Project "Murdock"- '67 SWB GMC

[Dingfodgy]

I've been active on this site for awhile now and have been tinkering with my project, sooooooo I thought I might start a Build Thread and get some ideas & feedback from ya'll.

It's a fairly simple plan, but the excecution is going to take some time to work through. The truck already had the drop spindles in the front and what appears to be lowered leaf springs in the back. Needless to say it's gonna get bagged. If $$$ allows a drop member would be nice. Out back the leafs are gonna get tossed for a triangulated 4-link, also on bags.
For now I'm going to do a simple re-ring and bearing on the OG 283, but the factory NP435 w/ trashed syncro's in 3rd and 4th will get swapped out for a 5-speed of undetermined source (T5, TKO, NV3500).

The body...now that is where the work is gonna take place. This thing sat in a field (in the soggy NW) for about 5-7 years before I got ahold of it. As you can imagine everything south of the seat tracks is rife with rust, rot and general sheet metal misery. But the fun doesn't stop there. The roof also rusted through most of the drip rail and in the front corners by the windshield. I've since spent a great deal of time cutting out the rotten gutters and have now gone to the shaved drip rail look. Once all the rust mitigation is done, then I'll start the mods. I've got a couple ideas for a completely new and custom dash that will stay under wraps until I get it close to done. Of course smoothing and caping the firewall will be involved and probably some manner of one-off inner fenders and radiator cover. Roll pan for sure out back and I'm knockin' around some ideas for a front bumper.

Enough talkin'- here's the photographic story so far.....

The day I brought it home.

[VA72C10]

Sounds like it needs lots of love but really like the plans you have for it!!!

[Dingfodgy]

Once I started stripping it down the suprises just kept coming.

[Dingfodgy]

Slowly but surely I've been "fixing" the rust...starting at the roof.

[Dingfodgy]

Worked a bit more on the drip rails last week. I still have about 2-feet above the windshield left to do. However, my A.D.D. kicked in and I went out and got some of the lower patch panels and started working on that.

*Cab Corners
*Inner rockers w/ floor extensions
*Outer rockers
*Kick panels
*Lower "A" pillar

[Dingfodgy]

Oh yeah, I also picked up a pair of 90's C/K Lowback bucket seats and spent a day cutting down one of the brackets by 2". I still need to do the other one here in the next few days.

[67chevy1series]

or i like a good 67 now lets see some pics without that rear bumper

[Dingfodgy]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

or i like a good 67 now lets see some pics without that rear bumper

Currently it is a GMC. But I do have all the components needed to convert to Chevy if I choose. In fact the Bowtie core support is in much better shape then the GMC one....so I may switch, but having a tricked out and dumped GMC would be awesome too- you just don't see as many of them!

The Grille after stripping off the $H!!ty paint!


The Rear End after ditchin' that hideous and effin' heavy "bumper"!


Oh yeah- Spent about 2 full days welding up 67 frickin holes after removing all the snaps for the long gone vinyl tonneau cover.

[VA72C10]

Nice work on the repairs. Grille came out looking good!

[67chevy1series]

dude you went out and bought another grille just jokin it looks killer

[Dingfodgy]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

dude you went out and bought another grille just jokin it looks killer

Thanks for the compliments- it makes all the work seem ALMOST worthwhile! I'll post up some pics later tonight of the progress I made today. Granted it ain't much 'cause DAYUM....it's hot (95-100) and my rickety old gararge has no A.C., insulation, or adequate air-movement capabilities. Therefore toiling with a welder all day is brutal.

[Dingfodgy]

Well, it finally cooled down 'round here and I had some time today after my "honey-do's" were done, so I went out to the shop and got after it some more.

Before I dispense with the progress, I'd like us all to bow our heads and have a moment of silence for my trusty welder.....she lived a long and often abused life, but never missed a beat until last week when her ticker (transformer) finally gave out. She'll lay in state until I have the $$$ for a better unit- Miller SP140 hopefully!



Being as the buzz-box is dead- I couldn't get any work done on the patch panels or drip-rails. So I focused my attention to pulling off the bed, and begin stripping the frame of all it's leaf spring accoutraments. G.D. those rivets can be a PITA to get out. Once I get all the brackets and hangers removed- I'll start mocking up the 4-Link brackets and upper bag mount/cross member.
Not sure if I want to go with a step-notch or just "Z" the whole back half of the frame 6". Whaddya'll think would be the better method of getting the a$$ end down?


Also, what would you guy's use to clean this honkin' wad of grease that slightly resembles my rear differential?

[VA72C10]

spray some oven cleaner on then use a pressure washer if you have it.

[67chevy1series]

well looking good keep it up

[Dingfodgy]

Well sucka's- we are back in business! Picked up myself a second-hand welder and got back to getting the cab patched up and ready for media blasting.

First I had to replace the bottom of the A-Pillar. This required a bit of pie-cutting and "finessing" with a series of well place hammer blows.



Then it was time to reattach the cleaned up and de-rust-ified lower B-Pillar. Since it was the OEM part- fitting this up was refreshingly simple.



After that I realized I needed to section the inner rocker and floor extension piece- cuz it just wasn't fitting up right as it was. Took about 3/16" out and got it welded back together.



