Rat repair.

[swamp rat]

Here's the parts, excuse the mess, parts on lower part of table. Overflow bottle comes with a mount bracket and coolant hose and proper vented lid.

[swamp rat]

Can someone remind me where this bolt with thick washer came from? Maybe the fender well??

[swamp rat]

Inner fender next to dirty firewall, maybe I better wash and wax pretty quick.

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Can someone remind me where this bolt with thick washer came from? Maybe the fender well??

Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe this bolt is used to go through the square hole on the rear of your inner fenders. There should be two of them.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe this bolt is used to go through the square hole on the rear of your inner fenders. There should be two of them.

Awesome! Thank you!

[swamp rat]

Pressing forward, Doing the body work on the door, not near finished yet.. Also prepped, cleaned and sprayed undercoat on my inner fender well for the driver side, its sitting on my paint booth but no picture. Bondo work takes way too long for me!

[DD1]

Hey Mike, Great build thread you have going here. You have really made a lot of progress and it's really informative. Don't know why it took me so long to read it, but doing it after midnight was a mistake - It's now almost 1:00am and I am still going through the pages.

I love the paint booth you made. I may have to do that myself one day. I am definitely going to learn a lot from reading through your thread.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by DD1

but doing it after midnight was a mistake - It's now almost 1:00am and I am still going through the pages.

I love the paint booth you made. I may have to do that myself one day. I am definitely going to learn a lot from reading through your thread.

Story of my life! Always up late... Thanks for the compliments!

[swamp rat]

Went to Goodguys today and Met Dave Kindig.... B i t c h in!

On the way out i ran across a 67 3/4T GMC that caught my eye, i really don't need another 3/4T but it is a 67 and i have a thing about 67's, we talked a bit then he took off. The sign said 3500 OBO, i asked him what his bottom doller was and he said make an offer, i tossed out 2000, he said no cant go that low and would rather let it sit in the garage, i bumped to 2500? nope then he said his bottom dollar was 3000...

The good: Its got Buddy Buckets but they had seat covers on them, the seats didn't look broken down, the bed was immaculate, the tail gate was removed for a camper and stored inside, not a dent or any rust in it. rest of the body had no dents. V-6 351 seemed to run good, needs a tune up and exhaust manifold gasket, he drove it away when we were done talking.

The Normal: Looking in the cab there is some surface spotting of rust around the headliner but nothing that looked like full on cancer, the drivers door has some cancer as did the drivers rear fender, i found a small cancer spot behind the passenger hood hinge on the cab/cowl area. He was leaving and we were too so i didn't want to do a full on inspection in the gravel.

The bad?? It was repainted some years back, i asked him about it he said his dad had some kind of warranty issue and the dealership repainted it (red flag?) back in 72. I don't know if maybe his story is not true and he bought it and it had some bondo work to cover some stuff up?? It had some pretty fresh looking carpet that he said was original (red flag i don't think 67's had carpet and it looked like it was pieced in not like the carpet for my 72) The back of the cab was also lined with carpet and an extra piece wrapped around the gas tank, i didn't get to see what was under the carpet and neglected to look at the inner kick panels. Outer rockers looked great but were they fixed? Cab corners were not rusted but were they fixed? What are the seat covers and carpet hiding?

Overall it looks to be a pretty nice truck, If it is all original but did have some rust repair that was covered up would it still be worth it, still debating if i should call and go do a good looking over, but is it worth 3 bills?? ........

[DD1]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Went to Goodguys today and Met Dave Kindig.... B i t c h in!

On the way out i ran across a 67 3/4T GMC that caught my eye, i really don't need another 3/4T but it is a 67 and i have a thing about 67's, we talked a bit then he took off. The sign said 3500 OBO, i asked him what his bottom doller was and he said make an offer, i tossed out 2000, he said no cant go that low and would rather let it sit in the garage, i bumped to 2500? nope then he said his bottom dollar was 3000...

