64 C10 Stepside "Jaybird"

[bj383ss]

Next thing to work on was the all original pass fender I got from CustomCab66.

Very minimal rust a few dents to knock out and trim holes to weld up. I also had to fix the stripped out lower nut. Here's how I did that. I tried to drill out the stripped of bolt but the nut came loose from its weld.

20170921_125741 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170921_125909 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170921_130335 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170921_132021 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Yes my weld is ugly but it plenty strong.

20170921_134630 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170921_141822 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170921_141839 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Filling the trim holes next.

20170921_143812 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Not to bad for a amateur welder I mean grinder.

20170921_154805 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Had a very small cancer hole at the bottom I drilled out with a bit and welded in a nail head. Worked great.

20170921_163109 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170924_110239 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170924_111006 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170924_113957 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Cleaning the inside next.

20170924_115629 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170924_122451 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170924_125936 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Rust encapsulator on the places I couldn't reach and etching primer on the rest.

20170924_162213 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170924_162208 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Some Metal 2 metal for all my welds and a few small dents.

20170929_145035 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Had to work in the shed on Friday due to the rain.

20170929_145054 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

In primer. Almost there. Just needs some high build and some blocking.

20170929_175530 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170929_175541 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20170929_175546 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

High build.

20170930_095843 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

While I was waiting on that to dry started on this disaster again. It warped on me pretty bad even though I only welded a few spots far apart and gave it time to cool. This door is junk but for now going to make it work.

20170930_113032 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Bret

[TJ's Chevy]

Glad you got motorvated again man! Looks great and keep up the good work!

[Bomp]

One of the hardest things is motivation. Glad to see you're hard at it again.
Totally understand about doors. They push a guy to the limit. Mine have anyways.

Following,,, always was and still am.

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Great to see you back Bret.

If you stored those brake parts in my shop for three years they would be perfectly patina' by now.

Door looks great as do tucked bumpers.

Thank You Rian. I was mildly upset trying to find them as I pride myself on being very organized.

Originally Posted by Mjminino

Thanks Mike.

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

Glad you got motorvated again man! Looks great and keep up the good work!

Thank TJ.

Originally Posted by Bomp

One of the hardest things is motivation. Glad to see you're hard at it again.
Totally understand about doors. They push a guy to the limit. Mine have anyways.

Following,,, always was and still am.

Thanks Greg. Well the driver door beat me again but third time is the charm.

Bret

[bj383ss]

I didn't get as much done today as I wanted but I made some progress.

I started the morning with the driver door and came to the realization that I messed it up too bad for myself to fix so I ordered a whole new door skin. Third time will be the charm I hope. My plan is to just replace the bottom half right below the bottom belt line in the crown.

I did a block sand on the passenger fender and then fitted it to the truck to see where I am at.

The front fits very good. The lower back will need a few more spacers to bring it out even with the rocker and I will need to massage the bottom of the door in with the hammer and dolly just a little bit.

20171001_113232 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

After I took this pic I realized it was just a little bit too low to the front panel.

20171001_113249 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171001_113252 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Once I bring the fender out and massage the door a little bit I think this will all look about right.

20171001_113341 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

The door needs to be moved forward just a bit as well.

20171001_113350 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171001_113304 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

It feels really good to see the door and the fender back on and very close for the first time in almost 4 years.

20171001_113403 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

So while I wait for the door skin to arrive I tackled the driver fender patch.

20171001_141311 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171001_141315 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Following some tips from a youtube video from Gibson63. I took a bunch of measurements to make sure I get back in the same place since my patch is rather large and I have to replace in the bottom of the inner brace.

20171001_142153 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171001_142701 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

This is the original color of my truck Fawn. I am not a fan.

20171001_142704 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Scribed a line on the patch a little oversize so I can sneak up on the fit.

20171001_161736 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

I was getting the patch close and my parents stopped by and before I knew the afternoon was gone.

