Out of the Ditch = The Rebuild Begins ('72 GMC)

[GR8-68]

Updates are awesome

[DEISS]

Great build thread, looking forward to your progress. Once you get her back on the road I'll be interested in your opinion of leaf vs. coil rear springs.

[GASoline71]

Back at 'er the last couple days.

Made a to-do list on a hunk of cardboard courtesy of ROADKILL.

Should have the drivers side cab rust repairs done this week. Then finally moving on from cutting and welding!

DEISS... I have owned coil and leaf sprung 67-72 trucks over the last 30 years. I prefer the coils over the leaves. But this will be the first coil sprung truck that I have actually lowered with lowering springs and not cutting or heating the springs. So it should be a bit different.

Gary

[GASoline71]

After mocking up and then removing the rear cab corner to cut/grind about 9,352 times... I got it sitting how I want it to start to weld it in. Some days I really wish I would have just found another truck to build. This side has been significantly harder than the passenger side. There was way more rust on this side that has made it more of a challenge. I didn't take any pics but I had to fabricate my own lower pillar mount and also fab up some metal to make the rusted out cab support useable. I know these panels are available to buy, but fabbing them up was kinda cool and gives a sense of some accomplishment that it is something I made instead of bought.

Slow progress wins the war! Should have the welding done later today.


Gary

[Wide Open]

It's coming along nicely!

[knomadd]

Nice work! Keep it up.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by GASoline71

Some days I really wish I would have just found another truck to build.

Gary

Some days I think that too, but unless you get a completely unmolested original paint truck ($$$$ nowadays) it's near impossible to tell what you have when you buy a "new to you" truck.

I bought a set of wheel arches cut off of an AZ longbed truck to fix my rusty shortbed wheel wells. Looked 100% like original, faded paint. I started cutting an area I needed and found 1/4" of filler. It wasn't a big deal because I was able to grind it off and flatten it back out, but still, you just never know what's hiding under that new trucks paint.

[GASoline71]

Thanks you'se guys!

67CRN... I hear ya. There really is no easy way out with rust when finding one of these old trucks. Wishful thinkin' I guess.

The corner is welded in and I shot it with primer. Next I have to tackle that drivers side door pocket so I can mount the door to line up the outer rocker.

Gary

[GASoline71]

Finally tackling this upper door hinge pocket on the drivers side. I got a piece fabbed up last night and also had to weld the cracks in the hinge brace that is behind the door skin.

I again repurposed metal off of the old bent up original hood from my truck. I am really glad I saved it instead of scrapping it. It has really come in handy with floor patches and also some random stuff I've needed to fabricate.

The hardest part so far about doing this hinge pocket is cutting the metal in the small area at the pocket right next to the outer part of the door. I don't have a dremel or any other smallish cutting device. So I used the smallest and thinnest cutting wheel I had that fit on my air cutoff tool. I will try to get the piece welded in later today or this weekend. I got side tracked last night and didn't get to weld it in. I also still need to drill the holes and cut out the slot as well.

Gary

[GASoline71]

Couple more of the brace welding and a shot of primer.

Gary

[GASoline71]

I finished up the door hinge pocket last night. Now I can mount the door and the front fender so I can get the alignment of the drivers side outer rocker done!

Then all I need to do is weld up the speaker holes cut into my doors and I will be finished welding for a while!

Here is a link to the thread I made awhile back about the door hinge pocket repair: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=1#post7865583

More to come soon!

Gary

[Skip44]

That looks great, I would have been afraid to attempt it. Now after seeing how you did it I think that I could too if need be. Thanks

Skip

[GASoline71]

Skip44... It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. More of a bit of a hassle than anything. I took my time and everything worked out well.

So I got the drivers door and the drivers front fender bolted on yesterday. Now I can line up the outer rocker and get it drilled for spot welds and modify the front of it to make it fit like the other side did.

I had bought new hinge pins, and went to install them into the hinges. I beat the living hell out of the old rusted pin with a drift and a 2 pound hammer. No dice. Wouldn't budge at all. So I robbed the upper door hinge from the old 1972 C20 parts truck and used that one. The hinge was in waaaayyyy better shape than mine.

It still looks weird to walk out in the garage and see doors and fenders on the truck.

Gary

[GASoline71]

Hit a bit of a wall on the project. Been a lot to do around the house and property that has put the truck back on the back burner. Plus the drivers side outer rocker panel is a complete piece of trash and I cannot make it fit properly without hacking it up and just creating even more work for myself.

