Avoid the Concrete

[Low68]

Hello everyone. Yet another build thread amongst the masses of awesome build threads. I have really enjoyed reading through other member's build threads and on the advice of some of my friends, decided to go ahead and do a rebuild thread.

A little background on my truck before I start. I got this truck when I was 16. A couple years after I got it, my dad and I stripped it down, got everything stripped to bare metal and build it back up. Over the years, I made some changes. I ended up with the goal of making a truck that handles well. My brother convinced me to autocross it and I got hooked on it. I had it handling pretty decent for having the stock suspension setup on it. This past November, I was participating in an autocross and wrecked the truck. It basically boiled down to bad driving. Smashed the front end of the truck pretty bad. I walked away fine, but the truck didn't.

Here are a couple recent photos of it.



Here is the aftermath that bad driving can cause:

[Hardesty454]

Sorry to hear about the truck. Glad you walked away fine. What are your plans on the rebuild?

[Low68]

I stripped the truck and did some measurements on the cab. It looks like the cab is salvageable. The floor did get bent up slightly, but I believe I can fix it. It doesn't look like the cab is twisted, which is what I was worried about. I decided to get the cab media blasted and start over on it.






Cab should be back from blasting tomorrow and I will start the repairs and upgrades on it. I decided to pull the inner skin out of the cab for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to spray heat insulator on all surfaces of the cab. I live in AZ and it gets hot in the summers. Second reason is I am thinking of trying to hide a roll cage inside the roof skin. Not quite sure if that will work as I am hoping, but time will tell.

[JointTech]

i dont think that will buff out.
what did you hit. I thought those autox tracks were safe in the middle of a huge parking lot or air strip.

[Low68]

I have been wanting to do some chassis modification for quite a while now and was going back and forth for a while on whether to attempt to build my own chassis or use the factory frame rails as a starting point. Since my frame was ruined, I could no longer use my frame as a reference for building my own frame, so I decided I would just buy another frame and use the factory rails as a starting point. I have been talking with a local guy who said he could get me a frame for a reasonable price. I decided I would purchase the No Limit Wideride kit and their Fat Bar 4 link kit. I have wanted big brakes and rack & pinion steering for a long time. I liked it for the coil-overs as well. Mine came with the Ridetech single adjust coil-overs. I decided that I should be realistic and figured the triple adjust would be overkill for me. I will probably regret it later. I also purchased the rear rail kit from No Limit as well as a new gas tank that fits the rails. I drove out to CA and picked up the parts from No Limit. More pics:

[Low68]

Sorry to hear about the truck. Glad you walked away fine. What are your plans on the rebuild?

Plans at this point are to rebuild it pretty similar in style to how it was. I am planning on doing a lot of stiffening to the frame and attempt to lighten up things where reasonable. I want to lower it a bit more and am going to be putting 10" wheels up front and either 10" or 12" wheels in the rear. Like I mentioned earlier, I am seriously considering doing a roll cage in the truck. I will be putting in four point harnesses and some Corbeau LG-1 seats. I am considering moving the engine back a ways and plan on doing an aluminum core support that is moved back a few inches. As far as the motor/trans, I will be putting the 383/tko 600 back in it once I verify that they are alright. I turned the motor over by hand and it spun freely, but I have not checked it any further than that yet.

what did you hit. I thought those autox tracks were safe in the middle of a huge parking lot or air strip.

I hit a couple of these:


It is pretty safe as long as you don't lose control in the wrong spot like I did.

[fatgump]

Subscribed.

[Low68]

I got the cab, doors, and cowl back from media blasting on Thursday. I was planning on starting to do some work on the cab today, but ended up making a cart to roll the cab around on instead. The previous cart we had was 2x4 and did not fit well. The new one will bolt to the cab and should keep it level. I took some pictures of the cab. I also ordered some new seats a while back and those came in today as well.

[builtbyKane]

It sucks you wrecked it. I'm sure that was tough but atleast your ok and the truck I'm sure will be even better this time around. A lot of good looking parts so far.

[Tom Vogel]

Some of those autocross track setups are way too tight and cramped for large vehicles.

[knomadd]

That sucks. Glad you're okay and able go rebuild it. I like your plan for rebuilding it. Keep us updated as you go.

[Low68]

I am planning on doing some work on the firewall to clean it up some. When I did the firewall previously, I had just welded a flat piece of sheet metal on the outside of the firewall. I wanted to get rid of all the extra layers, so my plan is to cut out the firewall and put in a new one. I started by cutting out some of the unnecessary sheet metal.



I didn't get too far on the cutting. My first major step will be getting the cab floor straightened back out. Once I get the floor straightened out, I will start doing the modifications. I spent the rest of last night trying to figure out what my plans are for the cab.

