66 GMC Long to Short LS Swap

[88Stanger]

damn fine job of those clamps!!!

[joesscamaro]

Looking good and I really those those clamps.

[daveshilling]

Originally Posted by Duncan K

Its been ridiculously cold here the last week which makes staying warm in the shop very inviting. Got some time to do a little machining project. Made some brake line clamps out of aluminum. Had to replace a leaky T fitting on the back axle for the rear brake lines. Secured the lines down the frame rail with the new brackets and got everything bled.

Go ahead and just make a ton of these...people want them.

[Duncan K]

I've been procrastinating on getting back to work on the doors for way too long now. Convinced myself to give it another shot. Spent the last few weeks bending, cutting, welding, adding metal to one edge, removing metal from another. I used ratchet straps and blocks on my welding table to bend the top of the door back in, I have had these doors on and off what feels like 100 times! Finally managed to get both doors fitting pretty well. Body worked the driver door and got it in primer. Still working on fine tuning the passenger door and cowl.

This is an huge weight off my shoulders, I had all but given up.

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[Braunschweiger]

Fantastic work and looks damn good.
I can empathize with your pain.
I did the same with my doors.

[Duncan K]

Did a bit of metal work on the cowl and the rocker to get the gaps right.




and then sanding started, followed by more sanding........and a bit of seam sealer, then more sanding. Learned a cool technique for getting body lines laser straight with masking tape.



I am pushing hard on the bodywork but it feels like it is endless! Really hoping to get at least the cab and doors 100%. Planning to build a paint booth in the spring and start getting some colour on this thing

[SkinnyG]

Proud of you for taking it to this level of perfection!

[joesscamaro]

^ For sure! Those body lines and gaps and panel alignment are looking very nice!

[Braunschweiger]

Perfect, high level with this work, great.

[jturner18]

Excellent thread, DunkinK. Had knee surgery yesterday and this gave me something good to read today. You've come a long way and I commend your dedication to this build. Looking forward to the end. It's gonna be a killer truck!

[Duncan K]

Thanks guys for the kind words. It's far from perfect but I am happy with how its turning out. It is a never ending circle with the body work. I got the passenger side done, but after learning a bunch of things the driver side is way nicer, so now I want to go back and redo the passenger side. At this rate I should be done the body work in about 2 years! At some point I need to just leave well enough alone. I never intended for this to be a show truck, just a nice driver.

[Braunschweiger]

Your work will be a show winner.
Hopefully the truck isn't too good for you to drive every day.

[SkinnyG]

The more I worked on the body of my '61, the less I cared about perfection.

[Duncan K]

Long overdue for an update.

I assembled the bed and built a lifting frame so I can move it with my engine hoist.



I got the insides of the doors, door panels and hardware painted.



Got the cab and doors shot with high build. Learned a hard lesson there. I had always heard that it sprays out with a bit of texture to it. Videos I had watched said you can just knock it down quick with a DA and then start blocking. I guess I should have reduced it down a lot more because it was really textured. I thought it would flatten out but it didn't! It took for ever to sand the texture out to a point where I could start blocking it. Of course that was all by hand in the door jambs, back of the cab, above the windshield. Once I got it all sanded flat with 220 grit I shot some guide coat on and started blocking it out with 320 grit. Found a few areas in the body work on the roof that I am not happy with so back to body filler again. I just can't leave well enough alone.

I am really sick of sanding! Now I see why body and paint cost so much!

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Did a little spray out of the colours on and old door panel. The green base coat looked perfect when it was wet but once it dried and I shot the clear it was much darker than I wanted. It is crazy how much it changed. I had the paint store re-tint it and did another spray out. Closer but still not quite right.

[Duncan K]

Took advantage of some time off for the holidays and got to work on getting some paint done. had to spend a couple days deep cleaning the shop after doing all the body work. Spent a full day to mask everything off. Tweaked the colour on the base coat 5 times until I was happy with it. got the cab and the door sprayed. Its not perfect but I a happy with the results considering it was my first paint job. I ended up just spraying it in the middle of the shop with the big exhaust fan on.

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I have to repaint the passenger door, found a few ripples in the bodywork that I didn't catch before paint. Got the windshield and back glass installed as well.

[Braunschweiger]

It turned out beautifully.

[Duncan K]

Got another round of body work and paint done, all the front sheet metal except the hood. Reduced the high build primer a lot more this time and got it to lay out a lot flatter. Made the time to block it all out much quicker. Shot the back side of the fenders and the grill surround with Raptor liner.

[cwcarpenter98]

Great progress! I like the raptor liner idea. Looks very similar to the old undercoating but should hold up way better

[SkinnyG]

I did Raptor on the underside of everything on mine, too!

[Braunschweiger]

nice details, the front turned out nice

[joesscamaro]

Wow, it's coming along nicely! Looking great!

[Duncan K]

Short update, rebuilt the vent windows with fresh paint, new seals and replaced the door glass.

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I got tired of trying to repair my bedsides so I splurged and bought new sides, wheel tubs, front panel, rear sill and roll pan. Bolted it all up with fresh hardware and installed the tailgate. Started fitting the pan, going to run the exhaust through it.

[IMG][IMG][IMG]

Got to work on the hood as well. Painted the underside and the braces. Top side is in high build, working on the final block sand. Hoping to get it painted in the next couple weeks

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[bigmoe]

Have you considered doing 1/2 cuts on the bottom of the roll pan? It might give you more room for some nice stainless tips. I've always thought it would be really tricky to center exhaust pipes in a round hole.

[Duncan K]

Originally Posted by bigmoe

Have you considered doing 1/2 cuts on the bottom of the roll pan? It might give you more room for some nice stainless tips. I've always thought it would be really tricky to center exhaust pipes in a round hole.

I thought about the half cuts but decided to try and center the pipes. We'll see how it goes, will be tough for sure

[Duncan K]

Decided to change direction with the wheels and tires. The GM transits are just too big and don't fit the style of the truck very well. Going back to the original stock wheels with wide whites. Took the wheels and got them blasted, shot with epoxy and painted body colour.



I ordered at set of 235/75/15 wide whites from Diamondback Classics which showed up at my door yesterday



I'm going to be running a 1.25" wheel spacer to clear the disk brake calipers. I also picked up a set of 1966 GMC hubcaps off of eBay which I will be restoring. These are quite hard to find in decent shape with them being one year only