New Project- 73 3/4t 4x4 longbed

[TheDirt520]

Began rebuilding my dads old chevy, he bought it new at the end of 1972 special ordered picked it up at the dealer and heads home, half way into the trip the motor blows cracking the block, back to the dealer for a new new motor,, after that the truck ran great for the next 3xx,xxx miles, those miles I spent in the back with my two brothers seeing nearly all of the lower 48 states pass us by(sitting facing back in the bed),,, Near the end of 98 he decided to put a new gm crate motor in it and drove it as a second vehicle till late 99 when he bought a 2000 jeep and the poor old truck got parked and forgotten for 14 years

[TheDirt520]

It's 14 year parking spot

[TheDirt520]

It's only letting me add 1 pic at a time

[TheDirt520]

Stripped out the interior and found the rusty floor from sitting for years with a flat passenger tire, rain ran in thru the door from it leaning

[TheDirt520]

At that point I decided just to pull it all apart and do it right

[TheDirt520]

Cut the dash out for more room to fix the floor

[TheDirt520]

Never done any rust repair before so jumped right in and might have cut alittle too much out, found out after alot of it isn't available in rust repair panels

[a Good Man]

Good Work

[Tucson38]

Surprised the packrats haven't destroyed the wiring yet.

What part of Tucson?

[73Super8]

Cool man. Nice to see you're bringing her back to life. From a fellow 73 owner.

[TheDirt520]

Originally Posted by a Good Man

Good Work

Thank you

[TheDirt520]

Originally Posted by Tucson38

Surprised the packrats haven't destroyed the wiring yet.

What part of Tucson?

Pack rats made a home under the hood and in the bed among all the junk that was in there but haven't seen any eaten wires, tho I am going to rewire the whole truck,,, I'm right by Broadway and Swan, you?

[TheDirt520]

Originally Posted by 73Super8

Cool man. Nice to see you're bringing her back to life. From a fellow 73 owner.

Yea I had to bring her back too life, alot of history for me in that truck,,, other then the passenger floor the truck is in pretty good shape, I'm going for a "coulda been a stock truck if GM knew what they were doing" look with it,, this is what I'm picturing -

[TheDirt520]

Here's where I'm getting my floor panels

[TheDirt520]

I wish I could post more then 1 at a time

[TheDirt520]

More

[TheDirt520]

Pulled the bed by myself

[TheDirt520]

Took bout an hour, used the tie down latches from a 96 suburban to lift the bed with the hoist

[TheDirt520]

Frame ready for cleaning,, never been in a accident, hardly ever taken offroad,, when it was parked my dad had just filled both tanks and after 14years they rusted thru in several places at the top of the gas level, ill be boxing the whole frame, lifting it 8" with 4" rear springs in front-4" in rear with shackle flip(both will ad 8" front and rear), putting a blazer tank in the rear(won't be taking it on long trips so I don't need over 40gals), in place of the side tanks I want to put a air tank and compressor on one side with a 25' rose reel, and some kind of generator on the other with a 50' pull out cord(both reels will come out of the gas tank filler holes), everything will be cleaned and painted with RustAway

[TheDirt520]

Frame

[TheDirt520]

I gotta get this cab finished but in all honesty I have no freaking clue what I'm doing, but I learn fast(atleast kinda learn)

[TheDirt520]

More

[TheDirt520]

Small area on the driver side

[TheDirt520]

Haven't fully figured out what I want to do inside,, I know ill be using a pair of bucket seats from a mustang I cut up, will be building a center console to hold a pair of 8" subs and a pair of 6.5" mids, at some point I will be converting it to automatic, never been a stick fan,,, I'm trying to find a parts truck(87-95 blazer/tahoe/pickup/suburban) so I can steal its dash, wiring, TBI setup, trans, and various other things, any thoughts on a 73 with a newer 95 dash in it?

[TheDirt520]

Here's the dash I was thinking about