"Midnight Rider" 1970 C10 SWB Fleetside

[mr.mud1]

this is going to be a very nice truck,love the detail work.i would have to check to see if it's same spot in my truck but i have the same undrilled hole in my original wood floor but a hole in the bedside lower inside flange.great work.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by mr.mud1

this is going to be a very nice truck,love the detail work.i would have to check to see if it's same spot in my truck but i have the same undrilled hole in my original wood floor but a hole in the bedside lower inside flange.great work.

Thanks Mr.Mud. It definitely has taken a course I never imagined. Keep checking back for more updates.

[omodified]

A few more things have been taken apart. Stuff is getting taped off for the first coat of finish primer.

[omodified]

Tailgate has some build primer. Everything else is in stage one of finish primer, otherwise known as primer purgatory, lol. Hood, fenders and doors all ready for some dry sanding now. Will do three or four steps of this or until it's perfect. Only time will tell...

[omodified]

Some more disassembly has taken place. The bed is off the frame. Braces were made and installed so the cross sills could be removed. Made a brace to take the place of the tailgate so the rear support sill could be welded in place. All of these braces will allow the front panel to be removed for paint later. Dry sanding has started on the doors and fenders. More attention being given to the body line across the back of the cab. These body lines are gonna be awesome!!!

[omodified]

Tailgate is now in it's first finish primer coat and some dry sanding has already taken place. Making sure to keep all of the spot welds visible to keep that factory appearance. The rear wheel housings are getting setup for final sanding before finish primer. Although, they look pretty freaking good as is. The cab is getting some work too. Since the truck will be so low, traditional seam sealer in the drip rail will easily be seen. This area can surely be made to look better than what it looked like from factory. We decided to use 3M Rigid Parts Repair instead. It is a flexible, sand able, 2 part epoxy that is excellent for feathering the edges.

[omodified]

The cab is now off the donor frame. Sanding and shaping is happening on the drip rail seams. Some more finish work is done on the hood. Rear wheel housings are getting their first sanding.

[lolife99]

Looks great!

[omodified]

I have another project going on as of last night. I'm working way ahead of myself here, but I have learned to act now on these trucks before the price goes up 200% tomorrow. I've had this idea in my head of how I wanted to redo my bench seat. Bolsters, with cup holders but in factory scroll. The problem is, I can't find anybody willing to do it. This was my option after I decided I didn't want to expense for buckets and I wanted a third seat for a grandkid. Well, now I have two grandkids so I started thinking buckets again. Well, I just about got scammed on Facebook the other night. Good thing I'm not too old to know when something seems too good to be true. This deal here though was just good enough to seem legit. The guy was diligent and really good at what he does. (By the way, do not buy factory bucket seats from Frank's Pontiac Parts and Auto Dismantling. The real Frank is a great guy, but he does not sell Chevy truck parts. anything else is a scam!) Last night, I started to buy a set of buckets from the board here. I was going to have to ship them from California, and then restore them and the console once they got here. Before I pulled the trigger on those, just by chance, I found someone here in North Carolina that restores them. Now, I will have a show quality set in my hands in two weeks for cheaper than I could have shipped and restored some myself. Here is the start. More to come...

[omodified]

Doors and fenders have another coat of primer. Hood and tailgate is getting some more sanding. Still working on the body lines at the rear of the cab. Drip rail has a nice shape now.

[omodified]

Working on the bed sides now. Also added some color to the back of the cab and the drip rails so we can see what we're working with.

[omodified]

More work being down everywhere on the cab. Body lines are really close to being finished. More smoothing was done in the door jambs. Drip rail areas are finished.





















Doors, hood, fenders, tailgate, splash shields, transmission cover and rear wheel housings are all caught up to the same phase. This primer coat will sit for a few weeks to allow time to shrink. Looking straight and smooth.

















The bed is receiving more focus now. Need to get the bed (and cab) caught up with the rest of the parts. Everything has been sanded with 120 grit. Did some trimming at the back where the bed wood tucks under the bedsides. It was a bit tight when everything was assembled. Now there is enough room for the wood to go back in safely, allowing extra space for finish build on the bed wood. More work done where the rear brace was welded in place.

