68 C10 SBSS build - start to finish

[Xeen]

You have had to repair alot of rust on that cab so far, most people probably would have just shot it.
Im impressed with the amount of work you are willing to take on to make it right.
You are doing good work, I cant wait to see the cab whole again its going to be a beauty.

[Vic1947]

Thanks, Brian. Looks like you have some work ahead of you also! Good luck, I'll be watching your build.

After welding the passenger side cowl back on, I noticed a few tiny pinholes I'd missed while fixing the kickpanels and the underside of the outer cowl. Lots of times when trying to weld pinholes with a TIG, it turns into a goat rodeo. So what I did was use aluminum tape like HVAC techs use on heat ducts to seal those areas. Used a plastic squeegee to nail it down and then sprayed undercoating over it for an additional layer of protection. Not quite as sturdy as roofing shingles, Steve, but a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I hope that years down the road I don't regret it, but it seems like a durable solution.

Repaired the driver side cowl much the same as the passenger side, although it took more work on the rain diverters as they were nearly gone. Then with the work done on the outer cowling, I was able to fit the final patch for the pinchweld flange into place.

[gdavis]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

Thanks, Brian. Looks like you have some work ahead of you also! Good luck, I'll be watching your build.

After welding the passenger side cowl back on, I noticed a few tiny pinholes I'd missed while fixing the kickpanels and the underside of the outer cowl. Lots of times when trying to weld pinholes with a TIG, it turns into a goat rodeo. So what I did was use aluminum tape like HVAC techs use on heat ducts to seal those areas. Used a plastic squeegee to nail it down and then sprayed undercoating over it for an additional layer of protection. Not quite as sturdy as roofing shingles, Steve, but a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I hope that years down the road I don't regret it, but it seems like a durable solution.

Repaired the driver side cowl much the same as the passenger side, although it took more work on the rain diverters as they were nearly gone. Then with the work done on the outer cowling, I was able to fit the final patch for the pinchweld flange into place.

cool metal work. looks great

[Vic1947]

By April, I was reassembling the parts and pieces painted and polished by Mike and Bruce at Precision Collision. Mike shot a Lexus silver color using a water based basecoat, baked it in the booth then shot several coats of urethane clear. After it cured, Bruce wet sanded the clear and polished it out to give it the final gloss.

We carefully transported all the panels back home and stored them in the basement room next to the workshop. Before sending out the panels for paint, I had cut all the spotwelds and removed the mild steel angle from the bedsides. I then welded in polished stainless angles in their place. I prefer this to the angles that are meant to cover the stock pieces, which were on the truck when I bought it. I was able to sell many of the unused parts at a couple of swap meets, which helped a lot.

I then began to lay down the thermal barrier and sound deadener from Eastwood. I like their material, it's pretty easy to work, very tough and sticks like crazy. I butted all the seams as close as possible and worked it with plastic trim spatulas. I then covered the seams with aluminum tape.

[Vic1947]

While the body panels were at Precision, we took a side trip down to Rolla, MO to pick up the seat, door panels and visors from Little Sid's Upholstery. As with the paint, I'd talked to a few places aroung KC about having them refurbished. The shops we spoke with were backed up over a year, so we took them down to Little Sid around July, 2011. One of my good friends, Jim Butery has used Sid for many years on his projects and he does nice work very reasonably. He used a faux leather material (I've heard it called "pleather") that worked well with the body color. Nice thing about silvers and greys are they can be mixed and matched easier than a lot of other colors.

John at Precision Collision sent his windshield man over to the house to install the front and rear glass. He did a great job and saved me from a potential boo-boo. When he found out I was using an aftermarket rubber seal, he asked to see it before he came over. Turns out, he'd installed a couple of front windshields using the type I'd bought with poor results. The rear seal was fine but he insisted on using a front seal from his supplier. You could see and feel the difference. It fit and looked great, so I was really glad he'd spoken up about it.

[VA72C10]

Great work!

[Low Elco]

Maaan, I thought we cut a lot out of Yeller! Great work!

[Vic1947]

By mid September, 2011 I'd buttoned up the inner cowl and drip gutter and was ready to fit the outer cowl vent cover. I'd noticed when I bought the truck that the driver side fit very nicely, however the passenger side stuck out by about 5/16" or more which made the gap around the base of the A pillar look really bad. So I sectioned out that area and repositioned it for a better fit. Unfortunately, I relied on corner to corner measurements on the front edge and would have to revisit it much later during final assembly. More on that in a future post.

