Ol' Blue 1970 - It's Quite a Story

[olblue1970]

Greetings from Southeast Texas! Well, it is good to be on here. I look forward to learning much from the collective experience of you all.

My road to get here was quite interesting. You see, all of my life I have wanted to own a truck. But for some reason, it just never worked out. The reasons varied, but the outcome was the same - I was truckless.

Then suddenly last year, I finally got a break. I had been looking for trucks on Craigslist for some time. Since my budget was very small, I began to look farther and farther back until eventually I was zoning in on the 67-72 era. Since I was born in 1968 and my sister in 1970, those two years were special to me. Then one day, low and behold, I saw an ad from a man who was selling a 1970 Chevy C10, and he lived about 10 minutes from my house! I immediately went over and bought her on the spot. So here I was, 43 years old and finally I owned a truck! I couldn't have been happier.

On the down side, the previous owner wasn't exactly forthcoming about the condition of the vehicle. He said the engine had been recently rebuilt, but closer inspection revealed otherwise. Actually, most of the information he gave me on what the truck needed proved to be inaccurate. He said the carburetor needed rebuilt, but actually only the timing needed to be adjusted. He said the carburetor would cut out on you, but that proved to be a clogged fuel filter. Simple fix. Likewise, the wheel cylinders which he thought were leaking proved to be just fine. It was the master cylinder that was defective. It was so bad that braking was a real challenge. But those problems are all behind me now.


It is amazing what you can learn in a year. I plan to post pics of the project. Since my budget is rediculously low, the goal has been to prevent further deterioration, rather than the full restore I wish I could do. Also, I have a friend who has been a mechanic for almost as long as I have been alive. He helps me out on the really challenging mechanical stuff, and thankfully, he doesn't charge me an arm and a leg.

The first drive was memorable. The truck did die on me just as the previous owner predicted. Not having any idea why, and having no tools with me, I had to be towed home the last 3/4 of a mile. Ouch! But, I'm a quick learner, and we haven't repeated that again since. :-)

Here is what has been done in the last year and in chronological order to the best of my memory.

1. Engine throughly checked out. Cylinder #1 has a compression issue. The engine is a candidate for rebuild, but that will have to wait until later.

2. Engine timing is adjusted, and the 305 runs remarkably well considering her issues.

3. We found two fuel filters on this truck. At some point, someone added a second one near the gas tank. This suggests there is likely a lot of crud in the gas tank. When we examined that fuel filter, you barely could push air through it. We changed it out, and the engine hasn't cut out on us since. We also changed out the fuel pump, just to be on the safe side.

4. The truck continued to have issues cranking. No, the battery was in pretty good shape. It turned out to be the positive wire that connects to the battery. It was hanging on literally by a thread. A friend helped me clean up the battery terminals and properly connect the wires. Again, no serious problems cranking up ever since.

5. The next issue was braking. It was rediculous. The brakes were manual true enough. But, my first vehicle had manual brakes, and it braked a heck of a lot better that this. The culprit turned out to be the master cylinder. The rod in the cylinder was actually bent, making it very hard to function when the brakes were applied. So, we changed out the master cylinder and also added a power booster. Even though it has drum brakes, the truck brakes just fine now.

6. After this, I decided to give some attention to the body of the truck. It was rust city. I wish I had the original pictures that I took when I first got her. The doors and bed were rusted completely through in numerous areas. You could flake off the metal like a potato chip. The whole summer of 2012 was spend in researching and then repairing the rusted areas on the exterior of the truck. I am pleased with the results. Even though there are a few rust issues on the underside of the truck, as a whole, she is protected now. That's what I was shooting for, and that will have to do for now.

7. Up next? Painting. Well, when you are on a shoe string budget, you have to be creative. So, since I don't have painting equipment, I did the next best thing. The paint job is Rustoleum paint that is a mixture of rattle can and roll on application. Again, since the goal was to stop deterioration, I feel I have suceeded at this point. Perhaps I'll be able to do more in the future.
Most of the interior components I was able to clean up, paint and reuse. That saved me a lot of money. I did replace the rear view mirror, the dome light and the dash pad. Other than that, it's all painted and reused!

8. I noticed antifreeze dripping out of the truck. It turned out the be the heater core leaking. For now, I have bypassed it and simply returned the water back into the engine. Later, when the engine is rebuilt, I plan to replace the heater core.

9. Several months ago, the altenator went out. I was proud that I successfully fixed this problem myself by installing a new one.

