1987 R10 Scottsdale Diesel

[Ville K]

Hi, here is my project. It was imported to Finland in 1990, 3 years old. It was sold new in Minnesota for a farmer who kept it for 3 years and 50K miles, he maintained it well, changed oils and filters every 3000 miles!
This pick up was bought to Finland by a steel company for hard use, and they used it for 22 years until they thought it was too rotten and it was time for a new pickup.

I bought it few weeks ago, and have bought some new panels for it. Today it was time to lift the bed off the frame

and the bed and frame are going to be sandblasted next week. I fell in love with this because it was all original, it even has its original am/fm radio.

I am going to keep it all original and use it as my dailydriver once I get it finished, hopefully at the end of summer.







-Ville

[Ville K]

Original tailgate was all banged, welded and lots of bondo, so had to buy new one.

Somehow it didnt have letters, so I saved a part of the old tailgate..

And yes, I am going to be so stupid that I am going to cut and weld my new tailgate just to have this lettering

[Ville K]

Been taking front fenders off today, not an easy task because someone has patched wheel wells and welded those patches to the bolts that attach wheelwells to fenders.. Sorry no pics yet.

[v30crewcab]

looks like alot of fun.

[Dieselburb86]

Thats cool to see a truck from Minnesota go to a good home in finland! Believe me after 22 years in Minnesota, and that truck would have looked like swiss cheese!

[Ville K]

Thanks for the comments! Yep, its fun to work with this kind of car, its simple and tough.
They use salt here in Finland too, so it is important to use rust preventive stuff after the rebuild.
I dont want to do this again after few years!

[Ville K]

So, here are more pics, diassembled the front end today. I tought that I wouldnt have to buy new front fenders (I got new inner fenders) but I was wrong. They are not that bad outside, but the inside is disappeared from the edges..
Luckily no more suprises at the front, frame wasnt even cracked where the steering box mounts.

here are these "professionally made" patches. Few spots and some sort of silicone?




Now there is plenty of room to change the glow plugs

[Ville K]

Removed tanks today, left side tank brackets were gone

but luckily right side were ok. I managed to find good brackets from my friends donor car, 1980 custom deluxe.


Tanks have some surface rust, but I think they are ok, have to clean them up and paint them, and renew all the (what the heck are those things in english, in finnish they are letkuklemmari, those things that tighten the hoses!)


I also ordered new front fenders today, I´ll have them on friday. I think these were to bad for me to fix so that they would also stay good looking for years.
I was told that they are made in Taiwan, does anyone know how they will fit, is there a lot of work ahead to get them fit in the same line than doors?





Cab rear corners doesnt seem too bad

[makman1297]

Looks great, funny i was born and lived in MN until i turned 18 and my grandfather was born in Finland. I think it held up better there then it would of in MN, would be nice if they made a metal that was salt proof.

[Ville K]

Originally Posted by makman1297

Looks great, funny i was born and lived in MN until i turned 18 and my grandfather was born in Finland. I think it held up better there then it would of in MN, would be nice if they made a metal that was salt proof.

Nice to hear you have some finnish roots! You must have lots of guts, and you are also a hell of a rallydriver and play icehockey like a world champion

Nothing new with the project, just braking it to parts. Oh, I did buy new glow plugs, there were at least one that was dead. And I ordered new hoses for the engine oil cooler, they were looking a bit dangerous and oily.

By the way, what a day, I saw 3 different 73-87 pickups(+ mine of course!), a matt black lifted long bed, a lifted yellow gmc stepside and a black low duallie. And every one of them within few miles from home.

[Ville K]

New fenders fit fine, left was canadian made and right was made in taiwan. I also ordered a lots of bolts and screws and other little stuff from LMC truck. If it doesnt rain, bed and frame from behind cabin are going to be sandblasted.

[Ville K]

Todays achievements:




Didnt have time to sandblast the bed, so it will be done later.

What do you guys think of the mobile sandblasting truck? It´s finnish truck named SISU 1982, a friend of mine owns it and he has equipped it with compressor under the bed.

[Leedogg]

Cool!

[tim23mn]

Like a few other people here, I'm also originally from Minnesota. That truck has held up very well over the years compared to others I've seen. Very nice, looking forward to progress.

[Ville K]

Thanks for the comments!
Heres a pic of what I did to my tailgate.. I couldnt get new one with a CHEVROLET lettering on the side, so...

I also repaired drivers door, and changed the glow plugs this week. The bed is still waiting for sandblasting, but I have lots of work with the cabin and frame. I also ordered new tanks, they are easier to change now than in next few years.

[Ville K]

Here is a little update.




I also managed to find a better bed (almost perfect condition), it was not cheap but it makes things easier for me. I am going to collect it up on friday.
I didnt have deadline until last week when I was told that I was accepted to a school that starts july 18th, so 5 weeks to get this one back on the road..
After almost 13 years of making windscreens I am going to be a train operator.

[snm95ls]

Congrats on the new career.

What are your impressions on the fenders, and where did you order them from?

[Ville K]

Originally Posted by snm95ls

Congrats on the new career.

What are your impressions on the fenders, and where did you order them from?

Hi, and thanks!

I bought the fenders from a Finnish company called southwest trade, they sell parts only for american cars, dont know where they buy them, but they buy containers of parts from usa and ship them here.
Right fender is Taiwan made and left is canadian, my opinion is that the canada made is better, I fitted it with the original shims, and it fits almost perfectly, and its better pressed than the Taiwan made. Also that taiwan made was a bit longer than the original fender, so I it was a bit of struggle to get the gap right with the door. I had to press it from the middle to get in the same level as the door, and top of the fender had to be pulled with a glide hammer , as it was too deep where it meets the A-post. I also had to use very thick shim in the bottom mounting point to get it same level as the sill. But after all, I am very pleased with the fenders, they were cheaper to buy new than repair badly rusted old ones.

[Ville K]

A very good day today, collected the bed that I bought and got it sandblasted. It was very good indeed, only couple of small holes inside the rear light hole.



I also got the frame painted, and also the new tanks. I spent some 15 hours with the car
Might get it driveable again this weekend.

[96twodoor]

Cool truck man !! Its good to see a 73-87 across the pond still around, keep up the good work!!!

[Ville K]

Thanks man!

[l79m20]

nice work on the tailgate. Looks much better that way!

[Ville K]

Originally Posted by l79m20

nice work on the tailgate. Looks much better that way!

Thanks for the comment

Today I assembled tank brackets to tanks with new straps that my friend made from stainless steel.

And also made some mounting points where to tie cargo, nuts are inside the bed frame and those round bolts are removable when not needed..

I lifted the bed up from those brackets, now I can paint it underside.

[Ville K]

back in driveable condition! Now I can concentrate on the bed, and then its time to bondo, sandpaper, bondo, sand, bondo, etc..
started at first try although it was over a month without tanks. And also there was a noticeable change in firing up with new glowplugs.

[Ville K]

Made a gas fill hole to the right side of the bed using a part of the old bed:

That was easy, just measuring the rigth place and then put the part on the right place and cut with 0,8 mm disc trough both metals. Then welding carefully.

There was few little holes after the sandblasting and I thought I coud weld them today, but guess what, little holes grew bigger.. One step forwards and two steps back