1967 GMC - SWB, great patina

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Spaghetti for dinner.

Frankly for anyone doing a custom harness, I’d recommend to remove ALL wires from the PCM, cut ALL wires from the block that attaches to the underside of the fuse panel (mostly pink power wires) then sensor by sensor pull wiring apart until you get each sensors wire by itself. Black/white wires (GND) are jumpers together a few places but those can be lengthened again later.

Once each plug is free, plug in your connections, start routing wiring as you see fit - you’ll tidy it up at the PCM and fuse / relay block later.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

While gutting the interior of the cab, I pulled off the heater box hose and found a plethora of timeless treasures. A bunch of coins, a wire loop style bottle opener, some cotter pins and a cool New Mexico postage tag from Disabled American Veterans - it LOOKS like 1963?

My vehicles all generally somehow find or create their own keychains through happenstance - I think I’ll go with the church key and Postage tag for this rig. ✅

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Beginning the worst part of the job for me - bodywork.

Although it’s not a rot-box, it needs the usual - cab corners, rocker panels, cab mounts, kick panels, and some floor work. The floor was cut apart to allow an SM465, but did come with a high-hump cover. I’m not sure what height the T56 shifter will end up, so it might get used?

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

More

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Floor photos

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Kick panels & vents

[cj847]

Those A pillars are in great condition considering all the other rust.

[clay68c10]

She’s not too crusty. How’s the drip rail?
I like your keychain idea.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

She’s not too crusty. How’s the drip rail?
I like your keychain idea.

The drip rail is solid. The factory “caulking” or whatever they put in there is dried and needs replacement, but it all seems solid. I’ll find out more when I remove it all. I need to do this on my ‘68 also.

[clay68c10]

That looks pretty good. Mine was similar. The old seam sealer chips out pretty easy with a pocket screwdriver.
Then wire wheel the hell out of it

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

A few buddies came over tonight and helped me flip the cab onto its back. I really wanted to keep the doors on, but eventually pulled them to keep things as light as possible.

The cab mounts don’t look horrendous, but will be replaced before it flips back and I continue on the rockers & cab corner repair.

It’s nice having everything on wheels, and mobile.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Cab mounts

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

New parts arrived from Auto Metal Direct, and CPP - a bunch of metal panels and the fuel system.

The kit is for a 1969 Camaro and is “notched” at the front corners, at a 45*
This is the same kit I put in my ‘68 except I didn’t do the Notched version (didn’t know it was available, or definitely didn’t know better). This should help route exhaust easier

Also began cutting away on the passengers cab floor to remove the hack job badness from someone ages ago. Going slowly and trying to remove only what’s needed.

[raggedjim]

Originally Posted by WorldsCrappiestTruck

Beginning the worst part of the job for me - bodywork.

I agree 100%! It's not so much the cutting and welding, I kinda enjoy that, it's the spreading filler, sanding, spreading filler, sanding, etc. and the mess it makes.

Good luck, Rg

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

I agree 100%! It's not so much the cutting and welding, I kinda enjoy that, it's the spreading filler, sanding, spreading filler, sanding, etc. and the mess it makes.

Good luck, Rg

I’ll be sticking with the original patina, so filler, sanding, etc will be limited to the rockers and cab corners.

If someone wants to make it a show truck with a mirror paint job someday…have at it.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Making slow progress on the floors and mounts. A lot of spot weld drilling, carefully disassembling, keeping the cab trigged with bracing. I added in the passengers kick panel, the inner rocker & floor section, and am waiting on another floor pan from AMD to finish patching it. The inner rocker - floor section didn’t reach far enough inward…so I’ll have a seam to tidy up.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

I also cooked up a nice idea for holding the rubber fuel line and wiring that runs along the frame rail to the rear of the truck. Some 8AN heater hose clamps, and rubber grommets for running Ethernet wire etc.

Use a sharp blade and cut off the excess grommet going through the heater hose holder, then slice off the Star shape. You end up with 2 perfect length split grommets that will hold the half-dozen or so wires to the rear of the trick, inside some nice braided loom.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

And….headers arrived

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Slow progress….but progress nonetheless.

Passengers kick panel, cab supports and inner-rocker / floor section are in but still need to tack the floor pan back down (after tidying up a section of it).

Drivers kick panel is in - front cab support nearly ready after painting things a bit.

Easy to see where the rust starts, looking at the dirt accumulated at the bottom of the A-pillar.

For the work, I kept the rockers in place which kept all the bolting locations true for the inner rocker, A-pillar and rear cab mount. All of those bolts went back where they originally were so hoping the cab didn’t move much at all during the work.

Lost a couple days when a cut-off wheel exploded and shot shrapnel into my eye despite a decent pair of safety glasses (always). Caught the perfect ricochet up under the glasses, off my cheek/nose and into my eye. A couple trips to the hospital and some steroid / antibiotic eyedrops later….im back to work with a set of goggles that fit more like an old Chemistry class set. They seal against the forehead, nose and cheeks.

[raggedjim]

Nice work so far. It is always amazing how much crap can come out of the rockers, pillars, and cab supports.

Be careful with those eyes! I've been to the E.R. a couple of times when I was younger and bulletproof.

[clay68c10]

Good job man. It's nice to look at all those areas post repair and see new solid metal.
I hate those ricochet debris shots in the eye. A full face shield is a good option as well.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Thanks Jim and Clay. I have a full face shield, but the inside & outside get coated in dust so easily, and it fogs.

I ended up trying these from HF and really dig them. They sit flush against the cheek, nose, forehead.

https://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-...les-58913.html


Back at it today, and got in the drivers front cab support, the thick floor pan reinforcement plate, and welded the main cab floor support back in place after cutting the spot welds to pull it all apart. A ratchet strap from the floor-support to the firewall-support helped me line up the spot welds, putting it back in the right location.

Wiring harness arrived today also!! ��

I gotta say….I wish there were ANY rhyme or reason behind the orientation of the photos when they get posted. I take straight photos that end upside down, 90* photos that are straight and vertical photos that are sideways. Sorry for those following….

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Patched a hole under the drivers side of the seat (no idea how a hole forms here? The front seat mounting location is caved in a bit - someone slapped some metal over the bad areas and welded the bejeezus out of it.

The further-back area, I ground down the welds and cut into the top layer of metal, peeling it back like a soup can lid to see how bad things were - not as bad as the patch indicated…and I wanted to keep as much original floor as possible.

Ground away the welds, used a hammer etc to flatten the floor, cut a patch and weld in a replacement piece. Will get to the seat-mounting area next.

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Repair

[WorldsCrappiestTruck]

Continuing with the floor work, but getting awful close. The last patch was the biggie. Someone has laid a slab of metal from the passengers floor pan, to the inner rocker and laid weld HARD, covering a hole (pic1). I cut it away, and ground down the welds enough to size up the repair need.

I added an inner rocker / floor section to fill most of the hole, but needed a front floor section to repair the rusted area around the bolt hole, and areas toward the rocker.

I didn’t want to cut away more than was needed, so made the joint along the main support for the floor, and under the passengers front cab support. It made for a good spot to weld, and will be nicely hidden away from the underside once things are welded, seam-sealed and painted up.

Started with the main floor, cut out a chunk, test fit it in the cab, then cut & nibbled it away until it nicely fit the section I had cut away.