SWB build (phase 2)

[Jonny Hotnuts]

I am starting phase 2 of my build. I took some time off to work on other projects including a fun 69 Charger (full build) and a 38 Chevy truck.


A little background and some advice for anyone wanting to build one of these trucks.

-My grandfather purchased this truck new in 70; he got the cheapest truck he could (dairy farmer) and didnt have time for luxury items like a radio, AC, big motor, long bed ect. He would of likely ordered it without paint if he could of gotten it for a few dollars less. My dad purchased it from him in 83 for 1000$.
The actual mileage? The engine was swapped with 390K and the 'new' motor has +200k.

My advice:

The biggest mistake I made when I started....
-I did not have a clear idea what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to fix it up but wtf does that mean. My priorities changed along the way due to a number of factors. At first I was just going to replace a few core things that were worn or damaged and keep it original as possible....but the more I got into it, the more I found so much had already changed along the way there was no way it would ever be original or even close....so why try!
The truck had already been painted, had a series of panels repaired (badly, REALLY badly), the engine was replaced, it was converted from 3 on the tree to 3 on the floor and on and on. It also had some rust issues requiring some patches.

1. I would recommend before anyone starts a project like this to have a clear and concise vision of what you want the truck to be when finished. Make a list of everything you want to do, make a timeline and budget.

2. Whatever you have figured for your budget double it if you want a realistic figure. Someone building/restoring vehicles all the time will have more acute budgeting abilities. The shade tree builders often dont account for all of the small stuff, the 'oh crap, look what I found' and being overtly optimistic (my worst fear is when I die my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her what the cost! [I have an original 63 Strat among others and wifey has no clue......and she is better off not knowing!). I really thought I would be into this truck for less than 4K when I started. I just ordered about 5K in parts and they are just a drop in the bucket for whats coming in the future. My biggest downfall has been not being realistic with myself if I want something.



So on with phase II.


(recap of phase I)




After dad passed I was told to "get this thing out of here". It sat in here for +10 years stewing in this tent.




trailered home




SPID and a wooden coin I found in the glove box. Who is IKE anyway?




Stuff in the glove box




massive engine

[Jonny Hotnuts]

(recap of phase 1)



Rebuilt dash






(after grinding out 1-2" of bondo and pulling the sheet out)




Found this mess. I found out grandad turned too sharp with his 5th wheel and crunched the fender. He has his friend 'fix' it by packing 1.5" of bondo and slapped some paint on it. He used an old school dent puller and drilled a poopload of holes in the panel. To bad they didnt have stud guns back then! I had to cut out an access out of the bed side so I could get a dolly on it. I used a stud gun, pulled the dent and got it back into shape. I had to use a thin skim coat of filler but it was nowhere close to the mess I started with. -Getting this panel beat back into shape was a HUGE time waster. I should of just got a patch out of a junkyard. -This started when I 'thought' I would try and keep it original. LOL


Now.....I wait a year. I build some guitars, MC's and a few other projects.

~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Since the fender was already damaged I decided to shave the side lights. After blocking I rattle can some 'holding primer'. It will all come off later but it allows me to start working on other things without having to look a filler.




Starting to burn in some patches to shave the lights going slow and stretching the welds so the panel doesnt warp.



Getting there....




Made a new floor pan on the drivers side.

~JH

[cornerstone]

Sweet truck man. Gramps would be proud of the dent repair done right... my question is, did he really tow a fifth wheel with a swb and a 250?

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Replaced the inner and outer rockers. At this time I also discovered the rotten floor. I 'also' found the cab corner was repaired badly (note the chip out of the cab corner). Later I found out my grandad nailed the cab corner on a stump and his neighbor 'fixed' it by cutting out the damaged sheet metal, packing the cab corner with newspaper and then packing it with bondo! I have never seen anything like it! This also means I now need to pull the bed to replace the corner.....F^#K!!!!!!




Restoring the factory radio delete plate. I installed a POS pioneer CD in it in the early 90s (in high school). Also note the 'Bud and Betty Hahn'. Thats been there since the first day grandpa took it home!






Welded in backer and cut a paper thin plate to fill the gap. Holes in the backer so I can rosette weld the plate in.



