I figure I would try my hand at this and try to keep more of a running log of things of what is happening to the old 70. This weekend I got a good bit done, so I'll start the thread from there.

Saturday I had finished stripping and painting the rear part of the frame. I decided to pull out the trailing arms and panhard rod to put new bushings in them. After I pulled them. I soaked them in oven-cleaner, then pressure washed the oil and grime from the trailing arms. Prepped and painted everything with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator.

Today started by pressing out the old bushing from everything and installing the new poly bushing in the panard and trailing arms. Once I got back home, I installed and tightened everything down.

Next came the work to put in my blazer tank. My tank is from a 72 blazer. I had painted the tank the other day when I was doing the trailing arms. The tanks had been cleaned and coated with Eastwood's tanks stuff from the guy I got it from.

I couldn't find my tank hooks (they were her Friday...stupid shop ate them I guess :rolleyes: ), so I used some dowel rods, lock nuts as a substitute. Cut the rods to about a 8" length for starters. I lifted the tank into place, and held it with the jack.

I used a split fuel line as a buffer between the lower frame rail and the tank to prevent metal to metal rubbing from happening. Snugged everything down and cut the dowel rods off shorter. I may cut them more later, but who knows.

For those of you wondering about clearance here are a few shots. Mine is stock suspensions, so from the tank to the floor is 13".

Now to figure out how to run the fuel filler and what I need to modify on the bed. So on with the bed, temporarily anyways. The rear brace has to be notched to clear the top of the tank, you can see the approximate cut in red.

I have some extra cross rails from a step side bed I may try to use to add some strength when I cut the fleet side brace. I'll work that out once I figure the cuts and all.

Originally I was going to do the fuel filler behind the side marker, but my filler tube is forward of the brace and clears for some reason which form others on the board seemed to have a problem with.

I think now I am going to look at installing a fuel door in the rear wheel tube, and run the filler to there. I may also just install a marine type fuel filler in the tube. Hmmm......decisions, decisions.

Anyways, she sits now with the bed on wood blocks waiting for me to get back and cut the brace and work out the fuel filler details.

Nice job and good pics. I personally like a fuel door coming out od the side of the bed. Looks like factory when you get the door off a burb. Or 73 up truck. My friend did this to his and it looks good.

-
Lookin good Bill. I wish I was gettin' something done.....:o

LockDoc

Bill,

The truck is looking great. Why not put your fuel filler in the bedside?

Rob

BarryB and Hart_Rod.....I'm still debating that too. My outer bedsides are really nice and my welding is still in the learning stages, I guess I'm afraid of warping the bedside. I have a square fuel door assembly from an 84 GMC truck that might end up on the bed side. Still looking at ideas.

Looks good Bill.

Looks good Bill, wish I coulda got down there Friday.:(

Holy crap, that section doesn't even exist on my truck. I guess I will need to think of plan B for gas tank relocation!

Thomas

looks good...looks like you got alot done...what size tank is it..

Great progress! Gotta love build threads.

Looking good Bill!!! Keep it up!

Keep the pics coming Bill!!!!

I got some more done on it today. Jacked the bed up and braced it so I could cut the cross brace that was in the way of the tank. This time I was smart enough to take off the wheel so I could maneuver the engine hoist easier. I cut the brace from the the inside edge of the frame to the other side. That way I still have the reinforced bolt mounting areas. Once I confirmed it cleared, I cleaned up the area and shot the area with some rustolium for now.

Everything clears real well. Now I have to work it to my filler. I think because of tire clearance issues, I am going to put a filler door in the bedside, then run it to the tank. Trying to put it in the wheel tube would create a clearance issue, especially if I ever decide to go with a larger wheel/tire.

I am probably going to have to notch the cross brace again so I can run the filler line and not have a low spot in the filler tube line

While I waited for paint to dry, I removed the lower trim form the bed sides. Mostly make busy work. I then mapped out about where I want the fuel door to be, then I used the ole plasma cutter to make an access hole on the inner bed wall. I have a section from an 84 GMC truck, but I don't like how it fits in the area, so its off to find a fuel door panel. Hit one of the small yards I normally hit and he didn't have anything he would let me cut up ( GM Truck/blazer). I may try the U-pull it place tomorrow (weather dependent) after I get my daughter off to school. Things may slow down a bit since I start back to work again tomorrow or Thursday.

