New Project- 73 3/4t 4x4 longbed
 

Began rebuilding my dads old chevy, he bought it new at the end of 1972 special ordered picked it up at the dealer and heads home, half way into the trip the motor blows cracking the block, back to the dealer for a new new motor,, after that the truck ran great for the next 3xx,xxx miles, those miles I spent in the back with my two brothers seeing nearly all of the lower 48 states pass us by(sitting facing back in the bed),,, Near the end of 98 he decided to put a new gm crate motor in it and drove it as a second vehicle till late 99 when he bought a 2000 jeep and the poor old truck got parked and forgotten for 14 years

Re: New Project- 73 3/4t 4x4 longbed
 

It's 14 year parking spot

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It's only letting me add 1 pic at a time

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Stripped out the interior and found the rusty floor from sitting for years with a flat passenger tire, rain ran in thru the door from it leaning

Re: New Project- 73 3/4t 4x4 longbed
 

At that point I decided just to pull it all apart and do it right

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Cut the dash out for more room to fix the floor

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Never done any rust repair before so jumped right in and might have cut alittle too much out, found out after alot of it isn't available in rust repair panels

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Good Work

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Surprised the packrats haven't destroyed the wiring yet.

What part of Tucson?

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Cool man. Nice to see you're bringing her back to life. From a fellow 73 owner.

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Thank you

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Pack rats made a home under the hood and in the bed among all the junk that was in there but haven't seen any eaten wires, tho I am going to rewire the whole truck,,, I'm right by Broadway and Swan, you?

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Yea I had to bring her back too life, alot of history for me in that truck,,, other then the passenger floor the truck is in pretty good shape, I'm going for a "coulda been a stock truck if GM knew what they were doing" look with it,, this is what I'm picturing -

Re: New Project- 73 3/4t 4x4 longbed
 

Here's where I'm getting my floor panels

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I wish I could post more then 1 at a time

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Pulled the bed by myself

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Took bout an hour, used the tie down latches from a 96 suburban to lift the bed with the hoist

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Frame ready for cleaning,, never been in a accident, hardly ever taken offroad,, when it was parked my dad had just filled both tanks and after 14years they rusted thru in several places at the top of the gas level, ill be boxing the whole frame, lifting it 8" with 4" rear springs in front-4" in rear with shackle flip(both will ad 8" front and rear), putting a blazer tank in the rear(won't be taking it on long trips so I don't need over 40gals), in place of the side tanks I want to put a air tank and compressor on one side with a 25' rose reel, and some kind of generator on the other with a 50' pull out cord(both reels will come out of the gas tank filler holes), everything will be cleaned and painted with RustAway

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Frame

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I gotta get this cab finished but in all honesty I have no freaking clue what I'm doing, but I learn fast(atleast kinda learn)

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Small area on the driver side

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Haven't fully figured out what I want to do inside,, I know ill be using a pair of bucket seats from a mustang I cut up, will be building a center console to hold a pair of 8" subs and a pair of 6.5" mids, at some point I will be converting it to automatic, never been a stick fan,,, I'm trying to find a parts truck(87-95 blazer/tahoe/pickup/suburban) so I can steal its dash, wiring, TBI setup, trans, and various other things, any thoughts on a 73 with a newer 95 dash in it?

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Here's the dash I was thinking about

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Dang man. Pretty ambitious. I though my welds/cuts were a little aggressive. Lol keep it up.

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All but one cut was thought out and still not the final cuts just removing the excess, that one was still above the rust just didn't know at the time no one makes a replacement piece for that area(thru the old piece away),, I'm completely self taught never had anyone to show me what to do, so I'm not expecting to pull off a perfect restoration, just want it to fill my needs and still look like it's been thru a frame off rebuild

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I've seen one truck with a 88-98 dash in it. It also had the tbi motor in it. I think it was a 70's C10. I don't know anything else about it, don't remember if it ran or not........ I just looked at it on my way to his 89 Suburban that I bought. I like the truck, and love the story! Subscribed for progress updates. David

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Far West side, Tucson Mtns. Near Sweetwater/Camino de Oeste. Here's a recent pic from the Lemmon with my new-to-me camper:

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That dash looks killer in an older truck! Do it!

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Thanks for the support, I do really want the dash I've always been a fan of that 'that doesn't belong there look' BUT if I find a 88-91 suburban it'll just end up with a stock looking dash, the 88-91 would give me my TBI and many other parts at the same time, plus it would leave me with the Burban body I need to make a bed for my room

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That's a really nice looking truck, is it stock or have you redone anything on it? I wish the 73s had the fuel doors like that 80s do, the door would make my plans soooo much easier, with just the caps I gotta get clever and figure out how to make it so when I pull the cap I have access to the air hose/electric cord, well I just thought of a way while writing this,, I can cut 3" of the end of the old filler, weld a big washer to the bottom with a hole big enuff for the hose, then fit another washer(fits inside the filler) to the hose then just put a spring in between so when I pull the cap the hose pops out alittle,, I think that just might work pretty good

Re: New Project- 73 3/4t 4x4 longbed
 

Here's another project I have, once my truck is done ill be working on this, 08 Arctic Cat Prowler, blew the motor after just 6months, it didn't like having 2888 miles put on it in just 17days, 3888 miles total when it broke, AC wanted $7500 for a replacement motor- F that nonsense,, so what I'm going to do is stretch it to a 4 seater use 3/4ton full width axles 4 linked and coilovered, matching 37s to what my truck and trailer will have, put a 200-300cid inline 6 from a 65-78 ford between the front seat(using ford since it has the narrowest exhaust manifold/motor/intake combo),,, then ill paint everything to match, truck/trailer/prowler

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After the truck trailer and prowler are finish my attention will be fixed on this, a 1933 Chevy 5 window coupe, all original, no rust, no damage, no missing parts, only 3394 miles, been garaged for the last 50years

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HOLY CRAP!!!! LOVE THAT 33 :metal: :chevy: ;)

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Yea me too, can't wait till I can start working on it, it's being held hostage by my garage right now,,, gonna restore it back to original, if it was rusty or missing a bunch of parts I woulda gone hotrod but it would be a shame to screw with it

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DBLSPRT68 do you still have the 85 extended cab? If so do you have any pics? I've never seen or heard of them before today

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I agree, they should not all become street rods!