New to the forum (long)

[ths916m3]

Hello all, I'm new to the old truck community. Been lurking around here since October when I got my truck getting as much information I can get about these things. When I started driving at the ripe age of 15, I drove an '88 Ford Taurus as my first car, till I wrecked it 7 months later. Late in my senior year I ended up getting a 1984 BMW 318i, I have owned 7 BMWs (years from 1973-1997) since then, a 2004 Nissan Frontier, a 1964 Impala sedan that never ran, a 1987 VW scirocco that doesn't run, and a 2016 MINI Countryman (for another year and 3 months.)

Initially, I wanted something I could go to the hardware store in and get whatever I needed without worrying if it would fit. I knew I needed a truck for that. In the beautiful state of California we have to get vehicles smog checked that are newer than 1975. I already have 3 cars I have to worry about smogging, so I didn't want to get another one....so pre-1976 it was. My choices were an old Datsun, Ford or Chevy. Looking at the Datsun I found it might be too small for what I was looking for, plus finding parts for it would have been a challenge. So Ford or Chevy? The market seemed to be flooded with old Fords and I had lots of choices. Seemed like the Chevys had premium asking prices and were harder to come by....especially the short beds. I decided that a Chevy would be the better long term investment, plus I just like Chevys better anyways. The hardest part for me was finding what I wanted in my price range. I didn't want to spend a lot and wanted one that was running and drivable. I like to tinker, so one that needed work some work was no problem. I looked at a few rough examples, even a couple that didn't run, but couldn't find anything I could see myself happy with. Fast forward to October of 2017...

Found a 1968 C10 1/2 ton LB with 3 on the tree. I came across this one about 40 miles away, body was okay and everything was there, most importantly, it ran and drove, lots of work had been done to what I thought was a 327, upgraded carb, intake manifold, headers, MSD HEI distributor and loud Thrush mufflers. Drove it home and wondered what the hell I got myself into. It was originally an east coast truck only spending the last 3 years here on the west coast. Did I really want to revive an almost scrap ready truck? I start doing some research on the truck and find that its actually got a 307 which really is no big deal to me.
First thing I did was clean the engine bay and under the truck, then started treating all the rust that I could see and taking inventory of what panels I will need to replace or fix the rusted out body. I started wrenching on the brakes when it required way to much effort and pedal travel to stop. I decided to get a power setup to make braking a little better...that caused me to have to upgrade the lines to tie into the new position of the proportioning valve, but ran into a busting a rusted line in the intermediate pipe while removing the other half, so I replaced the lines all the way back, including the rubber hoses, just to be safe. I pulled out all the carpet and started rebuilding the door internals just for smooth operation and got some replacement panels for starting my rust repair. Need to get a welder so I can brush up on my welding I learned 14 years ago. This is going to be a great project. I don't ever plan on it being anywhere near to a ground up resto, but I want it to be a clean driver I can enjoy driving time to time. I know I will find loads of info here and plan on helping anyone as much as I can. If you read this far, thanks.