Encasedmetal's 63' GMC stepside build

[encasedmetal]

Wanted to go ahead and get my build thread going. background on me- been building late model high performance cars for a while now, hence my truck sharing one of my garages with my 800rwhp mustang cobra (it's for sale btw lol). Born in charlotte NC, raised in mooresville NC- currently living in asheville NC. You'd think with my raising that my upbringing was surrounding by automobile education (grew up behind ernie ervin)- couldn't be farther from the truth. My dad couldn't care less about resto or speed etc. long story short- I've been in love with 60-66 gm trucks for years now and always wanted to pick one up so I could finally have that father/son project, and heirloom vehicle myself that I could pass on one day (doesn't hurt that my father in law drove a 56' F100 during my wife's childhood, so she's onboard). I picked up this truck from a guy on craigslist (only to found out I knew the guy already as we worked together about 10 years ago). bought it for 900 bux- it's a GMC stepside truck.

Guess I should also mention that I've never done bodywork, resto'd a vehicle, or welded before. I am anxious to learn all of the above and am on the way to doing so.
The truck has a 1980 front cross member with disc brakes, power steering, and a 1984 rear end. I am currently taking the whole truck apart because I want to leave no bolts unturned and no surface untouched. The following pics are from my deconstruction of the truck and some panels I have already took to with CLR and a green scotchbrite pad in order to clean/ smooth and put some finish on the natural patina.













Plans are to clean everything first- I'm using eastwood rust remover gel for all bolts right now and it's working really well. I'm soon to be blasting the frame, rear end, inner fenders etc, and bed rails. I will be coating all of the above in either roll on bedliner, or POR15 top coat after priming. Also planning to put roll on bedliner on the inside of 4 fenders and under the cab. The only rust repair I will be doing is the bottom of both front fenders, and alot of the bottom of the cab needs work- but other than that it stays. The cab will be as show as I can go- new seat covering, dakota digital gauges, and new paint everywhere inside. I plan to lower the truck 5/7 if I don't bag it (budget of course), and will be doing a LQ9 LS engine with 4L60E trans (for the wife to drive it also, I know, I know). tires will be wide whites, wheels will be matching green. thanks for reading and will update as I go along.

[Improbcat]

If you are sandblasting, apply the POR15 directly to the sandblasted metal. If you prime under POR15 you defeat the purpose. It should stick really well to sandblasted metal though.

[encasedmetal]

After I blast I'm applying Eastwoods post blast cleaner then priming. The por15 product I have is the top coat, not the rust encapsulator- that's why I'm priming. As for the frame, I'm pretty sure bed liner is the way to go

[Improbcat]

Ah, that makes more sense. Good luck with the truck, it looks like you have a more solid start than I did.

[markeb01]

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to your progress. I'll you're going with roll on bedliner, you might want to take a look at Raptor by U-Pol. It's a two part material that's very easy to use with little overspray.

[Captainfab]

It sounds like you are doing it right. If you blast with silica sand, be sure the primer you use is compatable with a silica sand blasted surface. Not all primers are compatable and could lift. Personally I wouldn't coat a frame with undercoating, I would paint it. Just my .02

[encasedmetal]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

It sounds like you are doing it right. If you blast with silica sand, be sure the primer you use is compatable with a silica sand blasted surface. Not all primers are compatable and could lift. Personally I wouldn't coat a frame with undercoating, I would paint it. Just my .02

any reason inparticular to paint instead of coating?

[1963c-10]

Welcome from another 63 NC member....currently working on two. Very cool project you have and keep us updated on the progress and pictures. Looks to be a pretty complete truck.

[Captainfab]

It's mostly a personal preference. But also when you want to bolt something to the frame, the under coating should be romoved to get a solid connection. And you don't want to get the undercoating on bolt heads/nuts. There again, it needs removed to get a wrench or socket on the bolt/nut. Then they need touched up. Just a bit of a pain IMO.

Originally Posted by encasedmetal

any reason inparticular to paint instead of coating?

[encasedmetal]

been slowly working on disassembly and cleanup. hard to take pics when covered in 51 year old dirt and rust- but here's what I got this weekend. I fully all the bed parts and proceeded to wire wheel all rust. bed rails will be blasted soon as well. I will be undercoating underneath the fenders and the bed rails. after I clean the parts with the wheel I go back by hand with a scotchbrite pad and CLR.
kinda what I started with

cleaning outside of bed panel-going to undercoat the portion covered by the fender also

comparison shot of how the inside of a bed panel looks after scotchbrite and CLR vs before

underside of steps before cleanup- soon to come with afters


I will get some aftershots together real soon.

[1963c-10]

Nice progress!!

[encasedmetal]

thanks. I actually got alot more done than what's shown in the pics (I need to take more obviously). currently stripping the inner fenders to bare metal so I can prime then paint them turquoise. I want the engine bay and inside of the cab to be close to perfect.

[1963c-10]

I hear you there. Time and patience and it'll pay off. You sound like me, not settling for less than your own standards!!

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice progress on the truck!

[rusty76]

Cool truck. It looks like you are well on your way.

