[May70]

Don't buy a bunch of parts up front. Plans change and you forget what you have bought.

If you buy sheet metal, buy all that from the same place.

Don't bite off a bunch at once.

Start with the basics, you know your doing a frame off because of the shortening work... Might as well get everything out of the way. Bag and tag everything on your way there. Take pictures too. Force yourself to stay organized.

If you dont have extra space like a big garage, depending on where you live/weather conditions/wind exposure... You may want to invest in one of those enclosed car port tent things. Keep your cab, fenders bed and misc stuff in and out of the way.

Get the frame pretty much squared away. Move to the cab, get all the rust repair done, if you have to do rockers, you will need to mount fenders to cab to match body lines. That means if your fenders need work, you do it then. Bed is last. Get metal in order then deal with body work when you have cab, core support and fenders on the frame. Bed can be dealt with separately. Be prepared to take everything on and off a hundred times. Do not do body work on doors without them being ON the truck and the fender ON next to it.

If you don't have a decent tap & die set, get one, you'll need it.

Either buy a complete fastener kit or get a bulk hardware kit. I got a grade 8 set for frame/important stuff because a lot of the stuff you will buy might not come with hardware and you will replace quite a bit. Grade is extremely important so do your research. Don't go putting china junk quality on your frame because you are asking for problems.

Don't rush, do it right and you wont regret it. Spend a little bit more where you can on quality if you're going to keep the truck. You will remember quality long after you've forgot about the cost. Dont skimp on paint and that includes sealer/primer!!!! I know many painters and the bottom line is a single stage (no activator required) paint of any kind stands no match to a two part system. If your first coat on bare metal is rattlecan 'primer' you might as well buy the cheapest paint there on because your weakest link is the cheap primer. Try to stick to all the same brand/systems where you can. Follow the instructions/guidelines for the paint EXACTLY. Get a temperature gun and a thermometer for the shop, temp and humidity will ruin everything in an instant.

If you dont have a decent paint gun, I highly recommend the 3m accuspray system. Disposables can be bought on ebay cheap. On that note try to buy all your consumables in bulk, I know a lot of people have moved on to Amazon but ebay has its deals. Tape is a huge one. If you buy it buy the single roll, you are paying 5-6 times the price you should. Only automotive tape, yes it matters.

Sorry for the rambling. Just things I wish I had known years ago. I learned a lot from disappointing results a few times. Apologies if you knew this or better.