Dennisch' Pickup! Rolling project.

[Dennisch]

Swap the front suspension for one with 8 lugs, instead of the 5 I have now. And that has 2 reasons.

1. Makes it easier to bring along a spare tire.
2. 8 lugs looks more awesome than 5.

Probably repaint it, preferably 2 tone. (different color in between the molding on the side)

And a cowl induction hood, which might actually work as it should, instead of just show, because of the raised air filter.

And I will make an bedcover out of diamond plate aluminium. And make it so that I can only put things in the bed that fit underneath the cover. I have done enough helping people moving stuff now, and I only have the truck a year...

 

[Slash]

Swap the front suspension for one with 8 lugs, instead of the 5 I have now. And that has 2 reasons.

1. Makes it easier to bring along a spare tire.
2. 8 lugs looks more awesome than 5.

Probably repaint it, preferably 2 tone. (different color in between the molding on the side)

And a cowl induction hood, which might actually work as it should, instead of just show, because of the raised air filter.

And I will make an bedcover out of diamond plate aluminium. And make it so that I can only put things in the bed that fit underneath the cover. I have done enough helping people moving stuff now, and I only have the truck a year...

I agree 8 lugs look that much more awesome haha.

I don't know about the hood scoop. It might be cool depending on how you do it. I'd like to see it.

My truck has diamond bed rails, back of the tailgate, and up on the front of the bed. Just got a board down now with no coating.

Only for a year?

 

[Dennisch]

Yup. Bought it end of March last year.

I want this hood :

2" rise of bad ass looks!

 

[Slash]

Yup. Bought it end of March last year.

I want this hood :

2" rise of bad ass looks!

Stupid me wasn't thinking. Yes that would look nice. You should put one of those old school bug shields on it like the ones common on the old Fords. I have it and love it. Effective as hell too. They are colored see through and stand straight up about 4-5 inches. A chrome pushbar with dual KC's would look nice on the front as well.

 

[homeforsummer]

This thing is awesome. Dunno how I missed the truck until now, despite all the Infield comments.

 

[Dennisch]

Shame on you.

 

[Dennisch]

So, small update here.

I still have to replace my gauges with the new set I have, but I didn't feel like fiddling with the wires this weekend. 16 wires need a new location in the plug that goes into the cluster.

So I just did other stuff, like removing the paint from the needles, making them all 1 color, shiny silver instead of green and orange.

And, I found a place for some decent speakers, so that I can remove the ones that are poorly placed in the bottom of the doors.

And no, the Coke can is just there for support of the mock up.
But as is usual when I am working with wood, I of course did something wrong.
The mock up is of a thicker material than my final solution, and when I was finished with all the work on the 2 final boards, it turned out that the magnets were hitting the bolt of the door lock.... So I had to redo those, but now with thicker wood.

Also, I must build a case for my new subwoofer, the old one was just too fat to go behind the seat. Physically impossible, unless I make a dent in the rear of the cabin, of take out a part of the seat. Both are a no go. So I bought a slimmer subwoofer.

More will follow!

 

[High-Test]

Any updates, Dennisch?

 

[Dennisch]

I got rid of the noise my speedo cable was making by pouring it full of motor oil.

It is now pretty quiet in the cabin and that was something I needed to get used to.

Also, the rust treatment of the bed floor has failed. It is turning more and more rust orange.
All the other bits I did are still perfect. Even the inner wheel wells...

I will take the full bed off and dismantle it so I can get it blasted, and then redo it with real bedliner. I think I will repaint the truck next spring, but the bed has at least 250 small holes in it from the various screws that has been drilled into it that I need to weld shut. But I have plenty of time. I see myself driving this truck for the next 20+ year. :2

 

[Slash]

To be honest you might be better off finding another bed off a donor truck to save some money. That way less work is involved and you save time. Just paint it when you do the rest of the truck and go b

 

[Dennisch]

To be honest you might be better off finding another bed off a donor truck to save some money. That way less work is involved and you save time. Just paint it when you do the rest of the truck and go b

That might be a bit of a challenge around here. I see plenty of pickups but not so much short bed Chevrolets from the 70's, as most of them aren't in such decent shape as mine, rust wise.

