"Old Brownie" build
 

Hi,
Been following/lurking for a couple years before I joined last year. I'm hoping starting this thread will help keep me motivated. Looking at all these builds has given me the "sickness"!

65 shortie step side
I 6 w/ 3 on the tree
No AC, standard heater
Been in the family since Day One. Great Grandpa bought it, sold it to his son-in-law, who sold it to his son-in-law(my dad), who let it sit. And sit. And sit

Pretty much bone stock with the exception of the 8-track and larger radiator my dad Okie'd in about 94.

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Here she is in all her glory.

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Few more pics of her...

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Was gonna cut a coil off each rear on Monday, but then I found this

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Oh Yeah!! I used to go with Dad and Grandpa to cut wood. It's only natural there would be overload springs! Especially the way we'd pile up scrub oak in the bed, sometimes up to the bottom of the window!!

So, the clamps came off pretty easy and now I have some good used old school overloads I gotta do something with.

Then, I looked, really looked at the spare tire...
Aww man, this is a bias ply radial! Probly older'n me!!!

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A little help from my "buddy" (5 yr old son) and the spare and bracket were off!
Man, how old IS this tire? Anyways, here's the overload/helper springs too.

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So, I'm thinkin, how much lower, if any, does the back sit now?
None! it sits the same after pulling the spare, but its alot bouncier back there now!!

It looks a little cleaner with no spare there. "cleaner" being a loosely used term on this truck.

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Some misc pics

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Think I've got an 80's front end lined up!! :metal: :metal:

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Well Hello and :welcoem: to the site!! Thanks for starting a thread will all the pics !
I am one of those that likes to know the history of my classics, and this one is among the coolest. At this point it is an heirloom for the family indeed!

Congrats and good luck on this, hope you keep us posted !!

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Your truck looks like a nice solid truck to start with. It is even greater that it has been in your family. I loved the overload springs...you knew that it was being worked when it was younger... Anyway, thanks for sharing your rebuild of the old girl with us. Looks like the spare has not been used in a long time...

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Thanks for the kind words, guys. My build will be slow, that's all time and money will allow at this point.
Oh, expecting to hear some cr@p for the mismatched wheels. Dad took the fronts off because one valve stem was leaking and he was too cheap to fix it.....So....I've got some 15x10 centerlines for sale if anyone's interested. (and yes, that part should be on the WTS page!)

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Dang! the front end I found is 8-lug, cr@P!! :banghead::cuss:

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Good luck on the build, will follow along

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So, I had to service my dad's pressure washer, but I got to use it. I'm not sure if this is worth 2 hrs of work or not. I know C4metalworks used oven cleaner to take some of his old paint off, can anybody fill me in on that procedure?
Oh, now that some of the paint and couple pcs of bondo are gone...I see holes!!
I knew the front corners of both doors were rotted, and the rear corner of both fenders, but didn't know about the driver's side lower sill panel. Oh well, it's only time and money! ;)

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You may have found some holes, but in the long run it will be better to know what you have under there. It is looking good. Keep working on it. I think the oven cleaner method is coupled with elbow grease and scotch brite pads.

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Thanks C@arnut. I searched on the forum, but didn't find anything laid out in steps. I did notice that leaving the oven cleaner on the black primer(over the brown, over the gray, over the red) for about 30 seconds softened it up enough some.
Any and all advice is really appreciated, after all, seeing you guys and gals with your trucks is what made me start on mine!
Thanks again.

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I hit the engine with engine brite and let it soak for about an hour, and this is what I got for the (minimal) effort.
If you look reeeeally close, you can almost see a difference.

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I think I see the difference: Less dust, more grease visible!

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So...I've moved twice since last post.(Ugghh!) Been kind of depressed that I haven't done much with her, so, I took the old rear Centerlines off, got some good used tread for the front and rear original steelies, mounted and balanced for $40 - a buddy of mine works at a tire shop.
Figured it was time to pull off the old Barden bumper. I think Grandpa had a fender bender back in the late 70's, I know they did a little work on the bumper, but I don't know that it's been off since it came off the dealer lot. Sorry about that poor schmuck in the pic, I couldn't seem to get ridda him!

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Oh, and cut that stinkin tailpipe off! It's been drivin me nuts for years!

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So, I've decided I'm gonna fix her up a little and drive it around this summer. I made a new main power wire, eliminating the ammeter in the cab. Put an inline fuel filter in, and cleaned a bunch of moving junk outta the bed. It's amazing how much 20 firebricks weigh!

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Great Start!!! Have fun, that's what it is all about...

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Progress is good anyway it comes, keep it up

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Nice build....looks like work is coming along nicely