Sparky's 1978 Silverado Build "Addiction"

[Woodyboat]

Please do not take this the wrong way...

From a certain point of view, it does make me feel good to read of other's troubles. It's not because I'm poking fun of you or anything. It's because it lets me know that I am not the only one that has these things go wrong! Honestly, I never cease to amaze myself at how I am this incredible genius at screwing things up. Believe me when I say this.. I feel your pain.

[Dads79GMC]

This afternoon I continued to work on the right side of the cab. As some of you know, JaysonB is working on my Dads79GMC; bodywork, paint and some miscellaneous odds and ends. While he works on Dad's, I'm working on the 78, kind of following his lead. Well, we're both having the same problem with the outer rocker panels, they are a tad bit short, width wise, and you really have to section them to make them fit. In my case, I sectioned it back by the cab corner; sliced and diced it, laid it back and have slowly made progress. As I mentioned earlier, this will be at least this trucks second makeover. Here are some pictures that tell the story.

Pictures:
1. Sliced open the front of the outer rocker panel and moved it forward to create a better gap with the fender. i will fill that section in tomorrow.
2. The last cab corner put on was extremely high; so high that it exposed what was left of the inner corner. So I drilled out the spot welds and took out the inner corner.
3-4. Here you can see that I'm starting to fit the inner cab corner. I still have about an inch or so of the cab corner patch panel to work with when I install it, so at least it wasn't that high.


More to follow:

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by Woodyboat

Please do not take this the wrong way...

From a certain point of view, it does make me feel good to read of other's troubles. It's not because I'm poking fun of you or anything. It's because it lets me know that I am not the only one that has these things go wrong! Honestly, I never cease to amaze myself at how I am this incredible genius at screwing things up. Believe me when I say this.. I feel your pain.

Woodyboat, we all have our moments!!

[Dads79GMC]

More pictures from today:

1. Put the door on to align the sliced piece of outer rocker panel with the door and fender. This picture is before I aligned it (duh) and ground it flush with the fender.
2. The piece that I cut off of the left side of the outer rocker is now welded in behind the inner rocker. As I'm typing this, I'm thinking I may have screwed that up and should have welded that section on the outside of the inner cab corner??? I'll check it tomorrow; it's wrong!! Anyway, should be simple to fill in the gap between the to pieces of rocker panel that were split to give me the room I needed for the proper alignment of the cab corner. Then I'll start fitting the cab corner, move the bed forward and back a few times while I align the lower edge with the corner and rocker like I did with the fender and rocker. Should be fun tomorrow.

Hopefully I'll be able to take this thing apart tomorrow and get the cab on the dolly and work on finishing the welds when it's off the frame. Then I'll start working on the frame etc.

Thanks Mike

[Dads79GMC]

Yesterday I spent the day gaining very little ground, however, I did get the corner somewhat in place.

Pictures:
1. Small turnbuckle!! When you're by yourself (not wanting to bother the family and all), you have to be somewhat creative when wanting to keep things in place; had to do just a "little" pulling too get some reasonable alignment with the bed!!! After putting the bedside back on I gained some alignment and it's gonna have to be good enough. The right bed side was bent in long ago, so when I correct that, hopefully it'll help???
2. Quick check of the cab corner.
3. Had to create a piece to fill in the gap created when I sliced and diced the outer rocker panel (covered earlier), and yes, it was welded on the wrong side - had to drill out welds and move the piece to the front.
4. Metal cut from the template; forgot to take a pictures of the new piece welded in.
5. Mostly welded in cab corner.

I think I can now take the cab off the frame, finally!!

Thanks Mike

[Dads79GMC]

One more picture:

[aggie91]

Its a lot of work, but your efforts are paying off. From the pictures, the alignment and gaps look good to me!

[Dads79GMC]

Last night after partially installing the cab corner and calling it quits, I slept on the fact that I was still a bit off on my cab corner, rocker panel (inner/outer) and kick panel. I knew that the inner rocker was about 1/4+ inch away from the inner cab mount and that the cab corner was out about the same!! I couldn't give in to the urge to not fixing it, even though I did say it was good enough last night......!

After work this afternoon I went out in the barn and grabbed a 1x1 square tubing (1/8 wall) and cut it at 42 inches. Then drilled two 1/4 inch holes through the tubing and clamped it to the bottom of the rocker and drilled through the tubing and into the rocker panel then attached two small turn buckles to the frame and rocker. I cut across the new outer rocker panel (horizontally) to allow for movement at that area. Keep in mind, I had not welded in the cab corner at the back of the cab, so movement was available there as well - also, no floor installed. I turned the buckles by hand and was able to draw in both the corner and the rocker approximately 1/4-3/8, and was able to get the inner rocker and inner cab mount to meet. After that, I finished tack welding the outer rocker where I had cut to allow movement, the cab corner at the back of the cab, and filled the spot welds at the inner cab mount and inner rocker junction.

