ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy

[SeventyOne]

Originally Posted by parb

It's not a flip. I think you've crystalized the question well.

Thanks, it was very helpful to me. Off frame it is.

Good :-) save it. We need more on the road!

[parb]

A small progress update. Rocker panels on passenger side before and after pictures.
I'm not doing the work, I have a body shop doing the body work (I don't have welder for the garage space for this).

[parb]

The drivers side had a bit more severe cancer in the bones. Will be sorted during the upcoming week.

[parb]

Next up...

I have a serious hole(!) In the passenger side door. It was caused by someone backing up too close to a concrete pole in a garage and ripped out the camper mirror. The bolt holes for the mirrors ripped out of the door skin leaving three big holes with the metal expanded ouward. Basically I need to replace the outer door skin.

I ordered a skin from lmc truck, but I didn't get a door skin, I got a new floor tub for the truck... Ordered a new skin as I needed it urgently and I'll either send the floor back for a refund or try to sell the floor tub. Didn't set me back too badly, but a bit irritating... I should have done an inventory on what was inside the box and not just checked the label on the box.

After that I have a dent in the driver side rear quarter panel. The body guy tells me he can massage that out.

[stangtjk]

Sweet jimmy... I look forward to watching the build but I gotta be honest with you. I know the inner rocker will never be seen once finished and if you were the one that pathched it and was happy with it I'd cheer you on. However I would not be paying a shop $80 an hour for that. And if dropping $15k on a paint job is in your cards I'd expect much better work out of the shop.

[parb]

This is not the shop doing the paint, it's only a body shop. I am for sure no expert, what do you think should be done differently?

I picked this shop because he comes highly recommended and I've seen the end result of a bunch of high end cars which I thought was really well done. But I am for sure open for suggestions. The labor rate is spot on.

[stangtjk]

Personally I would have butt welded the patch in and ground the welds smooth so you wouldnt know the repair was even there. I go overboard on some things though.... That patch looks like it's partially butt welded on the sides and lap welded at the top... If I was going to lap weld it I would have at least cut out an even rectangle. Also what's with the runs?.... Again I know this will never be seen but doesn't look professional to me. My inner rockers were in much worse shape and I patched them in my driveway... I'm just a hobbiest so I'd expect at least the same quality if I took it to the professionals.

[parb]

Time for an update. The rust had been repaired and a new door skin has been welded on the passenger door. Started the repairs of the fiber glass. Started sand blasting the body. On Monday the engine and transmission gets pulled.
Some pictures.

[parb]

And another picture. Interior.

[DeadheadNM]

Nice progress. Thanks for the update. How did the door skin fit? What are your plans for the motor?

Could you post a detail pic of the rear of the rear wheel well driver side when possible? It looks like there are remnants of the jack decal and another decal that I suspect is where the positraction decal was placed: I'm trying to confirm where GM placed the posi decal.

[parb]

The skin for really well. It was from lmc and I'm quite happy with it.
Here is a picture of the decal. confirming that they put the jack decal on the driver's side rear wheel well.

Do you know where I can get those decals btw?

[parb]

Removed post, consolidated into previous post.

[DeadheadNM]

Thanks! That confirms it.

Most place that sell repro parts for our trucks carry the posi decal. There's only one place for the jack decal and that from member and all around great guy Ironcanine (Brad) and here's link to his sale thread: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=678462

[parb]

I just posted a message asking if I could get my hands on a decal when his new batch gets printed. Thanks for letting me know!

[parb]

Does anyone know where I can get new hinges for the hatch (the hinge for the fiber glass rear door on the double walled top). The hinges are a bit loose and I should replace them. Couldn't see them in any of the usual places.

Thankful for a lead!

[stangtjk]

They are not reproduced but you can put new pins and bushings in to rebuild them. I rebuilt mine, pins and bushings are the same diameter as door hinges... I got a generic door hinge rebuilt kit. I don't remember what make and model it was for but the pins we're too long and I just cut the down.

[parb]

Thanks, very helpful!

