Project "What was I Thinking" 68 SWB

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by mx289

(In all seriousness,my mouth started to water,thinking about WV cold medicine. )

Hope you feel better Keith.

Tom

Thanks Tom I am feeling a lot better. I can't wait to get this bed mounted but will have to wait until the weekend.

Originally Posted by screaminchevypickup

Now you get to cut it up!!

Yes sir just trying to figure out how much I have to cut it

Originally Posted by jeh

Glad your feeling better, the smooth bedside are going to be sweet..

Thanks Jason, yeah they are really nice and won't need much work at all to get into paint.

Originally Posted by sduckworth13

Keith, the bed looks great! Did you have any issues with the front bed panel?

I just had to wallow out some of the mounting holes to line up with the bed sides. Other than that it fit perfectly. I have to say I'm really impressed with the aftermarket bed.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

I completely understand where you're coming from on this comment. I had no idea had much time it takes to restore, primer, paint every part of one of these old trucks. I have build many trucks in the past but never to the details of my current bottemless money pit. Unlike you, I have plans on doing many more complete restorations. I am a glutten for punishment.
Really, it's just my getaway in the winter.

This is my first frame off resto and I didn't realize it would take this much time and energy to do, so I'm really soured on it. All I want to do is drive this truck, so much so all I want to do now is primer the rest of the gray panels black and put it together and drive it. In the future I will save up to buy a better starting foundation before jumping into it.

[Number98]

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

This is my first frame off resto and I didn't realize it would take this much time and energy to do, so I'm really soured on it. All I want to do is drive this truck, so much so all I want to do now is primer the rest of the gray panels black and put it together and drive it. In the future I will save up to buy a better starting foundation before jumping into it.

I hear you on this... I bought my 71 back in 2000 and at the time I did not really have the budget to buy a really nice one to start with so I bought a basket case. I got it running and drove it a while, fixing it up a little as I went, mostly fixing things that broke on her almost daily. Finally I tore it apart for a full resto in 05 or 06 and she is still not back together. Sometimes I wish I would of never tore her all the way down or wish I would of saved and bought a better foundation to start with but I look at it like this: The best part about starting with a rough truck is when your done you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you put one back on the road that might not have had a chance otherwise.

Keep at it and when you hit that ignition for the first drive and you get out on the road it will all be worth it!

[C10_ustacould]

I think I'm going to save my money and just buy n2billet, superfly, and Delmo left-overs from here on out. Hmm, I may need to find a second job!

[mcbassin]

Looks like some killer progress on the truck Keith. I love the rear disks and gas tank. Hope to do the same upgrades on mine one of these days.

[Bennett68C10]

No real progress this weekend, I got the bed bolted together on the floor before coming down with the flu. I have spent the rest of the weekend in bed

[jeh]

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

No real progress this weekend, I got the bed bolted together on the floor before coming down with the flu. I have spent the rest of the weekend in bed

Glad your making progress on the bed, as far as the flu bug, that makes a rough few days!! If you were closer I could give you a quart jar with some WV cold medicine in it

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by jeh

Glad your making progress on the bed, as far as the flu bug, that makes a rough few days!! If you were closer I could give you a quart jar with some WV cold medicine in it

Thanks Jason, I'm feeling a lot better today. Snapped a pic of the bed bolted together on the garage floor.

[jeh]

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

Thanks Jason, I'm feeling a lot better today. Snapped a pic of the bed bolted together on the garage floor.

Glad your feeling better, the smooth bedside are going to be sweet..

[mx289]

Originally Posted by jeh

Glad your making progress on the bed, as far as the flu bug, that makes a rough few days!! If you were closer I could give you a quart jar with some WV cold medicine in it

(In all seriousness,my mouth started to water,thinking about WV cold medicine. )

Hope you feel better Keith.

Tom

[jeh]

Originally Posted by mx289

(In all seriousness,my mouth started to water,thinking about WV cold medicine. )

Hope you feel better Keith.

Tom

Mine too, I had a little red raspberry last night. ( preventative maintenance )

[screaminchevypickup]

Now you get to cut it up!!

[sduckworth13]

Keith, the bed looks great! Did you have any issues with the front bed panel?

[mikeleeshields]

Keith i completely hear you on getting it primered and put back together to drive it. That is the point where I am at too.

[mcbassin]

The bed looks great Ketih. You can have this thing back together in no time.

[superflysteiny]

All I can say is keep driving on it. I have been were you are several times and all I can say is pace your self its not a sprint it a marathon. I have had to learn this over my last 4 builds. Hang in there

[mx289]

Keith,I know you were looking for a tailgate,there is a nice used one listed on the parts board.I believe Homebuilt Hotrods is selling it.

Tom

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by mx289

Keith,I know you were looking for a tailgate,there is a nice used one listed on the parts board.I believe Homebuilt Hotrods is selling it.

Tom

Thanks Tom, I will check it out.

