72 Cheyenne Super

[geunther]

I (reluctantly) decided to pull the motor to detail the engine bay. It also gives me the opportunity to address any deterioration underneath the battery tray. It gave me the opportunity to continue on the documentation trail insofar as date codes on the components.

Starter number 1108427 (correct for 350/th350)
Date code: 1M21 (December 21, 1971). By all appearances it is the original starter.

Thus far I have not found any item that is not original other than the air/oil filters, battery, tires (and likely wheels).

Before pulling the engine, I thought the casting date was Dec 28, 1971, but now that I can see it better, Dec 26, 1971.

[LEEVON]

Glad to see you're still enjoying the truck. Did you drive it much before pulling the engine?

[geunther]

Yeah, I actually drove it quite regularly. Once I cleaned out the tank and rebuilt the carburetor, I have not had any issues. So, it was a dilemma whether or not to pull the engine as it was running fine.

However, the engine and tranny leaked so I wanted to get that corrected. There does not appear to be any sludge build up, except for very slight at the bottom of the oil pan as you would suspect because that never really gets drained out.

Transmission oil was bright red with only a slight dark film on the pan. The tranny pan is a factory unit with the drain plug so I suspect that led to frequent fluid changes being far less messy.

[geunther]

Like I am sure has happened hundreds of times on here, I thought I would detail the engine bay, fix some leaks, now here I am with the front sheet metal all off and now that I can inspect really well, I see that I have some rust to attend to.

Now do I pull the front suspension to detail all of that while I got it torn down this far....where to stop.

[geunther]

Sadly, I think my truck no longer qualifies as a survivor. But, I certainly couldn't keep it all original and watch it rot away. I will still document everything as I take it apart to repair what rust there is.

I pulled out the carpet today and removed the white foam and black asphalt padding (or whatever it is). I doubt that any company replicates this stuff so I can put the original back in if necessary, but it is becoming fairly delicate to move.

Date code is from underside of carpet.

[Old Money]

timing chain could have some slack after all other things are checked out.

[geunther]

Floors are all fine but will need to replace about one inch against the kick panel.

I have done plenty of body patching but most of that was on CJ7s, where, shall we say, the body is somewhat less complicated.

On the rocker in the pic, I was contemplating cutting where the line is, leaving the rear of the factory rocker in place, and patching from that point forward. My cab corners are fine so I have no need to go that far back.

My reasoning is all the fitment issues I hear about with the repair panels. But I tend to overthink things.

[May70]

The cab floor padding absorbs water and causes big problems. Would not suggest putting that back.

[SkidmoreGarage]

I am going through the process of rust repair myself. The best advice I can give is to let the truck tell you what to do. Do small cuts to find where the edge of the rust is, and leave as much original metal as you can. The old stuff is very thick, and can be ground back and still be thicker than the replacement. You will likely be surprised how much rust is hiding, and how much you can just patch with little pieces.

The other side of the coin is to make sure that whatever you remove and weld has sufficient access to do proper rust treatment and priming on the backside. These rockers were designed to rust though from the factory (I just don't think it was a consideration). I would not want to cut where you marked, unless it was required. You may already realize it, but the lower a pillar is probably pretty rough.

[geunther]

My bad for not explaining better. To the right of the line is the cab corner. I already have the front portion of the rocker cut off and can see back to the B pillar brace and can see into the cab corner, which all look good. Cutting to the line would allow me to treat the inside of the B brace.

[SkidmoreGarage]

Think I got it, yours looks a lot like mine, but I am just replacing the whole outer rocker (which fit like junk), along with the inner rocker, a pillar, and kick panel. If you already cut it- you don't gain or lose anything with regard to fit by cutting again. Do you have the replacement piece to compare the profile?

If you are looking for a recommendation, I would cut it after the outer rocker no longer sits on the inner rocker, this will reduce the chance that water will sit on the backside of your weld for extended periods of time. It doesn't make any sense to me that they spot welded through a slow drainage area on these trucks... I plan to panel bond this section. Another benefit of moving further towards the b pillar is that you can clean and patch more of the inner rocker.

[geunther]

I appreciate the input.

My panels have not yet arrived. If they appear spot on, that will, of course, change my plan. I like the idea of moving back to where the rocker lifts away from the inner.

I picked the current cut line because it is before the up curve. The inner floor area from about half way back looks good, except i cannot see the actual connection between inner and outer.

[SkidmoreGarage]

Just had a realization, I think you are referring to the rear cab support as the b-brace. If your inner rocker is in good shape, that will be blocked off (hopefully). On the rear cab support, the front set of holes is bolted but the rear is spot welded in multiple place, so you can't even pry it really. You can only see into your front due to the rust hole through the inner rocker.