The next big hurdle involves stopping fluid leaks. Motor oil leaks from the timing chain cover and the rear main seal. Additionally, the transmission leaks fluid from a seal and from the pan gasket. We changed out the gasket and yet it leaks. The pan has a slight dent in it, so perhaps that is the reason. I will get a new pan if needed. Probably, I will change out all the seals when we rebuild the engine. Oh, btw, the transmission is a T350 and it's one of the smoothest shifting transmissions I have ever experienced. If we can get the fluid leaks stopped, she will function just fine.

Oh, one last story and then I will post as many pictures of the project as possible. Last fall when I was painting, I began to notice spider webs on the underside of the truck on a daily basis. At first I ignored them. Since the truck was stationary, I expected a few to be there. But as the number of webs grew, I became concerned. One evening, my son and I decided to investigate. When we shined the flashlight under the truck, we spotted a Black Widow as plain as day. We quickly killed it. Then, I spotted another, and then another. That night, we killed a total of 16, and I was a little worried. In subsequent evenings, we would go out on what we could call "Spider Patrol", and we would always kill several each evening. We found them under the truck, in the bed area, inside the cab and in the engine area. There were even two different kinds of Widows -black and brown ones. Until then, I didn't even know there were Brown Widows. We made lots of jokes about it, but I wasn't happy at all. Let's just say spiders and I don't get along. By the time we erradicated them all, we had killed upwards of 100 Black and Brown Widows and dozens upon dozens of egg sacks. Hopefully they are all gone. Every time I see a web in the bed of the truck, I get a little nervous. :-) So, sometimes we affectionately call the truck the "Blue Widow".

I hope you enjoy the pictures of the project, and I look forward to posting more information along the line. Attached are early pictures of the project. Ol' Blue 1970 looks a lot different now. More pictures to come soon! I also look forward to learning much from you all. It's been a fun and interesting experience thus far, but I well know there is much more to learn.

Warm Regards,


OlBlue1970
Texas Gulf Coast

[olblue1970]

The first thing I decided to try to restore was the front bumper. Since I had a buddy that was going to help me on much of the challenging mechanical work, I thought I would focus my efforts on stopping the deterioration of the body.

1. Using a vinegar & water solution, I was able to get just about all of the surface rust off of the bumper.

2. Next, I primed the cleaned metal surface.

3. Lastly, I applied Rusteoleum white spray paint and the result looked quite nice.

[olblue1970]

After my initial success with the front bumper, I decided to try to help out the rear bumper. Well, let's just say the rear bumper wasn't as cooperative. It took three attempts before I got it right. The problem was the rust was much more invasive. I learned quickly if you don't get all the rust out, it will simply reemerge again through the new paint.

I stumbled upon something to help out with the rust problem. It is called RustMort. There are many products like it on the market that do the same thing. It neutralizes the rust and turns the metal into a surface ready for priming. After I applied that to the bumper, that fixed the problem and the result was quite sharp.

Although the bumper was damaged at some point in the past by a previous owner, I've decided to keep it for now. It's amazing how, even though it's a little banged up, it looks a hundred times better with the rust gone and a fresh coat of paint.

Oh, one other thing of interest was the number of bumper stickers on the truck. Removing them was interesting to say the least. Sometimes, they were two or three different stickers on top of each other. One I removed was an Indianapolis Colts sticker. The previous owner was from Virginia, but I wonder if the truck was previously in Indiana at some point in its life? It's like doing archeological work sometimes.

[olblue1970]

Here are a few pics of the newly painted grill shell. I used Rustoleum Metallic.

I noticed that on new grill shells, the letters are black. I was thinking about going back and painting the letters. But for now, it looks much better than before. It has a couple of slight dents, but not enough to worry about, especially since a brand new one goes for about $1000 if it has the Chevy letters on it.

Slowly, but surely it's coming along.

[olblue1970]

Next, I decided to prepare the rear panels of the truck for painting since they looked overall in pretty good shape. I had to do minimal prep work to get them ready to be primed. Since I don't have professional painting equipment, everything you see up to this point is rattle can. I really like the Rustoleum grey primer. It goes on so smooth and seldom runs. However, the Rusty Metal primer they make is a lot thinner and runs much easier. I used both on the project, but prefer the grey much more. Below are pics of preparing and priming the rear panels.

