85 GMC Rust Removal

[50seven]

My son picked up a rusty 85 swb 2wd. This is the discard pile.......
Doors were so rusty couldn't put in cab corners, rockers, cab mounts & maybe floor until we got new doors.
Picked up some doors for a flat of beer. A new box for $300.

[50seven]

Here is a shot of the cream puff with the new doors minus the box.
Planning the usual axle flip with some drop spindles up front. This will be #5 when we finish her. Maybe do a build thread?

[Gmc-76]

I have the same year truck, same color, just a long bed. My cab corners need replaced and so do my rear wheel arches. Post some pics up of progress!

[50seven]

Here is a shot of one of the new doors. Scuff and spray.

Ordered the rockers and cab corners today. Maybe get to that this weekend. The kid is going to learn how to do patch panels. Pbbly be into the cab mounts and a little floor work also

But at least we have nice doors to match the gaps too

Should be fun.

[50seven]

Well the rust removal continues.
There might not be much left of this truck soon.

The kid is working hard on the project. Cut out the exhaust and excess frame hardware. Brakeline in the back were also rotten.

Waiting on patch panels for the cab to get rid of the rest of the rot then the rust might all be gone.

Gonna obviously flip that axle as it goes back in.

Nice to see his hard work.

[50seven]

Hoisted it from the beam in the ceiling and a chain hoist worked good.

[dieseldawg142]

good on your son! most people would have lifted the radiator cap & drove a new truck underneath that. nothing like hands-on. my soon to be 10 yr old is already chomping at the bit to get something to work on 'till he gets his license.

[50seven]

Haha. Thanks DieselDawg. Yeah could have been easier but as you know these square bodies are getting harder to find in our neck of the woods. I was actually looking for a 2wd Blazer when we found this gem. LOL. Junior had to have it.

I want a 2 wd Blazer to build as a company parts getter, maybe pull a boat or trailer on the weekend. Almost at the point of turning a 4wd into a 2wd.

[50seven]

Still waiting on final surgery of the rockers/cab corners. Ordered the sheetmetal. Somehow lost in a time warp. I remember these parts used to be on the shelf or a day away.

But the drop spindles arrived so in they went.

Figure all said and done 5/5?

Here is a first look at the stance.

[50seven]

The new rockers and body mounts came in.

[50seven]

OMG the horror........ Where will the rust end.

[50seven]

The floor has speed holes.......

[50seven]

Here is a shot of the door post.

[50seven]

An update on the carnage. Thinking maybe if we put the rockers on the floor near the truck they might somehow put themselves in? They required some encouragement. Used self tapping sheetmetal screws to hold everything where we wanted ~ then welded her up.

[50seven]

We noticed the fitment of the pass door with the offshore panels was fairly good. However the fit on the driver rocker was not ~ the rocker on the driver was to short?

A real pain to fix here is a pic of the pass side. The driver side was short at the front corner of the driver door. Went to a rather large car show couple weeks back and looked at every square body truck there they were all the same. One guy had fixed his the others didn't? leaves a big body gap between the fender and the rocker....yuk.

[50seven]

Junior stripped the new box down to bare steel. All in all it is decent shape. required one patch on the driver side behind the wheel. We had remnants of a passenger boxside with the front portion of the wheelwell so we chopped it out and put it in the rusted area.

A lot of people probably couldn't tell that the patch is actually the front not the back...... he is on a budget and the purpose is for him to learn how to fit and weld so what the heck.

The bare metal was shot with Rust o leum brown till he gets time to put some actual car paint on it. Haha the brown actually looks decent!

[50seven]

Time to add up the cost of the project so far;

Truck $850
Registration $250
Box$300
Rockers & cab corners $140
DJM drop spindles & shocks $350
Brakes $60
Exhaust $250
Seam sealer, primer, paint etc. $150
Bed bolts $30
Doors $70 (In Beer)
Fender & Inner Fenders $40 (in Beer)

$2,490.00


Sounds like his winter driver is going to tip the scales at around $3,000.

Junior learned a lot so I think it was worth it? Adds up quick though!

[dieseldawg142]

three g's for a dropped, rust-free sb aint bad at all!
thats an incredible amount of body work you 2 have done, good save!
three grand is nothing really for the time spent with your kid, going to spend tens of thousands on them anyways before we can kick them out of the house

[50seven]

Hey Thanks Diesel.
I think it was a worthwhile project. Fairly rough SWB truck but what better to learn on.

We did a g-body car 2 years ago and it was mint body wise but absolutely thrashed mechanically. So it was a motor, tranny & paint so this is kind of the missing link with regards to metalwork.

Here is a picture of the g-body before and after paint.