1970 Chevy C10 LWB to SWB and frame off

[MigGunslinger]

No pictures to update but I did work on the truck the last two evenings.


I was having problems getting both fenders to line up, they both had a wide gap at the bottom that I could not adjust out. I searched through a bunch of threads on aligning the doors and fenders and found a few members mention having to shim their cabs. With a 1/4" shim under both front cab mounts the fenders line up almost perfectly! I also took a body hammer to the passenger side fender and pounded out most of the dents.

[88Stanger]

Nice Job! I am in the put back together stage, just sand blasting parts and painting, but your alignment idea of the spacer on the cab mounts, that is a great thought.

[MigGunslinger]

Back at it again!

I have been doing little stuff all week, mostly figuring out how to align a door by myself (it's a secret method involving a floor jack, a scissor jack, and some poles). No pics of the process but if I remember on the passenger side I will take some.












The door to fender gap is better in person I promise.


You may notice that my rocker panel is still not in. The one I bought needs a bunch of fitting to make it work so I ordered a triplus outer rocker. If the triplus piece is just as bad I am only out $16 and shipping.



While I wait for that to come I decided to do some exploring on the POs "bodywork". There were some interesting spots on the passenger door skin:

They used the sticky backing plate made for household Sheetrock repairs and just slathered filler over the mirror mounting holes.





Working in a winter wonderland! Filler dust makes awful snow cones.














I used my new Harbor Freight Stud welder and slide hammer set to pull the dents out to a much more respectable 1/16"







Finally a shot of the work I have done on the fender. I don't think I will be able to save it, the lip around the wheel well is crushed flat and I have gotten to the point where each pull and hammer blow makes it look worse.

[Xeen]

You can save it just be patient you might try quenching the steel because it has been stretched out.
It only has to be within the thickness of a dime to being straight then you can use body filler to make it perfect.

[MigGunslinger]

Thanks Xeen. I am not quite ready to give up on it yet. Its 1000% better than when I started. The crushed body line that I am talking about is the 1/4" lip that runs right at the edge of the wheel well and I have to get it to come out in order to body work it. I don't think I am supposed to make body lines like that with filler. It's hard to tell in the pic but the whole fender is still pushed in about 1/4" because of that crushed line. maybe I can cut the body line with a body saw, move the metal where I want it and then weld it back together. Probably my last resort.

I did see some original fenders for sale on Craigslist but they were near San Francisco about 2.5 hours from me... And they needed a bunch of work too...

I do have to say that the stud gun I bought from Harbor Freight is one of their better products so far. I am sure that one made by Matco or Snapon would be tons better but they aren't under $100.

[Xeen]

If you happen to be at Harbor freight pick up a couple of polycarbide disks, they are extremely handy for removing, paint, primer, body filler and rust.
It does wear out faster than a wire wheel however it outperforms a wire wheel hands down leaving clean resurfaced metal.
Here is a link so you can check it out.
http://www.harborfreight.com/4-1-2-h...eel-94017.html
I have noticed on Harbor freight tools their heavy duty units are far superior to their standard ones.

[WarMonger]

This build is going great.

[MigGunslinger]

Thanks guys! I managed to get some work done on the truck this week, a lot of little things but the big news is that I completed my rocker repair and filled in the stock filler neck hole.






























The Triplus rocker was bought from summit racing under the AMD Brand. The filler Neck patch was from AZ Pro Performance. The Triplus rocker fit way better than the Taiwan made piece from classic industries.

[Xeen]

Originally Posted by MigGunslinger

The Triplus rocker fit way better than the Taiwan made piece from classic industries.

Yeah I always try to buy made in USA parts when possible because they fit better and are of a higher quality.

[MigGunslinger]

Hey All,

I would like to say that I have been super busy these past couple of weeks and that's why there has been no progress. That would be a lie though, I was just being lazy, I did nothing productive and it was everything I thought it could be.

I did manage to put in a little time this week and get my Radiator mounted and the Driver door hung.


I bought this aluminum radiator from Brothers on "sale" about four years ago and when I recently tried to install it it would not fit in my stock radiator mounts. This is probably common knowledge to everyone here but there was a three row radiator stock in these trucks and an optional four row heavy duty unit. It turns out that the different radiators use different mounts and rubber bushings.

I first tried to order the rubber pieces figuring that that was the difference. I got some goodmark rubber pieces but they obviously did not fit in my stock mounts. I then ordered a complete kit with rubber and mounts from Classic Industries. The Classic mounts looked great but the radiator ended up about 2 inches too high. I noticed that the goodmark rubber pieces were shorter so I used them instead and found that the mount was contacting the aluminum on the top of the radiator and I would need to clearance the mounts. I then got pissed and left it for two weeks.

Grinding the mounts ended up being pretty simple and the radiator fits great now.



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I also got the drivers door mounted for the final test fit after the rocker repair. Happy with the way the gaps are coming out, this was never going to be a show truck.



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That's it for now.

Hopefully I can finish my passenger fender repair and patch the antenna hole in the middle of the roof without getting so mad I leave it for weeks.

[re1]

Looks Good !!