"1950 GMC" -Charlotte

[RockinKees]

Great work!
I see you have a " rightside" dog and a "leftside" dog
Good company!

[iowaboynca]

Another update! Of course with the disclaimer that these posts (Yes it's another multiple post day) summarizes the work done in the last 2-3 weeks, so no i didn't knock all this out this weekend. Sorry not as super as the rest of you.

Ok here we go. I think i mentioned that I know i had an issue w/ the driver side rear cab corner and at the inner cab corner. After poking around ( i really need to stop that as I find issues ), It looks like the rot was starting to move to the exterior part as well, which is to be expected.

So pic 1 is the outside of the cab that I discovered. Pic 2 is the inner corner that i new i had issues with and pic 3 is the patch on the exterior all done. Couldn't fix the inner corner with the cab sitting on its current stand, but more to that later.

Also you may notice that i start with work when trying to take a picture, that's because i realize in the early stages of the next job!

[iowaboynca]

So to carry on, i knew i was going to have to get the cab off the stand, so back to building the engine hoist/cab dolly again. I then got the cab tilted onto its back.

Pic 1, cab is on its back. Lot of dirt and what appears to be early generation bed liner that is going to need to be addressed.

Pic 2, rot from the inner cab corner has been cut out.

Pic 3, patch stitched in.

And no i'm not doing this in the living room That's leftover carpet that I was using as a dog mat until today.

[iowaboynca]

So after many hours of attacking the floor with the wire brush and making a huge mess, got to Pic 1.

Pic 2 is with the floor hit with the rust stop/primer.

Pic 3 is the floor completed with a fresh application of bed liner.

Small setback...i didn't take out the back window during all the fun and i ended up cracking it. Oh well gotta break some eggs to make an omelette. It appeared to be added by one of the POs and the trim work looked pretty good so I was trying to sneak by. Oh well...now i get to work on how to install a back window!

Stay tuned...

[Advanced Design]

Good work! Glad the disclaimer about the carpet was there...working on the cab in the living room...too funny.

[Tgubser]

Looking good keep at it!

Glad I'm not the only one that has to have vehicle named right after it gets home! Love the idea that your daughter came up with Charlotte!

[iowaboynca]

Thanks Tgubser

Still doing some cab work. Working on area near the toe board, going to fill in the holes where the pedals came through as i'm using a firewall brake booster now. Cab is getting closer and closer to getting back on the frame.

Notched the frame to make room for passenger headers, just needed a little room. Painted the frame, debating if its good enough, probably is.

I need to hurry up and order mufflers. I think i'm going to go w/ Black Widows just need to order them.

Well be hard finding time to work on Charlotte as I have 3 girls in soccer, so saturdays are shot plus my oldest is in travel ball so she can have games on sunday as well. Oh well its life, i'll find the time.

Stay tuned...

[iowaboynca]

Got some time to work on something that was gnawing at me at the back of my head...the rear cab mounts. As you can see from the first pic they were pretty dirty, but hey they've been under a truck for +60 years.

So I attacked it with the wire brush on my grinder (boy have I got my $14 out of that thing). The second pic is with one mount cleaned up and taken apart.

The third pic, looks like someone got a little over-zealous trying to take the cab off. Remember, this is a Chevy cab with everything else GMC. I guess a repair is needed.

The fourth pic, is the repair.

[iowaboynca]

The next pic is everything put back together with new bushings from the cab mount set i got from LMC.

The second pic is both mounts put together.

And the third are both mounts painted with component paint from O'Reillys.

So the cab is getting closer to getting mounted.

Stay tuned...

[lower50's]

They look and should work like new.

[Advanced Design]

Nice repair and refurbishment on the mounts. One step closer...

[99 to Life]

ah man, dunnno how I haven't been following your build. I'm in now. looking good.

[iowaboynca]

Thanks lower50's/AD/99, I appreciate it. I've learned so much by following your builds and have found ways to incorporate some of your tricks into my build.

I've got some parts in from the FedEx man that hopefully i can provide more of an update this weekend.

Stay tuned...

[iowaboynca]

Don't ya love it when you run out of shielding gas on a Sunday and the welding supply shops are closed on the weekends?

Then again, I do all my welding on the weekends so that's when it would run out...