I've been searching for a hard bed cover since I got the car, but so far I've found nothing. Late 80's and early 90's parts are now the most common to find second hand.

I've been looking at beds from those, but they just won't look right behind this cab. Just like a side step bed. Hideous on this type of pickup.

 

[Slash]

In that case, you probably are better off doing the work then. Don't put a shell cover in the bed though. If anything get something good like spray on Rhino liner that way there is no chance of water and moisture getting between the liner and bed promoting rust.

 

[Dennisch]

I need the hard cover. People think because I have a pickup I am willing to drive cross country with their refrigerator or washing machine, which I am not willing to do anymore. Last year was just ridiculous, and this year I've said No so many times that the word might have lost it's meaning.

 

[Dennisch]

Since my pickup is still positioned in a way that I can not work on it yet, and it shares it's room with 2 other Americans (and one German but it has a thread of its own) I'll just use this thread to show the progress of those 2 cars too. They are both my dads cars but I do most of the work on those too.

First up, his 1974 GMC Sierra Grande.

350ci, nothing special about it actually. This year we pulled it apart body wise, so that it could be painted, it needed some new sheet metal parts for the lower back corners of the cab, it got 2 new~ish doors which both turned out to be quite bad and I spent a good week on each door to get them back in shape again. My dad became impatient about his truck and we decided to leave the work on the bed for this winter. The cab is painted and looks good, it received a new head liner and fresh new rubbers all around. The head liner:

Redneck.

And that's that for the Sierra Grande, for now.

Up next, the 1970 Bel Air.

We've been working on and off on this thing for I think 10 years now.
He bought it cheap, and it turned out to be a rusted out crap hole of a car.
Pretty much the entire lower rear is all new metal, including the wheel wells front and back. The doors all need love and welds, except for 1. The hood has a whole new nose, but that wasn't done very good (outsourced) so I've been working on that now.

That corner was sticking out a centimeter, so I just had cut a little piece out and hammer it into proper form. Job well done.

This corner I had to replace completely and so I did. Voila.

The Bel Air will be the main focus for my free time, so expect a lot of blue colored pictures entering this thread.

 

[Dennisch]

Top picture is the rear left. The metal was gone beyond repair so I cut it out. Saturday we'll get a replacement panel and I'll weld it in.

Next 2 pictures is the rear right. Not rotten, but bondo. Thick bondo everywhere. You can see whete the bondo was, it is where the metal is still white~ish. That's the result of 4 hours heatgun and putty knife wielding. Ugh.

 

[AnthonyD1993]

Ah, the joys of owning an older vehicle and finding out the previous owners decided to patch it together rather than fix it right. I was offered a '70 C10 for cheap, but I turned it down since half the body was literally bondo. Your truck makes me jealous since I want a square body GM truck while they are still stupid cheap, but at the same time, I have literally no money to buy anything.

 

[Dennisch]

Replacement panel is tag welded in. Tomorrow will be a tedious day of more short welds to prevent it from warping.

Also, the difference in thickness of the materials is ridiculous. The original metal is at least 1.2/1.3 mm and the replacement is barely half of that. Stupid Taiwanese crap.

 

[Slash]

That's why I don't buy aftermarket body :/

 

[Dennisch]

That's why I don't buy aftermarket body :/

It shouldn't be too much of an issue since both of the Pickups will stay inside during the winter, and be treated like classic cars instead of a work horse.

But still, cutting out the bad parts cost me a disc per side. Ridiculously, deliciously, durable metal. Gotta love that old American steel.

I will try to make my own panels for my pickup, since I only need to add the flare and maybe 3 cm of steel. Somewhere in its life they cut out some material to (most likely) make room for fat tires.

 

[Dennisch]

That moment when sheetmetal fabrication works out.

View attachment 305679
View attachment 305680

Bottom picture is what I found after removing the bondo. Top picture is after I welded the holes and realized that it still looked like crap, and decided to make a new piece.

