1982 Shortbed 4x4

[BigJackDaddy]

If you saw the recent video, you know my soon-to-be-driving son and I took the ’82 Chevy Shortbed cab off the frame,
something we didn't initially intend to do. Since then we’ve moved it into the garage and stripped the cab of it’s remaining
attachments: glass, brake booster, parking brake, hood release, etc. along with the wiring (both factory and "previous owner")
and up-ended it to gain easy working access to the underside.




As you're all aware, the cab corners on a lot of these notoriously rot out from the years’ accumulation of dirt & moisture
and this one was no different. Some owners will choose to let them rot and drive the trucks as-is, paying more attention
to the mechanicals as time & money allow. (That was a younger me.) Some will purchase replacement corners or have the
work done professionally. Others will choose to cover the rot with plastic body filler to hide it before painting.
You can probably guess that our previous owner chose Option #3.




Although it may not seem like a lot of fun to most, it’s a good opportunity for one of us to see why we’d rather do things right.
Truth be told, he’s already grown weary of running into all the make-shift repairs on this particular vehicle; but if it were perfect,
there’d be nothing to get good at, right?





We bought this as a first project and a project it is. He is seeing first-hand how and why to fix things the right way.
This is the perfect first truck in my opinion.


At the time of this photo we hadn’t yet started cutting back to get to good, weldable metal. We just hit what was left
of the body filler a few times with a hammer, let it fall to the floor in crumbles, and then chiseled-out the remains and all
the paper/cloth that was stuffed in as backing. What was left was what was there to begin with:




Knowing we were going to get into a similar situation on the driver’s side, we went through the same routine with the
hammer so we could take care of both sides at the same time. After knocking out the garbage, we cut the metal back
to see how far up the cab we would need to go and then measured for what size pieces we needed to make:




In a short time the next morning with basic tools we had a couple of patch panels ready to try. A few test-fits,
subsequent trimming and trips back-and-forth to the bench grinder, and the newly formed parts were ready to tack in place:








We’re going to wait until he rebuilds the engine/trans/transfer case and re-installs them between the framerails
before lifting the cab back into place, but we’ll get it all done one piece at a time.

[daddyjeep]

Very nice repair on the corners. A project with your son is always a good project.

[BigJackDaddy]

1982 4x4 Chevy Shortbed - YouTube

[BigJackDaddy]

Somebody before us installed the Planetary Lock Plate in the NP208 with bolts that were too long.
They ground into the surface of the planetary assembly when it rotated:


The thing had to make a heck of a grinding noise when it was in Low... if it even went in all the way.
We'll be addressing this along with missing thrust plates on the front output shaft and a few other
comparatively small items.


Good thing he tore into it.

[BigJackDaddy]

We also got the rest of the metal work done on the cab, both inside and underneath.



Welded-up all the previous-owner holes in the firewall and cleaned it up before primering:



Applied rubberized undercoating to the bottom:



And last night started laying-on the base-coat Light Jadestone:







Before calling it quits for the night at 0-dark-thirty.


More as it comes.

[andyh1956]

I miss my son being around, we were ALWAYS doing what you're doing. I still do but it's not near the fun it was. My son lives in Nashville now & I only get to see him a few times a yr. My daughter's son has NO interest in this kinda stuff, but 7 yr old grand daughter- She's gonna go for it I'm sure!
Wish you & your son well, enjoy this time it is like no other.
I told my wife not long ago that I didn't have anybody to hot rod with, coon hunt with, mud ride or shoot with & she needed to have another baby!
She plopped her hands on her hips & said "My Baby Havin Days Are OVER! If You Want Another Baby You Go Find Somebody Else To Have It For You!"
Guess it didn't hurt to ask...

[LT7A]

This is great. Would like to follow this as a build. Keep us updated if you're up for it. Thanks.

[jjzepplin]

Someone has some skills to pass on and one really nice shop with some cool tools.

[BigJackDaddy]

Originally Posted by andyh1956

I miss my son being around, we were ALWAYS doing what you're doing. I still do but it's not near the fun it was. My son lives in Nashville now & I only get to see him a few times a yr. My daughter's son has NO interest in this kinda stuff, but 7 yr old grand daughter- She's gonna go for it I'm sure!
Wish you & your son well, enjoy this time it is like no other.

