Where do you start?

[Auston]

Where does everyone start on their builds? I’m just starting my build/restoration on my 71. It cranks and will move under its own power. I’ve started on the brakes and the obvious stuff to try to get it to where I can drive it atleast. But after that, where do I start? The truck is in awesome shape, it’s just been sitting under a barn for 25 years. Any and all advice is appreciated.

P.S. I’m figuring how a lot of this stuff works as I goi just put my first set of drum brakes on this truck. I’m a small engine mechanic by trade, but have never fooled with trucks much other than the basic oil changes and basic stuff. So forgive my ignorance.

[1970 CST Short Wide]

If your looking for information about these Trucks your in the right place. First thing is to ask yourself how you want it to turn out i,e what do you want to do and what can you do
Don’t be afraid to ask questions here, I’m sure you’ll get answers. Ive had my truck 30 years and I still learn something new here from time to time
Ask Away

[oneshotkyle]

For me:
1) making the truck run and start correctly
2) brake system
3) steering and suspension

Everything you can do to use and drive your truck for enjoyment. Body work and shiney stuff last on the list. Ive got mine running great, went through all the rear end and brakes. Just a week ago finished front brakes converting to disc and every suspension part with new. Tomorrow gets alignment and i wanna tinker and enjoy for a bit. Ive been hard at it for 4 months putting truck down for weeks at a time. Now that the brakes and chassis are 100% new and rebuilt i feel a weekend project here and there is all i want for a bit. Suns out wanna cruise around some

[franken]

Post 3 is perfect but first learn anyone can search the internet for info. The basic systems on a car are pretty much the same.

[67C10Step]

You have gotten solid advice thus far. Too many builds get started as full blow apart rebuilds and the person gets overwhelmed. I followed pretty much what post #3 states. Got the engine running, made sure it was solid enough to move forward and then jumped into brakes/suspension. I did jump full in and did the power disc brake conversion, relocation of gas tank, full front end rebuild, etc. and from the date it showed up to my shop until it rolled down the road was about 3 years as it was tackled as a spare time project.

Few photos of where it started and how it looks today. Been driving it about 3 years now and put about 4,000 miles on it like this.

[68bowtie]

With that good looking of a truck I would highly recommend working on one thing at a time while keeping it a driver. I would do something like this if I were in your shoes…

1. Tune up and whatever is needed to get it running nicely.
2. Brakes, calipers, cylinders, master, flushing.
3. New tires, perhaps blast/coat the wheels, those hub caps may clean up with CLR and 0000 steel wool…
4. Replace any damaged vinyl interior parts and clean/detail the interior
5. Replace any mechanical/electrical components not working like parking lights or dash gauges

The exterior looks great as-is. I would drive the wheels off it like that. The worst thing is to disassemble it all then run out of motivation and it just sits. Ask me how I know!

[PbFut]

I was curious and found your "first time here" post. As others said, nice looking truck. So nice that I think a full restoration would not be the best thing for this particular truck. Super deep cleaning more in order. Replace broken items. The hunt for used matching parts could be the challenge, rather than swapping in a new part that looks out of place. Be careful, you can easily scope creep and find what you did looks out of place. Brakes first. Carb rebuild and good tune. Fix all leaks so you can park anywhere. Then replace all pivot points on the suspension. Finally get the interior as you want. I was just at a car show yesterday. A common thread to many conversations was "I got it to this level, now I never drive it".

[mr48chev]

Agreed, follow what oneshotKyle posted in post 3.

I'm going to add flush out the gas tank to that list. As a small engine mechanic you most likely full and well understand the issues with old gas and crud in the tank on engines. Maybe more so than common car and truck folk.

The second thing is to buy a factory service manual that was used in the dealers shops or a reproduction of one. Up into the mid 70's the instructions are clear, concise and complete most of the time. A well spent 40 dollars.

I'm with the others when they say make it safe, get it running good and reliable and clean it up and drive it for a while before you start or even decide to "rebuild. Driving it and using it and just flat going out and having fun with it lets you decide what you want to do with it change wise if you decide to make changes at all. If you decide that you need a V8 that lets you buy the V8 and get it all ready to go in and buy the pieces you want for it before you ever do the swap. I've seen way too many good running trucks end up sitting out in a guys garage or yard for years because he pulled the engine to do an engine swap before he even went looking for the replacement and there the truck sits. Same with major chassis parts swaps or major body work projects. It's better to have everything there to do that part of the build than be stalled out because you don't have the pieces and maybe the budget only allows a piece or two at a time. Few of us have the funds readily available to just make a long shopping list and go out and buy a truck load of parts at one time. That usually takes selling one truck to finance the next and hopefully better build.

Get it safe, get it running and get to driving it and show us some photos of it where you went with it and what you did.

[Auston]

I don’t want it to be a show truck I know. I find those are useless. I still want to be able to drive it and use it as a truck. My ocd is driving me insane because I want to tear it all the way down and start cleaning and repainting, but that’s not feasible. I have already gotten a new fuel tank and sending unit here, just haven’t installed it yet. I originally bought this truck thinking I could lower it and put big horsepower in it. But it’s too good of shape to ruin as I don’t really know what I’m doing. I figured this truck will be good to cut my teeth on.

[PbFut]

I am in the middle of a driveway paint right now. If you have not priced paint in a while you will be floored. I had some odd paint issues from previous owner as well as rust in NOT the usual places again from previous owner doing some stupid things. Most of your paint looks decent. Really try to void painting if you can. Once you start down that path, everything else looks bad and scope creep will take over. Ask me how I know. If you have a harbor freight nearby, pick up a buffer and some 6"pads. They sell Meguire's polishing compounds as well. Experiment on some area not too noticeable and see what your result is. Find some 2000 and 3000 grit paper if things are real bad, but remember the paint is going to already be thin.

[HO455]

Personally a thorough cleaning inside and out, top to bottom would be first on my agenda. This gets my eyes on almost everything and I can make a list of things that need attention.

Once the list of must repair items is done it can be combined with the list of things I would like to do. I can then plan where to start the journey and have a good idea where it will end. With good planning hopefully I won't be doing things twice down the road.

And of course Welcome Aboard! We do love pictures here, the more the better.

[54blackhornet]

Doing a restoration in today’s world is nothing like the past. With costs skyrocketing I would have a personal up close conversation with your financial advisor before proceeding.

[purple gas]

For me, the important question isn't " Where do I start?".
The thing you really have to determine right off the bat is "When do I stop?"
Do you want a low budget reliable driver?
Do you want a nut & bolt, body off,no limit restoration or custom that will be a trailer queen?
There's lots of possibilities between those two. What's your budget?
What is your skill level?
If you can be honest with yourself about your abilities and have a realistic goal you have a better chance of achieving what you want.

[Accelo]

I agree with most of the other's advice.
Get it running and safe to drive. Then drive it, daily if you can.
Then work on preserving what you have.
Redo the caulking on the roof, and eliminate as many leaks as you can.
Pull the cowl and clean out the drains on the side. Pull the vents on each side for better access. Spray with a rust inhibitor on everything you can get to.
Clean the rear corners of the cab.

Keep it under cover if you can.

Easy to get burnt out on a large project. Driving it while working on smaller issues helps many finish the project.
Enjoy.