The good: Its got Buddy Buckets but they had seat covers on them, the seats didn't look broken down, the bed was immaculate, the tail gate was removed for a camper and stored inside, not a dent or any rust in it. rest of the body had no dents. V-6 351 seemed to run good, needs a tune up and exhaust manifold gasket, he drove it away when we were done talking.

The Normal: Looking in the cab there is some surface spotting of rust around the headliner but nothing that looked like full on cancer, the drivers door has some cancer as did the drivers rear fender, i found a small cancer spot behind the passenger hood hinge on the cab/cowl area. He was leaving and we were too so i didn't want to do a full on inspection in the gravel.

The bad?? It was repainted some years back, i asked him about it he said his dad had some kind of warranty issue and the dealership repainted it (red flag?) back in 72. I don't know if maybe his story is not true and he bought it and it had some bondo work to cover some stuff up?? It had some pretty fresh looking carpet that he said was original (red flag i don't think 67's had carpet and it looked like it was pieced in not like the carpet for my 72) The back of the cab was also lined with carpet and an extra piece wrapped around the gas tank, i didn't get to see what was under the carpet and neglected to look at the inner kick panels. Outer rockers looked great but were they fixed? Cab corners were not rusted but were they fixed? What are the seat covers and carpet hiding?

Overall it looks to be a pretty nice truck, If it is all original but did have some rust repair that was covered up would it still be worth it, still debating if i should call and go do a good looking over, but is it worth 3 bills?? ........

It can't hurt to take another look at it; the worst that could happen is you ended up annoying him when you say "Nope!"

If the work was done badly, then it may not be worth it. Hopefully you can get an idea of what it will cost you in both time and money to get it fixed right.

[swamp rat]

I have come to the realization that my can of bondo has been thickening most likely from not stiring it enough, i'm down to 1/4 can left and am using less hardener than the picture example shows but this stuff is thicker than every vid i see on Youtube where they are floating bondo out on large surfaces I have the contour fairly close but i need to build up the center area a little, doing research and asking the right people (Vic) i am going to find some fiberglass resin to thin it out a little.

[CG]

Just wanted to say Ive been following your build and I think you are doing a great job!

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by CG

Just wanted to say Ive been following your build and I think you are doing a great job!

Thank you CG, glad to hear someone is following along, i'm an absolute rookie at this bodywork stuff but i am getting better every time i work on it. I will add working on the vertical is not the easiest ether!

Picked up some fiberglass resin on the way to work, going to add a little and see what i end up with, have an appt tomorrow so will kill my progress, I'll try and get more done this weekend before work.

[swamp rat]

Went and bought some of that sanding dye spray so i could find the high and low spots better, this is the end result, sprayed high build primer and sanded with 180 grit, still not perfect but its way better.. I think i may have left too much mud from the bottom and up about 3" but i was done for the day.

I found out that Harbor Freight has reworked the cabinet sand blaster by making the sloped media collector walls steeper to help the media pool at the bottom, and they added another latch to the door, i checked the price, same as the old unit at $120'ish sale price so i took the plunge, naturally when i got home and unpacked it one of the rear corners has a nice ding, but it won't alter function so i'm just gonna keep it.

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

...I found out that Harbor Freight has reworked the cabinet sand blaster by making the sloped media collector walls steeper to help the media pool at the bottom, and they added another latch to the door, i checked the price, same as the old unit at $120'ish sale price so i took the plunge...

One of my best investments! You have the compressor to complement it and I'm betting it won't be long before you wonder how you ever did without it.

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by Vic1947

One of my best investments! You have the compressor to complement it and I'm betting it won't be long before you wonder how you ever did without it.

I think I'm gonna have to agree!

[HUSTLESTUFF]

Just read this start to finish over two days. Nice work and you'll never be more proud. Get some Evercoat Plastic Honey resin for the bondo to thin it out. I do everything on my cars and have learned a ton. Great work.

