Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

My Vintage air unit turned up.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Scrubbing and sanding the interior man that was the nastiest truck ever

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Gutted out the doors and fenders of all the trim. I had to install a right front fender cup and had to pull a tweak out of the left front fender behind the wheel. It Looks like someone ran over a curb or something because the left side cab braces were bent as well which I already repaired. The fenders are now ready for body and paint. I sprayed Ospho down in the doors and the cowl. I also had to repair rust on the right side lower outer cowl behind the air vent in the cab, but I don’t have photos

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Bondo dust flying doing body work

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

FCF stuff for the vintage air turned up along with the Lizard Skin. The FCF panel is really nice and I used their bracket which mounts the vintage air unit to the toe board instead of the firewall for a little cleaner look. It looks a lot better than the panel that Vintage Air supplies. I had Lizard skin in my blue truck and it makes a big difference so I’m doing it again.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Primed and, blocked the doors inside and outside. Blocked the firewall and sealed the gutter seam, it's ready for some ochre paint. I painted the interior, firewall, inner fenders and all the way around the truck from the lower trim down. All other paint is original

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Found a good match for the top of dash in a spray can. I also used this on my door panels and console as well and so far, it’s holding up as well as any plastic paint I have ever used. Rust-oleum claims it’s good for metal or plastic. Seems good and is a good match.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Got the cab and doors painted. I know the speaker hole police may call me out because I cut holes in the doors for speakers. I figured since I cut the whole bottom out of these doors to save them I may as well put some speakers in them since I’m keeping the gas tank in the cab. I love the way it sounds now that the truck is finished.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Starting to look like a truck again. The door hinges were worn out and I didn't want to go through the pain of rebuilding them, although I did buy all the parts. Repops are not very good in my experience. Anyway I took them from the blue truck which I had rebuilt back when and were still excellent. I used paint stripper and removed the blue paint and painted them ochre and installed but no pics.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

A couple more

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

More fun starting now. Unfortunately, at some point the bed was hauled right side up on a trailer, so all 4 bottom corners are tweaked and a little rusty. The right side is not too bad I managed to dolly them straight and weld in some patches. The left side not so lucky as it's pretty rusty, I pulled the bent bedside off my blue truck and used what I could for patch panels. I’m really lucky to have it because from the white up it has perfect matching patina and the bed floor is fairly nice. The tailgate was really bad.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Ongoing bodywork and rebuilding the 4 bottom corners of the bed. Unfortunately, I found the rust had gotten up into the white at the rear, so I had to patch it as well.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Cleaned, Ospho’d and sprayed the bottom with semi-gloss epoxy. Bodywork coming along.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Body work, primer and blocking done, also acid washed beforehand for remaining rust

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Here’s the filler primer I used.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

For paint I used acrylic enamel with a hardener

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Here’s after Painting the Ochre and the bed bottom. I painted the white after I mounted the bed back onto the truck. Undercoated the wheel tubs and painted the splash shields.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

I trimmed the rear end mounting pads, so I could slip in a 1" lowering block, that gave me 8" of drop. Easier now with no bed. QA-1 calls it a 7” drop adjusted all the way down

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

It's really starting to look like something. Now onto the white. I painted black over the gray primer to mimic the black primer that came from the factory, if it gets a rock chip in the future hopefully you will see the black and match all the other chips in the paint.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Got the white done, and the wheels on. Still need to do a little polishing on the bed in these shots. I wanted to paint the white with lacquer for ease of blending the old school way, but you can’t hardly find it any more except for in a spray can. I was able to find the correct code 521 white in a spray can, and was able to melt it into the existing white using lacquer thinner. Polished it lightly and you can hardly tell it was done, almost a perfect match.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Great metal and paint work Mike.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Fantastic build, this is a fun one to watch

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Coming together! I see no problems with door speakers, at least you didn't cut them into the kick panels like I did when I was 16 I'd like to punch myself for that. Dad told me to put them in the doors and I didn't do it just because I knew everything. :dohh:

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Thanks Steve

It was a fun build, thanks

Leevon, yeah I said what the heck, I ran a stock am/fm radio for years and missed having sounds. When I was a kid the thing to do was put them in the doors but later on everyone quit doing it.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Masked up in a cocoon. Got the floor scuffed/ Ospho’d and ready to spray lizard skin. I used both the sound control and insulation

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Fender body work, priming and blocking done, below shots are after paint. I cut in the inside of the fenders as well.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Unmasked the fenders, they came out ok.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

I polished all of the SS window trim on my buffing wheel in the bench grinder. Also cleaned up the glass. I'm using the glass and trim out of the blue truck because it's in better shape. Also installed the Dakota digital GPS antenna, dash pad, speaker and center AC vent while it was easy to get to without glass.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Body and paint done here except for small pieces and parts and the black on the core support, inner fenders and underside of the hood.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Hot rod black done

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

The glass is in and my buddy Kevin (65StreetCruiser) polished the bed. The shine popped right back out.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Great Scott!! Still a lot do. This is only some of boxes of parts of stuff needed to put this thing back together and more parts on the way.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

The dash is coming together, and I have the vintage air in position for the final time.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

It doesn't look like I did much, but the AC is done on the inside, stereo done and tested. I added a Detroit speed wiper system, these are really nice and a very good hidden upgrade. The main harness is done, modified to accept all the aftermarket stuff, all circuits go through the original fuses etc. There are no hidden snipped wires. E-brake pedal is in. All that's left in dash is the Dakota digital stuff and hanging the brake pedal.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

I fabricated a bracket to mount all my electronics, there’s a lot going on in that dash. I have the Dakota digital "brain" mounted, as well as the GPS BIM, and GV overdrive module. These are all mounted on one plate which bolts to the brake pedal bracket. I have another bracket mounted on the lower right that attaches to it, this plate holds the wide band module and BIM. I needed to get it into a position where I can see it from below because it has a status light for calibrating and troubleshooting. The wide band BIM mounts in the open area of the bracket, it didn’t come in until later so no pic, Covid had it delayed arriving.You can't really see it well but I installed a new firewall pad.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Door handles, side glass along with new weatherstrip etc. and mirrors are on. I scavenged a Hydro boost off a truck in my boneyard as well.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Dakota Digital dash wiring is done. Cruise is wired up, stalk is installed on the column and wires snaked through, all ready to connect. Core support and radiator is mounted

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

More progress, I have most of the wiring ran. I had to repair the headlight relay circuit off the blue truck because it was crushed in the wreck. I had this relay upgrade on the blue truck. I used the fwd harness off the blue truck because it was in great shape otherwise. Finished up the condenser installation. To help the AC in traffic I went to the bone yard and found a nice 11" electric fan off an OBS 1 ton dually. I had to modify the brackets to fit. I wired the fan through a relay, but the control circuit now comes off the now defunct original AC blower fan switch. With vintage air you don't use that switch. I had thought about using an automatic controller but I'm going to try it like this for a while. Got all the wiring done on the core support as far as I could till the fenders go on, painted the hood latch and brace and got them installed. Battery box and headlights are in.

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

A sneak preview of how it's going to look with the nice trim off the blue truck, I had to replace a few bent trim pieces. Also got the gas tank in

Re: “Castro” my new 72 build
 

Cargo lamp, dome lamp and headliner in.