68 Stepside Shorty - Canadian Build GMC 910

[Island Medic]

Hello everyone!

It finally is my turn. I have been on and off this forum for a bunch of years just waiting for the right time to start my build. Let me tell you my story.

In 1989 I bought the truck from an auction house. The truck originally came from the City of Kelowna in BC. It had a splash and dash finish on it and that was good enough for me. I drove the truck as a daily and then one day while exiting a freeway I locked up the breaks and spun and hit the concrete guard rail and bent the frame. I later found out that the vacuum booster for the breaks was leaking and so the brakes were a little touchy.

The truck sat for a year then I decided I wanted to fixer up and get back to driving it. I found a donor truck, it was a 67 Chevrolet. I used the frame, the hood and the passenger fender. I did a complete frame swap in my driveway with a small tool box of tools and a great deal of cursing. Lots of rusted bolts.

I drove the truck off and on again till 2001 when it got parked for the last time. There it has gone though a bunch of moves and a divorce and being side swiped by a front end loader (thanks stepdad).

Now it is time to show the old girl some love. I had named the truck "Sweet Jane" after the cowboy junkies song. So for here we go. Hope you enjoy the journey.

The goal is to take this truck back to its original configuration with the exception with possibly the motor, front drum brakes, and paint color. I want to use as much as the original parts as possible to keep the costs down to a minimum.

I wish I had some pictures from back in the day but here is the first pic of the build day. Here is the options sheet in the glove box.

[Island Medic]

My plan of attack is to first remove all the front sheet metal and take inventory of what is still usable what isn't. Looks like all is good except for the pass fender. To far gone to salvage, I found one that is original and dent and rust free for $75. Have to still go pick it up.

[Island Medic]

The passenger side door looks like it is usable but it was side swiped so I have to fix it. Here is a shot of it all cleaned up and ready for some pulling. The black felt pen is where the creases are and were I will work on with the puller.

[Island Medic]

Next was the cab corner. I knew it had been replaced but just didn't know what it looked like. Well it was a push on lap weld. So I will be cutting it out and re-welding it with butt joints and proper finishing so we don't need a half inch of filler.

[Island Medic]

Here is the start of the rocker replacement. I have to make some reference marks before the cutting begins. Both the floor and the rocker need help. Need to buy a spot weld cutter and some zip disks. Let the sparks fly!

[GR8-68]

Nice looking project


So, what are the marks for on the floor pan and the rocker ? I don't understand what you are doing there with those cuts.

[Island Medic]

I am just creating with reference points so that when I put the parts back in have somewhere to measure to. I am afraid not I won't be able to get it all back aligned. The arrows just show were I am measuring to. Part of this is me thinking what to do next.

[Island Medic]

Ok so I have started the rocker/cab corner surgery. Oh boy. It is alot worse that I thought. So I am gonna work on this bit by bit and I know I can get it back to good. The first picture is after getting the rocker off. The second is where my questions start.

I am thinking of cutting the "A" pillar post at the green arrow. The intent here is to expose the rotten floor/inner rocker at the red arrow. Fix the inner/floor and then weld the bottom piece back on. In the third pic you will see a floor brace and it has bolts. Does this mean that this is a bolt on brace or is it supposed to be welded. I haven't tried to remove it yet.. don't want to mess with too much more with out a plan.

Is this how we fix this rot?

[Island Medic]

ok Got the bottom pillar off. It is in good shape and will be able to fix the small holes and weld it back in. Once I do that then I will take the floor brace out and and fix it and weld it back in instead of the slip over as it sits now.

Next came the cab corner. Who knew you can use spray foam and plywood to fix the cab floor and cab corner. Oh brother. Well I have to wait now to order my parts as xmas is here and things are closed.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

[GR8-68]

The floor support still has spot welds that have to be cut to remove it. I replaced min and just spot welded them back in and didn't use the bolts, not even sure of the purpose of them to be honest with you.

[Island Medic]

Now to start the patching. Finally got to start the repairs.

[Island Medic]

Had a really productive day. I got all the patches in and looks really good. I still need to weld them up but at least I can see what it will look like. I really enjoy this part of the build.

[GR8-68]

That sure is a lot of pieces That is going to be a lot of weldin

[Island Medic]

yeah, my time is cheap compared to ordering replacement panels from the US and paying 50% more. I don't really have the tools to make them all in one piece so small ones it is. It is nice too because I am able to keep reference points as I go and not cut it all out at once and have nothing to go by.

[Island Medic]

Well today was really productive. I got all the patches welded together. It went fairly smooth, no real issues.

Then I got them all ground down and most of the seams vanished but some didn't. I noticed that some were low. Then I remembers that the welding heat shrinks metal. I should have gone back and hammer & dolly to stretch it back.

