[MDPotter]

It's been awhile since my last post - the truck is done now and my dad's been driving it for a few months and loves it. As with all of these projects, there are bugs that we're working out but overall it's a reliable truck and runs great. This is our first restoration and we've learned a lot.

A few of the issues/lessons learned:
- Vintage Air System - we installed everything and had a local shop charge it. They also added a third relay and fan #2 comes on whenever the compressor is engaged. We're not sure this is the best setup, we had it wired so that the trinary switch would control it but we are running it as-is for awhile. The other issue with it is that it lost charge, so we had another shop recharge it (fitting to compressor was loose apparently), but within 15 minutes of taking it home from the shop the cold air turned to warm. Took it back to the shop and they say the evaporator door is stuck closed and it appears that we'll have to take the box out of the cab to fix it. So we're not looking forward to that.

-I was disappointed when we put the truck together and saw the color difference between the doors and hood and the rest of the truck. I think the issue is that I put 4 coats on the doors and hood and 3 on the rest. Metallics are hard to make match when you paint panels separately. The number of coats, pressure, etc. makes a difference. It doesn't bother my dad, but I'd like to respray it some day. So my 68 will be a solid color and I will be sure to apply the same number of coats on each panel.

-We should have done more research on firewall penetrations to consolidate the number of holes needed and close up the empty holes instead of picking the most convenient hole during wiring and using plugs to fill the rest. It doesn't look bad, but it could be better.

-While doing cab rust repair, test fit the doors while attaching the outer rockers. We didn't do this and got lucky that they fit okay.

-For the use that this truck gets, the MIP floormat isn't really necessary. My dad doesn't drive it if it's going to rain or snow so it really doesn't see any water except for when he washes it. The MIP floormat is tough, but it's just not very comfortable and it's a little slick. Going along with this, if you have a custom transmission tunnel like this, you'll have to get a custom floormat put in. The MIP just doesn't relax to our custom tunnel. We ordered one for a high tunnel and it's close, but still has wrinkles.

-Southern Polyurethanes (SPI) products are great, I wish I would have used SPI for everything (minus base coat), not just the clear.

I bought a 68 GMC and those lessons have made that restoration go twice as fast and it should come out even better than my dad's.

All this being said, it's an awesome truck and it's a good feeling to see the truck that my dad drove in high school back on the road and in better shape than ever. It is a blast to drive - it's got plenty of power and the turbo mufflers sound great. There is plenty of room for improvement as far as the final product, but it is a daily driver and not a show truck. We get a lot of compliments on it and it was a great experience for us.