Fashionable Fever! - 1969 Chevy C10 Build

[ryans69chevy]

Removed the windshield and back glass today. Now I'm thinking I need to hang the doors to realign the cab and then start bracing it so I can cut the floor out.

[ryans69chevy]

Tailgate all sanded down and ready for some epoxy.

[ryans69chevy]

Finally got around to bracing my cab. Last week had my dad come over to help hang the doors and we put rachet straps on each side to get the cab a little better and then took the doors back off. You can see the straps still in there while I welded tubing all together.

I'm going to try and get some random stuff welded while I wait for the weather to warm up so I can bring my cab to the grass and flip it on it's back to start on my floor.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Looks good! Hope the nice weather is right around the corner for you.

[ryans69chevy]

I've been continuing welding on the cab doing little things that I know need to be done. I got the gas filler hole welded up... still need to take out that huge dent below.

[ryans69chevy]

I welded up the big heater box holes. Also did some of the small screw holes around them. Going to have to cut metal to weld up the bigger round holes in the heater box area.

[ryans69chevy]

I also finally put the drivers side cowl back together. I took out a lot of the metal where the outer fender bolts up. I don't want debris to get stuck down where the vent used to be. Now to the passenger side...

[ryans69chevy]

Had my dad come over and help me get some things done today. We got the cab flipped on its back and the floor cut out. We also test fitted the new floor and prepped the metal for welding by drilling out holes for spot welding and spraying weld-thru primer where the metal was going to be sandwhiched together. Didn't have time to put the new floor in permanently tonight. Will do that tom.

All in all I'm really impressed with how easy of an install this one piece floor has been. I guess we will see how it all works out as we go. So far so good.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

Had my dad come over and help me get some things done today. We got the cab flipped on its back and the floor cut out. We also test fitted the new floor and prepped the metal for welding by drilling out holes for spot welding and spraying weld-thru primer where the metal was going to be sandwhiched together. Didn't have time to put the new floor in permanently tonight. Will do that tom.

All in all I'm really impressed with how easy of an install this one piece floor has been. I guess we will see how it all works out as we go. So far so good.

See I told you. Your floor will be done first now. Good work man! Crazy how fast you got the old floor out!

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

See I told you. Your floor will be done first now. Good work man! Crazy how fast you got the old floor out!

Haha yea I know... I just went for it! I was a bit surprised at how hard my floor patches were to remove. I figured that was going to be easy from the crappy welds. Now comes the fun part (sarcasm) - I need to fill in where my new floor ends to the existing firewall since there is going to be a gap. This actually might work to my advantage since I can bend and fit up the patches a lot easier than taking the big one piece floor in and out to get it perfect. I guess we will find out tom!

[ryans69chevy]

The new floor is in! Just been working on filling in the big gaps between new floor and firewall. It all takes time...

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

The new floor is in! Just been working on filling in the big gaps between new floor and firewall. It all takes time...

Damn. And just like that it looks like Ive been slacking for months. Looks excellent!

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

Damn. And just like that it looks like Ive been slacking for months. Looks excellent!

Haha nah you are moving right along man! I cheated a little bit too. I took vacation most of this week. My vacation was working sun up to sun down in the garage/outside. It was the right week for it too - got up to 55 today. It was gorgeous!

[ryans69chevy]

Worked on grinding the welds down and then switching to flap disc. Put a quartz light in the cab to find the pinholes. Went through and welded hopefully all of them. Got too late for grinding outside - don't want to get called in by any neighbors! I'm sure they are already annoyed by all the noise I make. :/

Hopefully tomorrow I can get it all cleaned up and move on. I'm debating on whether to take the outer roof shell off or not... I've been contemplating that for a few days now. I guess I should have taken a pic of the rust, but what I've seen on other builds is about the same amount of rust in roughly the same spot which is on the inner roof panel close to the windshield on the passenger side. Not sure what GM did/didn't do to cause this, but it appears like it's another common area for our generation.

