Some before and during pics of our new 84 c10.

[benoit454]

Well my old man traded his 86 4x4 for an 84 c10 the first of March or so. We've been doing bodywork on it since to fix dents and the rust on the bed. I just wanted to share some pics with you guys of the progress. I know some of you guys are probably like me, LOVE seeing before during and afters!!!!!

So here we go.....






The fender was removed to gain access from behind to push out the huge dent. We are the 3rd. owner of this truck, and the PO had it for about 3 months, he got it from the original owner, who hit a pole with the fender and kept going. it scratched, and dented the fender, bad dent in the back of it. Bad dent in the door from it, and dented the bedside also. We pushed and beat what we could out, then used a dent puller/slidehammer on the rest, then bondoed it to smooth it all out.





Sorty to say I didn't get any before pictures showing how bad the dent was on the fender or door though, but you can see the one on the bedside in the above pics.

Here's some during pics. The bedsides were the only spots on the truck with rust, and the cab corners had 2 small areas starting to rust through. The rest was great, fenders, doors, underneath, everything was great. Has one hole on the top of the rocker DS, where the door opens you can see it on the flat surface from water running down the weather strip. Floors are perfect on top and bottom, heck the bottom of the door aint even rusted inside or out!!!! Only 2 cross sills in the bed have rot, the 2 right behind the tire, one on either side, has some cracks/holes forming. Rest is PERFECT!!!!! Inner fenders are great, and original, only the pass. side had that metal plate in the back rotted out, where the 3 bolts go. You can see that in the pics too.

[benoit454]

Some self etching primer over the bare metal spots and where we done bodywork to.




Now for some afters....

However not for long, the paint didn't turn out good so we are going to strip it and start over this week or next. I'll explain why in a minute...

Here's PIVS!!!!!






Take a good look at thoose....

Spot the bad areas/defects in the paint?

You can tell the door on the DS has alot more shine to it then the bed, you can see how dull it is, and the overlap marks and the bad overlap on the PS top of the roll, right above the wheel arch in back. Now the reason why, the paint won't dry correctly. it's been 2 weeks in 70's and 80's temps, and you can stab your fingernail into it, and tell it's soft, and peel it off or scratch it off. So we can't wetsand and buff it, we tried just burnt through and flung the new paint off and clogged the buffer pad up.

We've always used this same method of paint though, it's aerosal paint mixed from the body shop supply store, and it's the same paint you'd buy in a quart or gallon, but in a spray can, thing is you can't put hardner in it. it's acrylic enamel, and we've used it numerous times on numerous vehicles, all from the same place, same paint, lots of different colors. First time we've had a problem. We usually use this method because it's cheaper and easier then spot jobs with a quart or pint, where you would need the paint, reducer, and hardner to do the job. But since this time screwed up we are going to sand it off and respray with a quart of paint and add the overall gloss hardner to it like we do everytime we paint with the gun. I think we are going to talk to the bodyshop supply about this to see what they'll do since it's their fault.

Now on a side note, that was only about a week ago when thoose were taken, and truck doesn't even look the same now. We put on our sunvisor on top the cab and hood scoops from our other truck, bought some fender trim and put that on. We are going to put the mudflaps back on soon, get the missing trim next to the PS headlight and the drip rail on the driver's side to put back on, just looks bad with them missing. We've gutted the interior and cleaned everything, the seat only has a couple cracks in it, it's still original. The floors are shiney blue like the truck is too. Dash has some small cracks but not very bad, get a molded cover for it later and some carpet. it just has the rubber mat from factory in it now.

How do you guys keep it dry? That rubber sweats badly and leaves the floor wet, I'm afraid it'll rot the floors. it's not from the heater core because there' no antifreeze in the water on the floor, it's under the rubber always, and under the carport not running. So it has to be condensation.

We installed our xm satelite radio in it, subs, amp which was a PITA to fit behind the seat, and cb radio. Already had a nice pioneer cd player in it when we got it. it has the 305 H code motor, TH350 maybe 350c transmission. 2.73 locking rear diff, NON a/c factory which I LOVE!!! 97,000 original miles. The radiator sprung a leak, so we replacd it with a modine alum./plastic tank one from napa. Going to put some new plugs, wires, cap rotor, and thermostat in it this week. Truck also has flowmaster single to dual muffler which sounds great. Only problem it has is dieseling, I hate that. I put in the middle octane 87 I think, but still does it, it's better now that we fixed the sticking shut electric choke. it was sticking and making it have a very fast idle and stay that way when you let off the gas while driving!!!! Now it doesn't though anymore lol. Any ideas on the dieseling crap? We're going to run some carb cleaner through it while revving it, and then change plugs. Spray can carb cleaner not in tank stuff. probably put some of that in too once done. if you shut it off in gear or rev it up in park then turn it off it's better, in gear it doesn't do it at all. You can let it run in the carport or setting for like 20 minutes, and get up to temp, rev it up or whatever, shuts off fine, but even a 5 mile round trip, shut off when ya get back home, diesels. 1st. ride we took in it, to the gas station about 2-3 miles from the house if that, shut off at the station, no diesel, get home from station, diesel with a loud backfire while dieseling!! LOL.

[benoit454]

Sorry for that being so long, just figured I'd give you guys some info and get some inputs or opinions on it. I know some of you guys are like me, come on and browse pics and read questions or whatever when you're bored.

[Restrorob]

Looks like your coming right along with it

On the dieseling, Possibly idled too high or timing too far advanced ?

[Pyrotechnic]

Did you weld in patch panels to repair the rust ?

[benoit454]

I figure it's something along thoose lines, too high idle probably. Maybe timing though.

As for patch panels, no.

Sad to say we don't have a welder, or the patches right now. I know it's a crappy way to go about it, but fiberglass and bondo lasted for 2 years on our 86. it was alot worse.

If we had the cash we could have just bolt 2 bedsides and changed them. Right now money is pretty tight and my old man just wanted something cheaper on gas then his 4x4, easier riding and more depenable/reliable to take for long trips or something.

I told him to get arches and some panel adhesive but he said no. it's his truck so I'll let him do it his way, and watch it start showing in 6 months to a year LOL.

That's always my old mans problem, he won't leave something alone long enough for me to do it right, he gets excited and rushes crap and then ends up redoing it later on. Then says to my, well I wished my truck looked as good as your car, or I wished you'd do my truck as good as your car.

So if it shows again and isn't too far gone I'm going to get patch panels, if it is too far gone I'll save up and get bedsides. it;s in too good of shape to let it go or abandon it. We usually have good luck grinding ALL of the rust off or cuttin it out, then fiberglass it over solid, and use bondo to skim over and smooth it out. my old body shop teacher used to say bondo will last 6 months, fiberglass will last a year. He's pretty close on that.

[benoit454]

Well the paint dried enough to sand and buff it out. it wasn't exactly right or hard as it should be because it brun through in a few spots, like the compound just stuck to it, not due to the buffer jumping or anything just compound decided to stick in the paint or something. I know it had to be the paint because most of it came out ok, and then when going back over with smoother/machine polish compound, it done that crap, and done some with the rough compound. it was BS, but some did rub out by hand afterwards.

It's not 100 percent, still hazy, but it's a helluva lot better then it was before. So it's definately liveable for a nice daily driver. I got pics on my 35mm gotta finish the roll and get them developed. I'll probably run out and get some AA's for my digital though before then so I can post up some new pics.