So it's definitely been a hot minute since I've updated this project.... and alot has happened in the last 2+ years....
I've spent alot of time on rust repair, more than i care to admit to, but im not a body guy so its taking alot of time and ambition to get it all done. In digging and cutting I found that the truck has already been "redone" once which included replacement doors, new cab corners, outer rockers, and a not so great paint job. oh, and ALOT of bondo.....
So now it's got all new inner and outer cab corners, floor pans, inner rockers and cab supports. the whole firewall will end up being replaced as well to smooth everything out and make room for the engine set back. As well as the inner front lip of the roof (where the visors and mirror attach) which I found today.
I ended up taking the 18 inches out of the long bed chassis and had my welder buddy burn it back together. Then I fabbed up a pretty simple tubular bracing and ordered a universal 4 link kit for the rear and got that all tacked in place along with some motor mounts for an LS and a trans mount for a 6l80. It was at this point that i had to switch gears to the cab to get it ready to set in place on the chassis to see how much of the firewall I was gonna have to cut out, and honestly I lost so much interest in having to do the rust repair that it sat idle in the garage for over a year.
Fast forward about 6 months to when my oldest son got in an accident with his 08 G8 GT. Long story short, he didnt want it anyways and I got a good deal on it after he got insurance money. So I got my 6.0 and my 6l80.. and in parting the rest of the car out ended up falling down a rabbit hole and decided to attempt to use the entire chassis of the car under the truck shell. In research the front suspension presented alot of problems though, but for some reason i was dead set on using a newer modern chassis system rather than updating the original chassis with big brakes, coil overs, and tubular parts. I found what i thought was a good deal on a set of complete front and rear subframes (brake to brake on both with steering) out of a c5 corvette, so I jumped on that.
I finally had enough of looking at the truck sit idle in the garage and jumped back into it in January. I have quite a few parts sitting waiting for their new home in the truck. All of the bottom side of the cab is replaced or cleaned up so I shouldnt need to flip it back over again. Im Currently working on killing time on the cab with odds and ends, probably some type of a harness bar/ half cage, and that stupid inner ceiling lip.... (really not excited to do that?) Just gotta find enough stuff to stay busy on until I can kick the wife out of her garage spot after winter so I have space to build the new chassis.
anyways, I apologize for the photo dump, but its also 2 years worth of work..
enjoy