The copper color is weld thru primer not rust. Next I had to fabricate the bottom of the kick panel. I did it in stages and in the end it looked pretty good. not sure how close to original but everything fits.

Here is the bottom of the door pillar test fitting in.

I still have issues with the edge of the door opening. Not sure what it looks like. I will wait till I have the rocker to see if I can figure out the contour of the radius.

Tomorrow I am gonna lift up the truck and fix the cab floor support. The used a slip on one. I am gonna remove it and make it fit as a direct weld in replacement.

[Island Medic]

I got the front cab floor brace all repaired and welded in. I hate welding overhead. I got one hell of a burn on my arm from a hot cherry falling. I now can weld in the kick panel patch and that part is done. Also managed to make some butt joint panel clamps.

I was looking around my neighborhood and found a guy that does sheet metal work for residential. I asked him if I could rent some shop time. He has all the big tools for cutting and bending. I offered him 100/hr and it sounds like it will cost me a case of beer or two.

[Island Medic]

Well I have done all I can do in the front so now to the back. It was sure hacked up. As you can see in the picture the floor had rotted away, and the last person in here decided to fill it with bondo. So I got it all out and cut out the crap and welded in the replacement. Yes I know it is long on the bottom just leaving it long so I can trim it later when I get the cab corner and rockers. Don't you hate running out of gas right in the middle of a weld! Oh well the supplier was close by. I was hoping to work on this corner without pulling the gas tank and box, but sadly I need to pull them both. Oh well.

Oh and the cab support that is right below this, is loose! so I will be pulling that tomorrow and making a new one, or fixing the one that is there.

[Island Medic]

Today I got the bed off, gas tank out, and the seat out. No real problems. The rubber around the filler neck was a pain but it finally came out with a little lube and effort. I got a good chunk of the rear cab corner sorted out. I am really enjoying the work.

[Gmc.guy]

Originally Posted by Island Medic

yeah, my time is cheap compared to ordering replacement panels from the US and paying 50% more. I don't really have the tools to make them all in one piece so small ones it is. It is nice too because I am able to keep reference points as I go and not cut it all out at once and have nothing to go by.

You should have a local body supply you can get the panels from without getting them sent up. I haven't bought 67-72 stuff for awhile but the square body stuff is close dollar to dollar. I mean say something is 25$ south of the border in us$, it is near the same here. You could save a pile of welding. It looks like you have a handle on it though, you will be done before you know it,

[Willys47]

Check out KMS car parts there in Vancouver real good prices I got some short wide box sides this May for $650 each Canadian they have all the parts that you are needing and if you want to pick up your parts in Vic shipping is no charge kmscarparts.com 1800 567 8979

[Island Medic]

Yeah I ordered stuff on friday from them. I am hoping the stampings are good. You still building your truck? Nice to see a fellow builder in canada.

[Willys47]

Yes I'm slowly getting it done I'm in no rush but I'm getting close to the finish the body and paint work is going to be soon

[Island Medic]

I has been a long 4 days. I have been working hard but making slow progress. I ordered new rockers and new cab corners but they were slow to arrive. So I decided to weld in the inner rocker. I shouldn't have done that. I just copied what I had cut out but it was not to work. The first picture is the inner all welded in and pretty. The second one shows the door hitting the inner rocker lip, this is where the outer rocker would sit on. Doh!

So I had to go back to the beginning. I cut out inner. The door is friggin heavy with all the glass etc. Hard to take on and off by myself so I spent the time to disassemble it. That was the ticket. I aligned the door in opening that existed. The top and two sides. Wasn't as hard as I thought.

[Island Medic]

Then what I did was mount the outer rocker using sheet metal screws to where I needed it to be for acceptable gaps. Because the cab corner needed to be apart of the solution I had to temp install it as well. This corner had been replaced once before so I have to use the whole patch panel. Note to self have the patch panel in had before you cut out the old metal. Doh! I will have to weld in a small strip of metal to fill the gap. I got the gaps to where I am happy with them. This isn't to be a show truck so "good enough" is really good enough. I will now have to weld in a new inner rocker so the outer will sit nicely on it.

[Island Medic]

I decided to try my hand at pulling dents/crease. I don't have a stud welder but I had some studs from when I borrowed one. I decided that I would use my mig and just hand weld them in to place. I had a slide hammer but it was the kind where you drill holes and use the hook. I didn't want to do that. So I took one of the nuts that came with it and welded a cheap pair of vise grips to it so I could lock on to the studs. The hole thing worked rather well. I also used a 2x2 and welded a bolt to another cheap pair of vise grips and used it as a leaver system. Instead of re skinning the door I was able to pull it enough that filler will make it all better. Yes I know no more that 1/8" of filler!! I did have to do some shrinking and with my oxy torch I was able to take all the oil can out. All in all I was happy with how it all turned out.