Lemme tell anybody who is starting out on their own project- Getting a replacement panel that fits without modification is as rare as rocking horse sh!t. Be prepared to slice, dice and monkey around with re-pop parts. Knowing this from the get go will certainly spare you some potential aggravation.

Finally, I decided to re-hang my door- just to make sure things were still kosher. I still have some inner rocker "tuning" to do, but the East-West gaps are looking good. But since I shaved the drip rails- the northern gap is heinous! Not quite sure what I'm gonna do about that, but I'm sure a workable plan will eventually find it's way through my brain that is clogged with malted hops and bong resins. Therefore any advice is pleasantly welcomed.



That'a all for now- I'm hoping to get inner rocker, kick panel and cab corner situated this weekend. Then it'll be on to getting the all important outer rocker dial in.

L8R,

Troy

[Dingfodgy]

Just realized that I might have f'ed up big-time! If you look at the photo where I sectioned the inner rocker.....I'm getting this nagging feeling that the kick panel flange is supposed to be behind the inner rocker, not in front of it. Being as the other side of the truck is also rotted out- I don't have a reliable point of reference.

Could somebody please confirm the assembly order of these two panels?

Thanks a bunch fellas!

Troy

[Dingfodgy]

I'm really starting to dislike flux-core welding- I gotta get me some gas and real welding wire. I can't believe how much welding and grinding is involved in putting in some stupid repair panels....it's ridiculous!

I probably spent more time than needed to make sure the joint was as close to perfect as possible, but that's just my nature.....I'm a hopeless perfectionist. Which is probably why this project is going to take forever and a day to get done.

[Dingfodgy]

Yep, I'm back! I know it's been over a year since my last update and unfortunately not alot has gotten done. The last 12 months has seen some rather significant events in me and my family's life so the truck naturally took a back seat to much more pressing matters. Things have stabilized some and I am now able to spend some time in the garage again. Here's what I've accomplished so far:


I started looking at where I left off last year and realized I didn't like how I had finished out the seam where I removed the drip rail. So I ground out a bunch of welds and cut back the sheet metal to build it out better.


In order to get the gap between the top of the door and the cab nice and tight, I welding in a length of 5/16" rod....this gives me a shade over 1/8" gap all the way around.


One part of removing the drip rail that is somewhat problematic is dealing with the weird transition on the cab right at the crease above the gas filler hole. My solution was to cut it all out and rebuild the corner so the gap would be consistent the entire length of the door.


Typical and non-eventful gas filler hole fill.


After many hours of grinding, cutting, massaging, metal forming, welding, more grinding, shimming...not to mention a few barley pops I finally got the cab roof roughed in how I like it. Now I need to start working on the rockers, floor, A-pillar and kick panel.

[VA72C10]

Nice work! Glad to see you back at it. Love shaved cabs!

[67cheby]

good to see progress pick back up, in the 8 years that i have been working on mine i have had several of these stops along the road to keep from getting burned out !!

[Dingfodgy]

Thanks for the encouragement. It's nice to get back out to the shop and continue what I started. I'd love to have the scratch to buy the new shiney suspension and drive train parts I want, but till then I'll keep chipping away at the body work. It's cheap and keeps me moving forward.

[Dingfodgy]

Welcome back to my fabulous disaster! Spent some time out in the lair of despair and made some what I call progress. I'm sure others will question that statement though.

First off- I filled in the last few pin-holes in my welds along the drivers side shaved drip rail.......finally, it's ready for a skim coat of lab-metal then some epoxy primer.




Then I got to drilling out a slew of spot welds to get the dash out. Kids, don't try this at home! I gotta say though, having the dash out sure will make patching the floor and kick panel area a whole lot easier.

I'm sure some of you are asking "why in the world did he remove the dash?" Well, first of all I want to make sure there isn't any rust lurking behind there, plus the windshield channel @ the lower corners is pretty pitted- so I'm going to cut that out and replace it with sturdier metal. And lastly, I have an original idea for a totally custom dash that if pulled off according to the vision in my head, should look nice. You'll just have to tune in to see what I have planned.










Other than that not alot got done. Up next, I'll be building some one-off LED tail lights as well as starting the smoothing and capping of the firewall.

[67chevy1series]

nice! gonna put a uncut radio dash in?

[Dingfodgy]

Originally Posted by 67chevy1series

nice! gonna put a uncut radio dash in?

Not quite! I'm going to use basically the support structure for the stock dash and fab up a completely new skin that will integrate with a waterfall console.....stay tuned for more details. Oh, and the gauges will be pimpin' as well.

[Dingfodgy]

Well, like I said in my last post- I started shaving and capping the firewall. I won't bore ya'll with the pics, 'cause it's been done a gazillion times so it's nothing extraordinary just a bunch of welding, grinding, welding some more, grinding some more. Finally, long after you've grown tired of it all- it's still not done!

I also started fabbin' up my idea for some snazzy tail light assemblies...check it out and lemme know what you think.

Here are the housings. I still have some mod's to do like making the "buckets a bit shallower and filling the socket holes.


Once I have the housings finished I'll install 4 of these and mod the wiring harness so that the bottom two are tail/brake and the top two are tail/brake/turn.


I'll also hack up the reverse lights and install clear versions of the same LED modules.

Finally I'm going to cut and rout some new lenses made from translucent red acrylic.

That's all for today- next up will be yankin' the motor/trans so I can finish the firewall and front roof line finishing.