Uncle Loyd's 72' C-10

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by franken

72' is 72 feet
'72 is 1972 today
Being ignorant is not good. Seriously, really.
Being a moron is bad.

I think someone needs a refresher on forum rules and guidelines.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

I think someone needs a refresher on forum rules and guidelines.

X2, what the heck is his problem?

[zicc1835]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Lifted the cab back off to trim the cab for driveshaft clearance at lowest setting. I'll clean it up and cap off the support structure next time I can work on it.

Nice mod nice work

[cornerstone]

The new mounts positioned the drivetrain in the right place, but didn't let the drivers side header fit. I suppose they were designed to be used with Hooker headers but I already had a decent set of stainless long tubes. I think it took nearly a dozen times of taking them off, grind a little, reinstall to check fitment, repeat.

While the cab was back off for the umpteenth time I cleaned up the notch I added to the lower back of the cab for driveshaft clearance by welding in a 1/4" plate to the substructure of the floor. A little filler and that will be ready to go.

The fuel line, brake lines, battery cables and air lines are all now secured and clamped tight.

Next I'm planning on putting the cab back on, adding the door seals and verifying proper fitment and gaps in all of the front sheet metal, then getting started on the body work. The truck has some minor hail damage, and a few bumps and bruises that need addressing.

[cornerstone]

Re installed the cab, then slapped on the Precision brand door rubber before mounting the doors, and the rest of the front sheet metal. Sanded the original faded ochre paint off the hood both top and the underside. I wasn't sure what to do about the dried out foam rubber pads under the hood bracing, so, before ripping it all out, I verified that new repops are available. If you've ever wondered about the effectiveness of the small hand held sand blasters, they work very well on smaller tight areas that are difficult to get to. In one of the pictures below you will see the results on the formerly rusted hood latch bolt. I didn't see any downsides to using it other than a mess to vacuum up. Right about the time I was ready to spray the epoxy primer, my son came home from work where he recently was working in the paint department at his work so I asked if he wanted to give it a go, and he took me up on it. It was a super beautiful spring day in north Texas as the Bluebonnets down by the barn are standing tall.

[hewittca]

Great update! It's always nice to see an update on your build, getting family involved, and spring! Looks like your son is in the zone and doing an excellent job.

[zicc1835]

As the bonnets bloom so goes your protect ….inspiring

[Stickman]

What kind of sprayer is your son using? Just went through the whole build, awesome work.

[cornerstone]

Thank you! It's just a $29 Harbor freight HVLP spray gun. I'm debating on which gun to get for the final paint work but for epoxy primer and high build urethane primer it works fine.

[cornerstone]

I got a few coats of Summit brand high build urethane primer on both sides of the hood and the new chrome bumper on just for kicks and a photo op on Easter afternoon. Never mind the shop chicken, she's a ham.

The shot from the side shows the truck with the bags empty sitting on the bump stops. This is the lowest this trucks front end can drop without the tires rubbing the inner fender wells.

I need to clean up and apply a quality coating of some sort to the underside of the inner fenders. I see several fellas using raptor liner so I'll be looking into that.

Over the next few weeks I want to get the truck fully wired, and the motor up and running. My brother in law is willing to come over and help me with the wiring. I fall squarely into the "I hate wiring" camp. I find myself just staring at the diagram, then staring at the harness, then staring at the other harness, then having a headache. I've had the engine running in the past, but it was brief. It didn't run long enough to get up to temperature. This time I'll have a nearly complete exhaust system.

I can also start on hail damage and dent repair that still needs to be done.

[cornerstone]

I've been working on a few different areas on the truck. The shortened bedsides need a bit of filler to cover the weld lines. All other accessible dents I was able to hammer and dolly to a near smooth finish but they will still need a skim coat of filler to look good under the paint.

[cornerstone]

For the longest time I've wanted a beautiful wood bed floor. Knowing myself and the way I treat my daily drivers, I changed my mind and decided to stay with a steel floor, since it'd be very difficult to watch myself tear up a shiny glossy walnut floor. I don't really want a "show truck", I want to drive it like I stole it.

The original bed floor was heavily pitted with a couple pin holes from rust. A new floor is now up to $1200. which I would love to have but can't swing that anytime soon. The blue and white short box I bought a few years ago cost me $900. if my memory serves me. The floor in it is good enough shape so I decided to use that floor. I figure I can sell the bed sides, wheel tubs, front panel and janky tailgate to re coup some of the money. Whoever built the blue and white box didn't believe in using bolts for whatever reason, they welded the front panel to the bed sides making my disassembly job lots of fun. After a days worth of drilling and chiseling I freed the floor from the box.

