then the boards were cut in half using a giant rigged up band-saw. This is where we stopped for now. It is reccommended by GMC Pauls that we mock everything before we really give'r on cutting exact dimensions.

Over the next few weeks I am going to be experimenting with different coats to see what I like best.

[Gobbles]

Big update today.

So we had a bad spell of about a month of straight rain, this put a damper on my work. I then ran into trouble with the purchase of a new Daily Driver, a 2006 Nissan Frontier. Long story short, it is getting a new transmission and it will take about a month.

Anyway when I got back into it, I began working on the cab. The first few pictures are of the garbage I removed during the dismantle. Ive got the before and after of the ruined passenger side rear cab support. A shot of the body mount bolts. A shot of the emptied out dash. The last shot is of the passenger side, front cab support.

[Gobbles]

So I took off the inner and outer rocker first. I have a shot of the Outer, the inner is just as nasty. I the cut a bunch of rust out of the floor. I have the shots of the holes on the passenger rear, I then found a chuck of rust around the bench seat mount. So I cut that chunk out just to find more rust. It appears this is not a truck, but instead a ton of rust...

I am working on getting the patches but it turns out the 18 ga sheet that I bought is actually a 16 ga so I am going to get a sheet tomorrow.

[Gobbles]

So you can see the extra rust that showed up after the initial cut. I finished cutting that out and started on another chunk of rust on the cab floor. The last picture puts the patch sections into perspective. Expect more updates soon! Hopefully with the wood finished in the next few weeks!

[Gobbles]

So today I didnt have much time, about 2 hours. I picked up some 18ga and 14ga at a local custom sheet metal shop earlier today so decided to get started on the cab floor! I obviously need to start with the horizontal cab brace so I cut out 3 pieces to model the arc and a small sliver to fill the gap. I think it looks pretty good considering I haven't cleaned anything yet, just tacked it in and it should come out really good. I had to stop for the day but I will weld it up tomorrow. Here are some pics!

[Gobbles]

Looking at those pics, its not the most beautiful thing but it definitely looks better in person. The curvature is really close and it should turn out nicely after I weld it and cut 'er down.

[oldblue1968chevy]

Props to fixing the rust!!!!!!!!! Lookin good!

[Gobbles]

So I finally got my gas tank after about a month of waiting. So before I install it, it gets paint! I just used some spare POR15 that I had from the frame. It came out good, it caught some dust and what-not during drying but I don't really care, its just a tank. I still need to paint the bottom of it too, but that will be quick.

I pulled my passenger side door apart over the last week, no more glass, knobs, mechanisms etc... The glass took quite a while, it was the first door I have ever dismantled, I expect the drivers side will go much smoother. I am putting a patch along the bottom, the pictures show the ruined edge and bottom that needs replacing.

[Gobbles]

Remember that cab brace I was working on? I got around to doing some welding on it. It is coming along, not quite done yet but starting to take some decent shape. Unfortunately, due to the 14ga metal, it looks like I will need to run a bead along the bottom as well. I hate overhead welding... Anyway, I am happy with the way it is looking. The front edge looks sharp but the rear still needs some work.