New Guy With A 72

[justagoodolboy]

Hello all! I've been lurking around this site for awhile now and I'm finally getting around to putting up some pix of my truck.Some of you may remember the thread I started about 6 weeks ago asking advice about buying this truck.Thanks to each one for your comments and advice.My buddy who had the truck lowered his price to $1800 so I went ahead and bought it.My plans are to first get rid of the rust and then work on the interior.Then think about painting the outside.
The engine was rebuilt about 400 miles ago,and runs real good.My mechanic changed out the lock-outs to get the 4 wheel drive working,paked the wheel bearings,changed the U joints and said everything seemed tight and ready to roll,so mechanically it seems to be in exellent shape.The PO painted the frame,inner fenders,and firewall when he had the engine out which will make my job easier.Looks like he did a pretty good job,but just never finished the truck.
I've never done anything like this before so ya'll are gonna have to help me!Here's some pix.Let me know what you think.

[too much stuff]

Looks like a good truck for that price! Eric

[70cst]

Looks like you got a great truck to work with. Price seems good also. Thanks for sharing.

[justagoodolboy]

Originally Posted by too much stuff

Looks like a good truck for that price! Eric

I thought so!I bought it off a buddy of mine and hence the good deal.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Congrats and welcome to the board..

[mjensen]

Yeah, looks like you scored big. That looks like a great starting point.

[dan42]

great deal, very nice truck.

[hoss67]

Nice score. Welcome aboard.

[culp7]

seems like i might have seen that truck driving around neosho???

anyways, great find!

[justagoodolboy]

Thanks for the welcome ,guys.Culp,I bought this truck close to Topeka KS.Anyway,I got a lot of work ahead of me.All four cab supports are bad,both cab corners,both outer rockers,there's a hole in the drivers side floorboard,and the corners of two fenders are gonna need work.And who knows what else I'll find?!O yeah,and the bed floor is shot.My Dad has some sheet metal laying around he said I could use on the bed floor,so I thought I'd try to make that work.Probably coat it with bedliner.Anyone ever done anything like that?I'm not really building this truck on a budget but I'm gonna try not to sink too much into it if you know what I mean.Any tips would be much appreciated.

[unclewatts]

Welcome from Lake County California! As you will soon discover that working on these old trucks will never end, but who cares! It's so much fun.

[danw210]

Nice to see another 4x4 added to the board. It looks like you have a nice base for your resto project. Good luck and have fun!

[big_al_71]

definetly a cool truck!!!!!

[justagoodolboy]

Time for an update-I'm finally getting around to posting what I've gotten done so far.I found a tailgate and front fender on CL and I bought a bed from Randy(teeitup).The bed and fender are in good shape but the tailgate is gonna need some work.I had planned to just use the bed that was on the truck but decided buying the one Randy had for sale was a better idea.

[justagoodolboy]

I had planned to do the welding myself,but I'm not very good at it,and since I was lucky enough to have a lot of work this fall,I just never seemed to find the time to get at it.So I ended up buying rockers,cab corners,and a driver's side floor piece from Mike's Bump and Grind Garage and had a welding shop replace them for me.He did it by the hour and ended up charging me $325 for labor,and $32 for the stainless steel he made the cab supports out of.I'm happy with the result.




I decided to redo my exhaust while I had my truck in the shop,and I'm glad I did.The PO just stuck on an old muffler he had laying around.I think it came off a Dodge Dakota.Anyway,it had 2 inch pipe coming off the manifolds,then dumped into 2.5 inch.The one off the passenger side curved around and T'd into the one off the driver's side.After the muffler it went back to 2 inch pipe with a chrome tip exiting in front of the rear tire on the driver's side.
I went with dual exaust-2 inch off the manifolds,flowmasters,then 2.5 inch pipes with stainless tips forty-fived behind the rear tires.It sounds good at an idle and is fairly deep and sounds good when you get on it.It's not obnoxious at all and for my taste,could actually be a little louder but I like it alright.At 65 mph you can acually hold a conversation without hollering,so after I get new door seals and put down sound deadner and carpet it should be fairly quiet.With the old exhaust it sounded like the truck was gonna lift off and fly.Okay ,just kidding,but it was loud.

[72BlckButy]

Nice progress on the project.

And, to the boards from another Mid-MO resident.

[72 Super]

Great score and it looks like it's coming a long nicely.

Ray

[Stocker]

Looks good, glad to see you're getting rid of the tinworm...

[redbaron69]

nice progress looks like a great start keep us posted

[justagoodolboy]

Thanks for all your kind comments.Man,whoever said that working on these trucks is a never ending process was right on!The deeper I dig,the more things I see,the more ideas I get,the less money I have....O well,one small detail at a time.

[justagoodolboy]

I started tearing my interior out last week.My plan is to paint the inside and get it put back together and drive it awhile before I start on the outside.That way it won't (hopefully) be tore apart as long.I just hope I can figure out where evertything goes when I get to that point.I put alot of the small stuff in ziplock bags and labeled them and i tried to take a lot of pictures,so that should help.






This is my coworkers shop where I'm working on my truck.He's working on his 72 also.

[justagoodolboy]

I absolutely can't believe it's been a year since my last post. Seems like time has been flying, but then I have been very busy this year. Looking back I have to laugh at myself. I didn't have a clue what I was getting into when I started tearing my truck apart, and I had all kinds of lofty and unrealistic goals. Well , I'll know better next time.

I didn't do much to my truck all summer besides buying a set of doors to replace my rusted out ones. My work finally slowed down some at the end of November so my buddy and I tackled our trucks again. Here's a quick rundown of what's happened this month.

I patched the trim and gas tank door holes on my bed, wire brushed the floor top and bottom (nasty job) sprayed etching primer on the bare metal, and undercoated it. I also painted the front of it.

I pulled my cab and wire brushed and undercoated the bottom of it. I primed the entire cab and painted the front and back before setting it back on.

I got a friend of mine to bring his hot water washer over and wash the frame and engine. I didn't do much to the frame- Just wire brushed it a little by hand then painted it with Rust Tough rattle cans.

I ordered new body mounts but the cab mounts they sent are for a C10 so I've been trying to keep busy while I wait for the correct mounts. I primed and painted the backs of the front fenders and inner fenders. I bought a tilt steering column for $30 and changed the turn signal switch and lower bearing in it. As soon as the K10 mounts get here I want to get everything bolted back onto the firewall and get the front clip and doors back on. I'm leaving in the morning and won't be back till tuesday so I hope to have my truck back togther by new years. I have a feeling I'm gonna have to get back to work then and want my truck in one piece.

I still don't know what I want to do about paint. I'm thinking more and more that I'm better off taking it somewhere and having it done. I think I'll get it back together and then see how I feel. It won't be a show truck by any means, but I do want a decent paint job. The areas that are mostly hidden don't bother me but I'm not sure I want to tackle the outside.

That's it for now.Here are a few pictures.

[72BlckButy]

Lookin' good, nice progress!

[67chevy1series]

nice work good ol boy