[7dee2]

It's looking great Mike, I'm jealous of your cabinet if you were closer I'd need to come borrow it!

[rgunlock]

The lower door is looking good Mike. Guide coat is your friend!

[swamp rat]

Vic, Hustlestuff, 7dee2, Rgunlock, Thanks again for the comps and encouragement!

So my deadline approaches fast, had to get the body line reworked and the Bondo covered in K2 today, as usual i had to come up with a little unconventional way to straighten things out, a 4"X2.5' section of conduit with some long board sand paper stuck to it, I had to build up some more Bondo then i sanded using a curling and diagonal movement, making a cross hatch, once i was happy with the shape of the body line i put a radius on it, now i need more practice on shaping the radius but its close.. LOL! If i have time tomorrow then i may sand and put a second coat but its at least sealed now.

So i grabbed my inner fenderwell and tried to slide it in place, i quickly remembered that the old one came out with a bit of persuasion so i'll have to jack up the driver side and maybe remove the tire to get it in place...

[GASoline71]

Very nicely done Mike!

My old rod probably won't get as much love on the exterior as yours for awhile. Glad I started following along on your build!

Gary

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by GASoline71

Very nicely done Mike!

My old rod probably won't get as much love on the exterior as yours for awhile. Glad I started following along on your build!

Gary

Thanks, I would have liked to not have to do so much to that door but right now i don't feel like trying to re-skin or buy a replacement, as i have said learning from the school of hard knocks! Its a 20 footer for sure right now.. LOL!

So i installed the inner fender well today on the driver side, Of course it didn't fit sitting in its free state so instead of jacking and removing the wheel i first put a ratcheting strap on the outer side and put a bit of a curl into it so i could get it to sit on the tire, then i installed a tie down strap on the inside and removed the outside strap then manhandled it from there, probably put a couple scratches into it but did my best to not damage the powder coat. Not fun for one person with torn rotator cuffs

I really wanted to be able to take the time to wire wheel the frame both in the front and under the cab, then apply some POR and paint but i just ran out of time for now. I may have enough time to apply a second coat of K2 on the lower door tomorrow.

[GASoline71]

Is that an aftermarket inner fender? I have an aftermarket inner for my passenger side and we had to beat the snot out of it to fit in the fender well. I'm yanking the drivers side inner fender out of the 1972 C25 that I have to use in my C15. It's a little rotted out in the front, but I'll fabricate a new patch panel to make it useable.

Gary

[swamp rat]

Originally Posted by GASoline71

Is that an aftermarket inner fender? I have an aftermarket inner for my passenger side and we had to beat the snot out of it to fit in the fender well. I'm yanking the drivers side inner fender out of the 1972 C25 that I have to use in my C15. It's a little rotted out in the front, but I'll fabricate a new patch panel to make it useable.

Gary

Yes i got them from Franks Pick M Up in Olympia then had them powder coated before i even test fitted them, i think i payed about 10-20 more for the powder coat than the wells, I had to loosen the front of the fender from the radiator support but after i got them past the tire and released the straps they fit rather nicely, i used an alignment punch in a few places, i only had to file the front support bracket hole as it was slightly out of alignment from the main inner fender when it was spot welded but that was the only mod. Yes i would recommend these wells.

[swamp rat]

Well, last day of working on the truck for a while, decided i didn't need a second coat of primer on the lower door so decided to wrap up the column.

About 4 years ago i found this wheel for sale on the parts thread, zero cracks but obvious wear on the pattern area, still overall a pretty nice score for $60, sure looks better than the Grant unit i had run for the last 20 some odd years.

I still have the stock green wheel and am hanging onto the green non tilt column for the time being, the green wheel last time i looked had no cracks and probably less wear than the black one above but its been a while since i looked at it closely.

Eventually i will put the grant wheel up for sale with the new horn kit i have for it.