The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Help me with a Strategic Plan!

Hello- Quick story--I am 27 years old, getting started on my career in the environmental field. Currently working for 2 months in Equatorial Guinea, and want to get started on my two 'bolts when I get home. One is a 49 GMC 1/2, 248-I6/4spd, 125-1/4"w.b., rust bucket, but I love it. And the other is a 51-GMC 1/2t, 228-I6, 4spd, 116"w.b.(I prefer 125-1/4.) I am VERY disorganized and have a hard time finishing projects. Can someone tell me a very general or detailed plan that I SHOULD follow in restoring these trucks? I get my logistics mixed up and get so fed up that I don't even bother. I wish I had a LIST of what I need to do! Both are running, but no brakes. Both are slightly dissambled etc..I have enough parts almost to call them both complete. I just need to figure out the best way to attack my favorite trucks. I have a garage now! and I will have the time to do it soon. I am not interested in making show trucks, only practical, decent, original, driveable, enjoyment and usage type trucks. Any help on how you organized your rebuild would be good.
I think it was Ben Franklin?? that said, "Failing to plan is planning to fail." Maybe not Franklin, but someone wiser than me. Thanks!!

You said they were running, right? Here's what I would do:

1) Choose one to work on. Don't try to start two projects at once.
2)Replace all the brakes (including all new lines.)
3)Fix any electrical issues and make sure your wiring is in decent shape.
4)Make sure the gas tank and fuel lines are clean and not leaking.
5)Drive it!! There is nothing more encouraging than being able to fire it up and go down the road.
6)Take pictures of everything! That will not only document your progress but it will act as a reference on how things go back together.
7)Lastly, I would start fixing and reconditioning one thing at a time while keep it driveable for a long as possible.

Take little bites. Try to do a little every day, or at least every week. You will quickly see progress and that will be encouraging. When you get discouraged come visit the Stovebolt pages. It's what I do.

Good luck and send pics. We really like pics!

Good advice from Mike. Having gone through the "process" a number of times with a variety of vehicles....many of which were purchased for pennies on a dollar from enthusiastic folks who lost interest, I'd like to add this advice.

The list starts with your past experience with things mechanical. Although many do....learning about the automotive systems cold turkey, is a job in itself. If you've had positive past experiences with twisting a wrench, this would make the "journey" a bit more viable. Secondly, you're going to need some basic equipment. Granted, a hammer and a cold chisel will come in handy but you'd be better served with an air compressor, a variety of air tools, a mig welder for panel replacement, parts cleaning equipment, engine hoist, jacks, stands.....and the list goes on and on. Third.....most people under-estimate the amount of time it will take to accomplish a task. Experience has taught me that you're best to double your time allottment as well as your cost for the repair. As an example, I restored the brake system in my 54 to stock condition.....new linings, drums turned, new wheel cylinders, wheel bearings, seals, new lines and master cylinder only to discover that with everything at 100% my truck was not able to stop safely with the normal flow of traffic.

And fourth.....by the time you finish one truck, assuming that the engine/transmission/drivetrain doesn't need extensive repairs, you're going to have hundreds if not a thousand hours and at bare minimum a couple or three grand in a vehicle that you can putz around in on the back roads.

If you have a good grasp on the things I've mentioned I'd say you had a good chance of getting one of your trucks on the road. I documented my initial build back to stock in my webshots "Shoebox" album. Browse through some of the process and remember that initially I wanted a stock vehicle that I could putz around in. It was only after I discovered that I has presenting a hazard on the highway that I made some solid modifications that have me enjoying the ride.

Dave

Thats some good advise in the above posts, good luck when you get home kgw...keep us posted & PICS!!!!!
Tim

I've found that along with pictures, keep all of the bolts, screws, small parts, ect... that you revoved in labeled baggies. Then keep a journal to document everything, including what the bag lables mean. Sounds like fun! Keep us posted.

Get a copy of Tom Brownell's book "How to Restore Your Chevrolet Pickup" and as many other related books and magazines as you can come up with and read them while you're out of the country. That'll give you a good idea what you've got ahead of you and keep your interest up until you can get your hands dirty.

Wow, great advice guys. Thanks a lot! I plenty of mechanical background on fixing things, only rebuilt one engine in my day. But have never paid a shop but one time in my whole life, and that was for a computer test. So I have some of the knowhow, I just needed to get a better idea of a plan of attack. Like when redoing a house, you have to have a plan. My 11,000 dollar house is now a 60K house, because I made a plan. Thanks for your planning tips, I am going to follow them and take the advice on documenting/pics/labeled baggies ESPECIALLY! Thanks!!

All great advice you've gotten here. It has been stated how important pictures are but I would suggest you take a minimum of 100 pictures of the truck before you do anything, before you start dismantling any of it. I find as I try to reassemble, the shots that are most useful are the ones that show what it should look like when bolted together.

Decide which truck looks the best without any cosmetic work. Do the necessary repairs to make the truck a dependable and safe daily driver. Forget the cosmetics. About half the people I talk to like the aura of an untouched truck. Concentrate on the mechanical. Drive it as often as you can. Learn to drive with many car lengths between you and the car ahead of you to allow space to stop in the quick stop that will come sooner or later. Do not start working on the second truck until the first truck is a dependable daily driver. When you do start on the second truck you will have all the knowledge gained from working on the first truck. Few things are as much fun as driving your old truck around town.

Just dont have 3 active projects and move in the middle of them.

One important thing (for me, at least) is to have a clear goal; you need to know from the start what you want the end result to be: resto, rat-rod, daily driver, fast rust-bucket... as well as some work/mods you really need. Write down this goal.
It is also good to find some pictures of vehicles you like in the style you want (don't have to be the same truck, just the same feel...) and look at them often to remind you why you do this and where you are going.
Without this, I tend to be carried away on side things on my vehicle which actually do not help the project move along: oh, if I did that, or this... It may seem like a good idea at the time, but it is not needed to get you to what you really want...
Example: if you just want to have a plain, simple daily-driver, well, do not spend 3 weeks shaving the door handles, even if one day you thought it would be cool.
And yes, as mentioned earliest, please only work on 1 vehicle at a time!
Good luck!