[Bhelton]

Originally Posted by superflysteiny

All I can say is keep driving on it. I have been were you are several times and all I can say is pace your self its not a sprint it a marathon. I have had to learn this over my last 4 builds. Hang in there

Well said Eric!!
Keith your doing a great job on truck and I wished I'd went deeper in to mine as you are yours. Bed looks great btw....keep on trucking and take a break when you get frustrated

[trkfrk]

Keith the bed looks great! I understand exactly where your coming from. I took almost a year off my build, It gets overwhelming. You are doing a killer job!

[Bennett68C10]

Thanks for all the encouragement guys and I apologize for complaining so much. I feel like that is all I have done the past 10 pages or so of my thread. I won't lie, painting this truck definitely scares me because as you guys know I have never painted anything and this truck will be my first adventure into it. I just want it to come out nice as that is what this truck deserves but I'm afraid I'll do a poor job. Oh well we will see what happens

I do know that I have decided that the only color it should be is red. No matter what colors I flirt with I know down the road I will always want it to be red. So no point doing anything else. I see mcbassin jumping for joy right now I also decided to keep things simple due to this being my first paint job I'm going to do Solid Red, no white grill or anything else. Should look similar to my picture below. I'm going to concentrate on getting the body as straight as possible and hopefully it turns out decent. Stayed tuned guys as I finally nailed down my plan.

[Rusbuilt]

The body work is the hardest part! You're going to do fine my friend!

[CC69Rat]

Keith - I know, I know, .. it's so tempting to put them together in primer and just drive them for a little while.. BUT. IMO, it's one of the worst things you can do. I think you have Epoxy primer on most of this truck as I remember but, just saying..

With Epoxy primer and high build in places .. just a final slick coat of primer yes it will look cool but think about all the crap from the road slinging up along side of it. All the moisture that the high build could possibly absorb, contaminants, bird crap, Tire Shine from the dude next to you at the show..

Not trying to talk you out of it just saying .. this is why I am going to try and refrain from driving mine until it's completely painted. I want the base substrate to be as clean as possible and sealed away. With a solid Epoxy base and quality materials you'll probably be ok but just my luck there will be some Armor All specks in the primer I miss then .. f1$h eyes!!! ..

It's not that difficult to paint, it's the bodywork under it that's the labor intensive stuff. Just remember the paint is only going to be as good as what's underneath it.

.. my .02

[jmking9]

I was in the same frame of mind before I painted mine. I was so nervous about it not living up to my expectations. But trust me, put in the time with the prep work, and you will amaze yourself. Look at it this way, no matter how frustrating the whole restoration process can be, you are going to have one killer truck when you're finished. One that you will always be able to say that YOU built! My .02

Oh, and you may have already said, but are you going with base/clear or single stage?

[mcbassin]

It's not that difficult to paint, it's the bodywork under it that's the labor intensive stuff. Just remember the paint is only going to be as good as what's underneath it.

Painting is the little bonus at the end of all the hard work it took to get there. You can physically paint a truck in one or two hard days. Hell, in a couple hours if it's single stage
I dig that rendering....RED!

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by Rusbuilt

The body work is the hardest part! You're going to do fine my friend!

The funny thing is the bodywork doesn't scare me at all, I guess it's because I have done it before.

Originally Posted by CC69Rat

Keith - I know, I know, .. it's so tempting to put them together in primer and just drive them for a little while.. BUT. IMO, it's one of the worst things you can do. I think you have Epoxy primer on most of this truck as I remember but, just saying..

With Epoxy primer and high build in places .. just a final slick coat of primer yes it will look cool but think about all the crap from the road slinging up along side of it. All the moisture that the high build could possibly absorb, contaminants, bird crap, Tire Shine from the dude next to you at the show..

Not trying to talk you out of it just saying .. this is why I am going to try and refrain from driving mine until it's completely painted. I want the base substrate to be as clean as possible and sealed away. With a solid Epoxy base and quality materials you'll probably be ok but just my luck there will be some Armor All specks in the primer I miss then .. f1$h eyes!!! ..

It's not that difficult to paint, it's the bodywork under it that's the labor intensive stuff. Just remember the paint is only going to be as good as what's underneath it.

.. my .02

Thanks Chad I think I'm on the right track now, I'll try not to let my crazy brain derail it.

Originally Posted by jmking9

I was in the same frame of mind before I painted mine. I was so nervous about it not living up to my expectations. But trust me, put in the time with the prep work, and you will amaze yourself. Look at it this way, no matter how frustrating the whole restoration process can be, you are going to have one killer truck when you're finished. One that you will always be able to say that YOU built! My .02

Oh, and you may have already said, but are you going with base/clear or single stage?

Thanks, I have your thread saved as I often look to them for inspiration. I know you were in a similar boat as me with paint experience and yours turned out awesome. I'm going to go with a BC/CC as many of the guys on here directed me too.

Originally Posted by mcbassin

Painting is the little bonus at the end of all the hard work it took to get there. You can physically paint a truck in one or two hard days. Hell, in a couple hours if it's single stage
I dig that rendering....RED!

Thanks Mike I knew you would like it.