After re-working the cowl vent cover, I took a short break to make a dash modification. I'd picked up a Custom Autosound radio from Classic Parts that would fit in the radio opening I'd previously repaired. It has a USB port that you can use to play MP3's from a thumb drive. It was attached to the radio with a short cord that was probably meant to dangle under the dash. After looking at it for a while, I thought it might be more convenient to have the port located on the front of the dash by the radio. So I cut a small window to the right of the radio and built a little bracket to hold the USB socket. I then spotwelded the bracket in place later on.

[Vic1947]

Another mod I wanted to make was to the side marker lights. I'd decided early on that I'd prefer to smooth out the lights by moving them behind the fenders instead of mounting them on top as they come from the factory. I started out researching LED light assemblies that could be flush mounted, but was turned off by the cost and procedural issues. If you ever have a diode go bad and the assembly is glued, you're screwed.

So instead of LED's I reused the stock lights by sectioning out about 3/4" and joining them back together. I sent my buddy Steve Smith from Sedalia a .dxf file with a drawing of the plates I would need to cover the existing openings. He had them laser cut for me out of .063" mild steel plate. I then welded them into the openings and after a lot of work with a hammer and dolly and a shrinking disc, I had the look I wanted.

[Vic1947]

I ultimately repeated the procedure on all four fenders which took quite a long time. Even using silicon bronze as a filler and welding only about 1/4" at a time, the surrounding area will warp and require a lot of massaging to get it back where it started.

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

I sent my buddy Steve Smith from Sedalia a .dxf file with a drawing of the plates I would need to cover the existing openings. He had them laser cut for me out of .063" mild steel plate.

Hey Vic could you do me a favor and introduce me to this guy because I'm going to need a piece laser cut for the Dakota Digital digital climate controller I'm getting so I can flush mount it into the old factory climate control opening in the dash.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by Xeen

Hey Vic could you do me a favor and introduce me to this guy because I'm going to need a piece laser cut for the Dakota Digital digital climate controller I'm getting so I can flush mount it into the old factory climate control opening in the dash.

I looked at the controller on Dakota's site and the piece you need would be easy for me to make on the mill. I have the material and tooling. Steve has a shop (not his) that does all his waterjet and laser work, so it would cost something to have them do it. If I do it, it's free. Might as well save the laser work for more complex stuff or multiple pieces.

[Xeen]

I really like the forethought with the stereo that USB port is the key to the whole system.
I was curious why you decided to go with standard lenses because the custom lenses would have looked really nice with the chrome lip protruding out through the slots.

[Vic1947]

Main reason was so I could shorten the height of the lens assembly. I like the SS trim around the custom lights (which is what I started with), but keeping the trim meant either it would protrude or the lenses would be recessed more than I wanted. So since I was shooting for a somewhat "flush" look, I not only sectioned the lamp assemblies, but I also milled off the raised lip that holds on the SS trim.

[Xeen]

Hmm I guess I will have to wait to see some pictures of the finished product so I can see what exactly you have in mind there unless that last picture is what its supposed to look like minus paint.

[Vic1947]

By the end of 2011, I'd roughed in some of the bodywork, but it was making such a mess with the doors closed due to cold weather, I took a break and started building the exhaust system. I had previously set the engine and trans in place, so I began by laying out pieces on the floor to get an idea of what worked. I started with a 2.5" SS, mandrel bent, universal kit from Flowmaster. It showed a suggested layout, but by swapping a couple of the pieces around I was better able to route it around my crossmembers.

For best results with stainless tubing, it's recommended to purge the inside of the tubing with argon. I picked up a nice little kit that incorporated double silicone sealing discs with a sintered bronze diffuser in the middle. I would pull it past the first butt joint about 6", seal off the other end, leaving a small hole to let the purge gas slowly escape. At that point, I could weld the seam using a minimum of weld rod. In fact, most joints were done without any filler at all.

[67cheby]

wow..nice work

[Vic1947]

After finishing the exhaust, I had a few more odds and ends projects I needed to tidy up. I'd found a super deal on an exact fit aluminum radiator online, but when it arrived and I set it in place, my buddy Steve pointed out that with the top bracket in place, there was no way to get a radiator cap on it. So I had to cut the top of the tank off, carefully remove the fill neck and relocate it 5/8" further outboard. While I was at it, I clocked the overflow tube so I could hide the hose connecting it to the overflow tank.

Also, Inline Tube does not offer trans cooling lines for these trucks when converting to a 200-4R. So I had them ship me the ones for a TH350 and then spliced in flex lines to extend them out.

