My First Build

[rbsticky]

Alright, so I have spent almost 3 years looking for the perfect truck that I want to work on. However, I finally found what I have been looking for. To introduce myself, my name is Branden. I graduated college one year ago and finally had enough money to make my first "Big Kid" purchase. As I said above, I spent 3 years trolling CraigsList and all the other sites for something I wanted to work on. I ended up purchasing a 1985 GMC K2500 with the 6.2L Diesel. I have enough experience with gassers to screw up just enough and absolutely ZERO experience in the diesel realm, so this should be fun. The main selling point on this truck, for me, was that the guy I bought it from probably knew more about this truck than most of the new GM mechanics. When I first went to see it, he was telling me and showing me all the things he did and fixed and replaced and my head was spinning. But once we started it up and I heard it, I knew i wanted it. He had already replaced a lot of the stuff under the hood along with adding a Banks Turbo. The exterior of the truck was in really good condition, he got it in Detroit from a guy who brought it up from the Carolina's. The bed sides had some bubbling under the paint but it seemed solid and just surface stuff. The interior is in pretty pristine condition with a new dash cover, though the radio has some bad wires.

I know this is long already but I've been reading everyone's builds forever and have wanted to have my own.

So here are the pic of what I started with and what I have done so far in the first month:

1) This is how it looked when I first got her
2) The truck had a cap on it when I got it and hasn't been leveled, so whenever it rained the water would seep in an pool up along the front wall of the bed. So, I wire brushed it and used some NAPA Rust Treatment to kill the rust.
3) Primed, killed rust. I got a little over zealous with the wire brush.
4) This is the area above the wheels where I originally thought it was just surface rust. I started with sandpaper and then went to the wire brush. But finally I decided to just step up to the big leagues and bought a grinder. After about 30 seconds of using that, I realized my surface rust was not just surface but all the way through. So, since I don't have a welding machine I bought some Bondo. I know. Not the right way to do it, but its what I got.
5) I got tired of just doing body work so I blacked out the grill and headlight bezels. I think it looks pretty sweet. I think I'm going to flat black the whole truck.

I'm currently looking through CraigsList for a toolbox, I have new headlights in my shopping cart on LMC with the Ultra Bright Blue bulbs and probably some LEDs will be added soon. My goal is to update the look of the truck but still a bit of a homage to the old school look.

Alright that's all for now. Thanks for looking and any comments, suggestions and even ridicule is greatly appreciated!

-B