Also, it's easy to get frustrated that your truck isn't what you expected in the rust department. Keep up the good work. These trucks all rust. They were never designed not to. I have convinced myself that non-rusted trucks exist in 2 categories ones that were stored indoors and never driven (luck+$$$) or the ones that have never been thoroughly inspected and get passed on as "no rust survivors" to people who don't know any better... Like me

[geunther]

Still not sure how I am going to proceed but I have the pillars braced and I am ready to whittle away and throw my truck in the trash one dustpan at a time.

First pic is looking down the rear pillar. The blobs are copious amounts of seam sealer from the factory. I can almost picture the line worker just dribbling away with the application gun.

The good thing is, the blobs protected the cab corners on both sides. Downside is I will have to sacrifice a good cab corner or a good rear cab support to get to the floor/inner rocker area.

The undercoating is also a blessing and a curse. By all accounts it was applied very early in the truck's life. I am not sure yet how to get it off.

[SkidmoreGarage]

I read this a few times as I wasn't sure exactly what terminology you were using, but maybe this is helpful.

I cut out my lower b pillar as the seam will not be visible once the outer rocker is on. Also, you don't have to worry about body lines and the cab support bolts locate it in space. Unfortunately, I also needed to remove the bottom of the cab corner.

Once I had a chance to start cleaning it out, I found it had a section that was filled with pinholes. Once the cab corner and pillar were removed, things were much easier to access, but still not easy.

[geunther]

I got the kickpanel and floor where I want it as far as the bad metal cut out. I need to decide what to do with the front cap support. It is not bad, but there is some pitting.

[geunther]

I removed the front crossmember as a whole unit to clean up. Originally, I was going to pull all the ball joints and powder coat everything but it looks like the original upper ball joints are still in so I will leave them. I had no issues with steering and the tires are wearing well and I could not find anything loose. Current plan is to powder coat the crossmember only and clean and paint up the UCA and LCAs. I can take those off fairly easy ones it is back together if an issue arises.

The factory spring tags were still in place. I looked for reproductions but could not find any. Also found some tag on one of the spindles.

[Ptjsk]

Just read the entire thread.

What an incredible truck! Love the documentation, and glad to see you're repairing the (relatively small), rusted areas.

While I have restored more than a few cars, and have powder-coated most parts, I took a bit different route on my Jimmy.

I would clean the parts. Most always using my sand blast cabinet. Cleaned the heck out of the frame, and then I just painted them with chassis paint.

I figured my Jimmy is closing in on 50 years old, and the factory paint has lasted this long, my new paint is definitely going to outlast me!

Again, beautiful truck! Thanks for sharing.

Pat

[geunther]

Title says it all.

[LEEVON]

Well that escalated quickly!

[geunther]

Yes, my situation went downhill quickly. No matter, move forward I suppose.

Originally I was concerned with making the top side as close to metal finished as possible. I switched gears because the top side is of course covered with carpet and the sill plate. I am now going to concentrate on making the bottom side metal finished as nice as I can. It just goes so slow.

The undercoating is on pretty thick. I am not sure what I want to do about it. It has preserved the truck fairly well. I have no plans to sell, but should I want to, I am sure the buyer would wonder what I was trying to cover up. I won't cover up the patch seam so I want it blended in as much as I can.

[geunther]

i got the left kick panel in. I think good enough that filler primer will take care of the imperfections. Now on to the bottom of the A pillar. It needed some fitment as usual.

[geunther]

Following others' advice I took lots of pics during disassembly which has proved to be invaluable. With the undercoating everything was well protected, though difficult to clean up. I was able to identify the original colors of brackets etc and save inspection marks/stickers.

I know most replace every bolt. I am the opposite and have put back every original bolt after cleaning and coating. Some were in original condition, while others had to be taken down to metal to get all the undercoating off. I did replace the brake lines, tie rods, and lower ball joints even though they were all in excellent shape. I did not replace the upper ball joints as they are original riveted in and still in good condition.

[Dieselwrencher]

It's looking very nice! You're fortunate enough that all your hardware came out and wasn't pitted so bad it needed replaced. Most of the stuff around here is severely rusted.

You made the comment of it not being much of a survivor anymore. You have to look at it like this. How many of the so called survivors had repairs over the years when they were getting driven? Quite a lot and they are still deemed survivors. I'd say your truck is more of a survivor than most even after some clean up and slight rust repairs. This just makes the truck that much nicer and means it will last that much longer. Keep up the great work!

[geunther]

Thanks Wrencher.

More documentation as I seal up the engine leaks. I was maybe going to shoot it orange today. I had the pan on with new gaskets etc and then I noticed the dreaded nylon timing gear. More disassembly to follow and ordering a new cloyes roller.

Heads were cast January 5th and 6th 1972.