[parb]

While all the trim, bumpers etc is off the truck I've been looking at each piece and making a call on what I can restore vs what I have to replace. Over the past four days I've been making lists on all the stuff I need to order. As of last night I've placed an order for everything, starting with all wiring harnesses, fuel and brake lines (ss of course,), all trim, all rubber, all lamps and lights, hood hinges and springs, bumpers, grilles, eyebrows, ac parts, and a bunch of minute stuff like glovebox, window channel liners etc.

I can post the entire list of anyone is interested. I'm $6,600 into parts so far.
It's adding up...

[psuedopimp]

That’s a big chunk all at once. I’m more of a eat the elephant one bite at a time. I’d be interested in what vender your parts came from and if you thought the piece was quality or junk after install.

I hate buying things twice. I bought the transfer case shifter boot from LMC and in six months it was more dry rotted than the original.

[stangtjk]

Unfortunately that won't be the end of it. I have more than that in restoring mine just for materials but I didn't do it all at once. Hell thinking back I probably have over a grand just in primer and Raptor liner.

[parb]

I'm more a "let's get everything I need at once" than buying over an extended time.

Most of the items I ordered from GMC Paul's.

Last year when I started out,, I ordered some rubber from lmc and then I heard that GMC Paul's had better quality. I reordered the piece from GMC Paul and the quality's was significantly better so I ordered most parts from them.

I did order the door skin from lmc, that worked out well.

Vendors I didn't care for? Brothers took forever to ship after I ordered and they had crappy order updates. I wouldn't order from them again unless I had no other choice. Manes truck parts had poor order updates and no meaningful way of order tracking, their receipt was a paypal receipt and they would not even mail out an receipt. Strange behavior.

Lmc shipped by a wrong part, and it was really wrong (floor pan instead of door skin). I found that amusing.

A window trim from GMC Paul arrived and looked like it had been driven over by the delivery truck. I emailed them with cell phone pictures and they where quick to replace it right away. I liked that, good service. Found out that they actually source that part from Brothers trucks...

Loved LMC's brochure, disliked their website. GMC Paul's website is hard to navigate, and the cart doesn't survive a night of sleep.

Loved that GMC Paul emailed me and told me that the light harness isn't compatible with the under dash harness I had ordered. A few emails back and forth and they had that sorted out and modified the order for the right harness under the dash. Just great, personal service!

I sound like an ad for GMC Paul, I have zero relationship with them. I'm just a guy in California restoring a truck, doing it for the first time and have no prior experience with these vendors.

[parb]

Originally Posted by stangtjk

Unfortunately that won't be the end of it. I have more than that in restoring mine just for materials but I didn't do it all at once. Hell thinking back I probably have over a grand just in primer and Raptor liner.

I'm going to be deep in first for paint and liner. Body shop quote for frame off paint and powder coating of frame is the biggest cost item I have budgeted for. Quote is for $17k but I expect to have it go over. The repair for rust and dents came in way below budget.

[parb]

A minor update ahead of the fourth of july weekend.
The engine and trans is out. The body is off the frame and on the rotisserie. I hope to get pictures of that uploaded mid-week.

i wanted to keep the original hubcaps, and they had some serious dings on them. I have been working with an old English gentleman in Santa Cruz who is darn good at working out the dents an making the metal look new. The crome parts of the hub caps have been cleaned up and are out to be flash chromed. It was a little bit less than i had feared, especially here in CA where there are all kinds of fees and permits for chrome shops (i think few are in business).

I'm pretty happy with the hubcaps. Below is a picture of the rear ones before the painted areas gets repainted (just the metal has been worked on).

[parb]

In these pictures you can see the work done. This is the hubcap that had about a half inch sharp dent in the metal. the other picture is a pic of the rear of the hubcap. Uou can see that i put a bit of putty to strengthen the area while working on it.

[parb]

Tomorrow i will post an update of the original camper mirrors. one had a series bent in a leg from an accident. Got most of that out of it, and polished them. The arm to the mirror itself is chromed and there is a bit of rust in them that i need to think about for the future... Rechrome the arms? live with the little bit of rust there is?

The chrome bar that holds the carpet down at the step-up behind the front seats has been polished and it looks really good.

Pics tomorrow!