[b-mac]

5 years ago, just after my son was born, I bought this truck. I had little idea what I was doing, or what I should have been looking for in a rebuild. (although I did have somewhat of an automotive background.) All I knew was the price was right, so I borrowed a trailer, dragged it home to my subdivision driveway, and got to work. At that time, I hadn't even found this message board, but I did shortly after, and I have to give a ton of credit to some great people on this board, especially Chris, who makes this look easy.

So, as I should have done years ago, I'm going to start a build thread, and slowly start dropping in pics of my progress over the last 5 years, and progress in the future. It's pretty slow going for me with small children, but working on the truck is my meditation. And when I can't get to mine, seeing other people progress, and discussing issues on this forum is the next best thing.

I'll try to fill in as much detail as I can remember, as I move through the pics. I did some things differently along the way and made plenty of mistakes. But I'll be happy to answer any questions that you have.

Here goes:


Ah, the day we first met. Had I been smart enough to know how rough you really were, I probably would have left you there to rot. But here we are. The start of a beautiful friendship...