66 GMC Long to Short LS Swap

[Duncan K]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Kudos to you guys putting in all the rust rehab efforts. Amazing amount of effort.

If I had a bigger budget I wouldn't be doing this much rust repair! lol

It has been a really good learning experience though!

[Duncan K]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

It'd be cool to pull a C10 trailer behind the C10 pickup that's the same C10 pickup as the C10 pickup the C10 trailer was made from.

Just sayin.

That's a pretty sweet set up!

I did think about doing the same but I need to steal some parts off it.

[Duncan K]

Got both bed sides shortened, ended up cutting the inside panels out so I can do some hammer and dolly work. They are pretty rotten so I am going to use the ones from my parts bed. Shaved the stake pocket holes, and did a number of other repairs. I did my best to straighten the front panel using a torch and some clamps. It will need the bottom edge cut out and replaced.



Took a trip out to the blaster and spent 3 hrs blasting all the bed parts and tailgate. Found a couple big areas filled with lead hiding some nasty secrets.

[SCOTI]

Well that sux.

[66C10LB]

Duncan K It looks like your bed sides are shaping up nicely. You managed to duplicate the wheel opening shape closely! For your trip out to the media blaster, is it a place where you self serve (do it yourself)? Is it fairly cost effective around Calgary? (It's a bit costly in the Kelowna area to have blasting done).

[Duncan K]

Originally Posted by 66C10LB

Duncan K It looks like your bed sides are shaping up nicely. You managed to duplicate the wheel opening shape closely! For your trip out to the media blaster, is it a place where you self serve (do it yourself)? Is it fairly cost effective around Calgary? (It's a bit costly in the Kelowna area to have blasting done).

Consolidated Compressor has DIY outdoor blasting. $150 hr so its not cheap but I know its done right. Last couple times I took stuff to a shop to get blasted I felt like I got ripped off. Billed for 2 hours when I know I could have done it in one.

I have a small Princess Auto blaster that I do smaller stuff with back at the shop.

[Duncan K]

Did a bunch of rust repair on the bed sils, then a coat of epoxy followed by some black Tremclad.



Welded up a few holes and did some body work on the tailgate. It got a coat of epoxy as well.



I cut the bottom 4 inches off the front bed panel which was totally rotten. Had a piece of 16 gauge bent up to replace it. I used a long straight edge to cut the bottom off so I ended up with a perfect fit up with no gap. Clamped both pieces down on top of some heavy aluminum angle. I welded them up using pulsed tig with no filler. big plus to this method was almost zero grinding after!

[SCOTI]

Clean, clean, clean....

[88Stanger]

Damn fine job so far!

[Duncan K]

Got the body work done on the front panel, and shot it with epoxy.



I thought I would have a little fun. Masked off the letters on the tailgate and painted them.

[SCOTI]

Now you're just showing off....

[Duncan K]

Merry Christmas everyone! Can't believe it's been 10 months since my last post. I did a bunch more work on the box sides last winter and then didn't touch the truck until a few weeks ago.



In the end I decided I don't have the skills or tools to fix these sides to the standard I want. I will end up buying some reproduction sides down the road.

I spent some time trying to salvage the passenger door that I warped. I tried welding a bead along the inside with no luck. I bent it on my bench with blocks and straps. I got it close but just couldn't get it to line up properly.

Starting over with another set of doors. I cut the skin off and blasted it inside and out. Shot with epoxy and started fitting the new skin.

[Duncan K]

Continued work on the drivers door. Installed new pins and bushings in the hinges. Installed Kilmat on the back side of the skin, then fit and welded. Replaced the door bottom. This door ended up warping on me again. This time the bottom of the door frame ended up with a twist. Getting pretty discourage with these doors. Going to set them aside and deal with them later.

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Made some new drip rails for the A Pillar



I wasn't happy with the bracket I bought to mount the DBW pedal so I fabbed up a different mount. Just a sheet metal box with nuts welded on the back. Welded it to the firewall. Much more solid than the one I bought



Got the ECM and the tach module mounted under the dash behind the glove box. I will likely have to modify the glove box inset to fit

[Braunschweiger]

Very good work, your truck must be a brother of mine, its sheet metal is destroyed as well, its bed looks the same, I look at their approach.
Yes, the outer skin is exciting work, I also had to do both sides. Your cabin work looks like factory work, I like it.

[Duncan K]

Taking a break from metal work for a bit. Pulled the cab off and shot some rubberized undercoat on the bottom. Also made a trip to the blasters with the hood hinges, battery tray, glove box door, heater box, and the gas/brake pedal brackets. Got them all shot with epoxy.