20171001_164210 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Will pick back up on it in the morning.

Bret

[mjh1965]

Glad to see you back at it Bret , as they say progress is progress . Shame about the drivers door , but the wing is looking good

[clemdaddy]

Nice work on the right fender and the door. Looks like everything will fit together just fine though sometime the micro adjustments can drive you crazy. Keep after it Bro.

[Ta2Don]

Bret,
Glad to see you back in the groove... Looking good. I too used nail heads to fill holes, worked great.

[Grizz1963]

Just loving this Bret.

Fender repairs are part of my futur.

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by mjh1965

Glad to see you back at it Bret , as they say progress is progress . Shame about the drivers door , but the wing is looking good

Thank You Martin. I will get the driver door sorted shortly.

Originally Posted by clemdaddy

Nice work on the right fender and the door. Looks like everything will fit together just fine though sometime the micro adjustments can drive you crazy. Keep after it Bro.

Thank you Clem. You got that right. By the time I figure out how to get everything just right I will have to blow it apart and paint it.

Originally Posted by Ta2Don

Bret,
Glad to see you back in the groove... Looking good. I too used nail heads to fill holes, worked great.

Thank you Don. I stole the Nail head idea from you my friend.

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Just loving this Bret.

Fender repairs are part of my futur.

Looking forward to future endeavors Rian. HeHe.

Bret

[bj383ss]

Started early this morning at 730 sharp. Put in about 8 hours today. Suppose to rain the next two days so wanted to make the most of today.

So here is where I left off with the fender. I spent about an hour getting it fit just right and rechecking all my measurements to make sure it was in the right place.

20171002_085520 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171002_085514 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Some tack welds to hold it in place. I went very slow let it cool completely and planished each weld with hammer and dolly.

20171002_091919 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

This part would have to be shaped after it was welded in securely. These aftermarket parts never fit properly. They all require massaging.

20171002_091929 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

After the patch was secure flipped it over to replace this mess. Took 2 measurements to the mounting hole to get it back in the same place.

20171002_093939 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171002_093943 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Cut the old piece above damage and test fitting the replacement.

20171002_094728 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Cut line.

20171002_094730 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Cut to size and clamped in place.

20171002_100724 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Decent fit.

20171002_100727 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

One of my measurements to verify it is in the right vertical position. Also more of the ugly original paint of my truck.

20171002_100736 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Had to put this clamp on the outside to put some curve in since the brace was cut right in the middle it was sagging.

20171002_100742 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

After I tacked the brace I put it on the truck to verify it was right. It came out perfect. This fender hasn't been on this truck for almost 4 years.

20171002_104922 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

This bottom mounting hole is about 3/4" big so there is plenty of play to move the fender around.

20171002_104935 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171002_104944 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

With it verified it was in the right place plug welded the brace in.

20171002_113145 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

With some primer and undercoating no one will never notice anything happened here.

20171002_114654 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171002_114658 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Dealt with this part next. Massaged it into place.

20171002_115024 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Stitching it up very slowly. VERY SLOW.

20171002_121239 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

In fact to keep busy during cooling I drug out the front bed panel to see if I could get the bow out of it. I didn't take any pics but I took a 2x4 and a BFH and beat the hell out of it til I got it pretty damn straight. I also knocked out about 8 really bad dents that were from stuff sliding forward in the bed.

So while waiting for the fender to cool I decided to start stripping it.

20171002_142759 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

2 work stations in the shade with the Big fan blowing. Was a beautiful 84* today. I worked til 5p.

20171002_142808 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Before

20171002_142803 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Drilled out the rivets and took these buggers off. My FIL had a vinyl tonneau cover on it.

20171002_143614 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Aching neck, back, arms and 3 hours later.

20171002_164953 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171002_165012 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

The fender is almost stitched up. The the next thing is putting a patch right above this new piece. The bottom patch wasn't quite long enough.

