Family Heirloom

[CryingJoker]

Decided to finally pull my old truck out of storage and start on it. Little backstory: This 1970 C10 was the last vehicle my Great grandfather ever bought. He left it to my older sister when he passed. Being she wasn't old enough to drive yet so dad took it over and when she was old enough he built her a 76 stepside as she would rather have a freshly done truck and he liked the older one. He parked the truck in 91. He gave me the truck around 05 as he was getting older and knew he wouldn't redo it. Being as at the time I was building a custom s-10 and would rather butcher that to learn on than a classic. It's been in storage until a few weeks ago.
20200609_142101 by James Williams, on Flickr
This is when we went to load the truck onto the trailer and found out the right rear wheel was locked up. We had to drag ruts the whole way out and onto the trailer. It ended up being the drum and shoe were so rusted they were essentially welded together. A 3 ft crowbar was flexing against the lugs.
20200611_181737 by James Williams, on Flickr
The bed is what I always found interesting. My great grandfather would haul yearlings in the bed of the truck and he needed something more sturdy than the wood floor. So he welded in a thick piece of steel. Upon attempting to remove I found out he welded it to the bolts on the edge rails. So far with disassembly it's the only area i'm GLAD was rotten so it was fairly easy to take apart.
20200613_104342 by James Williams, on Flickr
When i got the steel floor out I found out the wood floor was still there and had gotten a hole or two before the steel was welded in. And my great grandfather being the farmer and use what ya got mentality he nailed these old license plates in. I will figure out some way to tie in at least one of these to the build.
20200617_183503 by James Williams, on Flickr
20200617_183453 by James Williams, on Flickr
At this point I disassembled the bed for the most part. I'm hating to see this but most of the bed is not in very good shape. 2 cross braces are decent enough for sandblasting and repainting. The passenger rear fender is good for the most part and the driver's side has some holes along the front near the step. Both steps are rotten along the rear. Tailgate is separating at the seams and the front panel is rotten all along the bottom. I'm hoping to be able to fix the bedsides and the fenders as anyone who went to buy replacements know, they definitely don't give them away. And I will say whoever thought it would be ok to use large Phillips head screws to secure the fenders to the bedsides was an evil evil man. I stripped out 4 on the one side and decided to not even fight with the passenger side right now.

[Warrens69GMC]

Cool story.

[CryingJoker]

One of the fun parts of starting a build on an old vehicle is the items you find when cleaning them out. I wish i had thought to take pics of the interior when I started. I blew out probably 10 lbs of pecans and 3 rat skeletons. When I folded the seat forward and went to blow out the pecans out from there I did see a huge rat climbs out from behind the seat and drops down on the passenger side and walks off. I couldn't even process what I was looking at he was so confident as he walked off. But I did find the following items while cleaning out.
20200608_164045 by James Williams, on Flickr
The original owners manual
20200610_134557 by James Williams, on Flickr
I'm assuming this is the radio delete plate as the truck was a extreme bare bones truck. Dad said it's probably been sitting under the seat since the mid 70's
20200610_134425 by James Williams, on Flickr
A deck of played cards from Caesar's palace in Lake tahoe. Still sealed from when it was retired at the casino. You can still read the table number, the dealers name and the month and day it was used.
20200610_134410 by James Williams, on Flickr
2 packs of AC spark plugs to fit the original 6 cylinder engine.
20200610_135120 by James Williams, on Flickr
And 2 Railroad spikes. Oh the story behind these I'm sure.

[CryingJoker]

The truck itself is in pretty decent shape. I've got both cab corners and rocker panels on order to come in as like most of these trucks they are rough.
20200610_133026 by James Williams, on Flickr
This is the unique piece to fix. never really sure how it got like that as it doesn't look fully rotten like rusting thru.
20200616_113938 by James Williams, on Flickr
While waiting on my patch panels to start coming in I welded in this filler for the fuel neck. If any of you want filler panels for door handles or the fuel neck or other things for our trucks look up AVSontheweb.com It was a perfect fit and I used them for several fillers on my s10.
Now we are up to date. I've spent the last two days sandblasting the hood as well as fixing my regulator and installing a new dessicant system on my compressor. Plans from here is to start on the rockers and cab corners when they come in and address the hole above the windshield. Once I can get this cab fixed I'll be happy. Plans for the truck are to swap to disc brakes up front and make them power, probably drop a few inches while I'm at it. I want to install a 5.3 or equivalent motor and an overdrive transmission in to have a more modern heart. Nothing crazy just reliable day to day performer. Most days I'm on my harley and I want something to have when I don't want to ride it and figure I can build this to be as reliable as a new truck for half the price. I'll try to take plenty of pictures along the way and maybe see you at c10nationals or some other event.

