Stovebolt.com Forums Project Journals Project Journals Grandpa’s 1970 C10 Rebuild.

Hey, It's good to have buddies. He must be a good one.
I have a buddy with a big shop, although not a paint booth, and he lets me use it on occasion. I almost got evened up with him when I rescued him about 80 miles up the highway when he had a water pump go out. I picked up parts and we did the swap on the side of the road and we sent him on his way about an hour after I showed up there.

I do believe that it’s impossible to do these trucks “on your own.” Even though I do 99% of the work myself, it’s not “alone”. My wife’s support, dad/brother help, Stovebolt questions, friends helping me. That’s what friends are for I suppose!

Trailer axle moved. I think it’s good to go.
Hours: 532

Door skin to be redone on the LH side.
Buy more primer. Sand and bodywork hood, reprime, check/sand, and prime one last time before topcoat.

Then I will remove the cab and build some quick angle brackets to bolt it down solid as I prep to move it and the doors to blasting.

Man, hours are piling up fast.

It sure did feel nice to sharpen drill bits for 2 hours tonight. That’s one of those jobs that you say you’re going to do “one day” and you get to it 2 years later.

In the meantime, yesterday I ripped the old tailgate handle off the bench by the fire pit to use it on the new one. It is nice knowing the hands that have touched it over the years. Also, the reproduction one that I got is terrible. The second I opened the package I knew there were problems. The bends were off, the rivets were loose and flopping around. It is junk. I read up online and discovered that there are serious fitment issues with these. Gates won’t open using them, they hit the panel, etc. I didn’t even bother trying it as the consensus was to find an original. Removing it was a pain as the pan head bolts were rusted solid. I had to drill them out. Mine was slightly bent from years of use and abuse, so I drilled out my rivets, disassembled it, straightened the bends a bit, welded a pivot bolt in place on the back latch, ground it down to maintain clearance, drilled rivet holes to match new bolts, blasted it, and now it awaits primer/paint and reassembly. I will need to use some bolts and stover nuts in place of rivets, but no one will know. It was a surprise that this little task took me two hours.

My sister asked me about hours tonight and I told her the count so far. She couldn’t believe it and then I told her I think I’m 1/2 done!

Whilst blasting the handle and its pieces, my shop vac started to squeal. I use it to remove dust from the blast cabinet via a “dust Cyclone dust remover” which works decently. I haven’t serviced the vacuum since I bought it so a complete tear down, cleaning, and lube job was needed. She is sucking “quietly” now, well as quietly as a shop vac can be.

Hours :534

I started sanding on the “new, good” hood and am questioning things. The skin isn’t what I’d call “tight, tight.” I see serious highs and lows that I figured weren’t as bad as I thought as I ran my hand over the surface. It isn't quite canning, but bounces up and down , and isn’t tight. The right side is pretty serious as you can see in the picture. I’d rather not have to use filler over most of the hood. Weird thing though, is that it is almost symmetrical left to right, with the right being more advanced. I’m wondering if new vibration pads will help enough to warrant “little filler.” Thoughts, Bolters?

In the meantime, I began searching for a replacement hood. I checked at my Uncle/Aunty’s ( my departed uncle who gifted the truck) but that old GMC hood was worse off. I then tried an old boy who’s a friend of my dad’s. He said, “Sure. Come on over. I have a couple you can look at to see if they’ll help you out.”

So I did. And found a gem of a gmc hood with only two little bolt holes on top that are easily worked. The skin is very tight, straight, and made me drool.

I went to the house and asked about a sale.

“Oh. That GMC. (1 of 2 candidates) I’m not selling that. I’m fixing it up one day.” He’s done this to others, including me, in the past.

3 miles from the farm. And he won't sell it to me. After he said to come out and we will see if he can help me out.

“I’m gonna fix it up one day”

“Really? When are you starting?” I replied.

"One day… I already started moving things around."

I told him, “No, you’re not and no, you haven’t. That truck hasn’t moved in over 10 years. And the yellow was parked well over 20. One day means never. That truck is going to rot into the ground and waste away. Sell me the hood."

No.

Makes me crabby. Fix it up. Pfft. No means to do so. No income to do so. No ambition to do so. Old age won’t allow him to do so. Hoarders are infuriating. Fred Flintstone’s car has better floors than this truck does. The yellow one is even worse.

Offer of trade my primed hood + cash.
“Nope. I’m fixing it up, “he says. 🙄 Grrr. Insert bloody “bleep bleep”here. I’m glad he wasted my time, too.

So, I’m sitting on my hood for a bit in hopes my dad can talk sense to this guy. My other uncle might have some leads on some possibilities hiding on people’s back 40.