20171002_165017 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Quick pass with the dual action sander and some 80 grit. These bed pieces are galvanized from the factory. I tried my best to leave as much of it as possible.

20171002_165537 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

I have a little bit of rust at the bottom of the panel I will have to treat and one small pin hole I can weld up with a nail head.

20171002_165541 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

That's it for today.

Bret

[Mjminino]

[Grizz1963]

This is really making me smile Mate.

Great progress again today.

Well done.

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by Mjminino

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

This is really making me smile Mate.

Great progress again today.

Well done.

Anything to make your smile Rian.

Bret

[mjh1965]

Looking good Bret . I have started getting my doors lined up to the fenders , luckily the pattern fender to door gap seems quite good .

[bj383ss]

Yesterday's work.

I only had the morning to get stuff done as the weatherman predicted and rain. And for once he was right!

Made a patch for this small spot.

20171003_082614 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

One thing I have learned is cutting the hole to match the patch is much easier than cutting the patch to try and match the hole.

20171003_082610 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

I have been make all of my patches from this piece of a cab back. When I got my gas tank mounts John just cut the whole piece from the cab versus cutting all the spot welds. I don't blame him and the plus side I have some original sheet metal to patch with.

20171003_082216 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171003_085125 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171003_085130 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

While welding in the patch I flipped the front bed panel over. This is the only place on the whole truck that still has decent paint. It even still has a sheen to it. So I plan to just sand this side down really well and feather in all the bad places and just prime over it.

20171003_090156 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

I almost wanted to polish it out to see what the paint job my FIL did looked like.

20171003_090202 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

You can see all the dents from over the years I knocked down. Not perfect but much better than before.

20171003_092921 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171003_092926 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Drilled out the one small rust hole it had.

20171003_093509 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171003_094517 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Welding up the 20 holes across the top.

20171003_101315 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

These were super easy. Even for me.

20171003_094528 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Had one big 3/8" size hole right in the raised part in the middle. I made a flanged patch and welded from both sides.

20171003_101321 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

This pic popped up on my instagram feed and the shot of the bed really helps motivate me. Hopefully I will have mine looking like that soon. Not sure about the Elco bumper?

Screenshot_20171003-135200 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Started stripping the driver side bed panel. I made a run to HF and bought one of their Polycarbide abrasive wheels, a new cup brush and a 3" Roloc Disc sander. The Polycarbide wheel works really well for stripping fast and is much faster than the cup brush. Downside is it wears out really quick.

20171003_175334 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Not sure how I am going to get up at the top near the rail. My grinder is too big to fit up in there. Either going to have to sandblast or use paint stripper.

20171003_175328 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Tons of paint on this bedside. Especially around the outside edges of the fenders. Looks like there is about 6 layers of paint and primer.

20171003_175337 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

So this front corner needs attention. Some one pulled or tied something too it and pulled it loose from the stake, broke the weld and the metal on then side of the bed and the tab where it was spot welded to the bedside. What were they thinking?

20171003_175343 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Broken tab.

20171003_175351 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Looks like it might have happened before my father in law got it as the top of the bed has body filler on it.

20171003_175404 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

thanks for looking in,

Bret

[Indian113]

WOW! Just read your whole Thread, I'm impressed with the work you have done and thankful for the pictures on how you did it. I'm starting a Full tear down of my 64 this Fall and going to have to do a lot of the same things you did. Thanks Again ,Ray

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by mjh1965

Looking good Bret . I have started getting my doors lined up to the fenders , luckily the pattern fender to door gap seems quite good .

Thanks Martin. Can't wait to see your underway.

Originally Posted by Indian113

WOW! Just read your whole Thread, I'm impressed with the work you have done and thankful for the pictures on how you did it. I'm starting a Full tear down of my 64 this Fall and going to have to do a lot of the same things you did. Thanks Again ,Ray

Thank You Indian113. It has been a long journey and I am ready to drive it again. Good luck on your tear down. Are you going to have a thread or maybe you already have one.

