I'm a 20 year old college kid. This is my first project like this. I came home from class one day and decided to look on Craigslist for an old truck. Within a few minutes, I found a 62 Chevy C10 a few miles from my house. That weekend we went and looked at the truck. By we, I mean my mom, her boyfriend Dave, and my Uncle David. The truck looked pretty decent and ran pretty well too. With input from other HAMBers, I decided to buy the truck. The PO was asking 2300, but I talked him down to 2200. I know, not a big price difference, but it was what he bought it for plus what he had put into it. He redid the brake drums, put in all new brake lines, got a new exhaust, new tires, new front and rear driver's side fender. My goal with the project is to do as much of the work with just me and Dave. It seems like a daunting task, but I'm looking forward to the experience learned and satisfaction gained by the end. That said, the first task is to get this bad girl safely and legally driveable. That means replacing the floor panels, rocker panels, front and rear cab brackets, front windshield, and getting the lights wired and functional. Last weekend, my mom graciously gave up her side of the garage. Dave and I quickly moved in his welder, a couple of saw horses, a work bench, lighting and heating system, and a tool chest. We also removed the driver's door which needs work and the new front driver's side fender. In order to move the tool chest over, we had to pull the truck out. I then had to "strongly" convince Dave to take it out for a spin. We got half way down our steep cul de sac before the hood began to slowly creep, then fly, all the way up. Getting the hood down, the engine cut out. Started it, stopped again. Did this several times before we realized the truck was out of gas! There was no way we were going to be able to push it back up the hill. Instead of waiting to get gas, Dave pushed the truck up to my mom's. With a few scratches from his license plate on the bumper, we made it back safely. What a fun ride it was while it lasted. This weekend, a big box came from LMC! Can't wait to open it when Dave gets here. Also, we picked up the rocker panels last weekend from Summit Racing. Really cuts down on shipping that way. Forgot to mention that the previous owner gave us the inner rockers too This weekend should be filled with lots of welding with Dave's new welder. After trying some nearby shops for welding gas with no sucess (out of business) we called a supplier a little farter away. None other than our next door neighbor answered the phone. He got us what we needed with a little employee discount as well. Sure was nice of him!!
Here are a few pictures of the truck coming home. The flatbed driver was extremely nice and has owned and pro streeted a few cars in his days. Showed me the tattoo of his nova on his forearm Straight Six Engine: New Exhaust: My brother said he would help make the bed, he's quite the wood worker
My wonderful mother said she'll see what she can do with the seat: Ordered the new bottom inner for the door as well as the outer skin: The cab needs a lot of work: No idea what do do with this piece. Any suggestions? I know its not the best, but was going to use some rust converter and filler. I'm not very experienced when it comes to metal fab. The hood is in really good shape, just needs work on the bottom lip and the brace that the hinge bolts into
Do you guys have any suggestions for when it comes to priming and painting?? From what I understand, the general consensus seems to be to grind or sand blast everything down to bare metal followed by a primer. Any ideas on brands? Then, if we need filler, sand that area down to bare metal and apply the filler. Does another layer of primer follow? Then is the high build primer next? Sorry for all the noob questions...
Looks like a great project! I would suggest picking up a book on bodywork for a beginner. Sometimes reading will save a beginner and even an old pro from making alot of mistakes. Build threads on here will also teach you. Careful with the sandblaster, they can warp and make a mess if not used carefully. Good luck with your build.
Yesterday, we made a trip to Harbor Freight (insert derogatory nickname here). Got a second welding helmet, two creepers (boy are they fun ), some magnets, safety glasses, and a variety of wire brushes and flap disks for the angle grinder. A trip to Lowe's got us a nice mask for sanding and spraying stuff, a set of Grabbit bits for those PITA screws and bolts, and a fire extinguisher. We couldn't find a spot weld cutting but anywhere so a bullet drill bit from Walmart did just fine. In the afternoon, work was slow. We managed to get the spot welds drilled out on the driver's side rocker panel. We forgot a few and couldn't figure for the life of us why it wouldn't come out haha . Also, managed to drill a piece out of our chisel with the bullet bit . Guess we'll remember to take the chisel out next time. Next, we started working on the bolts on the transmission cover. Lots of rolling under the truck, rust falling on me everywhere, and applying lots of PB. Got most of them out, going to use the Grabbit bit for the rest of them. Then we can fit the floor panel. The damage on the floor is more than what we expected. Going to need both foot well panels, the outer portion of the rear floor, and the bottom front pillar for the passengers side (already ordered the drivers side). While we're at it, we're going to order a wiring diagram booklet and see what we can make of it. Any suggestions for making the wiring look super classy? I love the look of steel braided hose!
