68 c10 2wd in Sacramento, CA

[no1udknow]

This is where $h** gets serious... I am trying my hand at body work for the first time. I have done some things with motorcycles, but not cars really...that being said I decided to cut a hole in the side of my truck .

I had a panel outside the door post that had been repaired before and the bondo was so thick, it actually fell off...



so I cut it out




here is the piece I cut out of the 67 parts truck I have at home

[no1udknow]

I drilled out all of the spot welds in the door jam because I wanted the seam to remain in the door jam.

[Saclandman]

Nice work. Braver than me so far. If the inner cowl on your parts truck is decent and you don't need any patches from it, I might want it for mine. Mines pretty well rotted.

[no1udknow]

Originally Posted by Saclandman

Nice work. Braver than me so far. If the inner cowl on your parts truck is decent and you don't need any patches from it, I might want it for mine. Mines pretty well rotted.

If you want it, you can have the rest of the truck. It is missing the drivers front fender and bedside, and theres a hole in the cab on the passenger. It has pretty bad rot down below but up high its not too bad. The bed is unbolted and has some rot up front like it was parked facing downhill for a long time. The gauges are in tact, no motor or trans. Rear end and front suspension is in tact, and the drum brakes still work. All the glass is in tact. And there is still a seat in it. If you want it you can have it. I'll even deliver it if you can give me like $30-40 for gas. I have a flat bed and a truck.

I have to get rid of it asap. I live in a sub division and the code enforcement cops have allr3ady been by threatening me so if you don't want it it will be gone by the weekend

[Saclandman]

If I had room for it, I'd take you up on that. I'm in the same boat as you, no space. I had to rent some storage space just so I'd have a place to keep mine. How's the bench seat?

[no1udknow]

Originally Posted by Saclandman

If I had room for it, I'd take you up on that. I'm in the same boat as you, no space. I had to rent some storage space just so I'd have a place to keep mine. How's the bench seat?

Eh... so so. I just need to get rid of the thing fast. I don't want a fine for a parts truck.

[no1udknow]

If you need a part, send me a pic of exactly what you need. If I have to cut it off I will need to do it today. I am taking the truck to the chevy parts guy tomorrow afternoon. I can remove whatever part you need and hold on to it.

[Saclandman]

Originally Posted by no1udknow

If you need a part, send me a pic of exactly what you need. If I have to cut it off I will need to do it today. I am taking the truck to the chevy parts guy tomorrow afternoon. I can remove whatever part you need and hold on to it.

If I was all hot to start welding in patch panels, I'd jump on that. But, thanks for the offer. I don't want to take up your time doing stuff for me when you have your own truck to work on. If I had time, I'd run over and grab what I need myself. Damn full-time job! Don't have time to do any of the real important stuff.

[no1udknow]

Originally Posted by Saclandman

If I was all hot to start welding in patch panels, I'd jump on that. But, thanks for the offer. I don't want to take up your time doing stuff for me when you have your own truck to work on. If I had time, I'd run over and grab what I need myself. Damn full-time job! Don't have time to do any of the real important stuff.

I looked at it when I got home last night and Im sure it isnt any better than what youve got. It has rust pushing through the feont where it meets the firewall, I can only immagine what it looks like inside considering the kick panel vents are all rusted out

[Roadkill58]

no1udknow I have room for that if you still have it.

[no1udknow]

Sorry, the parts truck is gone. I had to uave it gone by this last weekend or I was going to get a fine from the wonderful Galt police department. It worked out though because I took an extra carburetor I had along with me and traded for a one piece drive shaft and some emblems I wanted

[jimbosprint]

Is the parking brake assembly intact? I could use that. How about the AC controls (if it had AC)?

[no1udknow]

didn't have ac, and the parking brake s gone, I have wheel chocks keeping it in my driveway. surprisingly the actual brake system still works though

[no1udknow]

Ok... made some serious headway today. Got the driveli e and new u-joints installed


it's a one piece now... so glad im done with carrier bearings.

then I got the patch panel finished on the passenger side





I will be doing the rest of the body work like bondo and paint at home so I threw some rattle can on the bare metal to keep it from rusting after I ground it down.

[no1udknow]

My welds arwnt perfect, but this is my first attempt at bodywork so I am satisfied. I'm sure I will get better with practice.

Now that the patch is done, I need to put the truck back together so I can take it home. My boss wants me to get it out of the shop. So this is how I transport my cab around... a trailer and a golf cart


I got the cab installed, after shortening the frame, everything still lined up perfect.

[no1udknow]

I started getting a few things hooked up and the new brake system installed. I have seen guys say they had to use special brackets for the booster, I drilled some new holes for the top bolts, and trimmed the bracket at the bottom to clear the steering column bracket. The only ossue I have so far is the shifter arm on the column hitting the booster but I will work that out.

