Shoestring Budget 65/73 Chevy 2WD LWB

[allaboutchevelles]

hey chevy man, IMO I would take the rocker panel off so you can replace the lower pillow below where the door hinges bolt to the cab. my rocker looked good also but look at my pic and you can see what I found under mine. You will also be able to repair the front floor a lot easier. The rockers are real easy to replace and run about 30-40 dollars.

[chevy_man5]

Allaboutchevelles, I was just reading your thread, and commenting to my daughter that you just did, what we needed to do, almost exactly. I was planning on using some flat pieces out of the floor of our donor truck, to fix the floor.

[chevy_man5]

Didn't get much done yesterday, Got the cab off of the frame, so I could get to the rust repairs a little easier.



Today I took apart the dusty dirty dash,





and cleaned it up. I repainted the needles with florescent orange model paint. I repainted the face with flat black rustoleum. It looks pretty good. The plastic lens is pretty scratched, but it may have to do for now. I didn't take a picture of it, because you can't see the nicely cleaned up dash behind it.



Did a bunch more scraping and cleaning off the crap on the bottom of the cab.

[Alan's Classic]

The work on the gauge panel looks great. Do you have a mini buffer? The lense can be polished out depending on how bad it is. Just a thought.

[Alan's Classic]

You asked the question earlier about replaceing the outer rocker even if it looks solid. Don't believe what you see. I noticed the upper flange for the weatherstrip is rotted away. These things rust from the inside out. Just go ahead and figure them.

[chevy_man5]

Alan,

I have a little buffing wheel for my dremel, but that would take forever. LOL I will ask around, and see if someone has one I can borrow. Thanks for the idea!

After looking at what Allaboutchevelles posted, I pretty much figured I would have to just start peeling off parts, until I get to where the rust stops.

[landarts]

Hey Chevyman I finally got moved into my house this week. So I guess i will be ready to pickup the motor over the weekend if you are going to be around. I also wanted to tell you that I have exactly what you need to polish the plastic glass on the speedo. I have done a few with a micro-mesh kit......it will make the plastic like new again. Give me a call when you get a chance so I can get directions to your place and I will also try to get that out of storage so you can use it on the glass.

Jim ..."landarts"

559-3394

[chevy_man5]

Haven't posted in a while. I couldn't get the pictures resized any more, but it is all good now.

A few weeks back we cut off the rocker panels, to see what kind of surprises we could find.





The nuts were literally rusted off under there.





I bought a couple of sets of reverse lights from Jonzcustoms. This was the best of the (4).

Before



After



BlondieK is in art class in school, and has been painting some wall art for the garage.

This is her driving my GMC, and me screaming in fear. LOL



Here is what her truck will look like...well sortof! LOl



We also borrowed a Micro-mesh sanding kit from Landarts for the lens on her dash. I didn't take an after picture yet, but it looks almost new. Just a little elbow grease and some water, and it worked wonders.

Jim, I have the Micro-mesh kit for you in my work truck. If you are in Meridian, give me a call, and I can meet up with you. Or I can drop it of after work some night this week.

Spent all day working on my work truck, so didn't get anything done today, but we did get all the parts ordered for repairing her floor, and swapping the rear ends.

Thats it for now!

[Dieselwrencher]

Darn rust! It's looking great! Keep up the great work!

[chevy_man5]

Thanks Ryan! Got any new pictures of the munchkin??

[Dieselwrencher]

I do on my junk phone which I can't get them off of. I'll look on FB tonight when I get home and see if I can get some over here for you.

[Dieselwrencher]

Have you had any luck with the truck Jason?

[chevy_man5]

Mostly been sanding all of the black paint off. The big "D" is coming to my house, so things have been strained. I have spent most every waking minute hiding in the garage, because my wife has lost her mind. So I have gotten the entire outside of the cab sanded, the tailgate, one door, and started on the second door. With that though the project comes to a halt. I ended up moving out last night, due to the fact that she said I was abusing her. I called the cops, told them the truth first, that I didn't do anything other than try to hold her out of the garage, to prevent another scream fest. She had a bruise on her arm, that looked like a door jamb, so for my safety, I left. Don't know where this will go from here. We'll see. I may need some help from the board on getting my GMC up and running, because I have no personal transportation right now, other than my motorcycle. That is hard to haul my kids on.

Sorry, that is not the answer you were expecting I'll bet, but I was meaning to post something anyway, asking about help on the GMC.

[bubba327]

Jason I am so sorry to hear of this. Prayers of support will be headed your way!

[chevy_man5]

Thanks Bubba. I'll need all the help I can get. Who knows what is going on at my (old) place now.

[Dieselwrencher]

Jason, I'm really sorry to hear this and wish you the best of luck getting through it. If I was closer I'd be there helping you for sure! If there are any SBC engine parts you need, just ask. My friend has quite a few odds and ends and I will help you with what ever I can there. Ryan.

[chevy_man5]

Thank you Ryan.

My GMC has the 305A V6 in it. It hasn't run in about 9 years. I don't even know where to start with that. My mom's boyfriend is a mechanic, and he offered to help. I need to see if the old pig will even turn over still. I know it needs brakes, and tires, and the floor "air conditioning" is so bad, I could probably Flinstone it to get it started. I have a bed for it, but need to get it on there. etc. Looks don't matter at all, just need something rolling, and street legal.

Need to change out the gear oil in the diff's, transfer case, and the tranny.

Any other suggestions? from anyone??

I'll post something on my trucks page, then the suggestions are in the right spot at least.

[Captainfab]

Sorry to hear your life has been turned upside down Jason. I've been thru that before and it certainly isn't any fun.

[chevy_man5]

Thank you Captainfab. It'll all work out one way or another.

[thirdstreettito]

Lookin good! Keep up the good work!

[1985-GMC]

So what going to happen to this one? Are you still going to finish it?

[chevy_man5]

At this point, it is just going to sit. I don't have any where I can put it. My new house has just barely enough room for my truck. I can't have anything in the driveway that does not run. Hers is as disassembled as possible. The frame is in the driveway, the bed is leaning up by my old shed, the hood, fenders and and bumpers are leaning up on the side of the garage. The cab is on sawhorses in the garage.

Blondie_k paid for everything, so technically, it is all her truck, and all her parts, she will have to decide what to do with it.

I would assume she will sell it, and try to get some of her money back. I feel terrible about leaving it like that, and leaving her like that. She put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it, working right beside me most of the time. Her mom, my soon to be ex, has already turned me in for abuse, which was totally unfounded. I have to be bonded for my work, and if I lose my ability to be bonded, I will lose my job. I cannot risk it, so have been avoiding all contact with any of them. We don't have any kids together, I have my two, and she has her three.

[thirdstreettito]

If I were her I would rent a storage unit and work on it as much as possible. Just my $.02

[1985-GMC]

Im sorry to hear that man. It's too bad you and Blondie K cant still work on the truck at your place and just stay away from your Ex.

[chevy_man5]

My biggest worry about that would be my ex saying i did something inappropriate with Blondie_k, then I would not only lose my job, but end up in jail too!