Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Can't go wrong for $60 and a cruise to get it.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Saw your score on Facebook! I'm betting you can work those pieces into some really sweet parts, high five! :gmc2:

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

No, I don't think you can! Gotta love parts runs :metal:

Thanks! It was well worth the trip. He even threw in a core support for 10 bucks! Couldn't pass on that deal :lol:

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Well, with parts sitting on the floor I just couldn't help myself but to slap them on for a bit. I have a lot of aligning to do!

Attachment 1238127

The gaps are no good! I'll be trying to work on those a little today.
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Starting to look like a truck again!!!

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Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Kinda gives you the feel good feeling don't it!

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Yes it does. I wish this was the last time it was going together :lol:

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Here's a few pictures of the alignment prior to adjustments

Big'ol gap!
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Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

And here's some after a little rework. I'm not completely done, but I think it looks 100% better.

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Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Definitely something i need to learn and work on! My problem is i'm all of 5'7" with my boots on and my front fender is at about my arm pit.. I need a walk around scaffolding to work on my truck LOL!

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

So that was 2 fenders, a grill,and a core support for $70? Looks like a good find.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Very nice work on the gaps. I know how much of a pain it is to get them close.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Great work! And nice score on your new pieces!

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Yeah, that's how I'm feeling now :lol: This truck is a lot taller with the sheetmetal sitting on it.

Yeah! I thought it was too good of a deal to pass up. The passenger has rust and previous damage repair so I don't plan on using it, but the cost for the grill pieces I was missing was well worth it.

Thanks! Yes, I'm kind of hoping that when I tighten down the core support it will drop in the front a little because there is still a bigger gap at the bottom than the top. I may even have to shim the front of the cab up a bit more to get it right.

Thanks! Hopefully I don't screw them all up when I take it back apart and paint :lol:

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

For some reason i lost track of this thread. i had to go back several pages to get on the up and up, but i am excited to see all the progress. gonna be a heck of a k2500

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Thanks! It's definitely cool to see it looking like a truck again...If only for a short period :)

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Well, it wasn't a ton of progress but I did manage to fix the drivers door handle area.

Before...

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Notice the gap between the handle and door?
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Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

And here's the finished product. I'm pretty happy with it. Not bad for an amateur :)

Much closer now!
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Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Little skim coat of bondo and good as new!

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Well, I'm going to have to smooth out the welds a bit better before I skim it. Yesterday's grind job was just a rough one. :)

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Looks good, hard to believe it sat so high before, was it ever out.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Very nice work on the door handle repair:metal:

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Thank you! Yeah, it's almost like they caught the handle on something...or maybe the door got stuck somehow. It was a lot of work, I can tell you that much :lol:

Thanks! I probably went overkill by cutting it out of the door, but I didn't have any tools that I could have used to repair it with it in place. Now hopefully I can get it smooth enough that you won't be able to see that I did that :)

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

I am not very happy with today's update. Looks like crap, but hey, it's progress...

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Bummer. Hard to tell from the pic, but what looks like crap about it? Anything Bondo can't fix?

I'm a bit nervous about the possibility of doing mine some day (might not happen, anyway). It's one thing to work on the bottom part of the body on the rockers, lower parts of fenders, etc. It's another thing to do that part that is high enough to be seen more easily and I'll have to look at every time I open the door.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

It ended up concaving a bit and no matter what I tried, it just didn't help. It will cover up with a skim coat, but I was hoping for a bit better job on the metal work. Well, I hope it covers up :lol:

Yeah, this is a pretty visible section that I'm pretty nervous about too. Well, too late now.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

those filler shaves are a pain, since its a compound curve. they all take bondo. doesn't matter how good you are, if you weld that in, the heat draw will flatten your patch out at least a little.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

So what you're saying is quit my whining? :lol:

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Nice work on the door and fuel filler patches Mike! Something I like to do to minimize the warping is to use the air nozzle to cool each weld as I lay them down.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

not at all! I'm just commiserating!

flash cooling a weld can actually make it draw worse than if you let it cool naturally. it will also make it more brittle. not something i would recommend.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

yea I know what you are saying. I was looking at a program on TV and he shaved the door handles. You could not even tell that there was a door handle there. even in bare metal. But he has been doing this for a while. But your work will be great after you skim coat the spot,

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Here is what I did using that particular technique. Maybe I just got lucky.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

hard to argue with that result. looks great.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Thanks Ryan, I've seen your work and you are a true master of your craft.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Wow, Scott. That looks pretty dang good. You should travel the country doing just filler patches.

Mike, for you and the rest of us (even Ryan), we can live with a little filler on ours. Heck, if I go that route, I'll have to claim the weird looking mess behind the door handle is for "aerodynamic purposes".

I think somebody needs to drop in on Scott some time and see if that thing looks as good as the picture. The picture is even well taken, unlike most of mine which make my work look better than it is and still only acceptable anyway.

So is the key to these things making the patch a little on the convex side and letting the weld pull it a little flatter but not too flat? Or is the key not welding them on at all and using some other method? I wouldn't imagine it would be an area of the cab that sees much stress under normal circumstances.

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

I actually tried to do this, but it was real hard to hold the welder, air nozzle, and my beer LOL

LOL...I know, so you're telling me I can still whine then right? :lol:


Thanks! Yeah, I was hoping for Scott's results but that was not to be :)

This is what I was hoping for when I started out yesterday. Your patch just looks awesome! After looking at it today, it's not as bad as I was feeling last night, but it's still not this good.

Amen!!

I did have mine pretty well bubbled up, but welding and hammering I totally messed it up LOL

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Ok, so I haven't done much with the truck except push it in and out of the garage :)

I have been working on a new bench. This thing is going to be a beast..oh and heavy too :lol:

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Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Nice!

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Nice bench and nice patch work!

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Thanks guys!

Re: 69 GMC "Ol' Blue"
 

Ok, so I have been playing more than working but I think I have finally found the color Ol' Blue is going to be! It's from a 2011 Fiat. Also, I have started the fitting of the new AC box.

Pictures don't capture how nice this color is, but I like it.
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Now that's my idea of air conditioning! Since I'm putting in a later model unit, some work needs to be done.
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