Boppa's old yeller truck

[Low Elco]

Ok, got some work done this weekend, although it doesn't seem like it. (Don't you hate that stage?) Anyway, we'll start Friday night. Got the floor flipped over and made up a new xmember over the gas tank out of leftovers. Cleaned out and redrilled spotweld holes in prep for welding. Welded GR. 8 clamp washers over the bed to frame bolt holes, as they were blown out. Sat.- Went junkyarding and desperately resisted a 700r4 in a Sub for my GMC. Cut a big section of frame out of a 68 Sub to fix ours. I think we got a section that's a pretty good match. We'll see. Cut a gas door out of a 91 Ranger and got the fill tube to match. Went and dragged the dr bedside out of the scrap pile. Cut it in half and mocked up the fit of the door. Cut the stuff out of the old xmember in the front that they don't provide in the new ones. (crush sleeves, holes for bed bolts, weld nuts for bed braces.) Today- weld city, baby! Put old stuff in the new xmember, rosette welded all the xmembers in, painted everything to match underneath with tractor enamel, tried to pull a surprise of cutting the stamped Chevrolet out of the old tailgate and welding it into the headgate, but hit a 1/4 inch of mud before I hit sparks. Oy! So much for that idea, now it'll be a wall hanging. Got rid of a bunch of scrap. Boppa is hip to new inner front fenders, thank God. That was gonna be the limit of my capabilities. Anyway, here's some pics.

A little side project-


The start of the crossmember repair-


What I made out of scrap-


The gas door mockup-


Boppa and Neighbor Jay Scrubbin the new stuff for the tractor enamel. The whole underside is now enamel black over the rust bullet. My repair in the foreground.

[Low Elco]

A few more pics-

The Kid clearancing the bed for the gas filler-


Yours Truly setting the rear crossmember-


Old Stuff in new crossmember-


New old frame chunk-


Mud! on tailgate-

[67cheby]

WOW....that is some great progress.....and some really bad use of filler !

[Low Elco]

Thanks! Just got off the phone, bed parts are going to a pro blaster on wed AM, back same day for etch prime. Also may have another alternative for the fuel door, 05 chevy truck brother is making calls today. It might look like progress!
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[litew8]

who put all that bondo on there?

[Low Elco]

Warn't me! Went out and cleaned up welds for a bit, and eyeballed the frame repair. I think it'll come out good.
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[Low Elco]

Ok, it's Friday. Got all the stuff blasted and etch primed. Did a weld test on the scrap frame, came out good. Got springs stripped and rear end dropped last night. Gonna start knocking rivets and welding in bracing In prep to cut the frame tonight. I have pics, try to post up tonight.
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[Low Elco]

Got the rivets out, cut the patch down, ran outta daylight. Gonna git dat azz tomorrow! This tub better start lookin like it's turnin a corner soon! Here's pics-

Ummm, yummy green blasted steel!


Fitup for the weld test-


Welds look sufficient-


The main rot we're after-


The passenger side had a bit too, tore it down as well.

[Low Elco]

More pics, 'cause I know you love 'em! Heeeere we go!

Comparo of new and old frame- Not bad for shootin' blind, huh?


Rough fit up after trimming the fat-


Random shot of all the crap that fell out during tear out-


A bit more trimming, note bracing.


Final fit up, after notching to follow the curve in the rail better.


Hopefully lookin to get ta whackin tomorrow!

[Low Elco]

BIG day today, got a lot done. Update with pics tomorrow!

[c10327]

it's a long process I know !!!! but when it's all done an you an the wife want to go out for a nice cruz it will be well worth the extra effort at least thats wht I have been telling myself these past couple weeks restoring my 70 C10 .. the top pic is how I bought the truck in feb of this year . looks good in the picture butttttt it was a cst truck an the guy before me filled all the molding holes with bondo !! uch since then it come along ways new rear bed an inner fenders new nose . I completely tore it apart .

[c10327]

couple more pic's .. my brother in law called it the mud rocket because it had so much bondo under the nice shinney black paint lol ... not no more a few Thousand $$ later most all new metal . the best part of the truck other than the 327 was that the frame is Rock solid .. to give you an Idea of the hack job the last guy did to this poor old Truck . the white stuff on the heater box is silicone , instead of buying a $20 gasket set , he packed it full of tub & tile silicone ... some of it was 1 inch thick . I hate doing thins half ass

[c10327]

1 more now that I figured out how to post pic's . dont mean to clog up your tread low elco just can appreciate the work you are doing .

[Low Elco]

Looks good!

[Low Elco]

OK, Saturday we got started early. Cut the frame out and got the new welded in. Cut out scab plates, welded them in. Cut out boxing plates, welded them in. Coated rusted frame sections with Rust Bullet. Coated exhaust with Rust Bullet. Bolted crossmember back in. Sunday, we Moved and extended the rear brake line and put the springs in and got the truck back on the ground. Spent the rest of the hot afternoon with the kids in the pool. Feels good to have some kinda progress. Here's the pics-

Dad and The Kid gettin 'er done!


Kid sez-it's good!


All welded in-


Scabbed and done!


Boppa and the Rust Bullet-

[Low Elco]

Annnd, here's how it came out. Brake line mods were necessary because of 71 Sub rearend and brake line arrangement Barely made it as it was, and was being kept off the exhaust with zip ties. A move to the center fixed that. Here ya go-

[Low Elco]

Busy busy- fuel line in, tank adapter found, tank mounts fabbed and painted, tank loosely bolted in, pickup/sender mocked up. Took pics, I'll post later.
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[Low Elco]

Been at it a bit here's some pics.

Jeep Tank final install-loosely


Mod on the Blazer Fuel pickup


Had a bit of a delay tonight-Someone wants to learn to weld! He did pretty good for his first time!


Mocked up-


Ready to slice and dice tomorrow!

[VA72C10]

Nice progress! And real good idea mocking up/trial fitting the fuel filler in the old bedside piece!!!

[Low Elco]

Thanks! I was kinda nervous about the big hackeroo, then thought that'd give me a good start point. I highly recommend it.

[BruthaMan]

Stopping by to see how things are coming a long. No rest for the weary, eh?!

Hope life is treating you well.

[Low Elco]

Hey, thanks, doing good. Been trying hard and have a lot to report. Looking like bed assembly tonight. Fixin ta send front clip to the blaster, learned a lesson with the bed. Hopefully I'll get some of these pics uploaded soon. They say it's gonna get hot this weekend, but we're gonna try to keep it movin' along.
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[Low Elco]

Ok! I know! I need to download and update! Big night last night. A bunch of things came together and it looks good! Gonna be Rollin tonight!
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[Low Elco]

Ok, finally a real update. We had to send the truck to the frame shop on Mon. because if you look at the pics from the rear, somein ain't right. Turned out the driver's rail was perfect, the pass rail was a bit wacky. but they got it all fixed. Then, I got the bed floor out into the driveway and used the 'ol sledge method to straighten it up, which worked better than expected! In the BIG news, Uncle Matt, who production manages the bodyshop where this miasma will be painted, came out with Boppa on Thursday and we got the bed assembled! YAAAY! Then Friday night I got all the under braces fabricated and installed, and started the mudwork. Saturday we got the mudwork finished, sides welded, the shop cleaned, the last 2 holes done for the bed floor and bolted in , bed pulled and back on the cart, seam sealer cut back, tailgate metalworked for fit, Whole mess scrubbed down and primed, blocked with 150, and reprimed. Came out pretty nice! We're all pretty stoked.

[Low Elco]