Last couple shots is how the old girl sits now. Once the bumper is back on, I don't think the tank will even be visible.

Well off to pick up the youngun and play Hot Wheels! :metal:

Very nice thanks for the pics

Nice build!

Any pics of your bed lift?

LooseCannon
Here is the thread showing how I made mine. It's not super hitech, but it does work.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=207661&highlight=Lift

While I waited for paint to dry, I removed the lower trim form the bed sides. Mostly make busy work. I then mapped out about where I want the fuel door to be, then I used the ole plasma cutter to make an access hole on the inner bed wall. I have a section from an 84 GMC truck, but I don't like how it fits in the area, so its off to find a fuel door panel. Hit one of the small yards I normally hit and he didn't have anything he would let me cut up ( GM Truck/blazer). I may try the U-pull it place tomorrow (weather dependent) after I get my daughter off to school. Things may slow down a bit since I start back to work again tomorrow or Thursday.

Last couple shots is how the old girl sits now. Once the bumper is back on, I don't think the tank will even be visible.

Well off to pick up the youngun and play Hot Wheels! :metal:

Bill - I got a round one out of a 80's Nissan Sentra. It's about 5 1/2 in diameter and has a remote release.

Rob

Between troubleshoot (and not fixing :( ) the daughter car and the Dodge, I was able to get some time in on the 70. I began merging of old and new so to speak. I picked up a fuel filler door from a 88-98 model C1500, and started the grafting into my bed side. I spent a couple weeks working on the measuremetns on how the panel will fit and the tube will run. Today, was getting the patch into place.

I roughed out a hole with the plasma cutter, then clamped in the door from the backside to get the measurements for it's patch. I trimmed up the cut areas so the patch would fit in smoothly.

Now it was stitching in the panel. Man it is hard to not try and rush this. I guess I was lucky as I had two other problem vehicles to work on while things cooled down between stitching.

Anyways, it is not too bad. I'll have to do a bit more welding to final it up, then I can work on finishing the tube, then make the cover panels for the inside of the be.

:cool: Glad to see you're making progress. BTW Ed got me to Barry's, it turned out to be a better way of going anyways.:D I'm going back down there Tuesday morning, depending on the weather, hopefully it will be the last trip. One of the two 200's works, gotta stab the other one in my truck and see how it does.

Kool. I may be looking for a tranny too, for a Bonneville. :(

That fuel filler door looks great. It's just a hair higher than mine. At that spot everything should line up nicely with the blazer tank. I love mine. It's one of those neat things most people won't even notice :D

I finished up the welding tonight. Test fitted the door and filler neck. Everything lined up real nice. The filler neck is right in line with the tank and just a hair higher. It clears the brace under the inner bed fender tub, so it doesn't appear I'll have to do any more trimming on it. Once I lift the bed back off again, I'll adjust the tubes so they will be same diameter. I had to do a little dolly work to smooth things out. Thin layer of filler. I' don't think I should need anything else, but I'll know more when I get back to sanding hopefully later in the week.

Next will be building up the enclosure for the inside of the bed. I have a few Ideas working in my head, but not sure exactly what I am going to do yet.

Looks good Bill! I think we're going to be ready to roll by Cruizin the Coast, ;).

Rob

looks like a pro is working on this ordeal, nice project going well, wish I was part of the project @ hand.... sweet sweet

Very nice work! Always cool to see something different.

I just did the same thing on my 80 GMC... I used a square hole door with mine though, and while it is straight as compared to the bodyline, the wheel well opening makes it look horrible crooked. I'm thinking I'll probally go the same route as you did, and change to a round fuel door to eliminate that crooked look.

Also may have to cut out the inner box wall similar to how you did so I can do some dolley work, and get the back side all rust proofed, so I don't have rot coming through from the back side.

Keep up the good work!

Nice work! enjoying the thread, keep the pics coming. J

WOW!! Some real progress there, Bill. Lookin' good. :metal:

Great job on the work, Bill. That is a gorgeous truck!
Dave

Welcome to the board windancer.:D

Nice buildup and pictures. Timely too, as I'll be ordering my Blazer tank soon and expect to follow your path very closely. Thx again.

WinDancer thanks for the comments and like Krue said welcome to the board. I think she'll look a lot better when I get the pieces all back together. Not making much progress at the moment due to playing single dad for a while while the wife is away at school.

