My 1st 68 panel

[richard2717]

The heater box was in real nice shape but ended up breaking the damn thing trying to get it separated from the firewall. Not sure what they used to seal it but thought it would never come apart. Luckily I have a couple extra nice cases and can swap these guts over with all new gaskets at a later date. I imagine I will be quite some time before I need any of that. I need to get some bracing inside so I can take the doors off and get the outer floor area repaired. I think i will end up needing a second yellow note pad the way the list is going


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[richard2717]

what is the old saying......well while I am here I might as well...... I have to patch the old speaker holes anyway. Going to order a new cowl panel and leaning towards a blazer front floor.


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[richard2717]

One of the reasons for considering the blazer floor is that I would need to put 5 different patches in the existing one and the raised area for the front of the seats to bolt to is different on the panel floor area on the passenger side. It tapers off to nothing half way across. Since I am not using the factory utilities I would like it to be like the blazer/truck setup and go all the way across so i do not have to modify anything on the seats. I just wish I could find a vendor close enough to go pick it all up.


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[richard2717]

getting the cowl area stripped down and cleaned up





started pulling the dash apart and realized I was going to need to patch the radio hole that someone cut. To my surprise the did not cut completely out, so I can just pull it back around and weld it up. Most likely going with a delete plate anyway but want it back right








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[richard2717]

The new low hump blazer floors just came out and are in stock so this week I will be placing order for one of them as well as the outer cowl section. The orange suburban I have here cutting up for parts has good inner vent areas I am going to use to patch where they cut out for speakers as well as the small area on the upper drivers side that was toasted by wet debris sitting.

Also started gutting the rear interior and found a few minor problem areas that will need to be addressed at some point. I am thinking this was a plumbers truck at some point. There are holes in the roof from what appear to have been a roof rack and some dents that will need massaging as well. Nothing major but was all filled with bondo instead of weld. They insulated behind the paneling but I think it may have been owned by a carpenter at this point. A mixture of HVAC duct board & R-19 pink insulation on the walls and fiberglass insulated drop ceiling tiles in the roof

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[LockDoc]

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Well, it should have been quiet inside....

LockDoc

[HO455]

That cowl is Looking good. Does the rest of the wood floor look as good as the front part does?
My PO did the fiberglass insulation thing too. Man that was a bunch of work to get that mess cleaned up. When I first pulled the side panels off fiberglass dust went everywhere.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

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Well, it should have been quiet inside....

LockDoc

With my hearing loss it is always quite even when grinding inside

Originally Posted by HO455

That cowl is Looking good. Does the rest of the wood floor look as good as the front part does?
My PO did the fiberglass insulation thing too. Man that was a bunch of work to get that mess cleaned up. When I first pulled the side panels off fiberglass dust went everywhere.

The pink does not bother me too much but man, them ceiling tiles have the old school fiber that just reaches down inside your body and holds on for dear life. My entire office ceiling had them that were 4" thick and when I had to change them out they ate me alive for days. Cold shower was no help at all. As soon as I saw these I went and got my tyvec suit on so we didn't go round 2. The mice had balled a lot of the pink up for housing but surprisingly there was no damage from them. They must have gotten cut on all the lower rust and bled out

The cowl cleaned up very nice as well as the windshield frame lip. I am always hesitant pulling the glass to see what awaits.

The rear floor in this thing is in great shape top & bottom side. Someone at some point sealed the top side but i will need to sand and reseal at some point. The underside of the truck had heavy oldschool undercoating on it that saved a lot of the underneath but all around the edges it had failed helping the rust out of the lower portion.

I have another set of rust free tubs here from a burb I parted that I am considering using to widen these tubs like on Leon's Panel. I really like the wide tire look

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[HO455]

Originally Posted by richard2717

With my hearing loss it is always quite even when grinding inside



The pink does not bother me too much but man, them ceiling tiles have the old school fiber that just reaches down inside your body and holds on for dear life. My entire office ceiling had them that were 4" thick and when I had to change them out they ate me alive for days. Cold shower was no help at all. As soon as I saw these I went and got my tyvec suit on so we didn't go round 2. The mice had balled a lot of the pink up for housing but surprisingly there was no damage from them. They must have gotten cut on all the lower rust and bled out

The cowl cleaned up very nice as well as the windshield frame lip. I am always hesitant pulling the glass to see what awaits.