BTW, the door needs aligned since i had it off today.

Pictures:
1-2 1x1 attached to rocker.
3. Turnbuckle, inner cab mount and inner rocker. This picture is after I tightened up the turnbuckles and drew in the outer rocker etc.
4. Before tightening the turnbuckle.
5. After tightening up the turnbuckle. If you look close, you can see at the bottom or the picture, the rocker has moved inward.

More to follow.

Thanks Mike

[Dads79GMC]

More:

1. Before (bad angle)
2. After
3. tacked-in back of cab corner.

Thanks Mike

[Jaysonb]

Everything on this truck will line up better than it did when it rolled of the assembly line! Good work!

[MrFinland]

Excellent work Mike!

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by Jaysonb

Everything on this truck will line up better than it did when it rolled of the assembly line! Good work!

Originally Posted by MrFinland

Excellent work Mike!

Thanks Fella's!

[Woodyboat]

I think the idea of using turnbuckles is an excellent one. I'm sure that they will come in very handy when I reach this point on my own project. And this is one very good reason why we support these forums and exchange ideas. Thanx so much for sharing, Mike.

For me personally, my biggest concern is going to be that my truck is a crew cab. I'm wondering how much more complicated it all will be. But I will know more once I get into it deeper.

Also, I think this is a good time to add this one additional thought. I'm actually looking forward to working on my truck because threads like this one have inspired me with confidence. I have very few personal friends who even understand why I would ever want to fix my old truck. They look at me like I had two heads and ask me, "Why don't you just buy a new truck?" So, I try to give them that same look in return and ask them, "Why in the world would you ever want to take on ten years of payments, interest and high insurance costs just to drive the same thing everyone else is driving? Where is your sense of individuality?"

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by Woodyboat

I think the idea of using turnbuckles is an excellent one. I'm sure that they will come in very handy when I reach this point on my own project. And this is one very good reason why we support these forums and exchange ideas. Thanx so much for sharing, Mike.

For me personally, my biggest concern is going to be that my truck is a crew cab. I'm wondering how much more complicated it all will be. But I will know more once I get into it deeper.

Also, I think this is a good time to add this one additional thought. I'm actually looking forward to working on my truck because threads like this one have inspired me with confidence. I have very few personal friends who even understand why I would ever want to fix my old truck. They look at me like I had two heads and ask me, "Why don't you just buy a new truck?" So, I try to give them that same look in return and ask them, "Why in the world would you ever want to take on ten years of payments, interest and high insurance costs just to drive the same thing everyone else is driving? Where is your sense of individuality?"

Woodyboat, great points and thanks for commenting - this is a great site. Also, there is really no way the full rocker assembly would have moved if I hadn't left so much undone, especially the floor. Had the floor been in, the rocker assembly would have just buckled or something like that.

Most everything I've learned I've learned on here and trial and error. JaysonB is now working on my Dad's 79 GMC and he's replacing much of what I did 11 years ago. Yesterday I found the original cab corner that I lopped-off of that truck back in December 2006. After looking at it, I noticed that all that needed replaced was the outer cab corner, not the inner, that was solid as could be, however, I just unknowingly cut it all off. Duh!!! So, that's is just one example of "by doing you learn."

Thanks Mike

[moregrip]

Originally Posted by Dads79GMC

Woodyboat, great points and thanks for commenting - this is a great site. Also, there is really no way the full rocker assembly would have moved if I hadn't left so much undone, especially the floor. Had the floor been in, the rocker assembly would have just buckled or something like that.

Most everything I've learned I've learned on here and trial and error. JaysonB is now working on my Dad's 79 GMC and he's replacing much of what I did 11 years ago. Yesterday I found the original cab corner that I lopped-off of that truck back in December 2006. After looking at it, I noticed that all that needed replaced was the outer cab corner, not the inner, that was solid as could be, however, I just unknowingly cut it all off. Duh!!! So, that's is just one example of "by doing you learn."

Thanks Mike

Hey Mike, so was the rocker sitting to far outward such that you couldn't get an acceptable panel to panel plain? or was the lower weld seam (or whatever its called/pinch weld maybe) kicked out at and angle such that it did not maintain the correct body panel arc?

thanks man! any way you slice it, the perfectionist in you is starting to show! and I like it!

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by moregrip

Hey Mike, so was the rocker sitting to far outward such that you couldn't get an acceptable panel to panel plain? or was the lower weld seam (or whatever its called/pinch weld maybe) kicked out at and angle such that it did not maintain the correct body panel arc?

thanks man! any way you slice it, the perfectionist in you is starting to show! and I like it!