In the meantime, I removed the door skin on the left door. I HATE THIS LEFT SIDE DOOR PROJECT. The previous attempt’s bottom edge missed (see earlier posts) and buckled/ pinched the lower edge. It wasn’t going to make the cut on the quality I need on this build, so out it came. I cut the scabbed up piece out, cut a new piece of 18 gauge, welded, planished, ground smooth, cut to fit, straightened, and I think this go round will be good. Knock on wood. Test fitting right now. How many hours have been put into this bleeping door? Gotta be over 60 now. Ugh. Reproduction? Oh, right. The LH sides are a POS for A-pillar fit.

Hours: 542.

Ups and downs here at Fox Rods!

👍🏻🦊🔫

Just following your saga with the re-pop door has confirmed that I need to repair/ patch what I have. Some great work on this truck.

The RH reproduction door seems pretty good actually. It fits the opening well and I haven’t seen any issues yet. The LH door was off. I tried two different left hand repops and they were both “smaller” than the RH.

LH door fiasco…
What is this? Attempt 4? Who knows anymore. Anyway, I have reskinned the LH door AGAIN. I think I can say I’m happy with it. It is not perfect, but will work. It has one little area on the lower front where the air tool put the slightest little running dimple in the metal. You can see the slight shadow change in that location in the picture. I can live with the amount of filler needed to smooth it in this area. Before hand, the lowers edge would have nearly needed to be completely built up with filler to mask the imperfections. It had serious waves and warps in it. It would have chipped or cracked and ruined the paint job. This go-around will be just fine. I have to tend to the corners as they are still sharp, plug weld the outer skin window tab to the inner skin window tab, create drain holes in the lower inner tubs, and add some plug welds to the folded over edges.

Tonight went well. Hopefully things keep turning up. Knock on wood.

Hours: 544

Next up: preparation of trailer to drop cab onto it. I’m going to use some angle iron across the trailer’s frame and weld 4 mounting points. I intend to use the jack on the trailer to level the cab when needed. One instance I foresee this happening is when I apply the drip rail sealer. That stuff can be runny, so I’ll use that jack to help it flow down hill. Hopefully when the cab comes off, it’s painted and going on the frame.

Yesterday I went to the paint supplier and got 2 samples in spray cans for giggles. I believe I have decided on the colour posted earlier. It is actually very close to original.

Today I finished up the left hand door. I plugged welded the window tabs together and die ground the excess in case it interferes with the window channel after paint. Then I hung the door and dressed the edges where they were a little close regarding gap. The corners needed to be rounded as well, and I had to lightly grind down the front rocker top corner to ensure no paint transfer. It isn’t perfect, but it sure looks a heck of a lot better than the previous attempt. I had to tweak the door slightly using a 2x6 and some muscle to get the door curved line up with the cab, but I got it. I then drilled dimples in the hinges and cab posts to assist in door installation/lineup after paint. Next, I drilled holes in the bottom inner tub for water drainage. I also checked the cab in case I missed a couple holes for drains, and I had, so I drilled and ground a couple. Later on, I marked and drilled the holes for the LH mirror arm.

Doors. Case closed. Finally.

After supper, I went back to the shop to prepare for the removal of the cab. I got some angle iron and cut it to appropriate lengths to hit the cab bolts. 44” front and 39.5” on the back. I welded 2” pieces on the end to “box the angle iron” in order to have a little pad for the cab mount to rest on. I will mark and drill holes for these once the cab is on the saw horses and in the air.

To end the night, I created a lift jig for the cab so I won’t have chains or rigging hitting the cab. I used some 1” tubing, flat bar, the door hinge mounts, chains, and some threaded link hooks to have some adjustment to help pick the cab level. I still need 3 links as I’m sure my boy raided the shop and was playing with them before the snow began to fall in November! (Oh sure! Blame the kid!)

Fingers crossed it works as I hope.

Hours: 548

🤞🏻🦊🤞🏻

Love the color, My Dad's 70' GMC Sierra Longhorn was that color with a white roof. Miss both him and that truck.

Thanks Craig. We know what you mean. These old trucks worm their way into peoples’ hearts for more than just “being trucks”, don’t they?

Tonight I rigged up and lifted off the cab. Hopefully, the next time I pick it up it’s going on the frame painted and complete. After the lift, I had to clean up the welds on the firewall for the gas pedal modification of a 72 pull type/02 avalanche cable combo I made. This was right up against the engine so I couldn’t do it prior. Next, I drilled holes in my cross irons to bolt the cab down. Ran some 1” stitch welds on the trailer frame to the cross bars, lowered the cab, slid in bolts and tightened everything down. This trailer idea is going to be slick. Methinks. I hope!

Hours: 550

Excited to start blasting. Oh boy, I hope I haven’t forgotten anything…


Update: fits like a glove. I’m going to put some wheel dollies under the tires to cock it sideways in the booth for a bit more room. I will also pull off the pintle hitch and the rear bumper to gain about a foot of wiggle length.