Project: "ResuWrecktion" '71 Custom Deluxe C-10

[Blown06]

The truck:
1971 Custom Deluxe C-10, Long Bed Fleetside. Two tone blue & white, 350 (ZZ3 Crate engine) with TH 350.

I bought this truck from the original owner in the summer 1984. I worked my butt off hauling hay and working at a lumber yard to save the $1500 it took to buy it, I was a sophomore in high school! The original owner kept it in mint condition everything on it work, had a camper shell with wood paneling inside and carpet on the bed floor.

After several years of having my way with her, in 1990 I decided it was time for a rebuild. Had paint and body done with a smooth tailgate skin, interior was updated. Basically a 90 model seat and steering wheel with door panels, armrests and visors covered in the same style cloth as the new seat. Found a factory tilt wheel, added factory power brake booster and inserted new manual gauges in the factory cluster.

GM was just coming out with their crate engine program and I snatched up ZZ3 crate engine. Did a ton of head work and changed the cam and lifters, added a serpentine belt accessory drive system and some 8" Rally wheels. It was just about perfect!

It sat in my shop with a cover and would only get driven when I wanted to race or cruise. About 1999 or 2000 my buddy and I were drinking beer in the shop, he was struggling with finding a truck for his son to drive. Kid was a bout to turn 16, I reached into the desk drawer and tossed him the keys to ol' Blue. With the only stipulation of NEVER SELL the truck because one day I may want it back.

That day has come! I am calling this the ResuWrecktion because I am resurrecting my first truck from the wreck that she is now. So if you've made it this far, I'll get on to some pics.



Probably happier at this moment than the day I bought it.





The kid had a wreck, hit pretty hard in the front and has everything pushed to the right.















Truck has the cancer in spots that we're all familiar with on these trucks, rockers, cab corners and kick panels.







As you can see, I have my work cut out for me. I have owned literally a dozen of these trucks over the years but have always kept my first true love

This will be a slow build but should be fun, thanks for reading.

[Blown06]

Ignition switch was so worn out it took 10 minutes of fiddling with the key to get it to crank. Out came the tumbler and an order was placed with Brothers for a new switch and keys.

[Blown06]

Started the tear down, trying to asses the damage and get somewhat of a game plan. I've always been that guy that just "wings" it. But since I no longer have a shop to scatter parts in, I have to do this differently now and not kick the wife out of the garage, yet.

Remember the old Pioneer Super Tuner III's.



Stripping the front end down.

[Blown06]

Knowing I need most of the front sheetmetal I called my buddy at Eckler's and ordered both front fenders, Core Support the center grille brace and core support mounting kit.

Got a new battery tray from LMC. Trying to strip down the old stuff and see what I can re-use and what is too far gone.

[Blown06]

So the front end damage is more than just sheetmetal, both frame rails are pushed over and have kinks just forward of the crossmember:



Right side kink, going down.



Knowing how soft these frame rails are, I decided to cut out the factory core support crossmember and see if I could straighten them myself. So after a few hours of tugging with a come a long and hammering, their straight enough for me.







I figured I would get a new core support crossmember from Porterbuilt, so I contacted Laid Back Recreations about a few things and they got me fixed up.

[Blown06]

After reading Rokcrln's thread on Porterbuilt hinge install, http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=374708, I thought I was ready to tackle at least part of the install.

Used my 5/16- 18 tap and tapped out all threaded holes, making sure everything was nice and clean.






Then shot some primer on all the parts.



Made my marks and templates and started cutting.

[Blown06]

After feeling successful with the hinge install I couldn't resist at least bolting what sheetmetal I do have on the truck. So the battery tray and core support got slapped together and the left front fender got bolted on.








And that brings this thread to where I am now, waiting on right front fender and core support mounting kit. I have a long way to go, probably take years but I'm happy to have my old truck back and be turning wrenches on an old C-10.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks good so far..

[Blown06]

Originally Posted by FRENCHBLUE72

Looks good so far..

Thank you sir.

[brian1971]

Making some good progress,I'm also building a 71 custom/10 deluxe.
Sheet metal looks like it lines up pretty good.

Brian

[Blown06]

Originally Posted by brian1971

Making some good progress,I'm also building a 71 custom/10 deluxe.
Sheet metal looks like it lines up pretty good.

Brian

Thanks Brian, with the primered black fender it's kind of hard to tell but the fender is going to take some tweaking. The body line is a little high right now, I plan to kind of flatten out some of the arch in the upper mounting flange. If I'm thinking about it right, that should bring the fender down and in. If it's too far in I can shim it back out. I'm no body man so we'll see.

