69 K10 From the Field

[landarts]

Originally Posted by harrisoncole4

My 69 blazer is very similar to your truck in colour scheme. 507 light blue with the 606 blue interior. My interior was in really rough shape when I got so it's nice that your beginning photos show what they'll look like at the end. Only difference with mine seems to be that it came with medium blue visors not dark blue. Will you be keeping the blue interior on yours?

I will be sticking with the 607 -Blue Custom Cloth Trim. Everything in the truck will be reused except for the seat cover. I will replace it with the proper seat cover that it came with that has a darker blue outer trim and a cloth patterned insert.

The visors and door panels are in perfect shape, will get a good cleaning and add some conditioner to moisten the vinyl.

[El Dorado Jim]

good job on this build

[68Gold/white]

I have also taken apart 3 beds, not sure I have it down as well as you have. I use an air ratchet on the nuts. Of course they stop spinning after about 3-4 turns and are stuck. I spray everything down with penetrant first. I use several sets of vice grips on the top side after I have spun several as fay as they will go, trying to position the vice grips to where they are loaded, against the bed wall. If you don't they will slap the wall hard and come loose easier...
I think the best way, may be to cut off the exposed threads off the bolts at the nut, that way the nut can't get stuck. I wire brush the exposed threads. That didn't help as much as I wanted it to...

Wht condition id the small block 400 you obtained. Those can be nice running engines, not sure I'd want one in a 4WD pickup, the extra power might be a test for the drive line...

[landarts]

Well finally back on the project. Going to challenge myself to a 21 day challenge to get the cab and door metal repairs done, all of the body work and painted. I have all the materials to do the job and complete the task. Here in Idaho yesterday 3/25/2020 the governor ordered a 21 day "Stay at Home" order to fight the Covid-19 virus. So instead of letting it get the best of me I will make it a challenge. Challenge to get the project moving forward and a challenge to learn something new in this hobby that I have not tried yet. Possibly do a full door skin, do a LS motor install, try painting a shop logo on spare door. Not sure yet but I will know in a day or so on the new item to try.

Times are rough right now and this is the best way for me to cope with what is going on and help flatten the curve at the same time. Hopefully when this is all over I can look back and see something positive.

[best view]

Not to mention 4 k20s to do

[landarts]

Originally Posted by best view

Not to mention 4 k20s to do

Actually 3 but who is counting. Did you finally get yours hauled up to your place?

[landarts]

So the work today will be getting the driver side rocker tacked in and the driver side kick panel lower section new metal cut out and tacked in also. I spent yesterday afternoon cleaning up the shop and putting away a few tools from the kitchen remodel so I could wheel out the cab to get going again. Then I cut out the lower section of the kick panel with a air reciprocating saw and small die grinder that has a metal cutting bit. Made a few templates from card stock to cut out the new metal with. Then treated the cut out area with Rust-oleum rust dissolver spray gel which is Phosphoric acid in gel form.

The gel form of the Phosphoric acid works well converting the iron oxide "rust" to iron phosphate. I wait until it all dries good then mechanically remove with a the solution with powered wire wheel, grinding pad, wire brush etc. If you try to remove the gel before it dries with water it leaves a white powdery film that does not paint well. Anyways I have had good luck with this and for areas like this I use a little acid brush to move the gel around into the cracks and places that are hard to get in to.

[landarts]

While I was letting the rust remover dry I decided to pull out the doors and get started on them while I am working on the cab. When filler or primer is drying I will work on getting both doors ready for the cab. The door in the pictures is the passenger side door, you can see the metal damage under the trim locations. I will be grinding down the areas to get to good metal and body work those areas. There are two areas that will need to be cut out that are rust through areas at the bottom corner of the door and front bottom corner of door interior. The trim holes will be welded shut and worked to get things right. After sanding down with a DA I marked areas that were high with a "H" using a black marker and outline where to cut out the rust and fix.

[best view]

It did make it to mass at my shop but I can’t go to mass to see it can’t make this stuff up to bad it would give me something to do shipping was 1400.00 from Cheney wa to cape cod ma if anybody wants the driver phone number pm me that’s cheap and he was good but practice your russian

[landarts]

Originally Posted by best view

It did make it to mass at my shop but I can’t go to mass to see it can’t make this stuff up to bad it would give me something to do shipping was 1400.00 from Cheney wa to cape cod ma if anybody wants the driver phone number pm me that’s cheap and he was good but practice your russian

I had the same guy a few weeks ago I kid you not. He was hard to understand on the phone not so bad in person.

[landarts]

Here are a few pictures of the passenger door rust repair and welding up 12 trim holes and 3 mirror holes. Rust repair was for exterior bottom corner and bottom interior corner of the door. Both typical places where they rust out from poor drainage. Cut out the rust and clean all that I can get to and treat the metal inside to stop future rusting.

[landarts]

Here is the first round of filler on passenger door after doing a little work with the hammer to knock down a few high spots.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by landarts

Here is the first round of filler on passenger door after doing a little work with the hammer to knock down a few high spots.

Looking good!! Keep going....

[landarts]

Last coat of skim on the drivers door and that good for now. Finished roughing out the inner bottom side of the door and while filler was drying I striped the passenger door of all the items so it can get its turn for stage one of metal repair and body work. All of the items that came out of the door will be getting dumped into the tub of Oxalic acid to rid it of the surface rust.

[landarts]

Here is the passenger door getting the once over, grinding down the areas where the trim was and prepping to spot weld holes shut. Also have few areas where the mirrors were mounted that are setting high so I will knock those down before welding.