Andy, I couldn't have said it better myself and greatly appreciate your insight. I'm not building trucks. I've built enough of them over the years. My focus is on this young man and his older brother. They're building trucks... and gaining valuable life skills in the process. I'm building young men.

In my mind I know they're not going to stick around forever. Something would be wrong in how we're raising them if they did. They're going to go off and live their own lives in this world. I'm thankful their willing to let me share what I can while they're here.

[I started to get on my soap-box about time on electronics vs practical skills and deleted what I typed - Twice.]
I think you and I could talk over a cup of coffee in the morning on the weekends before going off to our respective projects, lending each other a hand as needed, etc.

Thank for posting. You make me think.

Originally Posted by LT7A

This is great. Would like to follow this as a build. Keep us updated if you're up for it. Thanks.

I agree. It is great... and I'm fortunate to be a part of it and to be able to share with people who "get it".
I'll keep posting as it comes together.

Originally Posted by jjzepplin

Someone has some skills to pass on and one really nice shop with some cool tools.

The skills were a long time, and a lot of mistakes, in the making. If I can save these two guys some time and let them have their own mis-takes, they'll be light-years ahead of me. They're both already doing much more than I was at their age.

Regarding the shop & tools: I am happy to be out of the weather and off the dirt. It wasn't always the case.

Reading about Old Yeller right now. We also cut some double-front-shock bracketry from this frame. As you said in your build, must've been an '80's thing.

[jjzepplin]

Took a nice drive today in Old Yeller and picked up a nice cruiser bicycle. Gettin old myself I guess. I want to build a nice shop and take the old girl apart and do some justice to her like you and your son are doing. I will have to have my daughters help me though.

[BigJackDaddy]

It was about a week ago in that last post that the first coat of color was applied, cab on its back, paying particular attention
to the underside and some of the harder to get at areas. Since then, we’ve oriented the cab to a more normal position and sprayed
additional layers of the basecoat Light Jadestone Metallic.




The dash is Gloss White, and as you all know only the bottom half will eventually show. We're going to put a black vinyl dash pad on top.




A few days later he set about laying-on multiple coats of clear, inside and out. Getting the cab solid and having it look
as good as it does is really motivating in that the vision is becoming a reality. He’s starting to see the actual results of all his
hard work and stick-to-it-tiveness. We’re at a point where we're dealing with fewer of the previous-owner issues
and the work is less of a grind and more uplifting.










And while were on the subject of “uplifting”; yesterday he, his brother, and I got together after work & school and were
able to collectively maneuver the cab out of the garage and back up & onto the frame without a bump or a scratch to his
new paint. This is it in this frosty morning's early sunlight hours.

[BigJackDaddy]

It has been a while since I’ve written any updates on the ’82 Chevy Shortbed, mostly because the builder has been working so hard on maintaining his 4.0 GPA
that there hasn’t been a lot of time left for the truck. What time there was did get put to good use, as seen in image left of the SM465 transmission
rebuild back in February. The laptop in the foreground is where all the homework is done.



Had he not been doing anything productive, I wouldn’t have been working on the truck for him, since the idea I repeatedly mention here is not to build
vehicles for my sons and hand them to them. The idea is for them to do, and learn, and accomplish. However, since he was learning other things elsewhere,
I decided I could help by taking on some of the chores where he had already built some skill.



Obviously repetition builds skill and he could have increased his welding and bodywork skills by doing even more of the same, but my starting on these was
the best way to keep the project moving forward without his missing out on some lesser-familiar process. To say these doors were a joke to start with
would be an understatement.



At some point on many of these older projects there is somewhere where many of us have to cut out bad metal to get to good so we have something
decent for welding, but this is the first time I can remember having to grind
away bondo in a hunt to find any metal to work with. This stuff was inches deep.