Yes Sir! Also, the cab was off line with the box at the bottom line. This move corrected the panel to panel as you spoke of and improved the alignment with the box, that will remain good enough!!. I'll now have to remove a couple shims on lower part of the fender so that'll align as well..

Thanks Mike

[Dads79GMC]

I've been working with an Army Guard unit in Bismarck ND since Friday. Glad i have my security camera now set up. My 17 year old was in there the other day looking for tools to work on his antique gun(s) and the camera snapped a pic of him and notified me of the movement!! It's on battery backup (UPS) so if the power is cut it'll still operate. Also sends images to the cloud! Love it. Didn't really have a time to clean up the garage before I left, it's a mess.

Mike

[erichevy]

This is becoming my favorite thread on the entire site! I'm tuned in for sure

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by erichevy

This is becoming my favorite thread on the entire site! I'm tuned in for sure

Eric, thanks much for the compliment!!!! I’m getting the shakes to get back in the garage, been in DC for the last few days visiting friends and the Capital with my wife and our last two kids that are still home with us. I’m hoping to get more done this weekend, even though I have other work to do . Thanks Mike

[Dads79GMC]

So, I thought I'd get a lot accomplished after returning from a short trip to DC, but, it didn't happen. I wanted to get the front suspension totally taken apart, cab off the frame after tacking in the floor, tearing down the rear end and welding in the Built-by-Boyd LWB to SWB brackets; didn't happen quite that way!!!

Pictures of what really got done:
1. Friday afternoon I made a sandwich, started to enjoy it, when suddenly my front tooth fell out!!!! I first knocked out three front teeth in 1983 while Pole Vaulting in High School and then had them recapped in 2004....well, that one lasted 14 years..OK! So that shot my Friday night!!
2. Adjusted the driver side to better align the lower door and outer rocker with fender. The Harbor Freight jack tool, or whatever it's called, is awesome! Also, sliced the forward outer rocker as I did on the passenger side and welded in a filler piece, I'll clean it up later.
3 Started tearing into the rear end. Got the leaf springs off and the shocks.
4. Pile of crappy parts from rear end.
5. Picked up a second 350 trans from a buddy of mine as an extra down the road.

More to follow!

[Dads79GMC]

Follow-on Pictures:
1. Took cover off rear end to inspect, was going to remove axles, take off backing plate and brake assembly in order to rebuild/media blast etc. Well, that didn't happen because when I removed the retaining bolt that holds the rod (whatever it's called) it came out easy, however, it was snapped and the rest of it is inside, thanks somebody along the way; so much for pulling the axles and getting the other stuff done.
2. Not being able to go any further on the rear end, I transitioned to the disassembling the front suspension. I got real tired of trying to do it meticulous and right, I went ahead and cut the out tie rods in half, cut the brake lines, took off the shocks then unbolted the u-bolts on the lower control arm; it went to the floor rather easy. I then removed the nuts holding the upper control arms to the crossmember and slid the upper/lower control arms, still attached to the spindle away. I then repeated process on the other side.
3. Pile of parts.

I'm done for the night, nothing seems to be going my way, it happens. Have to work with an Army Guard unit tomorrow here locally, so nothing will get done until maybe tomorrow night???? I need to get the floor in and the cab off the frame.

Thanks Mike

[Dads79GMC]

Any ideas on getting the bolt out of the carrier. Can't do much until I get that out?
Thanks Mike

[Dads79GMC]

Last night I ordered this: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/yga-56061/overview/
Hopefully it'll work. A little pricy, but, what can you do? Mike

[Dads79GMC]

Worked on fitting and tacking in the passenger floor tonight. Seemed much easier than when I 11 years ago!!! No overlap weld this time around. Taking my time and slowly butt-welding in the floor.

Pictures:
1. Put a 16ga plate at the intersection of the floor brace and cab support and plug welded in place. Seems like the right thing to since the original floors have??
2. Used self-tapping screws to affix the floor to the appropriate surfaces. This allowed the piece to press against what is left of the existing floor, cab support and floor brace. I then crawled under the cab and scribed around cut floor, frame brace and cab support. This gave me a pretty good fitting panel after it was cut. Was also able to more accurately drill my holes for plug-welding as well.
3. Under cab view of self-tapping screws from the bottom and fitment.
4. Plug welding floor to floor brace, cab support and started tack welding the new piece to the existing floor.
5. Another pic of under the floor after plug-welding.

More to go. Would like to get the driver side done tomorrow. Hopefully what I learned tonight will speed along the process tomorrow.

Thanks for looking. Mike

[Jaysonb]

Looking good Mike!