[no1udknow]

wanted to do a quick run down of the cost thus far,

$1000 for the truck that I traded for this truck :-)
$ free new front suspension and disc brake system
$ 60 new tires and an extra set of rims
$ 40 cpp 6 lug rotors
$ free drive line
$ 30 u-joints
$ 20 exhaust gaskets
$ free bedside, fender, and cab patch
$ 20 brake line and adapter
$ 35 title transfer
_________________________
total $ 1205

[no1udknow]

Ok, wanted to do another quick cost rundown.

$1000 for the truck that I traded for this truck :-)
$ free new front suspension and disc brake system
$ 60 new tires and an extra set of rims
$ 40 cpp 6 lug rotors
$ free drive line
$ 30 u-joints
$ 20 exhaust gaskets
$ free bedside, fender, and cab patch
$ 20 brake line and adapter
$ 35 title transfer
$ 15 coolant
$ 10 brake line
$ 20 jug of dot 3
$ 5 carb adapter nipple for the booster
$ 20 bed hardware
$ 10 new headlight adjusters
_________________________
total $ 1285

and I probably have about 60-70 hrs of labor in to it so far.

[jimbosprint]

Wow! Way to get it done on a budget!

[no1udknow]

I'm going to take a moment here to do a little psa.... I welded on my cab the other day with gloves, but without sleeves. No that is not eczema or psoriasis, those are lots of tiny little hole burnt into my arm from dropping slag. Wear your gear people. Oh, and don't keep your cell on you while welding either, you will undoubtedly burn a hole in the screen like I have done to about 3 different phones...

[no1udknow]

well, I am almost done putting the front end back together and wiring up the engine cab etc. the beast should be back up and running this week, but I realized I had not bled my brakes yet (something I should have done before I put on the front clip to make my life easier...oh well) and I was thinking to myself"I should probably have good working brakes, before I have a running engine because if I know anything about myself, it's that the minute that thing runs, I'll want to test drive it and that could lead to problems if I forget I have no brakes. So I started to bleed the brakes, but I noticed since I had been pumping the pedal while trying to install/fabricate the push-rod for the brake booster, the prop valve had slammed shut to the rear outlet, and I was getting no fluid out the back. I decided to use my vacuum bleeder... no dice. I ended up pulling the prop valve apart and pushing the valve back to center ( which I tested by putting a multimeter on the plug for the sensor, and a good ground, and then set it to the audible ohms setting, so when the valve returned to the neutral position, the meter stopped beeping.)
I put the prop valve back together and hooked up my bleeder again and "pop" the valve slammed shut again. I needed to figure out how to get the valve to remain in the neutral position while I bled the brakes. I looked at a few cutaway images of a pro valve. like this one...


as you can see, directly under the sensor in the center of the valve, is an indentation so that the sensor will not make contact when the valve is centered. I also noticed that there are o-rings/seals at either end of the sliding valve, meaning that the center should remain free of fluid, so I pulled the sensor and even with the pedal depressed, no fluid came out. Why this is important: it means I can make a tool to hold the sliding valve, bleed the brakes, and then re install the sensor without introducing air into the brake system.

so I inspected the sensor, and the hole it goes in, and realized I would need a large bolt with a tiny nipple at the end.

in my case I needed a 1/2x18 bolt (which is the 1/2 fine thread bolt you can find them at most hardware stores.) and a 3/16 steel shank rivet.

I only had long bolts at the shop so I had to cut one down. I threaded a die over the bolt so that after I cut the bolt down I could clean up the threads.
I then center punched the tip of the bold, and slowly, carefully drilled a straight hole down the tip of the bolt, only deep enough to fit the rivet.

I then used a deep 1/4" socket to drive the rivet into the tip of the bolt till it sat flush.

Finally, I compared the length of the rivet shank to the length of the sensor rod, and clipped the excess off.







I re-centered the prop valve, and the I inserted the bolt/tool where the sensor goes, and threaded it in BY HAND ... DO NOT USE A WRENCH until I felt it bottom out against the valve.
The brakes bled with ease, and after I was done, I simply removed the bolt/tool, re-installed the sensor, hooked up my meter on the audible ohms setting again, and pumped the brakes a few times, and all is well

[blake's first]

Hi there this is Joe blake's uncle...ya we will have to hook up and truck talk.. he got a duramax 4x4 and hit the skids on the truck.. but said this week that he was going to hit it after it cools off.. we will see how ..old is your boy

[no1udknow]

Originally Posted by blake's first

Hi there this is Joe blake's uncle...ya we will have to hook up and truck talk.. he got a duramax 4x4 and hit the skids on the truck.. but said this week that he was going to hit it after it cools off.. we will see how ..old is your boy

well, my son is still young, he will be 2 in October. The funny thing is, that is the same age I was when my dad picked up his 72 c10. He is surprizingly very interested in my tools already

[no1udknow]

btw, I saw that you guys had a factory ac setup? still available?

[Average Joe]

I like this project.