Also you can ss the tub of Oaxlic acid with all the parts from the door insides, also a set of bumper brackets and rear light housing. After dropping them in the tub I put the lid on it and will go back and visit this weekend to see if it is ready to come out and be rinsed off.

[landarts]

Ok so a few days ago while working on the drivers door body work, I had just layed down some body filler over the areas that I welded shut for the trim locations. Waiting for the filler to set up I decided to start striping the other door of all the internals and window rubbers, wind wing etc. Once it was all done I tossed all the parts, nuts and bolts into a 37 gal black storage tub from Home Depot that was full of a mixture of Oxalic acid and water to remove the rust.

This morning about three days later I went out to garage to get set up for the work being done today and thought I would take a peak in the tub to see the results.

Photo 1 is the before
Photo 2 is the after
Photo 3 is the product I used (link to Amazon)

I ordered it from Amazon, cost about $15 dollars. I used 1/4 cup of the Oxalic acid and about 30 gallons of water. I just leave it in the tub with the lid on it. This is the second project I have used the same mixture on. The last project the 68 Second Chance I used it on the seat sliders and other parts.

How I came about using the is one day I was reading an article about a guy who restores old bicycles. I followed the article link to the actual build thread of the bike and was amazed at what this chemical could do. He took an entire bike apart that was 100% rust and soaked it in a kiddie pool of the Oxalic acid. When the bike came out of the pool it was a red and white bike with all the decals still left on the bike. After reading further I found out that it is used as a wood bleach and thought what the heck I will give it a try.

[landarts]

Got the piece of metal cut out and prepped for repair the rust in the bottom of the kick panel on passenger side. Tacked that in and hit it with the grinder to knock down the welds. Applied first coat of filler to both the kick panel and the drivers door that was welded up this morning.

While filler was setting up I decided to pull a extra dash I had saved a few years back and mock up a glove box in the lower middle to see how it would look for extra gauges and winch controls.

After tacking on the passenger side rocker I should be real close to being done with any metal work on the cab and doors. Then move onto the the body work phase.

[landarts]

While I was waiting on more filler to dry I pulled a spare 68 drivers side fender I got from a load of parts last year off Marketplace. I needed to repair the fender of a few nasty dings and dents so I can use it on the 67 GMC K1500 that I am getting ready to sell. That truck came with a really bad drivers front fender that the farmer must of hit a tree or fence post with and peeled the front fender outward. Damaged the fender and the inner fender but spared the grille.

This fender is a good fender meaning it has no rust repair needed. It has a few typical dings and dents as most fenders over 50 years old do. This fender has two areas in the front eyebrow that have disrupted the body line. I have fixed these before with a little Map gas heating and a few specialty tools that I have made out of items laying around in the shop. The most useful one is a extra long eye bolt, the roundness and size seems to really work well for this area.

Heated it up and pounded out a few different times until i was in the ball park. Then I cut off the old bolts that were there to hold on the eyebrow trim, still need to weld those shut. Then moved on to shaving the marker light opening and replacing with some fresh new metal. I use a metal bar stock to follow as a guide for the metal cutting blade then after the new metal is prepped I use the magnets or the butt weld clamps or both.

[landarts]

After getting it all clamped down and the metal prepped for weld I tacked around the edges spacing out the welds to distribute heat. There were a few times I had to do a little hammer and dolly to keep it going in the right direction. Got it all ground down and ready to go to filler stage next.

Took a break and washed the old 72 Cheyenne Fixrupr and took it for a spin around the neighborhood. Planning on a longer drive later this afternoon before the sun goes down, have a few hills behind my house that are pretty cool to watch the sunset.

[landarts]

Almost there with fender for the 67 GMC k1500 4x4. A few more minor skim coats and the front of the fender will be ready for some primer soon. Last picture is the truck it will be going on to replace the drivers fender.

Doors are in the final stage of skim coats after that I will be mounting temporarily to see if I am even close on the rockers. Then back of for later for final finishing. Top of cab has now been stripped of all remaining seam sealer in rain gutters and no signs of rust anywhere. Will be pulling out the windshield and back window later today to get those areas prepped.

[72 tigger]

Nice metal work! Good progress

[landarts]

Originally Posted by 72 tigger

Nice metal work! Good progress

Thanks for the props....head down going after it.

[landarts]

Started on getting the rocker installed this morning by getting out the engine hoist to use as a method for hanging the door so I could adjust the rocker for a proper fit. After about four tries I got the door mounted back in the old location that I marked before taking off. Got the rocker mounted and one screw at each end for temporary mounting. then worked both corners with a pick hammer to get it to fit closer to the body locations needed. Drilled a few spot holes and began welding. Next on to grinding the welds, and filler work on rocker and cab trim holes that i also got welded this morning.

While filler was drying I removed the back window. The window opening looked almost brand new on the sides and top, and had three location where there was a little pitting of rust. i will grind out those locations and just spot weld and grind to fix.

Man cant tell you how happy I am with this cart I built last summer. It is so easy to move around in the shop depending on where I need lighting or even roll it out on the driveway when the weather is right. One really big plus for this cart is the working height for me. I can sit on a chair and work rockers or when standing everything is at the right height for me to work comfortably.

[landarts]

A buddy of mine that is a transporter was able to pick up the 68 K20 Long bed Stepside truck I made a deal on a few weeks ago. Here are few pictures of him loading it up and getting ready to head to Idaho to my stable. I am excited about this truck, dont see many K20 long bed stepsides.

[Richard]

Like the GMC. Looks like you are making steady progress on your truck.