The rear corner of the same door was a little better, not much, but a little… most probably because no previous attempt at a repair had been made. The
metal was allowed to rust underneath, bubbling the paint in cancerous fashion. All that was needed on this end was to remove the offending portion
of the outer skin before replacing it with a similarly-shaped piece of sheet and welding it in. That, and a lot of sanding.





Afterwards, I flipped the door over and started on the inside. What can I say that you haven’t read? Cut-out what’s left of the metal, make a new piece to
weld in, grind and sand until smooth. If I were reading this, I might think I enjoyed bodywork. Please don’t get that impression. Not this stuff
anyway. This is a labor of love.



But wait! There’s more!

Evidently, someone cut four holes below the stock mirror with a 1-1/4″ hole saw. They were probably working on some “custom” installation but quit part
way through since the hole on the left wasn’t even finished being cut before the bondo was getting slathered on to cover them all.


Here’s a look from inside the door.



So on went my evenings, by choice of course. One son working on his Willys Pickup, the other working on his education, me off on the side working on
some metal or something for one or the other. No complaints about any of that, mind you. Image shows the holes properly filled and smoothed with a
couple of repairs above where the mirror will mount.



But before going forward to primer and paint, it was worth mounting the door to get a look; checking to see that the bends in my repair panels actually fit
with the contours of the cab. I would hate to get it all done and then wish, “I should’ve…”. The light at the upper left of the door makes it look like a bad fit
in that corner, but that’s only in the picture. It looks good up close and personal. When I stepped back to snap a shot, without a latch installed the
door opened slightly in the breeze. It’s motivating just to see it hanging there.



Then we did some primer and paint.

[BigJackDaddy]

The engine was at the machine shop while all the bodywork was going on. We got the call to go get our stuff.

Just had some basic work done: 350 Block .060" over, deck surfaces milled, crank polished, etc.




but the heads were cracked, so we went with a pair of DART Heads for kicks:
2.02" Int / 1.60" Exh Valves; 64cc Combustion Chambers; 1.437" Dual Valve Springs





I see as I write this that I didn't get any pictures with the roller rockers, but here he's installing the studs:



and then some color


Here's how it sat last night, drying.

[Danmcg]

Thanks for the update, what a great learning project!

[jjzepplin]

This is going to be a nice truck! What color is that Blue?

[andyh1956]

I just traded a .30 carbine for a set of Darts w/ 72 cc chambers for my SB 400. I wish I could smile like you son is when I pick them heavy ^%$! things up!

[LT7A]

Great progress. You guys making it happen.

[BigJackDaddy]

Thanks for all the positive support and comments.

Originally Posted by jjzepplin

This is going to be a nice truck! What color is that Blue?

I have no idea what color that blue was. The truck was originally white, painted over by the previous owner with a red-oxide primer and then that
blue. We sanded it, covered the whole thing with a high-build, light gray, metal-etching primer, and then he hit it with the Light Jadestone
basecoat/clearcoat. It's a factory Metallic Green color, just not how this particular one was delivered.







After rebuilding the SM465, we went to install the top cover and realized the 3-4 shift fork was bent so we got that one and the 1-2 fork as well.






There was really nothing on this truck that hasn't been mangled and cobbled back together. The bellhousing had a chunk broken out from where the clutch
fork came through, visible in this older photo from when we pulled it all:



Here is the repair:


Welded inside and out:



And here is the engine a little closer to going in:

[BigJackDaddy]

The lighting stinks, I know. It was late when we got it bolted in:






and then cut the valve covers to allow us to adjust the rockers / valve lash with it running without taking an oil bath:


I didn't think Vic would mind. It's for a good cause.



and with a couple of the other previous owner, cobbled-together repairs out of the way, like

a driveshaft with a smaller than normal end welded on:


a stretched power steering mount pushed back into alignment:


and an engine "harness" with many hidden secrets (completely untaped by us and either properly soldered or wires replaced):



We were finally able to move it once again under its own power:






and while we didn't get a video of the very first run, this is what it sounds like with a little more required tinkering:

Running the '82 K10

[BigJackDaddy]

..

[BigJackDaddy]

..

[BigJackDaddy]

..

[jjzepplin]

Those pics are huge bro!

[BigJackDaddy]

Thank you for your input.