From the depths of the cob webs she arose. First time since beginning of January that I have had time to do something other than walk by her. She was so excited to see me with the tools and the welder she pee'd on the floor. Ooops, never mind, that was me not her. :rolleyes:

I cleaned up the inner skin around where I added the fuel door, then I painted everywhere I could reach with some Eastwood, then sprayed rust converter where I couldn't reach for now.

Started making panels to fill in the inner wall of the bed. I got one two pieces welded part way in, then I ran out of gas for the welder. I cut the other inner bed wall panel and have it held in plce for welding later. Started to clean up the welds some, then I got side tracked because my compressor threw a belt and the engine pulley isn't locking in correctly. Hopefully I have ot fixed for now, but we'll see when I start giving it a work out later on.

Got side tracked helping a friend with his car (in our monsoon). Last think before clean up was making templates for the box/cover that will hide the fill tube. Templates are set, not to cut some metal and weld it up also.

It felt so good to work on here again. Hopefully after this month, I'll have more time on it since the wife and I won't be on the road so much.

OK my rant is done. Hopefully this won't sink to the 6th layer of hell again before I get to work on it some more.

:cool: You need to get through with yours so I can park mine in your shop and work on it.

From the depths of the cob webs she arose. First time since beginning of January that I have had time to do something other than walk by her. She was so excited to see me with the tools and the welder she pee'd on the floor. Ooops, never mind, that was me not her. :rolleyes:

I cleaned up the inner skin around where I added the fuel door, then I painted everywhere I could reach with some Eastwood, then sprayed rust converter where I couldn't reach for now.

Started making panels to fill in the inner wall of the bed. I got one two pieces welded part way in, then I ran out of gas for the welder. I cut the other inner bed wall panel and have it held in plce for welding later. Started to clean up the welds some, then I got side tracked because my compressor threw a belt and the engine pulley isn't locking in correctly. Hopefully I have ot fixed for now, but we'll see when I start giving it a work out later on.

Got side tracked helping a friend with his car (in our monsoon). Last think before clean up was making templates for the box/cover that will hide the fill tube. Templates are set, not to cut some metal and weld it up also.

It felt so good to work on here again. Hopefully after this month, I'll have more time on it since the wife and I won't be on the road so much.

OK my rant is done. Hopefully this won't sink to the 6th layer of hell again before I get to work on it some more.
love the cardboard template looks like we think alike!!!
i did my center counsole just like that (check it out in my build thread)

:cool: You need to get through with yours so I can park mine in your shop and work on it.

I know, and I need to get up there and bring some parts back too.

Hey, does yours move at all yet again?? I mean on it's own power.

love the cardboard template looks like we think alike!!!
i did my center counsole just like that (check it out in my build thread)
Thanks...Yeah I saw yours, that was nice. Gotta use theose old boxes for something once the parts come out of them. :D

Few little things done, although I forgot to take pictures during the work. I guess I got to excited being able to actually work on it again.

I did some more work on the filler area on the inside of the bed. I finished welding the inside of the inner bed wall and started the fabrication for the fuel filler cover/box. I took my carboad template and outlined it on some steel (old bedside) that I had. I had to work up some tabs, and since I don't have a break, I made my bends by first scribing the metal with my cutoff wheel, then using an old railroad tie as an anvil, I hammered the bens nto place.
Again, sorry, I forgot to take pictures. One note, if you use thins method (scribe metal and hand bend, once it is bent put some tack welds on the scribe to strengthen it. I am not sure it is always meeded, but that it what I was shown many years ago.

If I keep doing this stuff, I think a small brake will be on Santa's list.

I have the lid/top cover mostly made, I just need to smooth out the edges, drill the tacking holes, grind my scribe welds, than tack her into place.

I started sealing the seams, but ran out of seam sealer. Now that [I] think of it, I guess I should have finished the welding all the way first. OH well, we'll see what happens when I go to smooth out all the seams I am going to use Eastwood on the undersides, along with spray in bed line. The entire inside of the bed will also be done with the spray/paint in bed liner, so it should blend in OK later on.

Oh well, maybe I'll remember more pictures next go round.

bill , the trucks looking great, that gas filler door has turned out nice. well , keep us posted on the progress!!!!

