Captain America 68 short/fleetside

[gottattooz]

Here's the damage report on the captain.
Front bumper
Chrysler grille
Right fender
Radiator
Trans oil cooler
Both electric fans
Air filter
Grille surround
Core support
Headlight bezels
Inner fender
Hood.
Battery tray

I'll beat out the hood and fender.

Got a new radiator, core support, trans cooler, air filter and a replacement bumper from a 71-72 c10. I'm just trying to make it driveable again.

- Josh

[flashed]

Josh ,the swap meet at Commerce once a month may be a good place to find what you need if you dont find it here .

[colgad]

I can send you a trans cooler and headlight bezels if you pay for shipping. Send me your fan spec's I have a few of them laying around too. I may have a inner fender (side?) but i am not shipping that, you'll have to come and get it!!! :-)

Dave

[gottattooz]

I just need headlight bezels, Dave. I already have a trans cooler, air filter, replacement bumper and a core support on the way. Brought the bumper and fender to work to see if I can straighten them out a bit. I've got body hammers, but they're in Florida, of course. Met a really cool old man in Douglasville who parts out c10s and he's got a battery tray for me. Just text me your PayPal info, and I'll send you my mailing address.

- Josh

[flashed]

What is the guys name in Douglasville (send PM if you like) ,it may be my old contact there that I lost his name and number .He most definitely had the parts and a good guy if the same one.

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by flashed

What is the guys name in Douglasville (send PM if you like) ,it may be my old contact there that I lost his name and number .He most definitely had the parts and a good guy if the same one.

His name is James Thompson, and he lives on West chapel pine road. He's got mostly 69-72 stuff.

My radiator support showed up today, so I started digging in.

I relocated the torn signals into the bumper.

- Josh

[flashed]

That is not the guy I knew but good info all the same .

[gottattooz]

Made some progress on the captain. New core support, radiator, electric fans and trans oil cooler. Still need to straighten the passenger fender and put it back together, but one day at a time.

- Josh

[gottattooz]

I spent a few hours trying to straighten the right fender. I used ratchet straps to pull the fender using a tree in the yard and the rear bumper of the wagon. I thought I was doing a decent job until I tried to bolt it back on the truck. The inner fender doesn't line up with any of the holes and it's crinkle above the wheel opening pretty bad. I hung the front bumper just to see how it'll look with the turn signals on it. I've still got to work on the hood. It's bent in more than I thought.

- Josh

[swamp rat]

I know you need to get the thing on the road and limited funds but i think the hood and fender are pretty much toast unless you can figure out a way to remove the inner support structure then straighten each piece separately and weld back together, not sure anybody has ever done that.. Good luck!

[gottattooz]

I got the fender to bolt up and be functional again. I'm planning to pull up to the tree and pull on the hood until the latch lines up again.

-Josh

[colgad]

I ever got your address to send the bezels! It is looking a lot better.

[C10hacker]

im officially in. This is one sick build/transformation. You've given me a ton of ideas for my build. Good luck with the repairs.

[gottattooz]

I got around to installing the headlights and wiring up the electric fans, installed the bumper and plugged in the turn signals. Apparently, the brackets are different for the 67-70. And the 71-72 bumpers. Only the two center bottom bolts are holding the bumper on until I make some brackets or new holes in the bumper.

I topped off the coolant so I could run the truck and check the trans oil level. Well, apparently I didn't mount the engine oil cooler delete plate gasket properly, because it puked all 6 quarts of oil on the ground in about 15 seconds.

I remounted the oil cooler block off plate and gasket, topped off the engine oil and coolant, then drove it back and forth in the driveway too check for any immediate driveability issues. Plus now I can drive it over to the big tree In the yard to try to straighten out the hood so it'll latch again.

I noticed the wheel weights on the inside of the right front tire are smashed, so I'm concerned there might be damage to the spindle where the tie rod end attaches. Clearance on the driver's side looks about the same, so it might have been that way all along.

- Josh

[gottattooz]

I can't find a phantom grille for the captain, so I figured I'd make my own. I thought the mesh was thicker than it ended up being, but I was afraid of thicker mesh blocking the light from the headlights.

I wrapped a section of mesh around the front to get a rough idea what it was going to look like.

I dropped the bumper, screwed a pair of 1x4's to the valance and painted them black.

I screwed the mesh to the wood with wood screws and washers.

- Josh

[gottattooz]

I screwed the top of the mesh every 5 inches and cut the excess off the top.

I marked off the bolts and sprayed them flat black to make them less noticeable.

I wish it was a little thicker wire, but it was only $11 at Lowe's, so no big deal.

- Josh

[gottattooz]

Happy early Christmas to me. I found a cab and front clip within 15 miles of the house for $450.00. Dad and I picked it up today. The cab needs typical cab corners and rockers, but the interior is gorgeous!

- Josh

[gottattooz]

It's so clean inside, dash pad isn't cracked or damaged. The driver's door inner door panel is mangled on the bottom front, but that's probably the worst of it.

- Josh

[GR8-68]

Congratulations !! Glad you bought that cb so I didn't have to pull it back to NC I was watching it on CL. Looks like a really good deal on it

[colgad]

Originally Posted by gottattooz

Happy early Christmas to me. I found a cab and front clip within 15 miles of the house for $450.00. Dad and I picked it up today. The cab needs typical cab corners and rockers, but the interior is gorgeous!

- Josh

I am glad your going to fix the truck!!!!
Great buy on that cab!

[gottattooz]

The first order of business is to get rid of the mesh grille I made to protect the radiator from debris. I pulled the front clip off the new parts truck. I straightened the grille as best I could.

- Josh

[gottattooz]

I painted the grille flat black to match the truck, removed the signal lights and bowtie. I straightened the hoops as best I could within reason. After installing the grille, I know for certain I need another hood, without a doubt. This one's toast. But it looks way better than the chicken wire.

- Josh

[fecklessgadfly]

Originally Posted by gottattooz

I painted the grille flat black to match the truck, removed the signal lights and bowtie. I straightened the hoops as best I could within reason. After installing the grille, I know for certain I need another hood, without a doubt. This one's toast. But it looks way better than the chicken wire.

- Josh

I dunno, I was kinda digging the mad max/chicken wire look. Lol.

Glad to see the repairs, this has been one of my favorite build threads.

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by fecklessgadfly

I dunno, I was kinda digging the mad max/chicken wire look. Lol.

Glad to see the repairs, this has been one of my favorite build threads.

Give me your address, I'll send you the chicken coop grille! Lol.

- Josh

[gottattooz]

I made a cab lifting jig from what I've seen on the forum. While it got the job done, it was white knuckles the whole time. I even left the bench seat and fuel tank in to offset the weight of the firewall, but it was very tipsy unloading from the trailer. We used a furniture dolly, some 2x4's and a pallet to roll it around on the driveway.

- Josh