Almost finished plate. This was a stupid amount of work for something so small. I have something neat planned involving a servo motor and a piano hinge.

~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Sweet truck man. Gramps would be proud of the dent repair done right... my question is, did he really tow a fifth wheel with a swb and a 250?

I have pics somewhere! He had a pop in camper he used for years, got the fifth wheel in 82 and got a new truck in 83! It didnt last long.....

~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Shaving the door locks.....











After burning in I shot with some etching primer and used a bit of mud





After knocking down the mud with a DA and a little blocking I shot with a little holding primer.


~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Getting rid of the behind seat tank. This is a prime example of things I didnt 'plan' on doing when I started.



Template! (cat food)




Used a nibbler shear to rough the patch. BTW, These things are pretty awesome if you have never used on.



Flat patch fitting.




I used my planishing hammer to put a little compound in the patch to match body contour. I was all happy it fit really tight when it was flat......edges sucked in a little when I put the contour in it. I didnt think a little bend would do this but it did. Its not gross so I let it slide.

I didnt take any pics yet but the filler hole is already burned in, skim coated, blocked and primed.

~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Ground out all this nasty stuff out of the gutter with a nasty turned wire (they do a good job but will hurt ya).....I opted to keep the drip rails. Its cool that some people shave these but to me it starts looking like something other than a C10.

I am using 3m 08030 (its the good stuff).





I told him not to weld in shorts!


~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

^^^^

Also, the next time you are at your dentist ask for old dental pics. Dont be a P, they have been run through the autoclave. Dentist get new pics all the time so they will often give you old ones.

Use these to pic out old filler out of the lap seams. Most people dont take the time to pic it out but you would be shocked how much you can get out AFTER you think its clean.


Things coming in phase II


-Smoothy bumpers front and back
-New front fender (RH, rotten front and back)
-New RH wheel cover.
-5 lug axles
-bags and spindles
-compressor and tank
-front discs
-Steering wheel
-hood (saveable but not really)
-tailgate
-Grill
-Rear mount fuel tank
-Paint (PPG DTM epoxy primer/sealer, build primer, color/CC (undecided)



Located the guns in a sea of stuff.....
Ive got a long way to go but digging these out makes me happy.

~JH






Phase III


Rear disc
custom made seats
Fun stereo (all hidden)
Monster motor.

[68Gold/white]

LOL, welding in shorts can be a learning adventure, especially if a hot tinder lands on one of your giblets..

[cornerstone]

I guess that would make him “Jonny Hotnuts Jr?”

[Jonny Hotnuts]

^^^^^^

I have a slight sunburn because I opted to weld something without my a shirt. I 'knew' I shouldnt but the wife told me "dont ruin your new shirt". I thought since it was only about a 3" weld it would be no problem....I was wrong. I never claimed to be smart. I just hope he learns from my example!

~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

After work I decided to do something about this seam. I may be the only one to feel like this but I have ALWAYS hated this seam. It makes me angry every time I see it....







Used a twisted wire to pull most of the of the filler out, finished by using the dental pic to dig out the remaining.





Very slowly filling the gap. After each pass (~2" space per weld along the seam) I grind the welds down and give them a few 'tap taps' with the hammer.






I just got to the point where things started to go good and had to quit to go cook dinner. I took one last pic and had to run. I still have a bit of work to do but its filled and without warping! I will have to do some more filling; the original roof seam from the factory was not 100% consistent (gaining lap in the center, almost where a rear mount brake light would go on a later model truck). This may of been a factory oversight or just how they were all made; I dont know. It wont be hard to massage it so it flows nice.....no biggie but something to do.

Ill have this finished up tomorrow.


~JH

[clay68c10]

Looking good!

Nice to have Jr helping too. They always seem to want to do everything in shorts.

I'll have to remember the trick of hammering the welds to stretch the metal back out. I forgot about that one.

[Low Elco]

Great story!

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Looking good!

Nice to have Jr helping too. They always seem to want to do everything in shorts.

I'll have to remember the trick of hammering the welds to stretch the metal back out. I forgot about that one.

