1972 SWB Big Block Burn Victim

[boynton]

Just like the title reads my Dad and I will be starting to rescue a 1972 big block (400) SWB step-side truck. My dad found this truck in SC and bought it from the insurance company as-is. It got pretty hot and warped the roof and hood. I located the owner that was driving it when it caught fire. He told me that he was driving it to work a short time ago when it began to sputter and then died as he stopped. He told be as soon as it was stopped, it went up in flames. This was the result.

The owner told me that he bought the truck about 12 years ago and has restored it twice since he has owned it due to criminal activity. He told me after the fire he just didn't want to go thru it again. I was told the truck was originally a strait 6 with a 3 OTT and had just been resorted. When he bought it, it was dark green. He told me he sent it to a shop to get converted to a BBC, but wanted it to appear original. He told me while it was there, it was vandalized destroying most of the truck. He stated that is when the truck got painted red. He stated the motor is a 400 with a cam making a little over 400 HP. The truck had a black super Cheyenne interior with buckets and a console.

Here is where our journey with the truck begins:

[boynton]

pictures

[boynton]

more

[boynton]

teardown

[flashed]

WOW ,Im in to see more of this one .

[seafoam68]

Thats painful to look at. Lol. Good luck with project.

[GR8-68]

Glad to see it being saved from the shredder and ending up overseas. Did you get a good deal on it ?

[boynton]

Originally Posted by flashed

WOW ,Im in to see more of this one .

Thanks. The goal is to be driving it in less than a year...we shall see. The paint/body will be tough.

Originally Posted by seafoam68

Thats painful to look at. Lol. Good luck with project.

It is, but we can't afford to buy them finished

Originally Posted by GR8-68

Glad to see it being saved from the shredder and ending up overseas. Did you get a good deal on it ?

Not bad considering what it is-BBC/PS/A.C/PB...It was built to original spec but not born this way. I wish I wasn't working all weekend so I could start on this project!

[boynton]

so the tear down begins. once we got into it, it appears someone used rubber line from the frame rail all the way to the carb and they didn't tie it back good enough or it had a weak spot in it. It appears the fuel line ruptured/melted and it began to spray everywhere. the truck had an electric fuel pump so even though the motor quit the fuel kept coming until it melted the wires which is why the fire was so hot. the fire warped the dash pretty good, so we decided to cut it out since I have a spare dash that is pretty clean.

[boynton]

the cab is in pretty good shape. I'll upload the pictures of it blasted later today when I have more time.

[tommys72]

Im in to watch this one

[SCOTI]

Sub'd in.

[TexasLS1]

Yep, another cool thread by you guys, I'm in....

[boynton]

so I don't get near as many pictures as I thought of the truck the day we blasted it. here are the only two. this guy has a mobile business and came to my dad's place to blast the cab and doors. we will sand off the rest of the paint later but we wanted to hit the doors and get all the rust from the fire out of them. he did a good job and then we immediately drove them to the paint shop to prep and prime them. I'll get some more pictures Monday when I'm not working. The cab looks good. there are some questionable areas that we will take a second look at and possibly work again/replace some metal, but over all it has been decently repaired before we got it.

[boynton]

Originally Posted by tommys72

Im in to watch this one

Thanks

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Sub'd in.

awesome!

Originally Posted by TexasLS1

Yep, another cool thread by you guys, I'm in....

you must be thinking of some other guy! Thanks for the kind words.

[Low Elco]

Glutton for punishment! Gotta see what happens with this one. Is this one for your girl?

[boynton]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Glutton for punishment! Gotta see what happens with this one. Is this one for your girl?

No my dad bought this one out of opportunity for him. I am eventually going to build a Blazer for the wife. I plan on using the body on a 2011 2500 HD frame that I acquired. that project will be sometime in the future when I locate a decent blazer body and top.

[boynton]

I know it seems a little early, but I'm going to rebuild the cluster to make sure everything we have works. I have some new pieces and some old. The curcuit board, lense and bezel are all new the rest I'm going to try to revive from the spare clusters I have laying around. my dad repainted the tins out of the dash after he cleaned them up. the green we used isnt exactly correct but it is close enough for something that no one will ever see. hopefully tomorrow I'll have it working.

[SCHRUMGMC]

Following this one

Glad to see that someone is saving a old truck

[GR8-68]

Good progress already, you can never buy parts you need to early I just barely have my frame ready and already have almost every piece I need for my 68 project and haven't even started Grandpa's 72 and already have the new shifter arm and air vents I grab the parts I know I need when I see a deal

[68Gold/white]

Is the metal dash panel salvageable?

[tucker69]

Good job, glad to see ya'll working on another one....lots of luck....Casey