another new guy with lots of questions

[MTPockets]

Hi guys ,

I have been crusing the boards here for the last 2 years , getting ideas and gaining lots of knowledge from reading all the great posts. I have had my truck for about 1 1/2 years now and finally I am going to get some progress made on it. I have had my eye on this truck for about 16 years now. It was for sale in my home town and i wanted it bad . My best friend bought the truck before i could come up with the $600 to get it. So for years I atleast got to ride and work on the truck with him. He drove it for about 5 years as a daily driver ,then it got replaced with a toyota . so it sat for the last 10 years or so in a field behind his parents house. One day i got an email from him with a link to craigs list where he was selling his(MY) truck, so of course i had to buy it. that pretty much brings us up to this point. the truck has basically sat under a carport where I did some disassembly to it while I worked on building my shop. Now that it is finally inside I can get some real work done to it.

now if i can just get these pictures to work ........................

[jason65]

and You have been waiting a long time for this one. Can't wait to see what your going to do with it.

[protrash64]

and from AZ. Nice first post with the truck heading in for the rebuild. ......at least he gave you the heads up about the sale.

[MTPockets]

NICE IT LOOKS LIKE MY PICTURES WORKED THE FIRST TRY.

My goal with the truck is to have somethign reliable and fun to take out on the weekends to one of the weekly cruise-ins we have around here. I have a limited budget for the truck as i am sure most of us do. I have been fortunate to stumble upon several good deals / trades so far..
So far i have pulled the tired old 6'er , replaced it with a SBC and a 700r4
I have a tilt column with auto shifter $35 from the U -PUll-IT
power brake booster and MC
leather seats from a 99 suburban
15gal fuel cell ( if i tuse it it will go under the bed in the back)
A Flowmaster X-pipe muffler system

Let me know what you think..


here are a few more pics .

[Barebones66]

Pics look great. Looks like a great project .

Carports are so much fun aren't they.... Man I bet your glad to be inside finally.

[jason65]

I think you off to a good start. Looks like you got good stuff for it and good crome on it to. I can't wait to get mine out on the road and see how the 700 shifts out.

[LILRED66]

MTPockets:

Welcome to the forums from Kansas City, KS. I like the swb stepside trucks and yours looks like a nice start on a cool build.

Keep us posted on your progress and thanks for sharing.

[TimE]

That's a cool story! Good luck with the rebuild, looks like you're off to a great start. Keep us posted.

[Alan's Classic]

Welcome aboard! Great start on your project. Thanks for the pix. Keep us updated.

[Captainfab]

Welcome to the board!
Glad to hear you finally got the truck you've been wanting. You're making some nice progress, keep it up........and we always like pics.

[MTPockets]

weather was warm tonight so I actually made it out to do a little work on the truck. headers , intake , carb ,tranny all bolted up , distributor in and ghetto timed for now =) tomorrow night will be the starter and some temp wiring enough to start it for a few seconds just to hear it run. I had to order some AN adapters for this carb, waited my 3 days for the big brown truck, they finally get here and i am really excited when they actually fit my carb . Then i go to mock up the fuel lines and regulator ......... ever have a day where nothings goes right ? LOL ....... new fittings -6 AN ,, fuel lines -8 AN .

so today i called our local speed shop they dont have anything to help me out, but i can order a fitting from the big catalogs for $35 EACH yep,, $70 for 2 little fittings.. not in my budget , so they referred me to a local custom pipe and hose company. So after taking my little boy to the dentist we head over to the pipe shop , turns out an old high school friend worked there. Anyway I got my adapters to make it all work for a total of $15. They arent as pretty as the expensive stuff but as long as i have krylon i can make anything look good . I was excited to have my fittings and couldnt wait to get out there tonight to get to work on it. Right as i was about to walk out the door my phone rings, a friend from worked was calling and her hubby wanted to talk to me ( hes a gear head too =) I wont tell you about the yenco , or his other 2 69 camaros ) He was asking about my truck and said I should bring it to the cruse ins his car club does every friday nght, then when i told him i was going to rattle can it flat black he said " why dont you bring it to my shop and ill spray it for you the right way" i just have to buy the paint.
Did i mention i have never talked to this guy before in my life? I think i have a new best friend =)
If any of you guys have seen Horsepower TV on spikeTV , when they built the raunchy rat it was our local firday night cruise they took it too .

