Driver on a budget.
 

Towards the end of last year I decided it was time to look for a new vehicle since I was about to turn 300k on my current truck. In my former career I was a painter for some dealerships and I have built some nice rides in the past. So, I decided to go at it one more time. The goal - look nice, ride nice, new car reliability, four wheel discs and AC. The budget goal - $7k. I know some of you have that in wheels and tires, I want the whole truck. So here's a test of posting a picture, then I'll take it up to where I am now.

This is what I brought home in October 2011

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Yep, kinda rough and plenty of rust. I HATE rust. At least it came with a decent set of doors. So the next morning I went and talked a guy selling another truck I looked at into trading beds, of course I had to give him a little money since I was the one that wanted it.

By that afternoon I had taken it a good way apart.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

If there is one thing I could use it is more space. I took as much as I could to the basement, to my two sheds and to a spare room, but I'll have to work in sections. I would probably be finished by now if I had the space to separate everything and start from zero, but we all deal with what we have. Did I mention I hate rust?

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

I didn't want to deal with my Harbor Freight welder I've had for 25 years so I bought myself a sweet Lincoln and gave the old one to my cousin. I didn't count that towards my budget and I sure have gotten my use out of it so far. Say bubye rust!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

I see a red floor and I want to paint it black.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Last one for tonight, I'll catch up to current progress later. Sold the old barely running motor (mostly due to the wiring nightmare) and got me something a little better!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

I like it! Hope you make your budget.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Hey thanks Maxx. I actually just broke $6k so I don't think I'll beat $7k, but I'm fairly confident I'll be under $8k. So technically 7 something.

I don't want to live next to "that guy" so I definately don't want to be "that guy." Well I had to be him for just one night. I pulled the cab, painted the front of the frame, put the cab back on the next day and got it all back inside.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Remember in the beginning I said I used to paint for a living? Well during that time I used just about every paint known to man. Paint reps from every company were always coming by the shop and giving away product to try hoping to get the whole shop to switch. Any time I was working on a project for myself all I had to do was ask and poof, all the free paint I need. Even after trying them all, my favorite floor, frame, trim paint was rustoleum satin black. Now that I have to pay for everything I like it even better. By the way, even back then I couldn't get rustoleum for free, but I still used it because I liked it better. I had a cbr600 a while back that I bought in boxes. I painted the whole thing with rustoleum satin black. When I sold it the thing the kid liked most was the awsome paint job.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Unsolicited product endorsement over. While the cab was off I finished welding the cab corners and slapped a little duraglass on.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Floors, front and rear pillars, rockers? You betcha, DONE!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Subscribed! I literally lol'd at this!!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Gotta love the Stones. The young ones might not get that one.

So about this time it started getting really cold here. That means I didn't get a whole lot done and fell behind schedule. Not that I have a schedule other than forward progress. I did bring the engine harness to the basement to modify for standalone. Even if you are buying a harness or sending it out to be modified I highly suggest heading over to lt1swap.com and getting all the information you could posibly need for an lsx swap. I also suggest sending your computer to him for a very reasonably priced reflash. It's the least we could do for a guy that built an incredible sight with the sole purpose of helping people like us.

Before, during and after pictures of the harness. And one of the parts pile since everybody likes those.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

It that a 4.8 or a 5.3?

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

It turns out the spare doors that came with the truck weren't as good as I'd hoped. They were better than the ones that were on it so I worked them on up. I had to weld up many molding and emblem holes as they were off a camper special. There was a little bit of rust to cut out of both and the drivers door had the torn upper hing pocket thing. I had to cut off the top layer, weld up the hinge support and then fabricate and weld on a new outer layer. I forgot to get pictures of that one, doh! The drivers window frame was way out of alignment and would hit the cab when closed. Searching the forum I found this isn't terribly uncommon as the tolerances weren't that tight when these were built. When I first went to work in a body shop one of the guys told me, "there's a torch, a welder and a frame machine - everythings adjustable." So I set about adjustin.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Nice build! Looking great and a shortbed restored with an LS drivetrain will be awesome if you can keep it under 10K much less 8!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

I tried to stay within a budget once... that didnt work out so well... good luck! Trucks lookn good!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

It's a 5.3

The window frame was much better, but still had a wider gap on the back edge than I would have liked. I had a friend that owned a very high end hot rod shop and he told me about tacking a welding rod to the edge to fine tune the gap. I had never done it but it turns out it was actually very easy to do.

My friends hot rod shop? He closed it down to go and be the chief fabricator for one of the top names in Nascar!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Thanks for the encouragement guys. As for the budget, it's not that I couldn't go bigger, I just want to challenge myself and show what can be done with labor vs money.

I almost forgot the gas blockoff, last one for tonight. Another half dozen or so and we'll be up to date. I guess I've done more than I thought.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

nice build, great job on the floors/rust. keep it goin!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

I borrowed a spot weld dent puller from a friend. I didn't have the proper receptacle so I improvised. Don't try this at home, and whatever you do don't tell OSHA. :lol:

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

I went around the truck with the dent puller and there was one area on the passenger rear bedside that I just couldn't do much with. So I cut it off, beat it into submission and welded it back on.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

nice work!

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Soda blasting is nice, but a can of stripper and some 80 grit is about $965 cheaper. Also did yet another test fit to tweak any edges.

Re: Driver on a budget.
 

Got another tailgate in much better condition than the one I had. There are two mini junkyards around here dedicated to these trucks. I bought the tailgate at one and the factory AC stuff that was missing from my truck from the other. You can see the AC parts in the parts pile photo above.