[olblue1970]

First, some pics of the cab and bed floor before I began working on them. One corner of cab roof had rusted through all the way to the interior of the cab. The hole was about the size of a dime on the inside of the truck. On the outside, the hole was patched, and I used some Rustoleum Leak Stop Flexible Rubber Spray to coat the drip rail. Be forewarned, that stuff is messy, so try to contain it. Clean up any overspray quickly. Having said that, it worked well, and the cab has not leaked since.

The bed area was in bad shape. "Rust City." At first, we tried the vinegar and water technique, but the rust was just too bad and deep. So, we applied RustMort to the whole bed area. It takes 24 hours to cure. It turned a washed out greyish color when finished. Then, we primed it.

[olblue1970]

Here's a few more pics of the bed floor preservation. Some patchwork had to be done to fill in the holes. I used a combination of fiberglass and bondo. Also, notice the color of the bed floor after the RustMort had cured for 24 hours. Then, the final primed product. Pretty cool.

[67cheby]

keep up the progress !

[olblue1970]

Once the cab and bed exterior was patched and primed, it was time to move on to the doors and front fenders. The doors were in horrible shape. Rusted completely through on both sides. Again, since I was on a tight budget, I decided to patch for now, instead of replacing them. I don't claim to be an expert on this by any means. However, the work was completed, and the rust was halted. The patch work looks decent, and with the new paint on it, you hardly notice it.

At this point, my 11 year old son began to tease me a little bit about the overall appearance of the truck. He said it looked like someone had vandalized it with graffiti. I laughed and said it looked like a spotted palomino pony.

[Katrina/10]

I like bondo!

[olblue1970]

Once all the body work was completed, it was time to go ahead and finish the painting. I really wanted to paint the truck red since that is my favorite color. However, the previous color had been dark blue. Since, I couldn't take all the body panels off, I decided to stick with the blue scheme. I went with Rustoleum Sail Blue. Honestly, I get complements every time I take it out for a spin. The color seems to work. Perhaps it is because we live on the coast next to the Gulf.

The paint application was combination of rattle can and roll on method. I found some helpful videos on YouTube and decided to give it a try. I think it turned out pretty good. Below, I will post pics of the exterior paint.

[olblue1970]

The Chevrolet lettering on the tailgate was a challenge, but I was determined to have the letters really pop. I'm pleased with the results.

[olblue1970]

Sorry folks...had an interruption. Here are the pics.

1st...painting progress.

[olblue1970]

Here are the pics of the tailgate lettering, as well as finished exterior pics.

I think the kitty approves.

Not bad for rattle can and rolling eh?

[olblue1970]

Originally Posted by Katrina/10

I like bondo!

It definitely helps when your budget is low. Thanks for replying.

[olblue1970]

Originally Posted by 67cheby

keep up the progress !

Thanks! I plan to.

[Tx Firefighter]

Neat truck but your cat is not impressed.

[olblue1970]

Having finished the exterior, it was time to proceed to the interior of Ol' Blue 1970. Everything was removed or disconnected except the bench seat. Very few parts had to be replaced, as I was able to restore most items. Exceptions were the dash pad, cargo light and rear view mirror. I also got new screws for the door panels. Everything else was cleaned and repainted. The interior was completely rattle can. Below I will post pictures of the process.

One door panel had a screw that had been stripped out. Removing that was a booger. I ended up having to drill carefully through the center of the screw. Then, she began to loosen up and finally came out. Believe it or not, that's one of my favorite triumphs so far.

[olblue1970]

Pics here include painting the glove box door, door handles, ash tray, and instrument panel knobs...ect. I little fresh paint does wonders doesn't it?

[olblue1970]

More interior pics...

[olblue1970]

More pics from the interior part of the project.

[shawno72]

Looks good

[olblue1970]

New defrost vents were installed, as well as a new rear view mirror and dome light.

[olblue1970]

Window visors were restored.
Tachometer reinstalled.
Heater control panel reinstalled.
New glove box liner.

[olblue1970]

Instrument Panel restored and reinstalled. Getting the speedometer cable hooked back up was hard as the dickens. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever go back correctly, but it finally did.

The window channels were all rusted out as you can see, so I changed them out and also installed new door lock knobs.

Painting the steering wheel sure made a big difference in my opinion. It really pops when you open the door. Likewise, I finally decided to remove the side view mirrors and restore them properly. I am so glad I did. I changed out all the screws which were mismatched and rusted out to all uniform stainless steel. It looks great!