68 C10 SBSS build - start to finish

[Vic1947]

Thanks, Brian. Looks like you have some work ahead of you also! Good luck, I'll be watching your build.

After welding the passenger side cowl back on, I noticed a few tiny pinholes I'd missed while fixing the kickpanels and the underside of the outer cowl. Lots of times when trying to weld pinholes with a TIG, it turns into a goat rodeo. So what I did was use aluminum tape like HVAC techs use on heat ducts to seal those areas. Used a plastic squeegee to nail it down and then sprayed undercoating over it for an additional layer of protection. Not quite as sturdy as roofing shingles, Steve, but a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I hope that years down the road I don't regret it, but it seems like a durable solution.

Repaired the driver side cowl much the same as the passenger side, although it took more work on the rain diverters as they were nearly gone. Then with the work done on the outer cowling, I was able to fit the final patch for the pinchweld flange into place.

[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Thanks, Brian. Looks like you have some work ahead of you also! Good luck, I'll be watching your build.

After welding the passenger side cowl back on, I noticed a few tiny pinholes I'd missed while fixing the kickpanels and the underside of the outer cowl. Lots of times when trying to weld pinholes with a TIG, it turns into a goat rodeo. So what I did was use aluminum tape like HVAC techs use on heat ducts to seal those areas. Used a plastic squeegee to nail it down and then sprayed undercoating over it for an additional layer of protection. Not quite as sturdy as roofing shingles, Steve, but a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I hope that years down the road I don't regret it, but it seems like a durable solution.

Repaired the driver side cowl much the same as the passenger side, although it took more work on the rain diverters as they were nearly gone. Then with the work done on the outer cowling, I was able to fit the final patch for the pinchweld flange into place.

cool metal work. looks great

[Vic1947]

By April, I was reassembling the parts and pieces painted and polished by Mike and Bruce at Precision Collision. Mike shot a Lexus silver color using a water based basecoat, baked it in the booth then shot several coats of urethane clear. After it cured, Bruce wet sanded the clear and polished it out to give it the final gloss.

We carefully transported all the panels back home and stored them in the basement room next to the workshop. Before sending out the panels for paint, I had cut all the spotwelds and removed the mild steel angle from the bedsides. I then welded in polished stainless angles in their place. I prefer this to the angles that are meant to cover the stock pieces, which were on the truck when I bought it. I was able to sell many of the unused parts at a couple of swap meets, which helped a lot.

I then began to lay down the thermal barrier and sound deadener from Eastwood. I like their material, it's pretty easy to work, very tough and sticks like crazy. I butted all the seams as close as possible and worked it with plastic trim spatulas. I then covered the seams with aluminum tape.

[Vic1947]

While the body panels were at Precision, we took a side trip down to Rolla, MO to pick up the seat, door panels and visors from Little Sid's Upholstery. As with the paint, I'd talked to a few places aroung KC about having them refurbished. The shops we spoke with were backed up over a year, so we took them down to Little Sid around July, 2011. One of my good friends, Jim Butery has used Sid for many years on his projects and he does nice work very reasonably. He used a faux leather material (I've heard it called "pleather") that worked well with the body color. Nice thing about silvers and greys are they can be mixed and matched easier than a lot of other colors.

John at Precision Collision sent his windshield man over to the house to install the front and rear glass. He did a great job and saved me from a potential boo-boo. When he found out I was using an aftermarket rubber seal, he asked to see it before he came over. Turns out, he'd installed a couple of front windshields using the type I'd bought with poor results. The rear seal was fine but he insisted on using a front seal from his supplier. You could see and feel the difference. It fit and looked great, so I was really glad he'd spoken up about it.