'71 Chevy 1/2 4x4

[60ratrod]

lookin good nick. you gonna leave it grey?

[nickp51chevy]

I wanted to do bottom black and the top of the cab white, but now I'm thinking i might do red oxide and black on top. No I'm not going to leave it grey. This summer I will paint it something else.

[nickp51chevy]

Just another picture that oldiron's lovely wife suggested that I take. Glad she was there to say something. We were content with tearing out the wiring harness in oldiron's '71.

[young-gun-69]

man that is an awesome truck for the money. I payed 600 for mine and its got way more rust than that!! Way to go! Look forward to seeing the progress.

[young-gun-69]

!

[nickp51chevy]

Thanks young gun!

[nickp51chevy]

Yesterday I finally decided to "install" my new "upholstery" (aka mexican blanket). Whacha think? I wanted to get something to kinda match the interior color, but my wife said that she would have got something with bright red, orange, and yellow stripes.

[0331grunt]

I think it looks good

[nickp51chevy]

Thanks grunt!

********

I was getting tiered of looking at the primer grey on the truck so I thought that I would do some wet sanding in a few sopts to see what that would look like (looked like a green and grey cow). I didn't care much for how that looked so I decided to just keep sanding down the grey back to the original green.

Just a couple pictures to show you, and a couple of my lil' helper

[jbclassix]

Originally Posted by nickp51chevy

Dude! I had one of these on my 76 GMC C-25!!!! GREAT 4 brl for fuel mileage!! Center float made for a good wheelin carb too!

[nickp51chevy]

I actually just read an article about those from 1976. It said that it's a good all around carb for smaller v8's, and will rob power from the larger v8's. I decided to put the Holley on the 307 in my '51, and I rebuilt a Q-jet on the 350 in the '71.

[nickp51chevy]

I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, and today I finally did. I put a spring under the hood to help pop it open.
I used the hood spring from an '82 s10 hood that I had, and I just played with things to make it work.

[60ratrod]

that should help. how much tension does it put on the hood? you have to press down at all to get it to open?

[nickp51chevy]

I don't have a meter or gauge to measure how much tension, but it pops it up about 5 or 6". No I adjusted it so that I don't have to press down on it. I'm glad it worked as well as it does.

[72lb4x4]

Thanks for the the spring idea. I have to pry mine open every time.

[Hard Luck]

Originally Posted by 72lb4x4

Thanks for the the spring idea. I have to pry mine open every time.

I was starting to have to do that as well. The interference was between the latch cup in the hood and the front edge of the latch plate. I just rounded over the leading edge of the latch cup using a hammer and dolly, you only need about 1/16" to clear. Problem solved.

[nickp51chevy]

Quick up date.
I found a lady parting out a '72 3/4 Chevy, and she still had the front bumper. Went to check it out yesterday and decided to get it. She wanted $50 for the bumper, and I only had 20's and so did she. So I looked over the rest of the truck and I got the radio delete plate ask tray and original cigarette lighter. Got it all for $60.

Here is a quick pick that I took last night in my garage. I just need to get some new lenses.

[nickp51chevy]

I still have a couple of issues to work out, but it looks a heck of a lot better than the other bumper.

Are there different bumper brackets for the 4x4 compared to the 2x4? That is an issue I'm having.

[71blksuper4x4]

yep, it looks a lot better with that bumper. Also, yeah there is a difference in 4x4 bumper brackets and several different styles. You will need the 71-72 front 4x4 brackets. Trevor

[nickp51chevy]

Thanks Trevor.

[Hard Luck]

Ask Mark about the turn signals. He just picket up a N.O.S. at the swap.

[nickp51chevy]

I might ask him. I'm thinking about getting a clear set. I haven't uploaded the pix yet, but I took out the assemblies, sanded the insides down a bit, and sprayed some chrome paint. I'm using the amber lights and it's a lot brighter now. I think it would look kinda cool with the clear lens'.

[nickp51chevy]

Here are the pictures of the parking lights painted chrome.
I like how they turned out. They are a bit brighter now.

[nickp51chevy]

I did some more wet sanding on the hood today, and I came across some bare metal spots under the primer that the P/O put on.

I don't know what to do about it. I'm thinking just leave it and seal it up some how; or repaint the whole truck with primer. I'm thinking if I do repaint it I will use a flat or satin black with a white top, or a red oxide with white on top.

What should I do; leave it how it is to give it a "patina" look, but still try to maintain the metal so it doesn't rust, or use a primer and sealer until the full resto happens?

[60ratrod]

paint it. at least that's what i'd do. i'd do the flat black and white. but then again my 60 is like 8 different colors if you include rust