The reason I'm trying to decide on taking the outer shell off or not is I'm a bit nervous on what else is going to rust if I don't. I'm already this far into the cab why not? I'm just not 100% sure how it comes off yet and how hard it's going to be to put back without warping (not sure if a lot of welding is required). I realize they make a patch panel for the area that is showing rust which I will probably get.

If any of you have taken the outer roof shell off would you recommend it? Did you find more potential rust spots? I'm sure you guys just primed it and re-spot welded it back on. Is there any other advice?

[ryans69chevy]

I've been working on the pickup a good amount it just doesn't feel like I've gotten a lot done since I've installed the floor.

Bought a new interior header panel and cut it to fit. I also cut out the rust where the cab roof lights mount. That was a job in itself - had to weld in new square nuts so the lights could be remounted.

I've also been looking at the rest of the interior roof and been noticing more rust spots that I think came from the cab roof lights as well as the drip rail. So I finally decided (since I'm this far into the cab) to remove the outer roof shell to get access to all the rust. So that's what I've been doing the last few days - drilling spot welds... finally got the shell off. After looking at it I'm glad I went this route since now I should be able to clean this area a lot better. It would have been only a matter of time for more rust holes to appear if I wouldn't have gone this route.

[ryans69chevy]

Cut out 4 of the 5 roof cab lights and made new ones. Here is a couple tacked in... there was too much rust that the nuts holding the lenses fell out. Welded in new square nuts.

[ryans69chevy]

Here is the underside of the outer roof shell before I primed it. Now I have to figure out some kind of sound deadening material to put between the outer and inner shells that will withstand me spot welding the panels back together. I'm thinking something like lizard skin...

[72 tigger]

Looking good- you're doing it right! It's a lot of work!

[ryans69chevy]

Yesterday I spent prepping my hood for primer. Had to finish fixing/welding a dent that was covered up by bondo. I got it pretty straight and then put some filler back over it to make it disappear.

Then I moved to this piece. Holy smokes I was working on it most of the afternoon into the evening. It was so jacked up. Not really sure what from, but I starting repairing the dents and straightening out the panel. A lot of the neighbors were gone for vacation so I got out my hammer! I got it to the point where I was happy and put some filler over top. I probably spent more time then needed on this panel since it's hardly ever going to be seen. Only when the tailgate is open I suppose.

[ryans69chevy]

Today I got back into the cab. I put it on hold for awhile so I could figure out which piece to start on. After ripping my outer skin off I saw a bunch of rust. Just didn't really know where to start.

Today I got most of the header panel tacked in. Tomorrow should be grinding. I also scraped the inner roof of all that tar paste that GM put on to attach the anti rattle mat between the skins. Then I sanded all the paint down. I think I'm just going to cover the inner roof with a peel and stick product.

[ryans69chevy]

Here is my next project... this is why I had to take a break and think this one through. It's like this on the drivers side as well. I'm going to have to remove the drip rails (nicely) and cut the brace on three sections so I can fab up new. Hopefully I stay ambitious enough tomorrow to hopefully get one side done...

[ryans69chevy]

This side is getting closer. All this metal has to be fabbed up since it's not reproduced which takes time. Still need to weld in the rounded part of the inside roof that ties to the door frame.

Had to use my air flange tool to make the flange where the weatherstripping sits. I have random air tools but don't have an air compressor... doesn't make sense. Had to run over to the neighbors garage and use his. Using one again makes me want to buy one...

The roof is sure taking awhile... can't wait until I can flip it back upright and start doing the rest of it.

[cornerstone]

Please buy an air compressor, your making my arms tired just looking at all the sanding you have done.

[dec010974]

awesome. if all things are possible, im gonna try this. i hope mine turns out as good as yours.

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Please buy an air compressor, your making my arms tired just looking at all the sanding you have done.

Haha no need to fret I have done a majority of the sanding with power tools! It still would be nice to have some air since it seems they make smaller tools to get into the harder to reach areas that power tools wouldnt be able to touch.

I like your thinking none the less!