Its only exhaust, so who care's what flux welds look like.

[lower50's]

Yup I kept turning the gas flow down till finally

[iowaboynca]

Alright alright alright...
Ok, I'll admit it these update cover the last ~3 weeks when ever I could get a chance to work on the truck.

When installing the headers, the passenger frame rail needed a little massaging , so I went ahead and notched it out. You can the the final work in the 1st two pictures.

When mocking up the exhaust, i realized that it was going to hit my transmission mount so I had to make the clearance and box in the frames to bolt to. No problem...

[iowaboynca]

I then finished getting the exhaust together. Won't win any ridler awards but hey its exhaust and it is my 1st attempt.

The headers are LS headers from Racing innovation & Supply off ebay, the pipes are the steel hotrod exhaust kit from Speedway, the H-pipe is from Summit Racing, and the mufflers are Hooker Aerochambers.

I think i'm going to clamp the mufflers and go with turndowns in front of the axle. I was thinking of going out the side of the running boards but I decided to save myself an afternoon and just go with the turndowns. I'm also clamping for now because I don't have the driveshaft yet and with the 8.8 it will be offset , so just in case...

Also I might have just gotten real lucky and saved myself $500! I've been looking at the space where the OEM compressor would go and i'm thinking it might have unintentionally mounted my engine high enough to fit it in. So since my block didn't come with one, asked my BiL if he was using his in his swap and he said no and would bring it over...and voila! Winner winner chicken dinner! It's going to be tight and still might not work but at face value it fits!

So next steps are to finally get the fuel lines sorted out, probably then get the cab back on and get the brake pedals and hydroboost sorted out. I'll just keep choppin' wood.

Stay tuned...

[99 to Life]

looking goooood, nice luck out on the compressor. I'm thinking I could get away with a lower mount too. My engine is on the high side for header clearance and such.

[Advanced Design]

Nice progress! That is a good result for the compressor.

[lower50's]

Exhaust looks good. Even guys that win the riddler award started somewhere. I love when things unintentionally work out for the good.

[drivea55]

Just got done reading through your build, great progress for sure!

It is uncanny how similiar work we did to our trucks. I had to do the exact patch work to my cab. lower cowl to inner cab corners. and the bed liner idea, I felt that was the most durable solution to go with. Hoping it lasts a very long time.

exhaust is slick. Gives me some ideas on how to address my crappy exhaust setup.

Keep plugging away! I'll be keeping an eye over here

Brian

[iowaboynca]

Alright, al...just one alright...this will be a very small update.

So it's been a while, i.e. life has caught up! When you have 3 girls playing indoor soccer and one of them is on a travel league, time gets eaten up fast! On top of it I committed to the wife to gut and remodel one of my mother-in-law's bathrooms, haven't had any time for the truck! I've at least made an effort to keep up to speed on the forum!

So I have put myself in a small dilemma, a good dilemma, but a dilemma nonetheless...

So the first pic is of a 3rd row bench seat I got out of an astro van from Pick n Pull for $85. Really like these seats and wasn't really looking for others... (sniff back when the truck was in one piece)

So the second pic is of a 3rd row out of a tahoe I picked up yesterday for $80at a yard sale, while on the way to the inlaws to work. (actually $75 but a gave the little girl working the sale $5 tip cuz she helped talk her mom down from $100)

So pros and cons:

Astro Seat:
Pros- Armrests and cupholder in the console. correct width
Cons- Cloth. Need to fab shoulder seatbelt

Tahoe Seat:
Pros- Leather. Shoulder belt already mounted
Cons- No cupholder. No armrests.

Hey cupholders are important!

So I can make both colors work as I was going with a grey/pewter interior. Also I will use one in a later project. I've got a TON of kids/nieces/nephews that are looking for classics when they start driving.

ahh dilemmas...

Anyway, the bathroom is almost done and I should get some more free time.

Stay tuned...

[MIKESAD50]

Looks Astro hands down. Safety Tahoe.

[Steve-W]

You're not able to fabricate mounting points for the shoulder seatbelts your self?
the astro Bench looks way better

[Flysocal]

Build is coming along very nicely! I would have to agree, the astro van seats look good. The Tahoe seats a little awkward but hey they are new looking and leather. Seat belts and shoulder harness are relatively easy to do.