Ole soon not to be yeller

[PGSigns]

Got this truck in January and got started on it shortly after. Wife was not to fond of the idea and is warming up some. Overall the truck was not bad for around here since a lot of stuff rust in the salt air. It had a 350 in it and a 700r4 but they were not completly installed just enough to get it to move. So in this first post are some pics of what it looked like in the beginning. I will add other post to try and get up to date to where I am at now. Got lots of ideas, parts and help from here and that has sped the progress.
Jimmy

[shortbed70]

Nice truck. Good luck on the build.
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[PGSigns]

One of the first things I attacked was the suspension. When I got it it had no brakes to speak of and one wheel that was locked up with a bad wheel cylinder. I bought the complete front out of an 83 to get the a arms all the power steering components an the rest of the parts to convert it to front disc. Decided to bag the truck and ordered the basic kit from AVS along with a set of drop spindles. Also ordered a set of 6 lug rotors from CPP. Used the brackets from Captinfab for the power steering and the power brakes.
Jimmy

[PGSigns]

The more I looked at the truck while doing all the running gear the more I decided it need attention in other areas also. A new tank got ordered from Dave Boyd and a complete classic update wiring harness from American Auto wire. Gutted every last wire from the truck that came with it and the pile of wire that had been added in the 46 years of putting stuff in it and 90% of those went no where. The harness went in very nicely and is very well engineered. Daves gas tank fits great. While doing the wiring I build a new gauge panel for it to repair the hack job that had been done to the one that was in it to ad a tach. I found an old Sun tach in great shape and added it to the panel based on threads here.
Jimmy

[PGSigns]

Well as things go sometime stuff does not work as planned and when the seal on my lift blew and the truck got stuck 3 feet off the floor getting some things done got a little harder. We worked out a way to get it off the lift but needed to get the truck back to where it would roll. So wiring and plumbing the air ride was done while it was on the lift. Running the lines was easy but getting in and out of the truck was a pain. But got it done and off the lift.
Jimmy

[PGSigns]

Well its on to building everything for the bed. Got new stainless strips from Mark K and used the drawings from GMC Pauls to cut the wood to size. Living around the water one of the woods that hold up good around here on boats is Douglas Fir. So that is what I went with. It is nice to work with and is really stable when it come to holding it shape. Tried a couple of colors of stain trying to get the red color I wanted and ended up using Sedona red. Stain came out good and I heve the top sides of all the boards cleared. Start on the bottoms tomorrow. Top and bottom getting the same finish. Am working on cleaning and painting the cross braces and plan to paint the inside of the bed before putting in the wood.
Jimmy

[PGSigns]

Rolled the truck outside so I could clean the shop and get some other work don on the cnc router that it sits beside. Here is how it looked. The pic from Fast Eddie with the top changed to white is my inspiration and final goal for this truck.

[PGSigns]

Thanks Troy. Trying hard to make it a nice driver and look good too.
Jimmy

[PGSigns]

Made a little progress in the last week or so. Got the three coats of polyurathane on the wood for the bed and laid it in to see how it looked. Pretty happy with the results. Went to Carlisle to get some more of the parts I needed and picked up all the seals and felt parts to completely redo the doors. I did one door yesterday and it took a good bit of the day to do it. I was able to get all the trim for the side so it was time to find all the holes in the truck. Good thing was the body man who filled them did not weld them up just wiped a little filler in them. Nice to know all the panels have the holes.
Jimmy

[Driveway Dreams]

Nice progress on a truck that should be a stunner when it is done. I love the wood stain too. Really gonna go well with the paint scheme planned.

[shortbed70]

Man it's coming along nicely. Do you have a link for gmc Paul and cutting the wood? I'm getting close to putting my wood in.
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[PGSigns]

Here is the link for the wood information. As suggested in the instructions I made a slight adjustment in the depth to match the Mark K strips. I think I cut it 3/16 deep instead of a 1/4". Everything else I did just like it says and I am real happy with the fit.
Jimmy
http://www.gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

[PGSigns]

Been making good progress on the truck when it comes to getting more parts but not much to show in pictures. Have got new inner fenders, new front fenders, new front bumper, new chrome grill, new tail gate, all the side trim and a second set of rear wheel wells to section to make them 2 1/2" wider with just one seam. Going to start painting some of the body parts soon to have everything ready to go when I rebuild the front of the truck.
Jimmy

[chop_shop]

Did you cup the front or just bag and brakets to the control arms? With the notch in the rear how close is the center chuck of the rearend to the bottom of the bed? What size wheels and tires are you running?

[PGSigns]

The cups in the front a arms are about 1 1/2 deep. I laid them out on the top of the a arm and traced around them. Cut them out with the plasma cutter and welded them in. The wheel are 20 X 8 1/2. I am looking for a set of 18's for the front. What I did in the back to set the drop to clear the bed is use traction bar snubbers. I have a good bit of the truck at the body shop getting worked over and as soon as the bed parts are ready I will assemble it and put it on the truck. Then I am going to use the snubbers to limit the drop till I have a 1/4 inch of clearance between the rear and the bed.
Jimmy