[encasedmetal]

Plans have changed a little in bold- I'm soon to be cleaning the frame, rear end, inner fenders etc, and bed rails. I will be painting the frame, bed rails and underside of all body panels with a hammered dark green paint. The inner fenders, rad core support, and firewall will be painted a seafoam green. The only rust repair I will be doing is the bottom of both front fenders, cab corners, and alot of the bottom of the cab needs work- but other than that it stays and clear coated. The cab will be as show as I can go- new seats, dakota digital gauges, and new paint everywhere inside. I plan to put nolimitengineering IFS wide ride and 4 link fat bars under the truck using ridetech coilovers and will be doing a LS swap with hopefully a T56 6 speed trans. tires will be wide whites, wheels will be matching green. I'm trying to sell my cobra to fund the project, and still waiting for my 2 brother in law and father in law to come over and help me pick the cab off of the frame. I've done a lot more work to the truck but haven't gotten anymore pics- so those are soon to come.

[encasedmetal]

Also- 2 things I'm concerned about
1. the rear end- I have a 12 bolt out of a 84 chevy and supposed 2.xx gears. obviously I need to switch the gears out but is that trans gonna hold when I put some power to it?
2. white wall tires- typically these are thinner tires than I'd like for traction purposes so I'm thinking I need to go with white walls and get something in the 10-11" range for the rears at least. however this defeats the look I'm going for so any thoughts on how a painted wheel to achieve this might look?

[encasedmetal]

slowly stripping parts and putting them back in the air conditioned garage. some ssurface rust comes back but much easier to clean (and quicker) than some of the stuff I've been cleaning so far. here's the interior door panels

and the door with all glass and window tracking taken out- soon to strip the inside of the doors leaving only the skin still painted. I will be painting all parts that I completely strip so when you open the door it'll be like a brand new truck on the inside but old on the outside

core support- getting more surface rust here than I'd like so I'm going to do something about that until I get all my painting ready to go- like the inner fenders that I've stripped as well it'll all be painted seafoam green and cleared


bedsides and rear fenders that I've wire wheered and scotchbrited with CLR. The large majority of it will be clear coated but the portion of the bedsides that the rear fenders cover, and underneath the rear fenders and steps will be painted with a hammered dark green paint. gonna be cool and match the frame as well


bed rails all clean (may not look like it) and will be painted hammered dark green

got the steering wheel off, and ebrake and steering column removed- cab is finally ready to fully come off the frame

got some repair work to do to the floors before I strip the inside and paint it all.

on the driver's rear corner some PO did a terrible job trying to fix some damage to the cab. I will rectify this as a buddy has a matching section already cut out- and then do my darndest to match the rest of the patina after patching- gonna be hard though.

[encasedmetal]

some updates:
cab is off- so frame is ready for cleaning

just a test touch for how it'll clean up with a wire wheel- I'm pleased and will continue

wanted to show a pic of the eastwood rust remover gel I'm trying out for bolts and little stuff- leaves the paint, doesn't stink, and works great. little expensive though

already started stripping the cab

will come back to assure true, fine lines but you can start getting an idea of what I'm thinking as far as paint. interior, firewall, under cab, doorjams, and underneath the wiper cowl will all be stripped and painted I'm thinking GM 533 (I think that's the paint code)


finally got my cab corner piece from my buddy that he saved for me. when i say cab corner I actually mean the whole section around the gas cap down to where most everyone has to replace the bottom corner (I will too btw). but the upper part that I need is not reproduced so I got lucky my buddy got it for me. I am replacing this

with this

got doors stripped on the inside- need to finish the fine lines. you'll notice I didn't strip underneath the door insert, or the bottom of the doors- that's because I can just sand the area underneath the insert (it doesn't have to be perfect like the rest of the inside of the door) and the bottom needs to be cut out and replaced- so I didn't waste my time here.

top looks good and should clean up with CLR and a scotchbrite quite well.

[encasedmetal]

just for fun- thought I'd show the monster that parks behind the C10 build. I built the car myself (motor, rear, susp, interior, trans outsourced, tuning) also- I'm trying to sell it to buy all the parts I want for the C10. sad.

[Joe Pass]

Like you i started out to build my 62, leaving the patina outside and restore the interior and running gear to a pristine status...But I kept cleaning and stripping welding in patch panels and tweaking door gaps. Now I have shifted my build to a full blown frame off restoration with out realizing it. It will be interesting where you draw the line on what stays and what goes, good luck and I will be following along.

[Joe Pass]

[attach] before

[/attach] today

[encasedmetal]

Originally Posted by Joe Pass

Like you i started out to build my 62, leaving the patina outside and restore the interior and running gear to a pristine status...But I kept cleaning and stripping welding in patch panels and tweaking door gaps. Now I have shifted my build to a full blown frame off restoration with out realizing it. It will be interesting where you draw the line on what stays and what goes, good luck and I will be following along.

I feel you there. however I know exactly what lines on the body that I'm stopping at. It's so refreshing to have a build for myself that I'm excited about and not agitated all the time.

[encasedmetal]

also to add- I'm very tired of cleaning every print and spec of dust off of the cobra everytime I move it, so that's also motivating me to keep the truck in it's original patina on the outside (with clear on top of the paint of course)

[Joe Pass]

Yeah I know, If I had stuck to the plan I'd be driving it now....Good luck... LOL