Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Thanks TA. I hope to be where you're at in a few months! It is hard to find time with a full-time job, vacations, and keeping your significant other happy. But even an hour or two a night makes a big difference!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Hope everyone had a great 4th! I was able to get quite a bit done over the four-day weekend.

-Peeled back the ends of the cowls so I could pull out all the leaves and debris, weld shut the vent, and spray rust encapsulator.
-Cut a hole in the dash for the center A/C louver and committed a sin and modified the dash for a double din radio. Nevermind the ugly welds, I tend to leave my joints a little low.
-Copied 1971Stepside and fabbed up a bracket to mount my gas pedal. I cut off all the bulky pedal assembly (adjustable pedal) and I will fab up a rod and use a custom trim pedal.
-Fabbed up a new bracket for my hydroboost so it can mount to the brake pedal assembly studs.
-I was scraping all the seam sealer out of the interior and was digging at the firewall to floor pan joint and they just came apart. Seems whoever was working the line that day didn't do a good job of welding the two together so I fixed that.
-I was able to get one door reskinned as well. I'm pretty happy with the repro door skin, it took minimal modifications for a good fit. The key here was to not remove the door bottom so that the new skin could be applied to the factory shell and achieve the right profile. Don't mind the mangled rocker-I did a quick and dirty removal so I could verify the rust repair panels so I could place an order.
-And I've got a pile of parts going to the sandblaster today.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Looking good man. I had trouble with that floor seam as well and I ended up welding the whole seam shut then seam sealer. And the pedal bracket looks really good. The way I modified my pedal didn't work that far back into the firewall, the pedal arm was hitting the right side. Improvise, adapt. :thumbs:

Keep it up man. Curious. What parts are going to blaster?


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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Thanks man.

I've got inner and outer fenders, cowl, trans hump, brake pedal assembly, front and rear bumper braces and deflectors, center grille support, mirror arms, and mirror backing plates.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Excellent, Im at same stage and need to get those same parts sent out to blaster. If you don't mind my asking, how does your blaster charge for that? I'm curious if my guy is going to have similar cost as he seems to be a little high...

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

It depends. He charged $50 per door shell (door minus outer skin) but he's going to charge by the hour with this batch since I have so many little parts. I'll have them back this Friday, I can let you know the total if you'd like. My guess is around $350.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I got my parts back from the blaster on Friday so I was able to get half the parts in epoxy and the other half in chassis saver.

I also got my driver door reskinned and it lined up great. I've learned that the best way to reskin a door is to keep the inner structure whole and to fit the new skin to it so that the correct profile is achieved.

I've been considering options for stripping my hood as I don't want to take it to a sandblaster and risk ruining it. The hoods on these 67-72's don't have a great structure to them so it makes bodywork difficult. In fact, the sandblaster I plan on taking my cab to won't even touch the hood. I thought about paint stripper and using my DA, but I ended up buying Eastwood's SCT tool. It comes with a 120 grit nylon drum and it worked great on the top of the hood - the picture below is about 30 seconds of moderate pressure. It works great on surface rust and primer, but it bogged down on the lacquer on the underside so I'm going to buy the abrasive drum which should be more effective. Stripping with my DA will take way too long because it's a fine orbit (3/32" instead of 3/16") and it will work the compressor for hours and hours whereas the SCT tool is electric and will strip things pretty quick and without too much heat buildup as long as I move around a bit.

