72 C20 Miss Olive

[Nomadicflyer]

Put the grill on, the hood on. Sounds simple enough. It wasn't.

Finally got it looking good enough for a work truck.

[Nomadicflyer]

Got a seat put in, took it for it's first drive... 15 feet out on the pad. Splash a little water on, get rid of the dust.

1175 things left to do! Next up: Wing window rebuild!

[Nomadicflyer]

Oh, and something I hadn't considered, before. I had a heck of a time putting the bed together. Spent an hour at least on the boards, looking for the sequence of build and gave up. I looked through all three of my shop manuals. Nothing. So, I did it wrong. I put the wood on last. It's sitting on top of the bed sheetmetal.

I was a little bummed out, at first. But here's what I figured; it's only for the summer, until I replenish the war chest and can buy proper wood and steel strips. I'll fix it right in short order. However, I don't think I'd want the bed sitting on top of plywood, sitting on top of the cross members. If the ply got soft, the bed box would then sag.

I mounted cross members to the frame. I put the box on the cross members, and put the wood inside/on top of the bed mounting, bolted through with everything else. Metal to metal, box to cross members. Besides not being right, is there a down side to that?

Since the bed wood wasn't between the cross members and box, the whole bed looked too low. I made up some oak spacer blocks to lift it back into place. They went between the frame and the cross members. So, after the dust settles, it's: Frame, Oak block spacers, cross members, box, plywood bed.

Anyway, I can't wait to rip it all off of there and do it right. Plywood is great, but it gets soft around the edges, after a while. I'm looking to go back with wood.

Next up: Passenger window. I had cleaned up my window regulators, replaced the rollers and rebuilt the wing windows. They were rolling sweet! The driver side was a huge learning curve, and figured the passenger side would go smoothly. It did, until the bearing jammed on the regulator, the geared elevator arm snapped out of the housing, and under spring pressure took my hat off. Damn lucky it didn't do worse! So, Classic sent me a new'un. That goes in, today. If I'm lucky, I get to drive the truck today....

[notsolo]

I am surprised the rag joint looked almost crushed, glad that fixed it. Put your lucky hat back on and take a cruise, floor mat looks great too.

[Nomadicflyer]

Thanks, Ed! Took a tour around the block a few times. She ran great! All the major parts even stayed where they were supposed to...

I have a brake leak to fix on the right front. I've already changed out the line, I must have a crack I can't see on the caliper.

My brake lights aren't working. The turn signals work, flashers, park, etc... I'm gonna look at the brake pedal switch, first.

Got the passenger side window in, all works like new. Sweeeet!

Forgot something on the driver door. Not sure how this happened.....

Bumper came out ok, I had to shim it to one side for even clearances at the wrap around tips. I have to put the trailer plug in, and the camper wiring plug behind the driver door post.

Coming together. Long time in coming.

[Smitty]

Looks Great! Raised in David City.

[Nomadicflyer]

Thanks, Smitty!

Update: Need to add some pics. The truck completed its first road trip, last week. Biggest issue is the passenger door fights to close, with the new seal, and the engine consuming waaaay too much oil. No external leaks, no smoke. Tracking possible issues with intake manifold gasket sucking oil from the valley, PCV system sucking in vapor due to Edelbrock valve covers/oil splash. Pretty sure they are baffled, when I had 'em off for the cover seal replacement. More updates to follow.....

Other possible oil consumption sources? This thing was drinking a quart every 100 miles, on the highway!!! Every fill up was a 2 quart add!!

Thanks!

[Nomadicflyer]

It's been a while... Since the last post, we've bought/sold and moved a house, I've worked at two different places, and the changing isn't over quite yet. But we are slowing down, I'm finally going to work where I live, fix up a sad little pole barn as a shop, and get back to giving some love to the trucks.

Yesterday, I finished replacing the upper/lower control arms/balljoints, front springs and idler arm. Even after all the other work we've done on Olive, she finally drove like a brand new truck, yesterday. I was already pretty impressed with the ride and driving experience from the last big work. This was a whole new level. I had no idea how much noise was coming from the control arms! This truck has a Stealth Mode, and it's engaged! Ok, sorry about that. I'm just so impressed with how she rides, now... I thought it was about as good as it gets, and then I was shown how good the getting's got! So, in the end, it was one of those things that the money was well spent, and I'm so glad to be at this new level of enjoyment!

With that said, I picked up a new project, yesterday...... Yes, it is a disease. I am infected. I need a 4x4 to get through the winter, and there was little out there that did anything for me. I broke my no computer rule, and picked up this beast~ an ex Wildlife service 1991 Blazer, manual everything (auto trans), 350 injected. Plans are to put a little more aggressive tread under it, drive it for the winter and figure out what to do next.

Merry Christmas!

[64longbedcustom]

Such a great thread!
Picked up a new project which happens to be a olive 1972 C20 so naturally I started searching the forum. Your restoration has given me hope that she can be brought back to life!