ENOUGH WITH THE TALKING !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ON WITH THE PICS =)

[jason65]

Cool. Sounds like the start of a good hook up. Engine is looking good.

[derider]

Nice truck congrats on getting it and looks like you are scoring some good parts and good help.

[65VOL]

Looking like a great start! Good to see another Tennessee Chevy coming back to life. Keep up the good work and pictures; that engine looks sick!

[MacAttack]

WELCOME! WELCOME! WELCOME!

Great looking little truck - love the engine. Good pictures.

Mac.

[kizer]

Looks like you have a good project there. At least by waiting now you and the kids can work on it together.

My boy is only 3, but man he loves hitting things with my wrenches.

[protrash64]

Help with paint is always great. Even a quicky do it right job is a lot of work.

[MTPockets]

Well i finally got a little more work done on the truck, I decided to start on an inner fender I got out the magic rust /paint stripper wheel for my drill and the flap disc for the grinder. after i got it all stripped and saw the awesome work done do it by the last guy that worked on it,,,lol i shot it with a coat of rattle can rust converter primer. and that spot towards the back will be covered when i weld my bracket for the regulator there anyway. ( yes the rust will be cut out first )

Seeing the shape of the innerfender got me to wondering exactly what my buddy meant when he said there is ALOT of bondo in the doors.

somehow i didnt get a picture of the 3/8 inch thick bondo that i took off with the grinder , the drill and finally a hammer and heavyduty scrapper. All in all the door isnt that bad, and a new lower skin for it will be cheaper than the gallon of bondo to get it back to the way it was. heres a few pics ,

This work was inspired by the restlessness my kidney stone was causing me, and the hydrocodone pills I was taking . and everyone says drugs can lead to no good =)

[MTPockets]

a few more..................

[joe231]

Cool truck!
I love the trucks with history!!
As stated previously...... and

[MTPockets]

update ::

The truck is now running , I need to get the radiator and some other things hooked up so i can run it for more than a few seconds. There was a big ordeal with the inital start up involving nitro methanol and oil spraying all over me and the truck. ( still havent got it all cleaned up) but thats in another post,,lol

I also got some new to me tires for it off of craigslist tonight. $200 for a set of 295/50/15 with rims . 295's should be enough meat back there to give some good bite . the tires still have great tread and no plugs or patches. The rims are 15x8 and 5 lug so the tires will be remounted on my 15x10 eagles that are already on the truck and i can take the 35's off of it finally.

[protrash64]

Well now we know why it had those big tires, from the looks of that door, the PO used to go 'mudbogging' quite a bit.

[MTPockets]

It was definitly a work truck in the past.
Wait till you see the floor, pop riveted sheet metal and fiberglass resin glooped on there so its bout 1/2 an inch think. and the cab supports that have FIBERGLASS mat wrapped around it to cover up fact that most of it was rusted out , and half of the passengerside rocker was GLASSED in the same way.
I have a feeling my welder is about to get a good work out.

[daverod]

Looks like you have your work cut out for you. I'm glad I'm done. It was bad enough doing the metal work with the cab off the truck. I take it you're going to leave your cab on. Take lots of pics. I feel for ya Nice looking seats wish mine were leather

[MTPockets]

got the interior removed earlier today , I should have posted it here but forgot.

I decided to get crazy and try my hand at a little metal fabrication. Its not the best job in the world but with a little more wleding and grinding then a little body filler it should look pretty good.

Someone should make these patch panels for the inner fenders , they could make a fortune....

what do you guys think ? look ok for a first attempt ?