I have heard a lot of people say panels warp because of heat. I have always had the notion its because the welds shrink and pull and the heat from welding is a lesser issue. When I was younger I warped the crap out of panels even though I welded SUPER slow and never allowed the panel to get warm, this was because I never stretched my welds.


Someone may say I am wrong about this but years ago I discovered that if you weld 2 pieces of metal together at 90 degrees the FIRST weld will pull the angle to 80(ish).....after tapping back to 90 the second weld will also pull....but not as much, maybe to 85 or so. This is because the first weld acts like a brace. The 3rd weld pulls even less and by the 6th or 7th the pieces stay at 90 no matter how hot you get it.

-This being said I honestly feel that most of the warpage occurs (or sets a chain of events) during the first several welds. If the first series of welds are not stretched ALL of the remaining welds also are under tension and then the panel goes wonky. If the first series of welds are stretched, they will be under compression when the adjacent welds pull tension wont be able to crush the stretched welds.

Basically....stretch the crap out of the first series of welds. By the end there is much less chance the panel will warp. I only stretch the first several series.


^^^^^

I have lived by this for years. I dont warp panels (ok, sometimes!LOL)


~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Upper cab seam. This wasnt too bad. It was my intent to fill and not alter the factory body lines. Truth is, this job wasnt to hard but you should have a really good handle on the imperfect factory body line and not try and push the radius....cause you will flat blow through the thin sheet if you do!
I had to use a tiny amount of filler, mostly because the back of the cab above the window got a few dings throughout its life.

-I also put a very big bastard file (I call it my 'B.A.F.')to work to get it nice and flat (draw file).





I have always hated these laps in the gutter at the A pillars.



Its not a very good pic but here is a shot of the side lap once filled.




Forward seam filled. I still need to massage these a little but the hard bit is done. This job would of been cake if the windshield was out. It was doable with it in but was not fun.

-Now....I need to hit the other side!!!!!


Oh.....and has anyone else kept their drip rails and done this? I sort of like the drip rails (trying not to alter factory lines much). I have never seen this done.

~JH

[clay68c10]

Nice! I'm planning on closing up those drip rail gaps also, and was curious what it would look like. Thanks for the confirmation, it looks way better.

[Jonny Hotnuts]

I scored a new hood today for $20. Its got a little surface rust but overall its in fantastic shape (a few dents but nothing big).


Old hood...

I toyed with the idea of fabbing a new front piece but it was too far gone to bother.



Here is the new hood...
Its very dirty (laying in a barn in a pile of bark dust; quite a bit is still inside), has some patina and a few small dents but this hood is in really good shape.....especially for 20 bucks!






~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

New hood mounted. I cherry picked most of the dents out with a hammer and dolly.
-It was really easy dent repair with almost unlimited access for the dolly/hammer and the hood is mostly flat. I still have a few dents that I need to address but nothing will be too bad.





These things showed up today....along with a new tailgate and right hand fender skirt.


~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Original tailgate...




Repop. I was able to make it work but holy hell the qc was a mess. The hinge receptacles were not even round (both sides, from the factory and it was gross), it was full of dents (some from shipping, some from factory) AND it was missing a nut that retains the tailgate latch on the left side (welded on the backside. It was not EVER installed from the factory). Overall....I am really pissed. A monkey could put do better building a gate. My older son said "you are secretly happy about having to do the fixes". My response was "not on a new piece that I paid a lot of money for". I 'get' a few shipping dings but this thing is going to require a considerable amount of work before it will be acceptable. None is too big of a deal to fix but I shouldnt have to.

~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Seam sealer gun. you cant help but to feel like an Imperial storm trooper when holding thing! Using 3M 08308.




~JH




~JH

[Jonny Hotnuts]

Put a serious hurting on my credit card today!!!!!

4/6 drop from EC
Disc brake with 5 lugs from EC
Front fender
Smoothy front bumper chrome
Smoothy rear and brackets
Under bed tank
5 lug rear conversion.




Early Classics is great. The issue was their 4/6 drop comes with 2.5" spindles....so does there disc brake conversion.

They got me hooked up.

-now....its hurry up and wait!

~JH

[72 tigger]

Nice craftsmanship- going to be very clean when you’re done