The rear floor in this thing is in great shape top & bottom side. Someone at some point sealed the top side but i will need to sand and reseal at some point. The underside of the truck had heavy oldschool undercoating on it that saved a lot of the underneath but all around the edges it had failed helping the rust out of the lower portion.

I have another set of rust free tubs here from a burb I parted that I am considering using to widen these tubs like on Leon's Panel. I really like the wide tire look

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Wow! That does look good.

[richard2717]

So now the fun begins to dissect these things so I can use the inner cowl area for patches. Should be as much fun as shooting pool with a rope


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[richard2717]

What a pain in the a$$ this is. and will still have to do some patching but can't afford the newly released inner & outer A pillar assemblies. I can do a lot of repairs for $1100 plus shipping. I have about 3 hours in getting this separated this far and still have a ways to go.


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[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by richard2717

What a pain in the a$$ this is. and will still have to do some patching but can't afford the newly released inner & outer A pillar assemblies. I can do a lot of repairs for $1100 plus shipping. I have about 3 hours in getting this separated this far and still have a ways to go.


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Sad part is there is no easy way to do it. Are you using spot weld cutters or regular drill bits? I find that the spot weld cutters cut faster and do a cleaner job.

LockDoc

[richard2717]

In the past I have normally used spot weld cutters but because I did not want to put holes in the part I am saving I actually just used a 3/8 bit and kinda rounded it as I went being careful not to put too much pressure on it. Just time consuming. It was a lot easier removing the one off of the panel because it was still attached to the full weight of the truck. I ended up putting some screws thru it into the table to help keep it in position.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks like a lot of fun.lol..You're definitely doing a nice job. Keep it up.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

Looks like a lot of fun.lol..You're definitely doing a nice job. Keep it up.

Thanks Dale finally got the drivers side separated and have it in the blasting cabinet to clean up. I don't think I am going to end up needing this much for the passenger side.

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[richard2717]

Cleaned up pretty nice in the cabinet so I could see what I actually am working with. I think it will work out fine. I will still have to patch the very bottom of it. The passenger side is no where near as bad and I think i can get away with some flat metal inserts to fill the speaker hole area.

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[HO455]

Great work!

[Getter-Done]

Like it A lot.
Thumbs Up












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[richard2717]

Originally Posted by HO455

Great work!

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Like it A lot.
Thumbs Up












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Thanks guys

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[KFF 1]

Looking good !!!!

[jaros44sr]

OK, so I'm way late to the party, don't get over to the subs. side enough, but will follow from here on out. Looks like a great build!

Seriously, the whole rocker was filled with bondo, you could have used that to make a fibreglass mold of the rocker

good luck on the build

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by KFF 1

Looking good !!!!

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

OK, so I'm way late to the party, don't get over to the subs. side enough, but will follow from here on out. Looks like a great build!

Seriously, the whole rocker was filled with bondo, you could have used that to make a fibreglass mold of the rocker

good luck on the build

Thanks Guys, Glad to be back on it. Hope to get a lot of the metal work done over the winter but we all know how that goes. Did not get to work on it much this weekend but got the rest of it gutted and some more cleaning on the outer firewall. From the look of things, panel seems to be pretty rust free from the floor up. That , however, did not stop them from gobs more body filler. With the interior gutted I can see some dents in the main "billboard" area from the inside, but the outside is smooth. It also had some type of roof rack at some point that was removed and the mounting holes were just filled with filler.

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[Getter-Done]

Looking Good.
You have clean base to work with now.
My Question looking at the roof is.
Are the roof braces the same in a Panel Truck
As in a Suburban?
I would not think GM would use different braces.










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[richard2717]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

Looking Good.
You have clean base to work with now.
My Question looking at the roof is.
Are the roof braces the same in a Panel Truck
As in a Suburban?
I would not think GM would use different braces.










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Dwayne
I am pretty certain they are both the same but have not held another up to compare. I got my final quote back on sheet metal yesterday so time to get everything ordered. Would be nice to get it all here to work on during the holidays

Richard

[richard2717]

One more pc of the puzzle done and stored away. 80lb oil, NOS lens, NOS circuit card, new bezel and led bulbs

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