Bad Idea
 

Exactly as it says....BAD IDEA.
Ohwell, it's too late to turn back now.
Bought in '10. I redid drivetrain and some other things that I didn't like or were wrong. I'll kinda try to be careful what I say or don't say given there could be the chance the previous owner is watching all this happenin. Anyways, about a month ago I tore out the homemade bed floor and was aiming at installing new wood bed kit only to figure out that crossmembers, rear sill, and bed header panel were all for or set up for a ?"flat type"? or steel floor. So, I decided I wanted a color change because I'd be changing front bed header panel and a perfect color match sure wasn't happenin. So, after talking to a painter in my area I decided that if I was gonna do this right I'd fix and/or make EVERYTHING the way that I would want it. This ain't gonna be a world record turn around and hopefully not take me the rest of my life to complete. I'll try to post as much as I can. Please feel free to make comments or ask me questions on anything you want cuz I'm gonna need the help and opinions of all on this site to support me from losing my god damned mind. Thanks to all in advance.

Re: Bad Idea
 

This was about a week or so ago. Taggin and baggin so I'm goin slow. Bed came off good with what looks to be aftermarket bedsides, rear sill, and maybe tailgate. The makeshift crossmembers had to be cut out here and there. My buddies and I think it's kinda weird the back of the cab was still roughed up.

Re: Bad Idea
 

Most of the front removed. No real big surprises. Newer outer fenders, inner fenders, core support, and maybe hood. The cab had a new one piece full floor put in it with cab corners and rockers. Cowl area seemed to be in real good shape. Hardest part of this step was getting damn wiper arms off.

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Most of the main wiring removed revealed that I mighta been close to a fire or at least burnin a couple of useful wires up. Wiring was not bad at all but kinda old and some spots pretty brittle so I'm gonna be replacing all of it I guess.

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Those wiper arms are a ***** for sure.. good thing Im doing the new paint because I tore up what was around them. My PO had painted the splines and the arms did NOT want to come off without a life or death battle.
Good luck on the build.

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Little work from today got a pic from glove box area to see the filler panels made to smooth the factory center dash openings. Previous owner filled quite a bit on the truck....dash, door key holes (damnit), gas filler, and bed stake pockets. That's all I can remember for now. Oh also got most of interior out. All that remains is steering column and gauge cluster. Ya, I know I go slow.

Re: Bad Idea
 

This guy did pretty much same thing. Thanks I'm gonna need it.

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Check out my build thread you'll see the tear down Im into right now.. Solid but has some spots around the lower windshield and the cab corners and a little bit of the floor around the doors. My biggest problem is getting through the 500 layers of different colors on it.

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I just noticed your in Y-town.. Im right down the road if you need help

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Ya man much appreciated. I'm following your build on here too.

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Finished stripping rest of cab last night. No surprises yet. All that's left is doors and glass. Even with those still on and in cab didn't seem that heavy at all just pickin up the one side. Have to wait on my buddy to get cab on dolly. Then it's on to the chassis.
That's all for now off to pull my buddies engine in '69 Nova...pics may follow.

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Yesterdays work. Pulling buddies engine for a winter refresh. Everyone's winter projects seem to be getting into full swing.

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Got some work done today. Glass out, doors off, and cab on stand. Found some measurements on here somewhere for a cab stand and kinda built around those...so thanks for those!

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Pic kinda sucks but you get the jist.

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Got exhaust off and engine ready to come out. Maybe next couple days.

Happy New Year to everyone!

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1) Any pictures of the bed?
2) wiper removal sucks
3) sweet progress

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I can get ya a pic of the old bed that started this whole mess...but not till tomorrow. The pics are on my home computer.

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Damn.. slow down there speedy.. your already smoking me. Man....
talk about Get-R-Done.

How did you get the cab off? Friends... hoist?

Oh yeah.. and now Im missing my 70 Nova... thanks

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Not fast at all. I only got about 5 partial days in this tear apart so far.
Gettin cab off?......Just me and the neighbor. Wasn't bad at all just akward.

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Im too old and fragile to be lifting it without a hoist.. My buddy who is also over the hill is bringing a hoist over this weekend. Ive been waiting on him for a couple weeks now....