Today I went and picked up a frame. It is not in as decent of shape as I had hoped, but it was a great price, so I figured I could try it and if it didn't work, I wouldn't be out that much money. It came as a rolling chassis, but I am going to strip it down and give the guy I bought it from all the parts I take off since I have no use for them.




The passenger side frame rail under the cab is a little bent up. So I will need to try to straighten that out before I do anything else with the frame.

[sduckworth13]

Very nice build, I like how you took the whole inner roof out to clean it up. I'm doing a similar repair on my roof. I should have took the whole inner skin out. I only took the inner roof skin out and left the skin around the back window on. I'm going to go ahead and take the other section out after seeing yours. It will make it easier to attach the outer skin back on also. I took it off also because I botched a simple antenna hole repair. Keep up the great work.

[gdavis]

to bad about the frame. I noticed the horns were bent pretty good.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Cool build. Don't beat yourself up too much for wrecking it. Sounds like your truck got more use than most get in 10 years. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

[Low68]

Very nice build, I like how you took the whole inner roof out to clean it up. I'm doing a similar repair on my roof. I should have took the whole inner skin out. I only took the inner roof skin out and left the skin around the back window on. I'm going to go ahead and take the other section out after seeing yours. It will make it easier to attach the outer skin back on also. I took it off also because I botched a simple antenna hole repair. Keep up the great work.

Thanks. I was expecting it to be a lot more difficult to get it out than it was. After drilling all the spot welds, I only had to cut the very front corners of the roof skin to get the whole inner skin out as one piece. A little patience and prying and I got the skin to fall on top of me. Then I had to call someone over to help me get out from underneath it

to bad about the frame. I noticed the horns were bent pretty good.

Yeah, the frame horns on the old frame are pretty much destroyed. There were several spots where it tore the top and bottom edges of the frame rail. The frame was twisted and buckled underneath the cab as well.

Cool build. Don't beat yourself up too much for wrecking it. Sounds like your truck got more use than most get in 10 years. I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

I am trying to look at it from the positive side. There were a bunch of things that I had wanted to do to the truck for a long time, but either couldn't justify because I didn't need it or it just was a bad time. All of those things that I wanted to do I am now doing. I am really looking forward to getting it done and driving again.

[Low68]

Yesterday and today I have been slowly stripping parts off the frame. I had forgotten how annoying the crusty old bolts can be to get off. Most of the bolts I end up just cutting off.




I am going to be getting the frame media blasted to clean it up. I am planning on removing all of the factory cross-members prior to stripping. I am planning on building tubular cross-members and don't want to have to clean up where the factory cross-members were attached, so I am taking off as much of that as I can before media blasting.I started removing the cab mounts and got one side done. I will be working on getting the other side off tomorrow.



The frame I bought was really cheap because it was bent up on the passenger side frame rail under the cab. I cleaned up a small area and heated it up with a torch to see if I could straighten it out. It seemed like it would come out alright, so I will continue stripping down the frame, get it blasted, and then finish straightening the rest of the frame. I forgot the get a before picture, but the area on the right of the photo below had a dent up in the bottom of the frame rail where you can see the discoloration. It is still not quite flat, but shouldn't take too much work to get it flat.

[sduckworth13]

Nice work on getting the frame straightened out.

[Low68]

Did some work on the frame today. I got all the suspension stripped off. I took all the mounts and the brackets off the frame rails so that every part of the frame rail gets stripped. I cut the rear part of the frame rail off as I am replacing it with new rails.

[Lolyin58]

Looking good. U doing Rob's rear frame as well?

[Bomp]

Like watching projects that the owner isn't afraid to tear into.

Obviously you ain't scared one bit.

Sub'd

[Low68]

Yeah I have the rear rail kit as well.

[tlmoore2501]

Subscribed! This is where Im at on my own build.Love the 10s up front, 12s out back look.This thing will be on rails!Can't wait to see it rolling again!Sorry bout the crash.A 80 mph head on crash brought me to love these trucks!Like you Im sure"don't wanna see it again".But hey its real steel you can mold it back to perfection!Work on!

[Low68]

I got my frame rails back from media blast. Now that the rails are clean, I straightened out most of the damage to the passenger side. Its not perfect, but it is better. Here are before and after photos:

[Low68]

Yesterday I was able to start assembling the frame. I started by bolting the front cross member to the frame rails. I leveled, squared, and braced the frame. I took measurements prior to cutting apart the frame for the width of the frame rails.













Today I got the rear rail kit put on. Got it lined up and bolted in place. Made sure everything was straight. Then welded some supports on the back to keep it at the correct height.