[cornerstone]

Just fantastic work! Your drip rails appear to be more full than mine. Was that accomplished by using more seam sealer or did you use a different material? I've thought about adding more to my drip rails and wasn't sure how to go about it.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Just fantastic work! Your drip rails appear to be more full than mine. Was that accomplished by using more seam sealer or did you use a different material? I've thought about adding more to my drip rails and wasn't sure how to go about it.

Hey Brian. Thanks for asking. I'll refer you back to a few posts ago, post 281. This talks about the 3M product that was used. I agree that the drip rails are a bit more full than most I have seen when done in actual seam sealer. That was the point of using this material so you can better control the finished look. With seam sealer, you just end up with however it flows out. I know they make a self leveling seam sealer which helps with the horizontal surfaces. The vertical parts are still more tricky. I went back and forth with how much to fill in this space, but I'm pretty happy with how this depth turned out.

[omodified]

The front bed panel is removed from the assembly now and the bedsides are fully braced. This will allow for paint to cover as much as possible. More work is done to the rear cross sill to bedside welds. Trying to square that area and get the radius to match the neighborhood.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by omodified

The front bed panel is removed from the assembly now and the bedsides are fully braced. This will allow for paint to cover as much as possible. More work is done to the rear cross sill to bedside welds. Trying to square that area and get the radius to match the neighborhood.

That is looking really good what your doing with the rear pan!

[omodified]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

That is looking really good what your doing with the rear pan!

Thanks Kyle. Some more work was done on that area this week. Had to put some color on it to see the progress. Needs a little more work around there but I'm liking it. I'm also liking the progress on the cab. The body lines are nearly finished The bed received another coat of primer on the outer fenders.

[omodified]

I need to clear out some space in my spare bedroom so I decided to work ahead make an assembly by consolidating some parts. When I disassembled this truck, I noticed the original door panels were pretty rusty. The vinyl was worn and the four mounting holes along the bottom were mostly damaged. I didn't get a picture of exactly what I'm talking about but here they were installed.




I didn't want to reuse my original panels so I bought a really nice pair of clean originals from Ebay a few years ago. I cut holes for the armrests, sanded them down and painted. They've just been sitting in the bedroom, waiting to be recovered. Here is a before and after the panels were repainted.








First thing I did was sand the panels with 400 grit paper. I only sanded the areas where glue would go. After sanding, I wiped everything down with a clean wet microfiber towel and let dry in the sun.




For the vinyl covering, I used PUI 1969 covers. They were available local when I couldn't find them online. I also read a while back these are one of the better options out there. I choose 1969 because I want to keep the scroll pattern in the interior, but I do not want the woodgrain that comes with the 1970 version.






First thing I noticed is the covers only come with two holes, one for the window regulator and one for the rear armrest screw. So I had to use the metal panel to trace out where the door regulator and front arm rest holes go. Then I used an X-acto knife to trim it out carefully. I also trimmed some material away in all the corners to help with wrapping around to the backside of the panel later.




Next thing to do is bond the cover to the panel. For this, I planned to use Weldwood contact cement. I read in several places that this was the kind to use and was definitely recommended over spray glue. You have to be pretty liberal with the cement so I decided to use paint brushes to apply it. Make sure your work area is well ventilated. This stuff stinks terribly.




The ambient temperature needs to be more than 70deg and the cement and parts have to be in a 70deg environment for two days prior. I meet those conditions today so it is time to move forward. I used the large paint brush to apply the cement to the back of the vinyl cover. Once I covered the area
that would touch the front of the panel, I covered the front of the panel in cement. You're suppose to wait 15 minutes before you bond the two pieces together. After 15 minutes, I realized that the vinyl cover would need an additional coat of cement due to the cover being so porous. After another coat and another 15 minutes, I carefully placed the panel onto the vinyl cover, using the holes to line it up. I pretty much got it lined up on the first try, and thank goodness I did. This stuff is sticky!!! I flipped the panel onto it's back used a craft roller to press the cover down and get any air out that might be trapped. Next, I flipped the panel back onto it's face. I used the small paintbrush to apply cement to the remaining material around the edges of the cover. I also applied the cement to the back of the panel where the edges of the cover would touch. After 15 minutes, I pulled the material around the edges of the panel and used the roller to press it in place. I used a screen roller to press the edges all the way around. I had to use some extra cement in the four corners to hold the overlapping material.










I checked on the work about an hour later and noticed the material had lifted in a few places on the front and back. I used a heat gun on the areas and pressed everything down again. I did this every hour for four hours. Each time, the material was lifting less. I let it set over night since the cement takes 24 hours to fully dry.