[pdxhall]

That's some very nice patch work you've got going on. It's nice to see you posting again.

[Duncan K]

I figured since the cab was already on its back it was a good time to bodywork the roof. Followed that up with the firewall, kick panels, dash, and above the windshield where I welded in the patch. Sealed up the roof and firewall with a coat of epoxy, and got the seam sealer done in the drip rail.

Learned a lot of hard lessons doing this bodywork. I have to stop being so sloppy with the filler, lots of unnecessary sanding. I am also amazed at how a panel can look so flat until you hit it with a long block and all the highs and lows show themselves.

Going to paint the interior and the firewall before I put the cab back on the chassis. Will probably shoot the roof with high build primer as well.



After waiting months my inner fenders finally arrived. I had done some rust repair on the original ones but they were going to take way too much bodywork so I treated myself to a new set.

[Braunschweiger]

They did a fine job there, the filler will never be my core competence either, I had too little or too much. Looks really good on them.

[Slammed96]

Man you're kicking ass on this thing! Makes me want to go back and redo all mine, because it's nowhere near that straight and clean.

[The Rocknrod]

Definitely some quality work.

[Duncan K]

Originally Posted by Braunschweiger

They did a fine job there, the filler will never be my core competence either, I had too little or too much. Looks really good on them.

Originally Posted by Slammed96

Man you're kicking ass on this thing! Makes me want to go back and redo all mine, because it's nowhere near that straight and clean.

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Definitely some quality work.

Thanks guys, its been a real battle to try not to cut corners to get this project done faster. I keep reminding myself that there is no deadline, the extra work will be worth it and show in the final product.

[Duncan K]

Got to work on the interior this week. Shot the floor with Raptor liner that was tinted to match the interior paint colour. I will be putting Kilmat and carpet down in the future but this will protect the primer in the mean time. Got a nasty surprise when I went to spray. Had the liner all mixed up in the bottle with the hardener and went to screw on my Shutz gun. Turns out a standard Shutz gun doesn't fit, you have to buy the "Raptor" gun. I got lucky and found a container that my gun fit onto and poured the liner in. It worked ok but went on really thick and globby. Went the next day and got another bottle mixed up and bought the raptor gun. It layed down much nicer the second time, the Raptor gun has a smaller diameter nozzle



Got the interior painted with single stage. I did a couple spray outs to try and figure out how much flatener to add. I thought I had it right but it could have used a little more, still has a bit of shine to it. I may end up putting another coat on with a bit more flattener added, at least on the dash.

[SkinnyG]

I found the same thing. I had the can all mixed and THEN discovered it didn't fit my Shutz gun. Same as you, I happened to have a can.

Looks good!

[Paul Y]

Just getting ready to do my cab interior, yours looks very similar to what I envisage mine will be.

Hope it turns out half as good and I will be happy!

P.

[Duncan K]

So after my last attempt on the drivers door I decided it would be easier to try and find a rust free set of doors, or at least a set that only needed minor patching. I haven't had any luck with welding skins on. With all the rust repair I have tackled on this truck I am not sure why this is proving to be so difficult. I shopped around for a few months and ended up finding a pretty good deal on a set that had solid inner bottoms, and only minor rust in the bottom corners of the skins. I thought this was going to be the end of my door problems and I would finally be able to move on. I blasted them and shot them with epoxy. I hung them on the cab only to find they didn't fit at all. Gaps were terrible, and they didn't match up to body of the cab at all. I didn't take any pics, but I would have had to do significant chopping and welding to make them fit. This was exactly what I was trying to avoid.So much for the easy fix.

I had cut the skin off the original driver door up above the handle. The reproduction door skins I bought were only usable below the upper body line because the upper body line was 3/8" too low. I had written this door off and left it outside. I bought it in and hung it with original skin, fits pretty good.

[IMG][IMG]

I put a new door bottom on it, mounted the striker on the cab and installed the door lock mechanism. With the door closed and locked in place the middle of the door edge did not line up with the cab. I made a relief cut and then welded in a filler to bring the for edge out flush. With that done I mounted the cowl extension and the fender. The door frame fit great everywhere including at the rocker. I cut the skin off the last driver door I attempted to fix and fit it to this one. I tacked it in and hammered over the corners to hold it in place. As per usual, now it fits like crap, the top pulled, and now it doesn't seem to fit at the rocker.

[IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG]

I really hate doors!!!! Not really sure what I want to do at this point. This has really killed my motivation. as much as I want to do all the work on this truck myself I might have to admit defeat on this one and hire some to fix it. Going to move on to other things and leave the doors alone for a while, again.