[BigDaddyV]

Looking good, I'll follow along.

[Slick67]

Jarrod, did the cab/bed move a little bit on the frame from the fender bender? Now I know the story behind the truck, too cool!!! This explains why you are partial to these trucks! I am subscribed bud!!

[Blown06]

Originally Posted by Slick67

Jarrod, did the cab/bed move a little bit on the frame from the fender bender? Now I know the story behind the truck, too cool!!! This explains why you are partial to these trucks! I am subscribed bud!!

David, I don't think the cab has moved much if any. I've crawled around under it and tried to see if there is any more damage from the front end hit. Haven't seen anything blatantly obvious, plus the bed to cab gap is equal all around.

The rear bumper is tweaked up on the driver side but looks like he may have attached a chain or something to the frame and got pulled out, twisting the bumper up?

I've decided to get new cab mounts installed before I align the front sheetmetal, if I can get it pretty close I'll call it good enough and save the finish work to the body shop when I blow it apart for paint. My thinking is to go with a Porterbuilt front dropmember as opposed to having a custom setup built. My reasoning: PB stuff is jig built and will arrive perfect. Custom setup wouldn't be and if my frame is still a little tweaked, it will forever remain that way.

This will be an extremely slow build, maybe ready for LST 2016! If they'll let me register it.

[mcbassin]

Very nice looking project. I'm gonna follow along too.

[Blown06]

Seemed like one of those weekends where nothing went as planned and progress was small.

Dragged my 25 year old Snap-On mig out to the backyard after doing a little sheetmetal practice in the garage. The results weren't anything to brag about but they were adequate.

Had big plans of running my mig off of my generator, that didn't go so well for spot welding! Genny wouldn't spool up fast enough to strike a stable arc.
Worst part is, I know better but nothing ventured, nothing gained right! So I rounded up some heavy duty extension cords and was back in business, going to run a temporary heavy duty circuit out back soon.

I decided to start tackling the firewall smoothing panels since I need practice on sheetmetal welding and this would involve overlapped metal so less chance to blow a hole in something.







My Jackson quick change helmet finally gave up the ghost, so a trip to Lowes and I picked up this Kobalt hood for $100. So far I like it and it had good reviews.



More tacks and more tacks.




And a lot of grinding, using a cutoff wheel on the grinder to knock down the highest spots (read about it in one of the metal working threads here) and finished up with a 2" roloc sanding disc.



Biggest thing I've learned is that I am rusty at welding sheetmetal, bi-focals stink and I don't know how long it will take me to get used to them. I'm determined and I have more time than money.

Thanks for reading and following along.

[Slick67]

So you are joining the dropmember crowd!! I knew this was gonna be awesome!!!

[nlped]

Looks good to me! I'm gonna follow along...sub'd

[Blown06]

Not a ton accomplished this weekend between dr's appointments and my daughters birthday, but some progress is still progress.

Started off by cleaning up the blower hole and prepping it for blanking off. Scratched around with a wire brush the best I could and sprayed some rust preventer inside. Let that dry and shot some rubberized undercoating in there.



The undercoating wasn't my brightest idea! When welding the blank over the hole the it caught fire.
Good thing I had the water hose handy.
Anyway didn't get a ton of pics but got the blank welded up good enough.



Then started to get the curved piece put on.



It's pretty well tacked up just have a bunch of grinding to finish up, back was giving me trouble from stooping over grinding. So I called it quits early, I'll get more done next weekend hopefully.



Scored a high hump from the parts board and member nlped, pretty happy with the purchase.



And scored a pair of NOS rocker panels from 60-66 on the parts board.



Ran a temporary power line out to the work area and the welder worked much better, no voltage drops. Made a trip to the welding supply store today and grabbed some .023 wire and contact tips. I'll get that rigged up next weekend and see if it works better for me than this .030 wire on the sheet metal.
Planning to hit the swap meet Friday afternoon in Conroe and see if I can pick up a few items.

[bigguy69]

Lookin good

[BigDaddyV]

Very nice bud, keep it up

[Ol Blue K20]

Subscribed and watching. ..one of my favorite color combos

[Blown06]

Thanks guys, my progress will be at a snails pace at times but I'm having fun.

[cobra_4]

Great build! Looking forward to more!

[Blown06]

Not a progress report but more of a throwback Thursday post. My wife ran across this pic and sent to me via text, said it was dated 1993. Back when it still had some shine to the paint and hadn't been wrecked or ragged out.

Hope some day to have it looking better, restored to it's former glory.