" Welcome! Please allow me to walk you through the first 4 years of my truck rebuild (2011 through 2015). It's still a work in progress. I'll focus on the highlights to quickly bring you up to date.
Want to read more about this build? Check out Jay’s Gallery page here
This truck was rescued from the crusher in September 2011. It was in far better condition than most 1965 trucks here on the East Coast.
I pulled it home
on a tow dolly . The truck was all original right down to the
the tag on the carb but the bench seat was missing.
Being "cash poor" right after the purchase but anxious to get started, I first
removed the bed . That allowed me access to work on everything behind the cab. With the supervision of a friend, I cleaned and installed new bearings in the
rear axle , and rebuilt the
rear brakes . The
frame was cleaned up to the cab. The
rear suspension was cleaned and rebuilt.
Next, attention was turned to rebuilding the
front suspension, front brakes, brake lines and a new master cylinder. At the 14 month mark I had the engine running (poorly) and test drove it up the street 1/4 mile but without a bed or working lights.
Tests revealed low compression in 3 of the 6 cylinders of the 88K mile
230ci engine . A search for a replacement engine led me to find a
1966 donor truck with a running 250ci engine. The compression seemed OK so I replaced all the
valve seals and
painted the 250ci .
The cab was pulled off the frame (a 2 person job) and placed
on jack stands so I could strip and clean the metal.
Epoxy was applied with a roller to prevent rust. The
rockers were replaced and a few small areas patched. The cab was turned on it's back and
bed liner was applied as an undercoating.
The engine and cab went back onto the frame and then everything came into the garage. The first 3 years of work was done
outside under a shade tree . I
repaired the dash with a
patch panel cut from another 1964-66 truck. A freshly rebuilt
T5 transmission completed the driveline. The windshield,
front sheet metal and GMC hood went back onto the truck. I was now able to move the truck under it's own power.
The truck was
completely rewired with an American Autowire Classic Update kit. I finally had a
driving truck after installing the
rebuilt bed .
That's 4 years of work summarized in 9 paragraphs. There's still plenty of work to do. As of November 2015, I have plans to replace the current 250ci engine with a rebuilt 230ci. The truck needs to be sanded and painted inside and out. Then I'll work on upgrades such as front disc brakes, front and rear anti-sway bars and power steering.
You can follow the progress of my rebuild on
my BLOG . Updates will be available here too.
