Hey Guys - First I'd like to say Im so glad I found this site! For a while now I've been looking for a project to do with my 11 year old son. Although I am a diesel fanatic I have always wanted to build a 67-72 GM pickup. After watching Craigslist for what felt like years looking at hacked up trucks the other morning I spotted a two owner Green (thus why we lovingly call her booger) 1970 Long Bed 350/Auto/PS/PB/and something you gotta have her in AZ AC!! The price of a mere $1000 (non running) seemed decent and on my arrival I found a pretty unmolested rust free truck! After a little haggling due to the pictures not showing the bashed in drivers side front due to a deer collision we came to a deal. This is gonna be a long first post because we worked ALL weekend on it.
Here is the truck sitting in the yard:
Done deal we loaded it on the trailer and made a quick stop at Home Depot for some Honey Do's supplies:
Finally resting in my minimal garage space:
Even though I planned on freshening up the tired old 350 I couldn't help but try and get the old girl running. Threw in a fresh battery and I Drained the gas and put in some fresh and turned the key and she cranked! Here is the gas that came out of the tank:
Needless to say the guy said it was running 6 months ago but not very well then suddenly died. so I did some more investigating and found the fuel line from the hard line to the fuel pump looked like this:
Replaced the line and it still wasnt pumping fuel. Ok must be the pump? Next morning I headed over to Napa and grabbed me a new fuel pump. 4 hours and 15 new cuts on my hands later the pump was in. Did it pump fuel? Heck no. Time to tear out the seat and get at that gas tank. Upon removing the pickup line I found the problem and I wish I had gotten a picture because the pickup tube is sitting in about 3 inches of gum and plugged solid.
Whats the best way to clean out an old tank?
Anyway ok its not gonna run this weekend I guess its time to get rid of all the collision parts and see what we have to work with body wise. Time to remove the front bumper, Hood, Quarter Panel, Grille, and whatever else is bent.
Pic of my boy hard at work:
After removing the deer inflicted wound what we have to work with:
And thats as far as we got this weekend. Next week I hope to get the old 350 mill yanked and start the clean up process under the hood where there is about 6" of thick dirt and oil.
Hoping someone on here can point me in the best direction for something to strip all that gunk off the frame. Im not building a show truck, just a driver and someday pass this truck down to my son but I'd like it to start off at least clean. Well none of the honey do's got done this weekend but I'll update as I progress!