1 Ton Revival

[focusedontheprize]

Great progress. I am looking forward to following this build.

[urmyboyblue]

It has been a few months but I am finally back to work on the truck. I got it into the new shop (bigger than the old one!) and have the front cap taken off of it. There was so much rust I don't think any of it is usable (I swept up more of it than I carried out of the shop). I already have some inner fenders, replacement fenders, and a grill support. I am still looking for a radiator support and possibly a hood. I will probably buy a new radiator support. The old one was so rotted that I did not have to remove the bolts to pull if off- it was rotted off a couple of inches above the mount. I will salvage the cab and probably the doors. The frame is in good shape, though.

Tomorrow I am going to finish pulling the front end apart so I can strip and repaint the A arms and frame. I already have the steering gear, linkages, and spindles out of an 84 3/4 ton ready to go back in. Then I am going to see if the engine will crank before I fix the engine mounts and pull it out as well. Then its off to fix the cab.

[urmyboyblue]

Some pictures of more demolition. I am starting to like the idea of making it a long wheel base fleet side. I am going to look at a bed this weekend.

[urmyboyblue]

Not a whole lot to report or show. I have been working on it but there is a lot of work to do. I am not going to work on this while I drive it as the cab is too far gone to do that. I should finish up the work on the firewall and kick panel this week as I reinstall the duct that feeds to kick panel vent. That means that all the sheet metal work is done on that corner and all i have to do is the body filler work there. I am on to the passenger side kick panel/ floor and have already cut out one section. This might go faster if I was to buy replacement panels, but they are too expensive! I have a few panels (cab corners, passenger side duct), but I am forming my own to save $.

I am hoping to get all the cab metal replacement done by the end of the summer. The cab, doors and hood are the only things that have serious rust issues. Every thing else I have bought is in good shape.

I will post pictures when I am done.

I did buy a replacement radiator support- Summit Racing FTW!

[urmyboyblue]

Well, been a while. Here it is the end of the year and the sheetmetal replacement on the cab is not completely done- still lack the visor area and the A pillars. BUT the floor is done and the cab is off the truck. I decided to make this a LWB fleetside truck, so the frame had to be shortened 6" to match the LWB 1/2 ton wheelbase. I cut the frame and shortened it this weekend as well as Z'd it to drop the back of the truck 5". I am going to use 3" drop springs in the front for a 5/3 drop. I hope to paint the frame this week some time and start reassembly of it. Pictures to follow sometime soon I hope.

[urmyboyblue]

Well I suck at posting a build. Here it is 3+ years after I last posted and I have it finished. The truck has a 427 BBC in it (built by me), a SM465 as the original SM420 had issues, and is now painted blue with a beige interior. The color combo is supposed to be the original color scheme for some of these trucks, but it looks a little dark to me. I am working on debugging it now. I plan on replacing the rear gears from 4.10 to 3.42 for a more highway friendly truck. The engine needs some tuning, but overall I love driving it. I went with CPP front springs and drop shocks along with the stock rear 1 ton suspension and it drives great. Just wish it turned sharper. Oh well, here are the few pictures I have. You can tell that a couple are before I finished it. One other note- the body work turned out better than I expected. I spent 11 months on the exterior body work, I was really trying to get it straight.



https://imgur.com/omEnO9v

https://imgur.com/crzpy5L