Thanks for the helpful reply!! We actually picked up a book on body work on our last stop at Summit racing. We also have the factory assembly manual to help us out too.. Gathering quite the library!
That bullet bit makes quick work: Out with the old!: Here's what we had to work with: Accidentally drilled through the sheet metal behind :
During a morning trip to Ace Hardware, we picked up some bigger bits for removing the bolts in the transmission covering floor panel. After a little bit of elbow grease, most bolts snapped off under the head. No worries, that section will get replaced with the new floor panel. In order to start fitting the new floor panel on the drivers side, we had to cut off the fender support since the bolts around that wouldn't budge either. Next, we lined up the floor pan and drew a line around that with a sharpie. We decided to cut inside that line just to get an idea of what we're working with. With most of the old floor pan gone, we also did away with the rusted out cab brace. Now with a little more cleaning and cutting, hopefully we can get to welding some solid material in.
Maybe not in one piece, that bolt sure did come out! In the process of getting some other rusty bolts out I couldn't find a new one of these, might have to fabricate something for that corner. Not sure how we're going to make the groove that holds the seal. Any suggestions? Good thing I have new cab mount bushings and hardware coming. Don't really see anything salvageable. Let the cutting commence!
practice welding sheet metal ( butt welding/stitch welding), find a supplier of sheet metal so you don't have to pay the outrageous prices at a hardware store, do a ton of research/watch videos, youtube. get your hands on a bead roller, stretcher shrinker and some hammers....then get your hands dirty and dive in. or just pay someone else thousands and thousands of dollars to do metal work/patch panels for you. I'm currently learning as I go as well. btw nice truck.
Love these trucks you can lower it for like 20 bucks with a set of stock jeep tj springs in the rear and just turn down the torsion bars in the front if you like the lowered look. I think I have two decent cowl/ fender peices you can have for shipping I'll have to look if your interested
I might have to look into that once I get her functional and on the road :thumbup: If you have the cowl peices that would be greatly appreciated!!
A little experience went a long way today as a friend and I removed the rotted floor panel on the passenger's side. The door was quickly removed. Spot welds were drilled and any we missed were spotted and removed without a hitch in stride. The rocker panel came out easily. Following this was removing small sections of the floor panels so we could get a quick mock up of where the new one would go The passenger side was in worse condition, so the body mount proved difficult, but manageable with an angle grinder. The front brace all but fell off, and the rest of the rotted out floor pan was soon to follow. It was a crude job, but spot welds were removed from the upper transmission cover so the new floor pan could fit under it. We might try to take the rest of the spot welds out very carefully to take the rest of the spot welds out very carefully in order to remove that panel and clean it up. The last item of the day was to remove lots of rust and paint from the lower transmission cover. By the time I was done, the whole garage had rust particles suspended in air. It will be nice when its warmer to take jobs like that outside! A little bit of rust converter was applied, and we'll see what's left in the morning! A little bit of clean up and we should be good to weld!
Spot welds drilled out, now applying the chisel . Broke a couple bits in the process today A little coaxing to get that rocker panel off: All gone: Floor panel cut away as well. Tried to mark where the braces go: Trying to save that rusty panel with a bit of TLC:
Thanks! I'll keep looking. The employee I asked at Harbor Freight said they didn't have any. For the mean time, bullet bits seem to be handling the task.
keep up the good work =) all these trucks seems to have the same problem as yours ( from what i have seen )
Good luck on your project. I picked up my 1966 GMC when I was 16 and I still own it. I redid it a few times and I did a frame off back in 1998 or so. I'm redoing the build once more, follow the progress at www.1966gmc.com. I have been taking all the parts off carefully and passing them on to other truck owners in Vegas. I'll see what I still have that you can use. I'm doing a nut and bolt kustom restoration so I have/had lots of good parts. Also, don't go crazy and trash parts. I wish I would of kept the original hubcaps, valve cover and seat pattern (fabric color) ~ gabe
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