My project got away from me....

[64chevmn]

I bought a 64 Stepper last fall with the intent of making it safe and just drive it! If was fairly clean, but heavily neglected over the past 50 years.

I just completed 2 muscle car frame-off restorations in the past 8 years and I was just looking for a beater truck that I can drive without worry about chipping the paint or bad weather. My goal was new brake and fuel lines, steering parts and tires. Well, since I hate rust I figured I would patch a few small holes in the floors and rockers. I ended up replacing both rockers, outer floors and cab corners. As long I did the rust repair on the cab, I should probably put in new cab support bushings. Well......The easiest way to replace the bushings is to pull the cab. As long as the cab is off, I might as well paint and detail the bottom of the cab. Sooooo.......as long as the frame was exposed, I might as well clean it up and give it a coat of new paint.

Anyway, my "drive it as it is" concept is turning into a full blown restoration again. I guess I can't just do one thing and walk away. From reading several posts on this site, I think others can feel my pain and get sucked into more than they initially planned for. One small project on these vehicles leads to several more.........

I started the tear-down in November and I plan on having it back on the road by July. My wife is hoping that I will start to paint the kitchen of our house and end up doing a complete kitchen remodel like I do with my vehicles..........NOT.

Well.......I did put new fuel, brake lines and steering parts like I initially planned; but they are surrounded by MANY new parts including all new bushings and suspension parts (lowered 5 in the front and 5 in the rear) to keep them company!

[PGSigns]

It happens to all of us. You know when you are in trouble when you even start to think "that will not take long I'll fix that too".
Jimmy

[TJ's Chevy]

Like said...happens to all of us...any truck you buy..you'll always have some minor or major change you want to do. Nice work!

[64chevmn]

The cab is in SPI red epoxy primer. Keeping with the driver look, I plan on taking a different approach to the final paint. I love the look of the old faded paint jobs so I will top coat with an aqua blue and shoot a flat clear over everything. Depending on how crafty I feel, I may even try to distress some of the paint to expose some of the red primer in the common areas that fade/rust on these old trucks prior to the flat clear coat.

[kieth]

From what I see the paint job will never happen looking old, too much of a perfectionist............(nothing wrong with that) I realized I had a problem after redoing the bodywork on 1 fender 7 times. "There is just no stopping point" Ha Ha Kieth

[donthekawguy]

I guess I'm kind of lucky not having a garage big enough to do a full resto. lol All of my work is done in the driveway and I only have four months or so.

[cg285]

i play in that movie too.

[flashed]

Wow ,that is nice ,so what is going to be you driver now ?

[64chevmn]

I knew I had the sickness when I spent 20 minutes taping the u-joints to avoid overspray when painting the driveshaft!

Who knows....if I decide to do the faded old looking paint job, I may need to go to therapy afterwards! I do love nice shiney paint jobs, but I also want something that I can drive and don't stress out when I get a rock chip in the paint. I attached a few pics of the cars I restored in the past.

[flashed]

Very nice ,2 of my favorite cars ,GTO and 68 Chevelle .

[earl84]

Dang, 64chevmn, you have some nice cars there, and a nice truck. I know exactly what you mean about getting away from you. I am hoping that having a deadline of June or July to sell my house helps me find the stopping point, haha. Sometimes it just makes sense to hit some of those things when they are apart anyway.......

[gimmy 64]

I did the same thing on my truck. what started as a simple engine swap . then you look at the fire wall and the inner fenders and they need paint. well now--there is a lot of extra holes in the inter fenders sooooooo we need to weld them up. and so on. 1 weekend job turns into a 3 month job LOL

[4x4toy]

Keep the boss happy guys. Give her a kitchen. I am finishing up my kitchen now so I can build my garage. Then I will play with my trucks.... right after the new laundry room is done. LOL.

[par4tom]

It's a sickness...I had the same problem. Was going to spend a "couple thousand" doing a couple things now here I am a year and a half later still doing more and more...

Maybe the forum should offer counseling to those of us with these type of disease...its called Obsessive Compulsive Truck Disorder...haha.

Have fun with your project...it looks great...and will be very rewarding!