[cornerstone]

With my hood in high build primer, I used some guide coat and block sanded to reveal where the hail damage was. Pretty clear where the filler needs to go now!

[Kronald_70GMC]

Good progress going on here 👍

[cornerstone]

I got the wheel tubs and tailgate sanded down and in epoxy, then reassembled the bed with new hardware. Today I set the bed back on the frame in order to have a platform to stand on while I fill and block sand the roof. Since it's been such a long time since I initially sprayed the black epoxy primer, I had to lightly sand it before I spray the high build 2k primer. If the will rain hold off I hope to get the entire truck in high build 2K primer tomorrow, I'm looking forward to having a single color on the truck. Once it has a couple heavy coats of high build I will get serious about getting all the panels as straight as I can via skim coats of filler and block sanding.

[GSFMECH]

Very nice build coming along here.

[hewittca]

Nice! It's always a motivating moment for me to get the truck on the ground and most of the panels on for a preview of what the final product will look like. I love the way yours is turning out. Keep the updates coming!

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by GSFMECH

Very nice build coming along here.

Thank you Mike. I'm hoping to have a truck almost as nice as yours eventually.

[cornerstone]

Over the weekend I picked up a 99$ Harbor Freight stud welder to pull out a few small dents in the fender and tailgate. Overall it worked great. Not too far into it I realized you can only yank on them so many times with the slide hammer before they will rip clean off... leaving a perfect 1/8" hole. No biggie, just added a little more time to the job welding them back up.

Then today I spent the day doing body work. I took it apart again to be able to have the parts at a good working position. Sanding is way less of a burden when you don't have to bend over or be in a strained position. I put the bed on a set of sawhorses, the doors and tailgate on folding stands which made the job not too bad. I covered the bedsides with a guide coat then used a large paint stirrer wrapped in 120 grit to sand and reveal the low spots. I was able to get the panels very close to straight and intend to move to high build primer next. I do need to spray more epoxy primer over the bare metal areas before the high build though.

I also added another tube of 3M 08307 Self Leveling Seam Sealer to the drip rails. The first time I did the job I accidentally wasted too much and didn't get them full enough for my liking. This time I did the opposite and actually have too much on the passenger front side of the roof. I had the back of the truck raised up so the seam sealer wouldn't all run down the backside of the window drip rails, but forgot to check for level side to side. I'm hoping to be able to sand it down some when it's fully cured.

[Kronald_70GMC]

Originally Posted by cornerstone

Not too far into it I realized you can only yank on them so many times with the slide hammer before they will rip clean off... leaving a perfect 1/8" hole. No biggie, just added a little more time to the job welding them back up.

The trick with those little holes is to just weld another pin over the hole. Then just cut off the stem with side cutters and grind smooth. At least that's what I was taught back in my body shop days.

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by Kronald_70GMC

The trick with those little holes is to just weld another pin over the hole. Then just cut off the stem with side cutters and grind smooth. At least that's what I was taught back in my body shop days.

I did try that a few times but I kept getting a small pinhole somewhere on the repair. Maybe I wasn't centering the pin perfectly? Thanks for the pointer though.

[hewittca]

Very nice work so far. I'm glad I am not tackling body work along with everything else like you, or else I fear I would never be done with my truck! I am interested in the seam sealer stuff. I've seen a few in person recently where it looks like it's just dripped out the drains and looks, well, not so great. This was on some VW buses, so different beast. With the back of your cab tipped up, did you just fill the gutter until the sealer tapered off to level at the back of the gutter before it rolls over the back side of the door?

[cornerstone]

Boy you hit the nail on the head with that. In hindsight I wish I tackled one or two projects at a time and kept it on the road instead of changing everything and tripping over truck parts for years.

It requires 2 types of seam sealer to get it done the right way. The stuff I used yesterday was the free flowing self leveling type. I only filled the rails to where it starts to drop off at the back of the cab. When it made its way about 1/2 way down I just ran my finger and smoothed it back upward in the channel. Next step will be a full bodied seam sealer which stays where you put it. I think if one was to raise the cab high enough in the back to keep it from running down the back at all, the sealer would pool up at the front and possibly run over the edge of the rail.

[kev2809]

great build, truck is looking good

[cornerstone]

Originally Posted by kev2809

great build, truck is looking good

Thanks man! I've been watching yours come along nicely as well. It's a freekin' butt load of work aint it!