Boy is she rough…

[jdl71]

…but they ain’t gettin any younger. My latest haul is a 65 C10 long fleet. Originally 525 Saddle and I believe a V8. I’d like to make this my last one, (lol) take my time and do it right from the ground up. I’ve started the easy part, taking it apart. We will see how it goes.

[Warrens69GMC]

Well, it's all better from here. looking forward to progress.

[bsarts]

I'm glad you're saving it....

[Micmac]

Keep us posted!

[jdl71]

I’ve blown it apart and started on the cab. Had to patch both pillars and both kick panels. There wasn’t much left. This is an OER full floor from summit. It took me about an hour to get this installed by myself (the old floor had already been cut out).

I’m very pleased with it. The only issues are the two top holes not lining up with my kick panel patch and the rear holes on the right side do not line up. I believe both of these problems are 100% my fault. This truck was so rusty the old floor pretty much fell out of it and I did not have a lot of reference points to work from when I welded in my pillar ends and kick panels. Now that I have a fixed point to work from (the floor itself) I am able to measure and see what needs moved. I think I’m going to heat up the seam at the passenger side b pillar patch and see if I can persuade it to where it needs to be. Then I’m going to right side up the cab, put the doors back on, and set it back on the frame and see how it all looks. After that I’ll do the cab corners and then spot weld it to the back of the cab. Then I’m going to replace the entire firewall.

[jdl71]

Passenger side will need some tweaking.

[jdl71]

More

[jdl71]

It’s been a few years since I’ve been really active here, so forgive me for forgetting your username Norm, but I appreciate your comment on my fb post about how these cabs were built from the floor up. That’s sort of how I planned to do this and it was reassuring to hear that.

[cwcarpenter98]

Your progress is making me reconsider my path of rust repair. I was planning on just patching the inner rockers/floors, but that full floor pan sure does look like an easier option on paper. Please continue sharing your progress!

[Braunschweiger]

Great work, I like that very much.

[rbruno68]

I am always amazed at some of the work guys are doing to save these trucks. I don't think I could do this type of significant repair. Looks great, and it is great you are saving another.

[raidmagic]

nice work

[MusicMan70]

Subscribed for that complete floor work and thank you for posting it up.

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by jdl71

…but they ain’t gettin any younger. My latest haul is a 65 C10 long fleet. Originally 525.

525 is color code for Fawn in 1965.

[jdl71]

Originally Posted by factorystock

525 is color code for Fawn in 1965.

I don’t know where I saw saddle, one of the paint charts may have had it wrong. Is that an exact match for the fawn interior? I had always heard that the interior fawn formula was not available.

[jdl71]

I hung the doors I have. They aren’t great and I’m not sure if I will use them but they fit “ok”. They fit just “ok” before considering how bad the cab was. I unbolted the right rear cab support to floor and renamed those holes out to get the b pillar to go back just a bit and it helped considerably. The hinges need pins and I didn’t spend a whole bunch of time adjusting them and they both open and close now without issue. I marked the hinges and I’m pretty confident the floor is where it should be in relation to the pillars and can move on to the rockers.

[Grounded63]

Those holes not lining up are probably 99% not your fault. That's just par for the course, with Import patch/replacment panels.

On my '63, I'm working on the drivers side. Inner/outer rockers lower A piller, front cab mount, ect. I've probably patched/welded up 75% of the holes. Then rescribed and drilled them once the panels were aligned properly. Import patch/replacement panels. Often just look similarly correct. But, generally still need to be tweaked. Or just plain finished, where they are missing correct details. To fit comparably to the factory panel they're replacing.

Looks great, with a full new floor in it !

[jdl71]

more progess-door

[jdl71]

..door

[jdl71]

eyebrow...

[jdl71]

...eyebrow

[jdl71]

power wash, scrape and paint frame with redneck rotisserie. I used a propane torch and putty knife to get rid of the really solid gunk and it worked pretty well. Then just shot rustoleum through my gun thinned with acetone.

[jdl71]

I picked up a 250 from a 74 nova. Checked compression and it seems pretty healthy so i regasketed and gave it an aerosol overhaul and dropped in it. I also went through the sm318, cleaned, resealed and replaced some bearings but i dont think i got any pics of that. I also set the cab back on the frame as i need the room in the shop for winter.

[jdl71]

If i ever do this again i will do a couple things differently.
A) Try to leave the firewall/toeboard on and just fix it.
B) I pulled the roof skin off to clean under there and to fix the rust above the windshield and that was the right choice. The outer skin had a little rust around the edges and I should have just tried to fix that instead of having to source a new skin. Ive been using that for patch material so its not a total waste, but i really think it could have been saved.
C) If i had the budget I would just buy new doors. Ive got untold hours in just one and its still just "ok". Every truck Ive owned has always had a ding in the body line on the door and ive never been able to get that perfect.

[theastronaut]

When you get to the rockers, make sure the inner lip that the door seal fits over isn't sticking too far outward. We've seen a few trucks with aftermarket rockers with that lip too far out and it makes the door really hard to close because the seal gets pinched. You may have to cut it off and weld it farther inward to align with the door correctly.