Not Another Rebuild Thread....

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by bluecollarron

Ur making good progress on your truck! I wish i could have found that truck before you did! Where did u get it and where do u get your parts from?! Let me know if u need help getting your pitman arm off i got the tool. same with your gear ratio. I can show u how to count the ratio its very easy!

Ron from Fairbanks

Oh thank God, finally someone from this area!!!

It was sitting in the lot behind Alaska Electric Rebuilders off Cushman and VanHorne. I know where there are a few more in the area. Are you looking for a fleet or step side?

Shoot me a PM with a phone number or you can call me at the Bassett Army Hospital Operating Room Monday thru Friday. Would love to meet you and talk classics shop one day over coffee or beers!

[McMurphy]

So....
My weekend was, and was not....

Thursday I met a fellow for a 1985 GMC Sierra and we settled on a price. I pick it up on the 1st and it will be a donor rig for my 66. Kinda sad to part out such a good looking truck, but I am willing to bet there are more of them around than there are 66s.

Then the rest of the Thanksgiving day was spent putzing around with my heater box.

Pic #1 is my heater core retainer bracket. It had been wrapped with duct tape, which padded the core, but also retained water and rusted the snot out of my retainers. This photo is after I had wire wheeled it down to shiney metal, primer, and painted.

#2 is my adaptation to provide the cushioning, but not trap so much moisture. I hope this works better. It is vacuum/wiper fluid hose with a slit down the side and then just seated on the bracket. If you do this, remember to cut the hose along the outside of the natural curl of the hose or it will fight you to seat right.

#3 is all my heater parts after I had tinkered with them. Who knew that a ATV battery was perfect for testing electrical stuff like the blower motor? I cut gaskets for the cold air intake and heater box assembly, as well as one for the blower to the bottom of the heater box. I have to check for either some 1/8" thick gasket materiel, or some smaller hose to make seating gaskets for the fresh/recirculation vent flapper so that they sit tight and diminish as much cold air infiltration as possible.

#4 is all assembled. I will have to tear it all apart again to do the second set of gaskets I mentioned above, and to replace the delux heater core. Not sure if I broke it, or if I just made an existing leak more noticable...none the less it leaks now where the large pipe meets the heater core body. So far prices seem to range between $75 and $110 for replacements.

[McMurphy]

So then came Friday...

I had no clue the metal that is the back of the cab was so thin.

Pic #1 is the upper fuel tank strap anchor points.
#2 is after I air chiseled one off and cut the crap out of the backside of my cab.
#3 is what it looks like from the outside after I polished it up for a better look.

I should have either left them alone, or just cut the threaded part off like I did on the d-side. They are going to be covered with sound deadner anyways, but now the back side of my cab needs repair.

#4 is what looks like an old CB atenna mounting hole in the dead center of the top of my cab grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Time to learn how to weld this stuff up I guess....

[McMurphy]

Saturday reminded me of a quote:

Q: "How do you sculpt a horse?"
A: "You start with a large block of marble, and chisel off everything that does not look like a horse"

So in reality, How do you sculpt a truck?
A: You start with a slab of bondo and chisel off everything that does not look like metal....

Gentlemen I present you with my rear p-side cab corner;

[McMurphy]

I have a stud welder gun coming from Harbor Freight I am hoping to learn how to pull this corner out some more and not have to find some way of cutting a corner from a junk yard donor. I was able to get to some of it with a hammer and dolly (before I took the pics if you can believe it) and smoothed some of the mess out surprisingly well.

I wish Alan or Stodder were closer to teach me how to be a auto body masseuse and show me how they massage this stuff into behaving!

I know I will cut the bottom corners out and replace them, already looked those parts up. They are rust rotted anyways, but the upper half up to the body line I am concerned about. It doesnt have to be show quality, but nice would be.... well ..... nice!

[McMurphy]

Sunday was a short day...
While I was dinking around in the back with the heater, and the bondo art lesson, my lovely wife was up front stripping the mud, undercoating, and paint down to the metal on my firewall so I could come along on Sunday and paint it.
We still need to get the splash pan part of it, but I fear that once I get started, I will just undo those last few bolts and go ahead and tilt my cab back to do the whole thing.

Guess this is the pre-test for my total frame off I will do about 10 years from now....

[daverod]

Thats some funny stuff.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Saturday reminded me of a quote:

Q: "How do you sculpt a horse?"
A: "You start with a large block of marble, and chisel off everything that does not look like a horse"

So in reality, How do you sculpt a truck?
A: You start with a slab of bondo and chisel off everything that does not look like metal....

Gentlemen I present you with my rear p-side cab corner;

That's the same area that was smashed on my 66.
I found a junk cab with that area that was still straight. I'll be patching it in this spring.
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