67 SWB First Build

[Scurry67]

Continued..

Welded the rear cross sill in place. All braces are welded to the floor finally. Just need to finish welding the middle seam.

Hung the front panel and the bedsides. For the most part the holes line up pretty good. I'll have to slot a few in the bed floor. Only issue right now is the driver side of the bed sits about 1/2" higher than the PS.

[cornerstone]

Looks like it came out great! I've seen guys make a sanding block fit perfectly in the valleys of the bed floor to sand down the filler needed to get those welds to disappear.

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Looks like it came out great! I've seen guys make a sanding block fit perfectly in the valleys of the bed floor to sand down the filler needed to get those welds to disappear.

Yeah it actually did turn out pretty solid after taking my time. It'll l need just a little skim coat. I'm leaning towards doing a liner kit in the bed so I'm thinking that'll hide any little blemishes also.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Very nice work, I especially like how you split apart everything to get at the rust. I'm in for the rest of the build.

[TA_C10]

Dang man, good work here, lot of work pulling that on and off like that. Kudos for taking that wrong order and making it right.

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

Very nice work, I especially like how you split apart everything to get at the rust. I'm in for the rest of the build.

Appreciate it! It was definitely a lot of extra work but worth it. Similar to your firewall/cowl work, it was a TON of spot welds.

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Dang man, good work here, lot of work pulling that on and off like that. Kudos for taking that wrong order and making it right.

Thanks TA. With a skim coat of filler at the joint, it shouldn't be too noticeable.

[Scurry67]

Quick update. Been trying to spend a few hours each night in the shop after the wife goes to bed.

Because I plan on cruising in this primarily in decent weather, including the summer, I jumped on the VA train. Based on all the reviews on this site, it seemed like a solid choice.

As you can see in the pictures below, the center vent did not fit great. I read about this in some other threads. I decided to massage the dash into the shape of the vent to close that large gap. With a little body filler too, it turned out half decent.

So far everything seems to be good quality. Only concern is the ball vents. Hope they can stand up to wear and tare.

[Scurry67]

Continued...

Fitting my grill. It lined up really nice with the fenders. Just a skim coat to clean it up a little bit. I'll take the grill off to clean up the joint. Also finished sanding the bumper. I think it'll look real sharp. Had a couple low spots on the rear cross sill, that I massaged out for the most part. Just a little skim coat left to sand.

[TA_C10]

Looking great. And getting closer man. I did similar with my center VA vent. I wish I would have massaged my dash more. I have too much filler on mine, but it's on the inside so.....

I think those bumpers are gonna look pretty cool.

.

[MDPotter]

It looks like you welded the bumper bolts to the bumper for the smooth look?

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

Looking great. And getting closer man. I did similar with my center VA vent. I wish I would have massaged my dash more. I have too much filler on mine, but it's on the inside so.....

I think those bumpers are gonna look pretty cool.

.

yeah i think your build thread was one of them that mentioned that those vents didn't fit great. I figured I'd have to do something there. A little extra Filler should hold up fine in the cab I imagine.

I think the front bumper will look pretty decent when painted. Put it on tonight to See the fit. Went on easy. It's definitely more motivating to work on when you start throwing panels and pieces back on.

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

It looks like you welded the bumper bolts to the bumper for the smooth look?

Sure did! Wasn't too tough, just takes a bit of time. I was originally going to go front roll pan but my dad talked me into the bumper. I like the look.

[Scurry67]

Small update:

Fitting the cowl panel to the door and fender. Bodylines and gap look okay. Will take some massaging. Also been doing a lot of sanding. Working on the tubs and bed floor. I finished up the two weld areas on the floor.

Also used a shrink tip to tighten the hood metal back up on the hood. No more oil canning 👌🏽

[Scurry67]

Small update:

Finished up the welding and filler on the floor yesterday. I scuffed the new e-coating and sprayed some epoxy primer. It isn't perfect by any means but I don't think anyone will hardly notice it after I spray a bed liner over it.

I was in the zone with spraying so I hit a few other items.
The rear wheel wells were pretty beat up but after some Dolly/hammer work and some filler/sanding, they turned out decent. Once again, not perfect, but hardly noticable under a bed liner 👍🏼
There was also a lot of metal burn through areas in the filler/primer around the truck. I sprayed those areas with epoxy, including the front bumper.

[Scurry67]

Couple more shots.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Looks like you almost ready for paint. I'm sure its been posted somewhere but what colour are you going with?

[TA_C10]

I'm starting to fit all my panels finally. Curious. Are all those stock panels or do you have any new? I got a new core support and inner wheel tubs. The inners are off, gonna have to massage and manipulate to get them to fit right...

Looking good!

.

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

Looks like you almost ready for paint. I'm sure its been posted somewhere but what colour are you going with?

Definitely getting closer, but sadly there is still a lot of sanding in my future

Leaning towards centennial blue (similar to Chevy's 50th anniversary truck). It could very well change again tho. My dad supplies paint to most of the body shops in his area, so we are going to see if one of their painters has time to paint it possibly this summer.

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by TA_C10

I'm starting to fit all my panels finally. Curious. Are all those stock panels or do you have any new? I got a new core support and inner wheel tubs. The inners are off, gonna have to massage and manipulate to get them to fit right...

Looking good!

.

Much appreciated. I had heard some nightmares about fitting aftermarket metal so I tried to keep it all stock panels. The only aftermarket I have on it are the tailgate and bed front panel. Cowl hood might be interesting trying to fit up. It came with the parts truck. Time will tell haha.

Looking forward to being out of the metal work and sanding phase of the build.

[Scurry67]

Small update.

Hung my new lmc tailgate. Awhile back I had split my tailgate in hopes of taking the bow out of it. Well I thought I had it fixed and as soon as I thought I was done, I stood it on its side and it had a slight twist in it... I suppose maybe I'll still paint it and turn it into wall art or something.

Anyways... The new tailgate seems to fit great. Passenger side gap is slightly larger than I'd like, but I'll be able to live with it I think.

Also started to fit my cowl hood. After messing with it for a day, I realized that this hood had some fitment issues. I did a search on here and I'm pretty sure it is an older cowl hood and they require some slicing and dicing to fit up... I'm thinking I'll give it a go at some point. In the mean time I'm fitting up my original hood. It fits way nicer.

[cornerstone]

Smooth bumper looks great. Thanks for posting all your progress... There's always some dude out there needing inspiration and or motivation to continue on with his project. Even though what I'm doing on my truck has been done hundreds of times already, I try to keep the pics flowing, because many times I have been the guy needing the inspiration.

[Racer2172]

Nice work, great progress for a short amount of time your truck is coming along great

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Smooth bumper looks great. Thanks for posting all your progress... There's always some dude out there needing inspiration and or motivation to continue on with his project. Even though what I'm doing on my truck has been done hundreds of times already, I try to keep the pics flowing, because many times I have been the guy needing the inspiration.

Thanks for the compliment. This board has been great for inspiration for sure. Lots of cool ideas from different projects.

[Scurry67]

Originally Posted by Racer2172

Nice work, great progress for a short amount of time your truck is coming along great

Much appreciated. It has been a fun ride so far!