Project “Learning as I Go”

[gopokes]

Let me start off by saying that I am new to the truck restoration business. I grew up farming so I did work on cars and trucks but just to keep them running, not to make them look nice. That’s why I say I’m learning as I go. I do want to say a HUGE thanks you to everyone on this site. I have learned so much just by reading everything possible on here. My wife actually gives me a hard time because I spend so much time on this website. I feel like it is really cheap knowledge. Anyway, I bought my truck off a guy here in Oklahoma City last February. It was a running and driving truck so I was happy, even happier because I got it for 800 bucks. So what I have is a 1971 longbed, 307 engine, with 3 on the tree which I love, haven’t been around one of these since my granddad’s 60-66 Chevy (not sure the exact year). The guy I bought it from said he was the second owner, not sure if I believe him or not but who knows. When I got it home I did the basics, changed the oil, filters, pugs, wires etc. Then after that I just enjoyed driving it and didn’t do much to it. So far I have added a junkyard sway bar, added some “cheap security” flashing led on the dash (thanks BobbyK for the FAQ!), tinted the windows for a little more security since it sits in the street most of the time, new tires were a b-day present, and bought a few other things I will get into later. For the most part she sits pretty much the same as when I got her. I don’t have much of a budget for this project so it’s going to be little bits at a time. At some point I will be cutting her down to a shorty, but I decided that the first big thing I needed to tackle is the rust normal trouble spots for these trucks, even though my rust isn’t as bad as some I’ve seen on here, it seems to be growing every time I take a panel off! I am trying to do the work in small chunks so that she isn’t down for a long period of time. Enough rambling, here are the pics.









After the wal-mart tint job





All that old undercoating was a big time mess to grind off of there, worked on it for two nights and still didn't get it all off.

[gopokes]

Found some more rust!



The replacements





Of course more rust.





Test fit

[gopokes]

And some inspiration from my wife, bought me this a while back. One day she might look like this.



So that's where I'm at so far, thanks for taking the time to look and any advise is MORE than welcome from anyone!

Donnie

[stueber68]

welcome fellow okie and good start!

[culp7]

looks like a great deal for $800

what are your plans for it?

[gopokes]

Originally Posted by culp7

looks like a great deal for $800

what are your plans for it?

My budget is pretty tight for this so nothing too dramatic right away. I have bought all the sheetmetal that I need, so i will be replacing all of the rusted areas. Probably keep finding more as I go, then I am going to cut it down to a shortbed. I have bought almost everything I need to add power steering so that will be coming as well. I am also going to do a "budget" drop, cut the front coils, wrangler springs in the back. Then as I save the cash there will be more to come. I really want to try a roll down back glass, I've done a ton of research on it but can only find a couple people that have actually done it. Here is the inspiration for that.

[jason65]

Looks like your doing good so far. Keep up the good work.

[gopokes]

I've been keeping my eye out on craigslist for some seats and found some the other day. Only 50 bucks! They are from a 95-99 Yukon, drivers seat is power the guy I bought them from didn't know if it worked or not, haven't tested it yet. I will take the headrests out and get them recovered some day, but for now they look ok for their age.





I sat them in for a test fit, didn't lose much leg room, at some point I want to move the gas tank, so that might give me a little more room.

[gopokes]

Here are some random interior pics, gotta love the green steering wheel, I think that was a really rare option.

[sourkraut]

good luck!

[bigguy69]

looks like a good start!

[threeonthetree]

;nice work
rust repair looks really good. you'll have a solid truck before you know it.
motor pics?

[jason65]

Those seats will be nice in there. I have thought about getting some for the 64.

[JohnC]

Nice to see a thread started man. Looks like you are making some nice progress on it. Looking forward to the updates.

[19723DR]

Great job, it looks like it's a good solid truck to start from. I have a similar truck, a '71 Cheyenne that I am still working on. It started out as a long bed. I chose to do the short bed conversion and I had a lot of fun doing mine and learned a lot from the process.

Good luck with your build

[gopokes]

Thanks for all the positive comments guys! That's what I love about this site, for the most part everyone is positive and helpfull, makes starting a project like this a little less scary. Did a little more teardown the last couple of nights and took a few pics, nothing major, need a breakover handle to get the bumper loose. My brother has all the tools I need but he's out of town. 19723DR your avatar made me think to post this pic, a girl I work with's daughter likes to draw and made me a pic of my truck. Here are the pics for your enjoyment!















Since I couldn't get the bumper off I couldn't take the fenders off, so I got the grill and pass side inner fender out. I have always read different threads saying how these projects start to snowball and I always thought "I can keep that from happening". I think I could have been wrong...

[JohnC]

Yeah we all start with the goal of it not snowballing. Don't feel bad if it does. Then you will really be part of the club.

[VA72C10]

Looks like a good project!

[Stano]

I am a bodyman by trade and my truck took me 6 years to driveable that was 9 years ago and I still havent gotten to finish it. Heck I need to fix a few new spots that have popped up in that time of driving and showing it. LOL You have a good start on yours and it looks to be a good truck for a project. When/if it snowballs and you start wonderin why you decided to do it come here and look at some of the trucks on this site and that'll get ya goin again!

[gopokes]

So March Madness has kept me from any work on the truck. We got a nice winter storm here in OKC on the first day of spring so that and basketball kept me inside. Unfortunately my Cowboys lost in the first round so my interest fell off pretty quick. I read through 19723DR's build thread and got some big time motivation to get out there today, thanks man!! I got the bumper off so I could get the fender out of the way. It doesn't look like much progress in the pics but it seems like quite a bit to me.




I got the inner rocker cut to fit up pretty well, since I found the holes in the floorboard I have been trying to decide if I should order another patch panel or just make a little patch myself. The rust isn't very big so I think I can make one pretty easily.










I put the new rocker up there to check for fit, it seems to be fitting pretty well, not much way to tell until I get everything else in and check the fit with the door hung.



That's it for today. Thanks to everyone again for all the kind words!!

[sourkraut]

looking good!

[JohnC]

Looks good man.

[jason65]

Good job. Looks good.

[19723DR]

Thanks for checking out my build thread. Looking at your build thread brought back a lot of memories of when I did my truck.

From what I can see on your cab floor, there's spots of rust through, but I think you could make your own patch instead of buying a complete patch piece. Even with as much rust as mine had, I only used a half piece. Look into getting some Por-15, it's great for brushing on those places that are prone to rust.

Looking forward to your progress.

[gopokes]

Got a little more done, as I go I seem to find that I need to do something else before I can finish what I started with. I realized that the rear floor pan going down to the cab corner needs some patching. I looked into a repalcement but since they are $60 bucks a piece I decided I'm going to make my own peice. I'm not too worried about it being "perfect" in other people's eyes, this isn't going to be a show winner.

I got the gas tank out and am ready to cut out the cab corner and floor pan peice. This would be much easier with the bed off, unfortunately I don't have room to put it if I took it off. I am going to use some tall jack stands we used for working on irigation pipe back in the day to raise it up enough to work under. The ADD started kicking in lately and I think I have decided to start cutting the bed and frame down after I get this side of the cab finished. This will help with the garage space, sucks working in a two car garage. I finally got my brothers welder to my house so hopefully I can pick up the pace.