The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop rusted body

I looked at a 53 5 window this morning. It looks complete but the cab was fuzzy with surface rust. The windows looked good and the corners were rusted (need replacing).

Would it be worth purchasing and fixing.

TIA

To me every old chevy is worth purchasing. That being said there are a lot of questions to be asked. Does it run? How much is it? Do you have to pay for all the work that is going to need to be done to it? Can you do the work yourself? How much money are you willing to put into it? What are you really looking for One almost done or a 2 to 5 year project? And if you have a wife how does she feel about it. One more thing I live in an area where there is no such thing as surface rust everything is just rotted away.

I had a 42 3/4 ton flatbed that had a lot of bad rust in all the wrong places. I was showing a friend of mine some photos of my restore and was puzzled why he merely watched and nodded in silence.

Three days later a roll on tow truck arrived with a complete identical truck in fairly good condition but had been exposed to the weather, but 20 times better than the truck I started with.

That's what friends are for.

Good Morning, thank you for the replies.

I can get the truck to my house for $500. It appears to be complete. I will do all the work myself. The 216 engine is froze. I plan to take it apart, get the parts, and have it magifluxed/bored.

I was concerned about the cab. It is a 5 window and when thumped it was solid. The interior is good. The back corners are gone. I would get the replacements, cut them out, and weld the new ones in. But the surface rust is deep. Or seems like it. Can I grind it off and primer it? Is the metal pretty thick.

I would also need a new front axle. The current owner swapped it out with one on his truck. I just hope that wouldn't be a problem to find. And the transmission is gone. But I have a saginaw 3 speed and a saginaw with an overdrive in my garage. No problem.

I am single with a 12 year old son. Lost my wife to cancer. So, these things are helpful projects. A 5 year project would be nice. And I have a 55 2nd to drive around in.

Thanks again for all the replies and help. I just don't know how much rust is too much rust.

Hi pal, i picked up a 49 panel that had some deep deep rust . I went at it with a grinder ,and let me tell you ,it came off. right down to the metal. the grinder left some marks . then it's sand paper time. i worked through the grits of paper with a pom sander it all came out in the end. it's alot of work ,but it payed off .. The truck was in bad bad shape, i had to do floors, corners,doors . there's was big holes on both sides . ths inside rusted from front to back . if i can do it you can too. Reno

I had my cab sandblasted ,not the doors or hood they'll warp if blasted . Grind some sand some use some rust killer from the auto paint supplyer,pour some osfo in spots you cant get to and soak some in muratic acid and water. Use epoxy primer , bodywork on top of that more epoxy primer, then highbuild primer lots of elbo greese then final paint. It's a blast, it's a guy thing.