Looks kinda familiar....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v623/pzimmerer/DSCN0628.jpg

I was able to get a little more done on the truck over the last couple of nights. I finished up welding in the top piece of the fuel filler cover. Some sanding an seam sealer and a little prime to hold it till I finish stripping and spraying the bed. I can see a few things I need to smooth out more, but I made a couple baby steps.

Lookin Good!!!

Nice work, Bill!

Just cuz I feel like posting some more. First shot is of the inside of the filler box, coated with rust converter and spray in bed liner.

Then I just felt like taking some of the truck. Side and rear view. Almost looks like it could roll. ;) Oh well, she'll be there some day.

Didn't get much more done on here today due to the other 70s model (the 72 Snapper) broke down. It decided to go on strike during yard chores today. It self destructed a drive pulley. Gotta love the classics :D

Hopefully I'll get back on the bed tomorrow stripping down the crude from the inside.

Looks good Bill, but you're gonna have to watch the dead spot between the cover and the fender, looks like a place for water to stand.

I felt pretty good getting the filler neck cover done (Yes, I'll be working on the water thing Krue). This evening I started scrapping the bed, I noticed a much more liberal use of RTV and paint to cover rust than what I first thought when I got the 69's bed. Just about the time I think I am through with the welding....Oh well. It shouldn't be too bad to patch the front portion. I was debating on whether to take the front bed piece off anyways, this just made the answer absolute.

I still have some more to dig out of the passenger side, but it doesn't appear to be as bad over there. Dang that stuff is a pain to remove too!

Taking that step backwards again.

Yanked the bed off the truck and put it on the stand so I can work on the newly found rust areas at the front of the bed floor and inner sides.

Those corner bolts between the front panel and bed floor are a B^%$# to get off, especially if your bed floor is shot. With the front panel off you can see what was previously covered by RTV and thick paint.

I cut out the spots at the the front edge of the bed floor that were rusted out and welded in some new pieces. I still have to work the both corners of the bed floor, especially the drivers side. I also need to make some "L shaped patches" to replaced the lower front inner panels of the bed sides. That is going to be fun.

Oh, just in case you didn't know, if you do not get all the RTV cleaned off in the areas near where you are welding, it makes some real neat flames when you have your face down into it. :crazy:

Anyways here is where I am at on the bed patches. I have to touch up a few places, but got tired of the flames and didn't feel like cleaning up RTV any more today, so I went into rest mode.

well it looks like youre having fun, and looks like you have slightly less holes than i do exept mine isnt rust, stupid po's

Got some more done on the bed today. Sometimes it seems like it takes an eternity to do these patches, but gotta go slow or create more work. I finished welding in the floor end of the bed, then I started on the rusted out inner bedside. Cut out the bad and made a patch from an old bedside. First shot is after some tacking. Second shot is where I left off today. I still need to tack/filling some holes in the floor, then do the passenger side inner bedside.

Hopefully this week I'll get to work on it some more instead of being stuck with WORK. :(

Looking good Bill, keep plugging away.

R

some good progress

Bill, I know how you feel. Sometimes the more you look the more you find that needs to be fixed and wonder how did I not see that before. Hang in there. The worst part should be behind you now.

Dang Bill, at least you're getting some work done on yours.:D

I was able to get some more done today. Worked on the passenger inner bed side. I had to cut a bit more out that I originally thought because of some rust in spots higher up.

Not the straightest cut but I needed to keep it below the bend in the bed since I didn't want to figure out how to fab that out of my limited hand tools.

Used the old piece, or what would stay together as a partial template. Cut and bent it, then trimmed it to fit.

Man, those hard drive magnets are life savers. Thanks for the tip EdB. It gives me the many extra hands I never have. These babies have gotten a very healthy workout on this truck.

She is tacked in. I have to clean up the welds then finish her up. It looks like I should be able to begin the tedious task of stripping the inside and outside of the bed and get it in some eastwood & primer.

I think I was wetter leaving the shop than my wife and son were when they returned from the city pool. It is hot and welding in it didn't help the heat factor very much. But, I mayhave been wet and smelly, but I was another step closer.

your repair work is looking good. I had to do that same fix on the font part of the bed. Are those magnets just right out of a hard drive? I guess they hold well.? I bought some of those triangle magnets from harbor freight, but they are not very strong. nice work.

y.........Are those magnets just right out of a hard drive? I guess they hold well.? I bought some of those triangle magnets from harbor freight, but they are not very strong. nice work.
Yes they are from old PC hard drives I had lying around and they are VERY strong, sometimes I think too strong, but they do test the strength of my welds. :D

Well, made a little more progress today. I didn't get a lot of time as I had to clean up a bunch of trees and limbs that came down in a storm during the week. Finished sanding up (for now) the patches on the front of the bed. What an improvement over what was there under all that RTV.

