Project Lazarus bringing a 72 SWB K10 back to life

[Rust_phoenix]

This project began in 2011 when i found a 72 Cheyenne SWB K10 on Craigslist, i replied to the ad and found out it was located near a little town in southwest Washington called Ethel, the owner said the truck was definatley a project and not a runner, he did not know why it would not run, but said it was all there with a 350 small block TH350 trans, a 4" Rancho lift and new 35" tires, he said the cab and front sheetmetal had a lot of rust and would need a lot of work. he told me he had dealt with a lot of "Craigslist Flakes" who called and said they were coming to buy it but never came, i told him i was very interested and would be there the next day with a trailer near noon here is what i found, sorry for the blurry pics

[Rust_phoenix]

Needless to say i kept my word and made it there like i said i would and it looked much better in person, the owner was a Chevy nut also and had some nice square body trucks that he had built, and said he really wanted to keep the project but couldn't afford it and was going backwards from what he paid for it, he said it was a local truck and had been sitting for a while, the guy before him had given it to his son who promptly ran it into a local lake, he had plans on fixing it up but never got around to it, well long story short the story seemed legit the truck looked promising and we shook hands and the next thing you know i own a truck

[Rust_phoenix]

So i promptly started with a good pressure washing, and began tearing it down to see how bad it really was, well......... i got about 2 gallons of water out of the oilpan when i pulled the plug on the engine, not good! another gallon between both differentials and t-case, and the trans fluid resembled a strawberry milkshake, but did not smell like one! oh snap! what did i get my self into nonetheless i said to myself, "don't give up you can do this , just gotta believe in what you want this truck to be, and stay on it till it's done"
i needed a donor vehicle so i had a 87 el camino project that i swapped for a 70 C10 LWB, 2 days later i traded that for a 70 GMC 3/4 ton 4x4 that was a sweetheart but had a rusty bed, a co worker wanted it really bad, and said he would trade me a 76 rusty stepside shorty 4x4 for it that had an excellent running Goodwrench 350, a TH350 trans, 205 transfer case 3:73 running gear and a rust free 69 cab and frame to go with it, Done i said
Well fast forward to earlier this spring and it started to look a little more like a truck!

[Rust_phoenix]

The cab I received in the trade was a low hump, had a nasty dent on the top, had had an engine fire, blazer doors mounted to it but was actually fairly solid. using my original cab for a donor, I stripped it of all the little bits I needed and promptly turned the new one into a 72, I added the driver’s side door vent, the rear courtesy lamp, the cable style gas pedal, removed the behind the seat fuel tank and filled the hole, cut out the hump and welded in attachment nuts for the cover. The bottom received spray on undercoating, found another donor 72 cab and front sheet metal for 300 bucks! it had perfect door shells a good hood, drivers fender upper chrome trim and the obligatory passenger fender with the factory designed battery and coolant ventilation rust holes I filled the rear view mirror holes and and a little body work later it had a coat of epoxy primer.

[Low Elco]

Man, that's really come along! Love the ones where it's all swappin'. Good Luck!

[Rust_phoenix]

Thanks Low Elco!
it has come a long way. too bad i dont have more pics of the early work i did, lost them on another computer that died. you have done some very nice work youself.

[Rust_phoenix]

Thought i might show a pic of the SPID, I really like the look of the 523 dark blue paint, so i am considering going back close to that, but i also love the Hugger Orange and white trucks too

[Rust_phoenix]

I know i have jumped around a little, i did strip it down to the bare frame and axles scraped and painted everything, threw in the 3:73 gears new bearings, seals all new brake hardware and replaced the shocks, replaced the tie rod ends, all u-joints ect.
on the Goodwrench 350 i installed an Edelbrock 2101 camshaft, lifters and 2102 aluminum manifold, rebuilt quadrajet 4bl HEI dist and headers

[Rust_phoenix]

I then moved on to the rusty bed floor.

[Rust_phoenix]

I had some remains of a rusty 70 GMC bed that i used for patch panels, i am learning to not throw anything away just yet extra parts do come in handy
after using an air scaler to remove the old undercoating the patching began.

[Rust_phoenix]

A buddy from work was nice enough to loan me his little Lincoln 110v welder it has worked awesome for all the repair work i have done.
since i installed a blazer poly tank i of course also needed to notch the bed rail.

[Rust_phoenix]

A few more showing the carnage.

[Rust_phoenix]

Finished up the drivers side and moved over to the passenger side, needed a filler tube, so i welded some exaust fittings from the local Autozone together and Viola!

[Rust_phoenix]

I had to notch the bed floor a wee bit for the fill tube, i snagged the fill door and tube off of a 91 S10 pickup, iturned out pretty good i think, i painted both sides of the floor with POR15.

[Rust_phoenix]

My drivers side inner bed panel was full of cancer too, so it went into surgery right away, i again used the longbed donor pieces for some emergency skin grafting.

[Rust_phoenix]

More of the same repair.

[Rust_phoenix]

The front lower corner was a little drafty so i took care of that and moved on to the fuel fill door.

[Rust_phoenix]

Measure twice cut once, right?

[Rust_phoenix]

After i was satisfied with the fit, on went the panel clips, and i welded it in slowly, taking time and cooling the panel with an air nozzle to keep the warpage at bay.

[Rust_phoenix]

Few more.

[Rust_phoenix]

The inside weld was not to pretty but structurally sound, gonna be hidden so i did not grind them down.

[Rust_phoenix]

After treating the rust on went the inner panel.

[Rust_phoenix]

Threw on some primer and put it on for a trial fit.

[Rust_phoenix]

I had som metal leftover from the donor bed so i bent a cover to match the lines.

[Rust_phoenix]

Next up was the passenger side. i drilled out the spotwelds and again used the logbed donor parts.