[cornerstone]

Thanks for sharing you truck build with us. I'm in!

[1971Stepside]

Another stepper being saved! I'll be following along.

[Ol Blue K20]

Signing up to watch!

[68Gold/white]

I can tell you have enough skills to make this happen, one way or another!!!

Last year I disassembled a 68 LWB trailer, saved some for my 67 or 68, scrapped the frame. The fleet side front bed panel has 2 of these impossible phillips on each side, at the top. I used a cut off wheel and carefully made 2 flats on them, to get a crescent wrench on them, that worked, well!!!

Glad to see another of these awesome classics being saved!!! The step side was the only choice until 1955, even after that step sides were the proven work truck!!1

Carry On!!!

[CryingJoker]

Thanks for the confidence and idea 68Gold/white. I'll give that a shot. I did manage to have some parts come in for the truck. Both cab corners, rockers, outer floorboards, kick panels, and a tailgate and front bed panel. One perk of working for a company that owns Goodmark Industries is they were quite affordable. And must say that I'm impressed how much can safely fit in my wife's Kia Soul. Unfortunately it's gonna supposed to be good weather for this week so I won't get to do much. Man how I'd like to have a carport for it but not likely at this juncture.
20200622_184938 by James Williams, on Flickr

[fecklessgadfly]

I love the builds with family history. It's great to see new life breathed into something that was part of a loved one's life.

Keep up the good work, can't wait to see it finished.

[CryingJoker]

Unfortunately the weather has not been my friend for the last week. Pouring rain is not much help when you work outside on projects. I finally broke down and bought a metal carport and managed to get the frame and most of the roof on before it decided to do it's daily pour down. I also managed to sand blast and prime the hood right before it started to rain the first day but didn't get to do any bodywork. was just trying to salvage what I had.
20200628_164957 by James Williams, on Flickr
I found I have a small leak in a couple of the seams that I need to address but overall I'm pleased with it and look forward to even being able to work some during rain and helping slow down the effects of rust. It's supposed to be decent weather the next few days so hoping to start tackling the rocker and cab corner on drivers side this week.
And i've had help from my two lovely assistants here. My lab/blue heeler mix Apollo just dies wanting to help but also for me to just keep throwing his ball and won't take no for an answer. So i have to stop what I'm doing and cater to him.
20200627_192637 by James Williams, on Flickr
And with the weather being bad I took it as an opportunity to bring our Dogo Argentino/English Mastiff mix inside for a bit to spoil him. He will usually just lay at the gate and watch me work.
20200628_120602 by James Williams, on Flickr
And let's just say at 140+ lbs he does a good job of keeping the undesirables away.
Well hopefully during this week I will be able to have some real updates. It's been killing me not to be able to work on it.

[jjzepplin]

Nice truck and great looking dogs! I'm in!

[CryingJoker]

Well, went back to work a few weeks ago and have been working over 60 hours a week so haven't had much chance to work on the truck except on weekends.
20200704_153240 by James Williams, on Flickr
I disassembled the front end and discovered that outside of the grille and hood, and the drivers fender once i patch the front bottom, that all of the sheet metal was pretty much shot.
20200718_163431 by James Williams, on Flickr
20200719_185257 by James Williams, on Flickr
I sandblasted the hood and put some filler in the pitting to build it back up before laying a coupe coats of epoxy down. Hopefully will get to start blocking and then seal it soon enough.
20200705_163508 by James Williams, on Flickr
2020-07-19_08-04-48 by James Williams, on Flickr
Pulled the door and started cutting off the rocker panel. As you can see the inner rocker was worse than the outer so I'm having to put in the outer floorboard sections and, as I found once I got the rocker completely off, the lower A pillar is flat out rotten so i'll be ordering those tomorrow.
20200719_181638 by James Williams, on Flickr
20200719_181657 by James Williams, on Flickr
Removed the gauge cluster and fuse block and most of the dash pieces. Gauges and fuse panel were in really good shape other than the wiring looked rough so i just cut the wiring. I'll end up putting these on the classifieds to help someone out cause I will not be reusing them.
20200719_181547 by James Williams, on Flickr
Loaded up the scrap steel in one of my other trucks and told my dad, who happens to be my next door neighbor, if he wants to haul it off he can have whatever little cash they give him.
20200719_182032 by James Williams, on Flickr
I keep looking at the color of the interior so I'm going to take this with me to work and see if I can clean it up and use our Paint match camera and get a usable formula just in case I end up using it later. Something interesting I found while taking apart the dash. When I popped out the defrost vents I found out this interesting piece that was never noticed by my dad.
20200719_181916 by James Williams, on Flickr
The defrost vents were almost like turquoise. They've never been removed and of course one snapped both tabs upon removal.
Well that's all for now. Hoping I can get the A pillar patches by the end of the week and next weekend I can start cutting it off and start back on getting the outer floor section installed on the drivers side. It's slow feeling to me but I know it's gonna take time and I'm making decent progress for doing this by myself.