Next morning, all of the material had stayed down. This turned out pretty nice.






To finish these off, I installed the escutcheons. For these, I have been holding on to some NOS pieces. Part number 3939997. Finished! Now, I'll let these dry out a few days. The garage still has a pretty strong smell. Eventually, I'll put these guys in some plastic and store them away for later.

[lolife99]

Beautiful job on the door panels.

[Danyo492]

Awesome job! Your attention to detail on this build is killer! Definitely going to be stealing some of your ideas for my build.

[omodified]

Inside of hood and fenders are being worked on now. They won't need much attention before they are ready to go. Found a spot at the back of the stake pockets that didn't match the other side. Needed to add some metal to one side. I located the cab divider trim that I plan to use. I have an NOS LH piece, but the RH side is impossible to find. Good thing I have an original was in perfect shape. They will both need to be polished later. Used them to check fit on the cab. Found a low spot on the right side of the cab. Trying to work out that area now.

[omodified]

The seats and console are close to being finished now. All metal was dipped in acid bath first. Then etched with epoxy primer. Then coated with satin black. New skirts were cut and formed and plug welded to match the look of originals. New seats springs installed. The console was stripped and repainted with SEM black. It also received a billet aluminum cupholder from K5Blazer_Guy . The trim ring and blue bow tie are restored originals. Everything should be finished in a few days.

[omodified]

Trying to make some more space in my shop. Now is a good time to install some of the fuel system. I mapped everything out a while back and I've been sitting on all these parts for some time. Sorry for the chicken scratch.




I started out by installing fittings #1 and #2 into the fuel tank. These are both NPT threads so I needed to use pipe sealant. I decided to use swivel fittings for the entire system to keep things from binding up. I installed the fittings hand tight and then tightened them two to three turns with an adjustable AN wrench.








Next, I had to decide where I wanted to mount the fuel pump. It is recommended to keep the pump close to the tank and lower than the bottom of the tank. Well, the tank is the lowest point at the back on the truck, so I just needed to find something close, low and away from heat and moving parts. Before I could mount the pump, I had to prepare the pre-filter. For this, I used a 100 micron filter. I installed the mounting brackets onto the filter and installed the #3 and #4 fittings.










To connect the fuel tank to the pre-filter, I used black nylon braided hose. I decided on how I wanted to route the hose and measured for how much hose I needed. I was sure to add 2% extra hose to allow for expansion under pressure. I used an angle grinder to carefully cut the hose square. I trimmed the frayed nylon on the ends and blew the hose out with compressed air. Using assembly lube and AN wrenches, I installed -8AN hose to the fittings on the tank and pre-filter. I protected the hose with 3/4 ID silicone flame guard. To finish it off, I used shrink tubing to seal off the ends.












Next I had to mate the fuel pump with the pre-filter. Before I could do that, I had to install fitting #5 and #6 into the pump. These two fittings are both o-ring port fittings so I had to use assembly lube and be super careful not to overtighten. With the fittings in place, I connected the pump to the pre-filter.
Next, I drilled the mounting holes in the frame and touched up the bare metal with Chassis Black. Then I mounted the assembly to the frame with stainless bolts and locknuts.






Last, I ran -6AN hose to a 10 micron post-filter. Since the cab isn't on, I don't know how much more hose I will need from here, so this will be a good stopping point.

[omodified]

The fenders and the doors are just about finished. From here they will receive one more coat of primer. Then they will get wet sanded and be ready for color.






The underside of the hood is in primer now and the front bed panel is getting some work too. The tailgate was reinstalled this week to check for clearance and gaps. This was necessary in the stake pocket area where the metal was fixed. That area is looking much better now. The bedsides are getting sanded.












The back of the cab is back in primer. For the inside of the cab, I got some new parts in. Since I decided to use bucket seats, I thought something was gonna have to be done with the original fuel tank area. I found these precut rear wall panels from Vannatta Fabrication. Planning to weld in some weldnut tabs along the side and bottom of this thing so it mounts tight and doesn't rattle. I think with everything painted black, this will be a subtle but nice way to finish off this area.

[omodified]

Bored today and had a few minutes. Decided to secure the intermediate brake line to the frame. I used rubber insulated aluminum clips with stainless fasteners.