Frankentruck

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by Johns 66

I love your paint booth!!!!

Thanks John. Gotta do what you gotta do sometimes!

[cwcarpenter98]

Ok, so I got the U bolts for the axle torqued down today. I think the axle was loose almost the entire time I've owned the truck There's a hole in our driveway, any there was always a metal-y noise going over it, but I thought it was the tailgate chains this entire time. I'm thinking now that it was actually the rear axle. At least I noticed it before the axle completely fell out!

Also, the parking brake works great now that the shoes are not getting covered in gear oil. The truck also seems to be stopping better as well. Should have done the seals a long time ago, but they are fixed now. I think I'm going to go for a nice cruise later this evening.

[cwcarpenter98]

Went for a cruise last evening to return my friend's torque wrench. Had a big scare when I was going down hill with no throttle input and then heard a big metal-y crunch. The engine shut off as well, so I thought that something in the overdrive broke. I pulled over and the engine started up just fine, so I drove in lockout mode the rest of the evening. I heard another crunch sound on my way out of my friends apartment, but the engine didn't shut off, so I kept going.

This morning, I pulled the overdrive solenoid to make sure nothing was broken on that end, and then I noticed the missing bellhousing to transmission bolt. After that, I noticed the hole in the dust shield At least the overdrive is ok!

Now to go pull the dust shield and see what other damage lies beneath.

[The Rocknrod]

Looks like you dust shield isn't flush with the bell housing either.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Looks like you dust shield isn't flush with the bell housing either.

The bolt coming out knocked that side loose. I guess I should replace the dust shield, but mainly, I'm glad it wasn't the overdrive.


Also, the bolt was in the dust shield!

[cwcarpenter98]

Put the new bolt in and while I was at it, I checked the other 3 bolts. 2 of the other 3 were also loose. Oops! Tightened them back up, topped off the gear oil in the trans, and took the truck for a test drive. Everything seems to be ok. In the past couple weeks, I have removed a bunch of rattling and vibrations that I didn't realize were not supposed to be there. Definitely could have had worse outcomes!

After that, I decided to finish up removing the old seals from the extra set of vent windows I picked up a couple of months ago. That was a pain to do because the rubber was so dried up that it just broke apart. I basically had to dig out what was left with a screwdriver. Got it all out eventually and made a big mess I'll be taking the two sets that I have, pick out the best parts from the two, and put the new seals in. New seals should make the wind noise go down a bunch which means it will be nicer to drive

[cwcarpenter98]

Got the side baffles painted and cleaned up and painted my extra set of vent window frames. Going to be putting the new seals and such in the door windows soon

[cwcarpenter98]

Oops, I made a giant hole! Learning how to repair rusty doors for the rest of this week

[flashed]

Keep practicing , Im gonna have plenty for you to play with later on .

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by flashed

Keep practicing , Im gonna have plenty for you to play with later on .

Sounds like fun! Hopefully I'll get it repaired before the c10 club meet this weekend

[cwcarpenter98]

Well, it isn't pretty, but it definitely is less rusty! Fixed up the corners of the door skins, so tomorrow will be putting the inner bottom back on

[pdxhall]

Good work. I have saved the door bottoms of Sanity for the last rust repair I have left to do. I'll be starting on mine as soon as I get some cooler weather to work.

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by pdxhall

Good work. I have saved the door bottoms of Sanity for the last rust repair I have left to do. I'll be starting on mine as soon as I get some cooler weather to work.

Thanks! We basically did the opposite Mine isn't real pretty, but it is functional and the door skin doesn't flap around like it did before

[cwcarpenter98]

Made a ton of progress today, but the door isn't done just yet. First two pics are fitting up the inner bottom. Second two are tacking up the panel.

[cwcarpenter98]

And here's after the first pass of welding. I did a bunch of tack welds to make it solid again. The last picture shows what's left of the metal work I need to do. The split that went up the door a good ways is a pain in the butt.

I'm not able to make it to the Georgia C10Club meet tomorrow, but I'd rather have the time to seal everything up on the door so I don't have to do this again. I might also throw a little bondo down where I put some weld to smooth it up and make it pretty

[cwcarpenter98]

On a happier note, my recent Ebay purchase showed up today! I finally got some hubcaps!!!!

These are in great shape, only one major dent on the whole set, and there's no rust through spots that I can see.

I think I'm going to sand blast these, knock some of the dents out, and give them a nice paint job. Or, I could just run them as is but clean up the back sides really well so that they don't rust out from the back side

[lobuck64]

Hey glad to see you getting some rust repairs done it's all looking good

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by lobuck64

Hey glad to see you getting some rust repairs done it's all looking good

Thanks man! It's slow progress, but still progress. I'm doing rust repair on bits and pieces that I can easily get done without having to tear the truck down for several months

[cwcarpenter98]

Over the rest of the weekend, I got the rust repair done on the door. It's not pretty, but it is functional and my door skin doesn't flop around anymore!

I painted the bare metal with some maroon primer, then some yellow and green to try to match what the rest of the door looks like as best as I could with rattle cans. The green I used was gloss paint, so I need to scuff it a little and knock down the glossiness.

Today, I made a round trip to Toccoa, so basically 4 hours of driving. Frankentruck did wonderful and was not tiring to drive since I put the steering gear on a couple months ago and actually have the rear axle bolted in tight. I definitely need some AC though

[roll_the_dice]

Looks good...once you scuff up the gloss paint, you won't be able to tell. Where do I send my doors?

[straight6chevyguy]

Looking good!

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by roll_the_dice

Looks good...once you scuff up the gloss paint, you won't be able to tell. Where do I send my doors?

Thanks! I'll be scuffing it up tomorrow probably. I still have to do the passenger door eventually

Originally Posted by straight6chevyguy

Looking good!

Thanks!

[kehstr]

With how that truck is right now. I would leave the exterior of those hubcaps how they are. I bet if you painted them They would look to out of place on the truck. For now that is

[cwcarpenter98]

Originally Posted by kehstr

With how that truck is right now. I would leave the exterior of those hubcaps how they are. I bet if you painted them They would look to out of place on the truck. For now that is

I agree, and that's probably what I'm going to do if I put the steelies that I have on before I fully restore the truck. I just have to drive the rest of the tread off the current tires before I can put the new tires on the steelies. Guess I gotta drive the truck a bunch more now!

[cwcarpenter98]

Did an oil change today on the truck. Had not done one since August of 2019, so it was definitely time Last time I did an oil change, I didn't have an odometer in the truck!
I'll be doing changes based on mileage rather than months now that I have a working odometer thanks to member TBONE1964

I've also been having an issue with the starter. I think the bendix doesn't always shoot out. The reman starter that failed on me still had a good solenoid, so I swapped solenoids. Seems like it got a little better, but I wouldn't be surprised if the starter ends up dying. I'm using the starter that was on the truck when I first bought the truck. I don't think the starter has been rebuilt, but if it has, it was done well before my time