I'm getting close to being done with the cutting and welding portion of this project. I just have to do a little rust repair on one of the fenders and then do the rockers/pillars on the cab and then I can finally move on to filler and sanding. My goal is to have everything but the bed painted by October so that I don't have to worry about cold weather and can spend fall and winter assembling and wiring.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Looking good man :thumbs: . I had my hood blasted, no issues. The blaster used glass media on everything, he said it helps keep heat down and works well. That door skin looks like it came out well. Fall and winter assembly eh? My wife will kill me if I don't have my truck up and running before winter:devil:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Thanks. I'm nervous about having it blasted - I've heard of guys having their hoods ruined and I'm committed now that I spent the money on the tool so I'll roll with it. I will use the tool on other projects, so I'm okay with it. We spent months wiring and assembling my dad's 64. So far, everything on my truck has came out quicker and better, but I've still got a lot of parts to buy and the rate I'm going, my money is keeping up with my progress. If I could work on it every day, I would be broke in no time haha.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the truck in the last month between vacation and having family in town, but I am happy to announce that metalwork on the cab is done. Inner rockers, outer rockers, front and rear pillars, and cab corners are done and the cab is at the sandblaster. The only metalwork left on the truck should be a little bit of rust on a fender bottom and pulling out a couple dents.

I'm going as fast as I can in hopes of getting most, if not all, of the body (minus the bed) painted before it gets too cold.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Looking good. It takes so much time to do these repairs, but it is nice to see what you have accomplished when you get a section completed.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

That's a huge accomplishment. It's a lot of ugly, back-breaking, dirty jobs and now even with a little fender work and other stuff maybe its cleaner working from here out :thumbs:

Great job man.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Thanks guys. I'm planning on working on the fenders this week and they may end up being the first parts I paint.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I got my cab back from the sandblaster and 4 coats of epoxy on the underside. I also built an attachment for my engine stand (idea from builtbykane's build thread) so I can wheel my doors around and make it easier to paint them. I put a first coat of filler around the door edges to take care of the dings that come from hammering on the skin.

I also rebuilt my door hings. I got a kit from SOKY (by Woodall) which is a 55-91 kit and it was an easy job and could be done without a press as long as they aren't very rusty. The pins have to be cut to length and the bushings are sintered metal. I was surprised to see that the old bushings I pulled out were plastic, not sure if they were factory or not. My hinges don't feel any tighter, but they do pivot more freely now.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Those doors fit pretty well. I had to work my drivers adjustment over and over and over to get it satisfactory. You are getting a lot done. I like the door holders on the engine stand.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

They do fit pretty well, I was pleasantly surprised. But my method has improved since doing the doors on my dad's 64. I am on a mission to get the cab, doors, and fenders painted before the cold weather comes so that I don't have to worry about cold temps and painting since my dad's shop doesn't have a heating system that can sustain itself. Then I can spend the winter wiring and finishing the chassis and resume bodywork in the spring.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Great job on the skins, you did it right leaving the door bottoms on before skinning to get the right contour and length. I had to do some trimming and hammering on mine to get the gaps right.

I'm stealing that engine stand door holder idea for when I paint...

Keep up the good work!

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I got the inside of the cab seam sealed and epoxied the rest of the cab last night. I forgot how strenuous it is to do yoga inside the cab in order to get underneath all of the dash area without touching the floor too much.

I'm excited to start filler work. I know that sounds crazy but it's not that I like doing filler work, but that it means I've reached a milestone and that it's progressing.

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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

That's a big milestone. As you know, you will quickly be tired of the filler and sanding process. I'm still waiting to get in the booth for primer...

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I like the gloss black engine paint a lot. I did charcoal gray and it looks decent but black would have looked better in my bright red engine bay.

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I love seeing guys plow through a large amount of work quickly. I can remember the days...:lol: Are you planning on staying with the same color? I believe I will also nab that excellent “builtbyKane” door holder attachment when it’s time to paint. Keep up the great work my man!!!:chevy:

Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

Awesome man :metal:

Looking forward to seeing your muddin progress :thumbs:


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Re: 1968 GMC - Ol' Blue
 

I love getting big chunks of work done. I'm ridiculously anxious to drive this thing again. It's going to be so much fun with the new powertrain.

I am staying in the blue color family, but am going with Voodoo Blue (Toyota). It's on the new TRD Pro Tacomas, Tundras, and 4Runners.

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