Cleaned things up and shot some primer and rust paint on the inside panels, and hits the bed area with a little primer so it's not just bare metal while I strip the rest.

I had to shift things around in the shop so I could have the bed near the front door where I could roll it outside to do the sanding of the bed. Trucks do not move very well with just a floor jack. Darn thing is heavy with a engine in it. :rolleyes: I need to get some of those wheelie caster things I guess. It took a while, but I got things arranged and cleaned the shop to boot. :clap: :clap:

Started stripping the outside of the bed. The air tools sure make it nice, but this thing has about 15 layers of paint. Man they laid it on!!

Didn't get real far as shoving that truck around tard me out :o

Oh well I better quit :blah: :blah: and read some posts from folks.

Nice work!

Very nice! My bed is in similar condition. I have seen my future...

-Mark

Good work Bill!

Been a productive weekend. Finally got some time yesterday and today to do the monotonous work of stripping the bed. But, before I got started I aded my latest shop addition, wheel dollies, to make shifting the 70 around a bit easier.

There is like 80 zillion layers of paint on the bed the came from the 69. It was a job cutting down through it. Unfortunately I found things I didn't like. On the passenger side (rear) I found a large spot of bondo on the side and around the taillight housing. I can't see any holes they tried to cover or bad dents, so I am hoping that side someone way trying to smooth it out some, maybe even the factory (unlikely for the size, but it was under even the original color). The driver side had a couple small spots of bondo (plus mine from the tank door install), but nothing major. I did find some rust holes buried under some bondo. On both sides I found the bondo over holes for tool boxes and rails, so between those and the rust spot, the welder will be out again.

What worries me the most is what I found near the end of today when I started on the tailgate. What appears to be just tons of bondo. I know (especially back then) that they did do filler at the factory to smooth some things out, but the tailgate seems to be all over the major smooth areas with it.

I was glad at all the progress I made, especially since the bed had a lot more layers of paint than I originally anticipated. However, after seeing what was under the paint, especially the tailgate, it was kind of depressing. The gate wasn't perfect, but I wasn't looking to find a bondo factory, whoever put it one there. Again, it appears to be even under the original color of the 69, so I don't know. I guess I'll find out more when I get back to stripping more of it later in the week.

For not truck and bed are on their strollers and tucked in for the night.

Well if the tailgate is not rusted I say save it. It is either all of this work or spend 400.00 dollars for bedsides and 325.00 for a gate.

Well if the tailgate is not rusted I say save it. It is either all of this work or spend 400.00 dollars for bedsides and 325.00 for a gate.

Oh, I definitely plan on saving it.

Where did ya get those dollys I really need a set... Progress looks really good too glad to see that Im nto the only one who got somethingdone..

Harbor Freight.

Thanks bill...

Got to spend a few hours today doing some more paint stripping. Worked on the outside of the tailgate. As I mentioned, there was a good bit of bondo on it. They tried to cover a lot of dings with it. I may need to do a little bit of rebondo-ing when I get ready for paint to smooth things out, but she turned out to be a bit better than what I was originally thinking. It's not the original gate, they must have got it from the 71 truck that evidently donated a lot of things to the 69 it was on.

The outside of the bed is pretty much ready for a quick run over with 80 grit sanding, then shooting it. Also got most of one side of the inside of the bed stripped, and worked on the floor too. Got about 1/3 of the bed floor stripped and the rust wired off. Who knows, I may get some Eastwood on it in the next week or so it it keeps rolling along.

Man, who would think with all the tools and stuff it would take so long to strip 8000 layers of paint off this thing. I did the front panel today and around the area's I patched some more. I then painted all the joining areas with Eastwood. Unfortunately I did not have the black, so it got silver instead. It'll all be re-shot soon though. I just wanted to seal those hidden areas.

Bolted the front panel back on so it would stabilize the bedsides while I finish up the rest, hopefully a bunch later today.