[SCHRUMGMC]

Sign me up!!

Love the story and the progress

Reminds me of having my grandfathers 59 and trying to buy back his 1971 gmc

[CryingJoker]

Well a pillar patches came in today and of course I probably won't have the time to work on it this weekend. But also found these.
20200723_142757 by James Williams, on Flickr
A coworker's dad picked up these GM transport wheels and let me get them for 400 bucks. Didn't really want to run a 22" wheel but I do like the look of them. Will be sandblasting and painting them soon.

[jjzepplin]

Nice score! I wish they made those in 5 lug.

[dagnabbitt]

That truck is an absolute beauty, I've had a 70 myself for 5 years and yours is already nicer! Following along. Pics of under the hood, the SPID? It looks almost like a dark aqua color which really looks good when shined up.

Love the family history behind it.

[CryingJoker]

Originally Posted by dagnabbitt

That truck is an absolute beauty, I've had a 70 myself for 5 years and yours is already nicer! Following along. Pics of under the hood, the SPID? It looks almost like a dark aqua color which really looks good when shined up.

Love the family history behind it.

Thanks, I've actually been kind of shocked its held up so well considering the first part of its life it was a legitimate farm truck. Unfortunately there was no spid as the glovebox one was long gone. This truck originally was about as bare bones as they come. Manual brakes, 250 6 cylinder engine with 3 on the tree, no a/c, manual steering, basic gauge package, etc. About the only niceties I've discovered this truck came with is a stepside bed and seatbelts which I'm not sure how uncommon either were that year. The truck is actually a medium blue originally. Not really sure what color I'm gonna end up painting the truck. I think im gonna stick with a blue just not sure what kind of shade. Thanks for the appreciation. Hopefully I can keep at a good pace.

[CryingJoker]

Originally Posted by jjzepplin

Nice score! I wish they made those in 5 lug.

I saw there was a company online that will actually change the pattern and offset on them and even add rally or artillery holes into them. Really cool stuff. I figure for the price I paid they are good for mockup at very least to clear no matter what brakes I throw on them and if i decide ever to run something else i know i can get my money back out of them.

[CryingJoker]

Started cleaning up the wheels and one is a little faded compared to the other three. Decided I didn't want to go with the normal black or white wheel so I took a gamble and sprayed one down in Dodge Granite Crystal paint and two coats of clear. Color has a good bit of pearl and metallic in the mix so I think it gives it just the right pop. Other than that, didn't get much done as wanted; started cutting the a pillar for the patch to see how much I needed to use.
20200725_155739 by James Williams, on Flickr
20200725_155751 by James Williams, on Flickr

[curtisb]

keep the pictures coming, they are my motivation.

[CryingJoker]

Got a little progress done. Managed to finish cutting the inner rocker off. After screwing up the cuts on the first set I decided to cut the replacement panel into two pieces so it would make it easier to fit. I got it stitch welded into place. The hole placement for the seat belt was way off even when double checking measurement from the factory rocker so I'm going to have to weld in a filler and drill a new hole but if that's my biggest obstacle with these I'll take it gladly.
20200822_175603 by James Williams, on Flickr
I'm no pro welder but it did get good penetration and will clean up with a grinder.
20200822_193559 by James Williams, on Flickr
On another note I did get to meet a fellow member, RWADE, today and picked up a core support and tilt column from him. He is a cool member and hope to see him at shows and recommend if you guys see his truck be sure to go say hi.
20200822_155009 by James Williams, on Flickr
20200822_125822 by James Williams, on Flickr
Hoping soon to mock up the front floor section and the new cab support.

[gmc684x4]

Nice truck looks like a great job to your great grandfather's truck

I have memories of riding in my dads stepfathers truck when i was real young classic trucks turn more heads then a new truck dolled up

[68Gold/white]

Your welding looks pretty good!!!

I have tried my hand at "rust welding" with mixed results. I am a novice. Welding thicker metal is sure a lot more fun!!!

WHat welder do you have, and approx what settings for what you've been welding in pictures???

THanks
Jeff

[wwhijr]

That is going to look great