Re: Bad Idea
 

This is what started all this mess. Previous owner "made" up some crossmembers and shimmed everything perfect for this wooden fiberglass reinforced bed floor to sit level. Bed floor was floating....never mounted to anything. I wanted to put a nice new wood bed in but quickly realized that I had a steel floor bed header panel and rear sill. It worked for what it was...what I wanted to do something had to be done.

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Pic didn't post in last post.

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All I got done in the 3 hours I decided to work today. It'll be a nonroller before long.

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It's officially a NONroller!
I think I may have been bitten by the AIR RIDE bug. Now that I've said that I'm just waiting for the vendors to chime in here. HINT.

Re: Bad Idea
 

So here's one interesting part of this truck.
These where/are the trailing arms that came on the truck. Where said to be homemade by the previous owner. The truck always rode true down the road and the drop springs(CPP 5") and u bolts and drop blocks(2") and adjustable trac bar(seems homemade) all seemed to worked as if they were stock. So, should I keep em or favor a different set. Keeping in mind I'm leaning to baggin this thing.

Re: Bad Idea
 

What headers are those???
If you still have the bed off, I'd like to see more pictures of the exhaust system
Thanks!!!

Re: Bad Idea
 

They are Flowtech headers for a '69 Chevelle. Fit is great but small flanges. I'd love to show you some pics of the exhaust but all I got as of now is a bare frame.

Re: Bad Idea
 

Nice looking project! What kind of air setup are you thinking about?

Re: Bad Idea
 

Go down to post #14 and you can see the exhaust... I dont think Ive ever see it ran like that before... pretty crazy stuff. I dont see any mufflers.. it must have been pretty loud

Re: Bad Idea
 

Thanks.
For most on this site I'm kinda leaning towards a "basic" air ride setup. Stock crossmembers with a small notch in rear is what it has now and all it will have. IF it goes to air I always wanted to keep stock inner fenders and a stock bed floor so that limits the air to a point.

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Ah Ha! I found a pic of how I had the exhaust routed before. It won't be like this after. My exhaust guy got a little happy with his bender. Wasn't loud for me.

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haha, yeah he must have just got a new bender.
How far have you gotten now? Any updates?

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What gas tank is that?

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Here is your update.....it's too damn cold!!!
Haha...no updates at all. I haven't even been out to look at it hardly. Takin it apart was the easy and fast part. Now I'm back to work after the holidays so now it'll go pretty slow. Next step is to get the frame ready for the powdercoater.

Re: Bad Idea
 

Blazer tank or a "conversion" tank I don't know what proper wording would be. 21 gallon think it came from Brothers. That'll be changed because I don't like the way the top sits a little above the top of the frame rails. I don't want to notch a new crossmember to go over it. The old crossmember (whatever it was "homemade") was actually moved to the rear of the truck one or two bedside holes back to clear the tank.

Re: Bad Idea
 

Cool build, I'm going to follow along...

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Thanks for the pic.
My good friend had a 66 LWB, small block 400, 3.42 gear, muncie m20, front disc brakes, ran better than any pickup I'd ever ridden in, and most cars!!!

He was contemplating exhaust system changes.

My thought was to get the pipes off the headers routed outside the frame, then run a straight pipe straight to the back (w/ muffler included).

I added up the thicknesses of the rear coil springs to determine how low the pipe could be hung (IF, the rear springs ever did fully compress).

He built the system, had to cut a little off of the cab sheet metal that hangs in the way down there, no biggie...mind you this was 25 years ago when muffler selection was minimal. At first he ran a single 2-1/2" sonic turbo on each side...they were too loud, so he put an additional same sonic turbo on each side....an awesome sound, not too loud...
He had a crossover pipe a few inches behind the header collectors...

I've never seen a similar system...

Re: Bad Idea
 

Nice start so far. I'm with ya on the cold. I have nothing going on today and want to head out to the garage but don't feel like going through $100 in kerosene and work on ice cold metal.

Also totally agree on the wipers. I got a buddy that can take tem off in seconds. Me: after about 10 minutes I contemplate busting out the grinder and cutoff wheel. :lol:

Re: Bad Idea
 

I'm in! Seemed like a quick disassembly. Looks like a nice start.

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Ya cold just flat out sucks.
It's ok though probably only 4 more months of it. :banghead: