1968 C20 Build

[raggedjim]

Nice work on this so far. As a self-taught welder I hate looking at projects I did when I first started! Good luck, Rg

[dagnabbitt]

I ended up tapping those two stripped hinge capture nuts to 7/16 fine thread. I was worried that whatever I was tapping in that pillar would be too thin for this upgrade, or too shallow. But it seems fine.

I bought a couple of bolts and washers for it, and was pleasantly surprised that my scheme worked. I dunno why but I just expected there to be another problem to deal with.

Even better, the position I had the doors in was already perfect and they needed no adjustment. They close like a charm.

I am officially turning a corner, sort of. From now on I will not remove anything from this truck: I will only put things back where they belong. This is important as I may be losing the lease on this place.

I'll clean up that rust, I just was checking the fitment.

[dagnabbitt]

A few body filler applications later and I think the cab corners look pretty good. Among other things I am a former housepainter, so applying filler and sanding over and over is kind of my thing.

I keep reminding myself that this is the truck I am learning on, and it isn't going to be perfect. But, these doors look pretty lousy. I am going to start working on them, but if a 507 Blue door comes up for sale somewhere, I sure would buy it.

I also wire wheeled and rock guarded the underside of the floorboards. I will eventually do that for the entire underside, if I can get a hoist free.

[dagnabbitt]

Yesterday I was looking at the front end, and I decided that this was probably the best time to clean it up and paint it. That led to me removing the alternator and pulleys, etc, since I also want to paint the engine in situ.

I like cleaning and detailing things so it was kind of fun and not at all a chore to clean up the metal wherever I could find it. I took a putty knife to some areas and scraped yet more grime and dirt off - it is seemingly never ending how much of God's Earth is attached to this truck - and let the wheel do the rest.

I made the steering box look really nice and new, and found the VIN number on the frame as well. Yes, it does match, and that first digit is an "8".

I think someone added that tow hook. I myself added the rad support mount, the other one was broken off, probably for a similar reason. I think that towing stuff from the front of the vehicle was a big part of this truck's past life, there is a lot of evidence of it.

I was contemplating replacing this voltage regulator because it looks so terrible but after some research I have ultimately decided that if it works, I will simply clean it up.