The insides of the doors had been butchered to fit speakers into them and rather than try to fix the holes and all the dents, I made a cover piece from sheet aluminum. Marked out a design and had my bud, Keith Daleen at Southpaw Customs help me roll an offset along the marks.

Seems like there were a hundred of these little things that needed fixing, but by the end of January, 2012 I was back doing bodywork.

[Vic1947]

March rolled around and the bodywork was in full speed ahead mode. I'd set a goal of attending the Car Craft Summernationals in St. Paul, MN the third week of July and the truck was still in a lot of pieces. I knew I'd need to be done even earlier so I could shake everything down before driving that kind of distance. So to prepare, in a manner of speaking, I decided my first show would be the Classic Car Show in Sedalia, MO put on by the West Central Missouri Vintage Auto Club.

As if repairing my own patches, etc. wasn't enough, I also had to deal with the aftermarket items as well. But finally, I was at the point I could begin laying down the epoxy primer. Since the epoxy I was using was a two part type, it requires a minimum temperature to catalyze. In March, warm days are still rare, but I lucked into a nice day and was able to get the major items shot. By late afternoon it was cooling off, so I moved everything back in the garage and turned every heater I had up full blast to help the epoxy cure overnight.

[Vic1947]

With the brackets in place for the retractable cupholder and USB port and a good coat of epoxy on the underside of the dash, it was time to do the final prep for the firewall. I'd had it mocked up a couple of times, but when you get ready to actually start welding, it made me nervous wondering what I might be forgetting.

I quickly discovered my spotwelder wasn't able to fit in the narrow space between the cowl and the drip gutter flange. I ended up making a custom electrode that just barely got into the tight quarters. I don't know how the factory did it, but this was my solution.

[Vic1947]

Armed with my modified spotwelder, I clamped the firewall onto the surrounding flanges. I started on the bottom edge where it mated to the floorpan and worked my way up both sides. Before doing the top, I fit the forward frame braces I'd had to remove in order to make way for the firewall. There were some well placed openings in the general vicinity that allowed me to get the spotwelder in for a nice factory look. I doubt I have more than a half dozen stainless rivets in the entire truck where I should have spotwelds. There were some places I was just not able to reach with my setup, so I was forced to use blind rivets. Fortunately, none of them are visible. The only visible rivets are the countersunk ones in the lower door panels, and those I wanted to show.

The firewall was the last major piece of sheetmetal to go in. At this point I had shot several coats of high build primer on all the parts and blocked them smooth. Everything was ready for paint, but I knew I didn't have a suitable environment for doing it myself. The ceiling in my workshop is fairly low and I didn't want to build a makeshift booth. I've painted many cars over the years and one thing I know is that modern clearcoats attract a lot of dust. In anything other than a well ventilated booth you'll end up sanding out too many dust nibs and bugs.

I'd shopped around for a place that would paint it for me, but most high end shops sent me packing. I understand their reluctance because when I was doing a lot of paint and body in my younger years, it was not unusual for someone to ask me to shoot a vehicle that was "ready to go". When it got to my shop it was anything but ready. Still, I had one quote for $13,500 and I realized things have changed a lot over the years. My wife's sister had a local shop do a couple of repairs to her car and the work was very high quality. So in mid March, I struck a deal with Precision Collision in Gladstone to paint it for me. We ferried all the parts to them and they began the process of squirting everything inside and out. I can't say enough what a great job they did!

[Xeen]

That was good thinking on the electrode.
I really like this project and I cant wait to see more.

[Low Elco]

Wow-Mad skills! Fantastic work! Wish I had half your tools. What do you do for a living?

[Low Elco]

Wow, Mad skills! I wish I had half your tools. What do you do for a living?

Sorry, double post!

[Vic1947]

Thanks, Brian and Chip. I'm retired now, but half my life was spent as an engineer in the oil patch and when that went in the crapper in the mid-80's, I re-invented myself as a software sales engineer. Along the way I met a guy named Bruce Wilson who owned a precision machine shop and like me was a drag racer. We were both overly anal and hit it off immediately. He became one of my best buds and took me under his wing. Taught me most everything I know about running a lathe and a mill. Another good friend, John Harrison taught me how to TIG weld, build headers, narrow rearends and do custom sheetmetal work. So I've been extremely fortunate to meet some people willing to mentor me. The rest is just practice. As for the tools, I figured out early on that for what most shops charge to do a job, I could buy the tools and do it myself. Then when the job was done, I had the tool for life.