The rockers are from Dynacorn and if I remember right they aren't the best ones. With all the crazy work I had to do to the passenger side to get it to fit, I'm not surprised that this one doesn't fit a t all. So I will be placing an order from who knows where to get another drivers side rocker panel.

Until then I have some interior cleanup I can do and some other things need attention as well. I'll be back at it soon. Just a lot of other crap going on at the moment.

Gary

[67ChevyRedneck]

Come on man, I wanted to hear that just one, ONE, patch panel for these trucks was worth a damn!

[GASoline71]

Man ... I wish! I butchered the hell out of this one and it still won't fit correctly. I have to bend it out away from the pillar like I did on the passenger side, but at a steeper angle. Just can't get it there without hammer work. I'm doing okay with all of this sheet metal and fab work, but this is just getting ridiculous.

So I am going to find a vendor that sells the rocker panels that are not made by Dynacorn. But, my luck it won't matter and I'll be right back where I am now.

Gary

[fecklessgadfly]

Originally Posted by GASoline71

So I am going to find a vendor that sells the rocker panels that are not made by Dynacorn. But, my luck it won't matter and I'll be right back where I am now.

Gary

Be sure to update us when you find one. I'm sure several of us are getting ready to do those repairs, and you might save us a lot of hassle.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I have a set of the key parts ones in my garage. They're seriously thick beefy rockers. I've read they "fit the best" but I'm months, maybe a year from even starting to tackle the rockers.

[knomadd]

I haven't tried any rockers myself, but Dwayne with Nsane Hot Rodz has been selling parts and stands by the stuff he sells. He sold me my cowl hood with a guarantee that I'd like how it fits or I could send it back for a full refund. You might look him up and give him a call to see what he thinks about the rockers he uses. I believe he uses either AMD or Key Parts. http://www.nsanehotrodz.com/

[jjzepplin]

How did the hood fit? What brand is it?

[GASoline71]

Originally Posted by fecklessgadfly

Be sure to update us when you find one. I'm sure several of us are getting ready to do those repairs, and you might save us a lot of hassle.

I will definitely do that. I'll do it here and in my "Garbage Rocker Panels" thread. If I can save someone the headache I've gone through, it will be worth it.

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

I have a set of the key parts ones in my garage. They're seriously thick beefy rockers. I've read they "fit the best" but I'm months, maybe a year from even starting to tackle the rockers.

I've read that the ones from Key Parts "fit the best" as well. I will settle for "fit just better than half-a$$ed" at this point.

Originally Posted by knomadd

I haven't tried any rockers myself, but Dwayne with Nsane Hot Rodz has been selling parts and stands by the stuff he sells. He sold me my cowl hood with a guarantee that I'd like how it fits or I could send it back for a full refund. You might look him up and give him a call to see what he thinks about the rockers he uses. I believe he uses either AMD or Key Parts. http://www.nsanehotrodz.com/

I will give him a shout to see what he says. I'm far from a professional fabricator/bodyman, but still want something that doesn't have to completely modified to fit "OK".

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments everyone! It helps a cat to keep from slipping back down the rabbit hole of dead projects!

Gary

[Low Elco]

Got my keyparts from gmcpaul's. weird communication, but good stuff!

[67ChevyRedneck]

This was "key parts" as well. I guess my standards of "it fits" is higher then theirs?



It was just a lot of extra work

[GASoline71]

Not sure who the cab corners I have were made by... But they weren't much fun either.

Gary

[GASoline71]

So pulled the oil pan today as the engine has been sitting for 3 years. The oil had been drained out of it back when, and there was a little condensation in the pan which I kinda expected... but I didn't expect to see the pump pickup laying in the bottom of the pan.

In the 30 some odd years I've been building SBC's I've only had one other pump pickup come off... and it was after an wreck as well. Glad I pulled the pan.

Engine turns over fine by hand, and I also pulled the #1 rod cap and the #2 main cap to check the journals and bearings. All looked snazzy, so I torqued them back to spec.

This 355 has a Melling M55HV in it and I'm thinking about installing a standard Melling M55 instead. Since I have the pan off and the engine is on a stand, this would be the time to do it. I don't think I really need the HV pump. I initially intended this to be a street/strip rig... but I'm slowly toning it down a tad. It'll still be fun, loud, obnoxious, and fast though.

Gary