Bret

[Indian113]

Bret, I don't have a thread yet. I'm still working on my shop. I have a 24x48 shop and I need to make room for our Harley's ,my wife's car and my Caddy plus get the 64 in it. But I have a plan, the Harleys may spend the winter in the MC trailer and the Caddy will sit outside with my S10 unless it's snowing. The PO thought he was a Sculpter and worked wonders with Bondo! Luckily I'm retired and I can spend as much time as I want in the shop. Ray

[bj383ss]

I spent all day working on the driver fender.

First off was bending over the patch.

20171004_102558 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Next I knocked this dent back in place and then welded up the holes.

20171004_112317 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_122024 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_122028 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Last thing to weld up was a patch for this rotted place on the eyebrow.

20171004_122042 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Hung it on the sawhorse to make it easier to work on.

20171004_123306 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

I didn't take a pic but this corner was packed all the way back to the top of my cut with dirt and rust. It took about 10 minutes to dig and blow it all out.

20171004_124340 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_124345 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_124332 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Not perfect but pretty close and will be fine with some mud.

20171004_153748 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_153800 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

And here is the fender all stripped, cleaned, welded, and ground ready for some Metal 2 Metal aluminum filler before primer.

20171004_160429 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_160433 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_162834 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

This eyebrow part of the fender is one of my favorite parts about these trucks.

20171004_162842 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

First coat of mud.

20171004_165908 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_165917 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171004_175126 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Best before shot I could find of it.

DSCN6789 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Tomorrow will get i primed and then some primer surfacer and blocking after that.

Bret

[TJ's Chevy]

You do some fast work man!

Looks good!

[bj383ss]

Originally Posted by TJ's Chevy

You do some fast work man!

Looks good!

Thanks TJ. 12 days of vacation are helping of course.


Well my progress today is not as impressive as I never made it back outside after lunch. After 6.5 days of going strong my body gave out today.

I did get the driver fender in primer and the front bed panel.

20171005_144642 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

It still need a little bit of glazing putty.

20171005_164921 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Bed panel looks pretty good considering how rough it was.

20171005_164927 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

That's it for today. Will hit it hard in the morning and then a lunch date with the wife. So tomorrow might be another half day.

Bret

[bj383ss]

Started off this morning laying some high build primer on the driver fender and both cowls.

20171006_085115 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_085119 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

The passenger cowl has crease in it I never noticed before which lines up with the crease that was on the passenger door.

20171006_085130 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Then onto to stripping the inside of the driver bedside.

20171006_090441 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_090444 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

The front corner will need some repair.

20171006_090450 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

2.5 hrs later.

20171006_103812 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Finished stripping this side except for the very top. Going to use chemical stripper for this none of my tools fit up under the bed rail.

20171006_112509 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

After lunch worked on getting this front corner back as close to how it was originally.

20171006_155752 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_155750 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_163116 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_163123 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_165401 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_165405 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_165410 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

It's not perfect but much better than it was.

20171003_175343 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171003_175404 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Last thing of the day was sanding down both side with 80 grit with the DA and knocking out dents as I went along. It is going to have bed liner on it and I will be hauling stuff any so not trying to make it perfect just decent looking.

20171006_172258 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_172250 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

And just for my own amusement and a little motivation I threw the fender on there.

20171006_172921 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

20171006_172912 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

This fender is going to be a blast. All of this to cover a small dent and crease.

20171006_173259 by bjohnson388, on Flickr

Found another motivational picture of a stepside bed I have been daydreaming with.

Would love to know where I can find these taillights or what vehicle they are off of.

2017-10-06_08-22-50 by bjohnson388, on Flickr


Bret

[Indian113]

Those look like 1950 Pontiac Taillights.

[Grizz1963]

You are rocking man !!

Some serious forward progress here.