71 Cheyenne driver resto!

[myyamr7]

After searching for quite a while, I finally found a truck local to me that was worth fixxing with a limited budget. I looked at several prior to purchasing this truck and most had way more rust and problems...and owners still wanting all the money for them.
I knew finding a solid truck in the New England area would be expensive, so I wasn't all that surprised by the prices.
I had watched this truck on a local craigslist add for a month before I responded to the add. I forgot the original asking price, it was somewhere around 7k when I first saw it. After 3 weeks of back and forth emails and a trip to look at the truck, I ended up buying it the day before Christmas for $5k. I was ok with what I paid for it, some say I got a great deal, others say I paid to much.
The truck is a 1971 Chevy c10 Cheyenne LWB, solid truck that started it's life in Virginia. 114,000 miles according to the paperwork in the glove box, with a new GM Goodwrench 350 installed at 110,000 miles.
Everything worked perfect and the truck drove like a new vehicle. 350 V8, TH 350 automatic, AC, PS, PB, Sport Truck option, etc.
My plan with the truck is to take it apart and stop all the rust and replace whatever rust/rot I find.
Here's what I started with, the day I took it home!

The interior is very clean and will need very little work to restore

[71K20chevy]

If my dog stood on my seat I'd boot him out!

Seriously though, awesome truck!

[myyamr7]

First step was to get the bed and bumper off. I want to replace the step/tow bumper with a sport chrome bumper when I put it back together.
I was amazed there was no rot at all on the bed, some scale on the underside of the floor, but it cleans up nice.
The only rot I found on the frame are the 2 front bed support posts. They still seem sound and strong, not sure if I'll replace them or not?
I stood the bed on end on some stands so I could move it around, I'll wire wheel the heavy rust, then sand blact the rest off. It should be easy to work on that way I would think.
I also need to replace the cab corners and rockers. I'll get betetr pictures, but I'm sure i'll be asking for some advice on how much of the cab corner to replace?

[myyamr7]

Originally Posted by 71K20chevy

If my dog stood on my seat I'd boot him out!

Seriously though, awesome truck!

Haha, the seat looks better in the picture than it is.
Thanks for the compliment

[myyamr7]

The cab and front clip were next to come off. I pulled out the seat, removed the carpet, steering column, doors and the fuel tank. The floors surprised me, they look very solid. A closer inspection and there are 2 small spots on both sides that will need a little work where the front floor supports are. There's about a quarter sized soft spot on both sides.
The front clip came apart ok, but still had to cut some of the inner fender bolts. I also found that the PO hacked the passenger side inner fender and core support. Under the battery where they all rot, he must have welded a patch from the inner fender to the core support. I'll end up replacing the core support and that inner fender, all the mounting holes on the lower core part are rotted away.
There is also some rot on each side of the cab where the air vents are, looks to be an easy fix and is hidden by the fenders.
The rot spot near the brake booster seems to be a bit more involved to clean up and repair. Any advice on that?
I haven't pulled the glass yet, but all signs look good as far as no rust and rot around the windshield.

[myyamr7]

As it sits now, it's just a frame in the garage. I got the cab off, the engine and trans out, and I powerwashed the layers of oil and dirt off the front end.
I orded a bunch of parts last weekend, hopefully they will be here soon.
I'm going to use rust bullet on the frame, underside of the bed, and cab. So far, most metal I've hit with a wire wheel on a 4" grinder, has cleaned up nice. I do have a small sandblaster for the hard to reach areas.
I ordered a complete new body mount kits with bolts, same with the bed, a bunch of new cab firewall gromets, right and left front floor supports for the cab, a complete stainless brake line kit, new stainless fuel lines, and new stainless transmission cooling lines.
One thing I forgot to order, was new power steering lines, but I'll catch that on the next order.
I'm tight on space, so I hope to get the frame cleaned up and painted, get the engine cleaned and painted and put pack in the frame and I'll probably have to leave it outside and covered while I do the work to the cab.
The engine looks a million years old on the outside, but the inside is pretty clean

[yote1234]

looks like your on your way to emptying your wallet! nice start.

[468BIGBLOCK]

looking good!!

[myyamr7]

Some progress. After a week of powerwashing, sanding, wirewheeling, then powerwashing again, I was finally able to coat the frame. I used Rust Bullet, 2 coats of the silver primer, then 2 topcoats of gloss black. I'm pretty happy with the results, it's a nice thick and hard coating!

I also got the engine cleaned up and painted. Put the new motor mounts on and replaced the spark plug heat shields. I'm going to a marine store tomorrow to get all new stainless bolts for the exhaust manifolds...actually I have quite a large list of stainless bolts to buy for the rest of the truck!

Hopefully in a couple weeks, I'll have the engine back in, exhaust, brakelines, translines, fuel lines, etc...everything frame related complete. Once it's done, i'll put it off to the side, cover it and start the work on the cab