71 C10 LB: Code Name Sloth

[rechinca]

Isn’t that the truth!

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good.

[rechinca]

End of my weekend today with four 12’s starting tomorrow so finished up a bunch of work.

Finished off prepping the inner cowl and fitting her. Drilled I don’t know how many holes for plug welds. Cleaned the area up, covered the back side of the flanges with self etching weld through primer, and then put it in place one last time. Once I got a few areas tacked, it was several hours of fill a few plug holes and let it cool. Fill/cool, fill/cool until they were all done. That damned rain gutter is a pain! But she is done and down on the ground with the lowering springs and drop spindles in place. Monday I’ll grind down the welds and epoxy prime the inner cowl and firewall for fresh orange paint, then begins the motor tear down! Off for 12 days so I might even get that pig back together before I go back to work.

[rechinca]

One last thing! I really like the product Metal Rescue. It has worked fantastic for me. Yes it is a little pricey, but it WORKS! We have all seen what the emergency brake mechanism looks like in these old trucks. That bare metal area is just rusty no matter what. This is after a 24 hour soak and rinse. It leaves a coating on it so it doesn’t flash rust. Now I am debating between a dry zinc galvanizing spray or clear coat for the bare metal areas.

[cornerstone]

That’s some serious progress man!

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks great, I'll have to check it out when you're off work.

[rechinca]

Thanks guys, been busting my hump so she is mobile soon.

Any time man! You know I am out there almost all day every day I am off.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by rechinca

Thanks guys, been busting my hump so she is mobile soon.

Any time man! You know I am out there almost all day every day I am off.

Thanks, you know you can stop by here too at anytime. My girlfriend loves your dog.....

[rechinca]

Good thing I like Monday’s and it’s the beginning of my weekend! BUSY today!

Cut the windshield out as I had a small hole in the upper RH corner I could see so I reasoned I may have more issues under all of the gasket and extra goop the previous owners tried to use to fix the water leaks. I cut out a small amount of bad metal in the upper RH corner, drilled out a couple of holes where I found thinned out area and made another patch. I drilled a hole in the upper LH side and then flooded the upper area above the windshield and down both pillars with Eastwood’s Internal Frame Coating. I used it in a fresh air box in the wife’s 71 F250 with fantastic success. I welded in the patch, ground down the welds and all of the spot welds on the inner cowl. Lots of progress! Tomorrow I will probably sand and then epoxy prime everything.

[rechinca]

Decided to detour slightly today. To epoxy prime around the windshield I felt my time would be better spent if I also just epoxy primed the rain gutters at the same time. That also means the inside of the door jamb needed to be prepped around the upper half where the factory white is (that is also covered in that crappy black primer and rattle can white). Also meant scraping the gutters and wire wheeling them. Success, and ZERO rot in the gutters or seams! The one time it proved it was a Cali truck. All prepped and tomorrow I should be able to shoot the epoxy over the gutters, door jambs, windshield frame and cowl.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by rechinca

Success, and ZERO rot in the gutters or seams!

That's a huge bonus right there!!

[Ol Blue K20]

It's coming together. Looking good!

[rechinca]

Seam sealer done on the inner cowl and the gutters. Had to go with the heavy bodied 3M. I wanted to use the self leveling but my shipment was delayed for at least a week and I needed to make progress.

Next up was finish the firewall for epoxy primer. Glad I decided to tear it all off as the lower hole for the emergency brake did not look good. A lot of cracks around it. And I am not really sure why, but if you are doing some work, grind the paint down there and inspect it! I didn't see it until the paint was gone. I welded it back up and will use a thick washer there when I assemble it.

[rechinca]

Also found this interesting little stamp in the lower firewall. It would be behind the inner fender on the RH side. Any idea what this indicates or why it is there? According to the little blue tag on my drivers side door, Sloth was built in 08/70 and this looks like it says 8 12 1970? Anyone concur or disagree or have insight?

[rechinca]

Almost forgot pics of the Emergency Brake assembly.

[cornerstone]

Love the flags you've got on display, I'm also a proud American who appreciates law enforcement.

E brake looks fantastic too!!

[rechinca]

Not as much to finish off this week. Ended up having a small piece of metal in my eye from Saturday. Got under my full face shield and safety glasses so spent Sunday and Monday not working on it much. Just a fleck on the eye they were able to get off but what an irritation! The firewall and cowl are in primer and sealer now, but the windshield frame hasn’t cured and with the high temps here (100-105), I have limited times to paint as this is an outside build on the driveway. I set up a makeshift booth with an easyup and tarps, but it just keeps the heat in. Monday I should be able to get the last of the sealer on and be ready to throw some paint on it Tuesday and Wednesday.

Did get a bunch of little parts cleaned and painted, some small bolts getting the rust knocked off and parts sorted. Took the pedal assemblies off. The brake/clutch assembly was in need of cleaning and I painted the pedals/arms. Took the accelerator pedal assembly apart, cleaned and painted the parts. I figure I couldn’t put it all back together in good faith without doing it.

Discovered the front cable for the emergency brake was fraying and the accelerator cable was suspect in a couple of spots so ordered up a bunch of pets again. Pulled the gas tank while the seat was out so I could inspect it. Super clean on the inside, not a speck of rust I could see! But holy crap, that last couple of gallons were FOUL! Going to scrub the cab down and probably epoxy the floor before it goes back together. Seat and tank will com back out next summer when I do the floor and cab corner repairs, but I figured it’s all out right now so I’d like to get some preventative done now.

And finally, I painted the main part of the Emergency Brake assembly. Decided to use a silver paint to coat it and then next week I’ll paint up the arm and pedal.

[Ol Blue K20]

I'm glad your eye is ok. I've had that happen before and its miserable. E brake looks great.

[rechinca]

Baby steps right? Went to paint the orange (516) and realized I was short. Forgot last I ordered paint I was only doing the cowl and not touching the firewall. So I started with getting the firewall and lower portion of the windshield frame started. Which means I can start working on the motor today. I have to say, this orange has always been my favorite color. Glad I decided to go a few steps further taking the motor out and taking care of the firewall. Lots of work and probably will get pushed a couple more weeks to around Thanksgiving.

[Ol Blue K20]

Nice...

[rechinca]

Good news is the windshield area is painted. Bad news in the motor department. #3 cylinder obviously sat with water in the cylinder at some point. Would need a total rebuild. Wife said go for it so ordered up a GM crate 350. Was going to go that route probably in the spring, but decided better to do it now while the front end is apart. At least it’ll be easier to replace now. So hopefully in about 10 days, we will start that part of the episode. I guess in the mean time tomorrow's episode will be start the front and front to rear brake lines, sway bar and painting a couple areas of the floor pans.

[1971Stepside]

Wife said go for it

Some of my favorite words to hear

[Ol Blue K20]

New engine too, it's going to be nice.

[rechinca]

Here is the worst one. Disappointing? Yes, but on the other hand it was an anemic 165hp out of a 1972 Impala. So in that case, not really that big of a loss.

[rechinca]

Came in two days ago, but so windy here I haven’t been able to paint it up! Killing me just staring at it on the engine stand.