 

[Dennisch]

The piece of metal in the previous post was a perfect fit until I dropped it and stepped on it, bending it and destroying it. It took me another 3 attempts to get the plate into fitting shape. It doesn't look like it but it has some serious fabrication worked into it due to some odd shapes. But it fits now.

And this piece took 8 weeks to be delivered. But it was worth the wait, since this piece of metal is the same gauge as the car, and that works so much better when welding. Only downside is that it doesn't quite fit, like every other aftermarket panel, and beating it into shape requires a bit more muscle. But it fits. And it's flush. In the top left you can see the wheel arch that I also replaced, and that was piss bucket metal. Almost half of the thickness as the car itself.

Just one more evening of grinding and welding, and a bit of hammering and this side can also be prepared for painting.

Always satisfying when stuff works.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

@Dennisch CONGRATS!!!

Ohhh dang I absolutely LOVE these trucks. I had 4 different versions of this truck that's how much I loved them. Common rust problem areas. Cab corners, floor pans, rocker panels, and the entire box. So if the box is too rusty, replace it. Otherwise it will be a never ending nightmare.

My trucks of this year in order of purchase.
1. 77 step side 4" lift. 38" tires. My first full size truck.
2. 79 Blazer. 6" lift. 38" tires. Daily driver for several years. Then became a mud running vehicle because body got too rusted from excessive mud use.
3. 77 step side 16" lift 44" tires. This truck was 100% only for mud running.
4. 77 short box 4" lift 35" tires. Sun roof an power windows / locks. Daily drove for 10+ years including mud, snow, ice, sand, hill climbing, everything!!! NEVER ever broke down. One of THE best vehicles I ever owned in my entire life. Absolutely loved this truck.

SOooo if you ever have any questions about these. I would have no problem helping.

 

[Dennisch]

SOooo if you ever have any questions about these. I would have no problem helping.

These trucks are so easy to maintain, both me and my dad were smacking our heads why we never bought them earlier on.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

These trucks are so easy to maintain, both me and my dad were smacking our heads why we never bought them earlier on.

Exactly. The drivetrain is insanely solid. I love the 205 transfer case because its one of the very few in history that actually has a LOW for 2wd. All transfer cases have low for 4x4 but none have that for the 2wd. Plus all the drive train components are very easy to swap from all the other years. So cheap and easy to build and maintain. Parts are everywhere. Cheap on insurance, and insanely reliable. I am not exaggerating at all when I say my 77 NEVER broke down. And I beat the heck out of that thing in every way you can imagine and daily drove it all year round for 10+ years. One of my all time favorite vehicles to this day. It also had THE best engine I ever owned in my life. I still miss that truck so much. Excited to keep an eye on this thread and see the updates. Brings back great memories.

PS. Don't know how I missed this thread. You should change the title for sure. Very misleading.

 

[Dennisch]

Both trucks are 2wd, since we virtually have no sandy and/or muddy roads here there is little use for 4wd. Parts are also easy available but sometimes it takes some time to have them shipped. And scrapyard parts for pickups are rare, most of the cars from this period are usually Blazers or Suburbans, so beds are rare as golden poo. But replacement panels are cheap as dirt and I know my way around a welding machine and have a set of hammers. My dads truck is now pretty much done, metal work, couple of small things and Saturday we'll put the gearbox back in place so that my dad can drive again.

And then it's my truck's turn to grind, beat and weld.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Both trucks are 2wd, since we virtually have no sandy and/or muddy roads here there is little use for 4wd. Parts are also easy available but sometimes it takes some time to have them shipped. And scrapyard parts for pickups are rare, most of the cars from this period are usually Blazers or Suburbans, so beds are rare as golden poo. But replacement panels are cheap as dirt and I know my way around a welding machine and have a set of hammers. My dads truck is now pretty much done, metal work, couple of small things and Saturday we'll put the gearbox back in place so that my dad can drive again.

And then it's my truck's turn to grind, beat and weld.

Oh yeah if its 2wd then its even easier to maintain and cheaper all the way around. Since you don't drive in the winter and seem to avoid muddy roads, the basic body work should last a long time.

I just noticed yours has power windows, locks, and even has tilt steering. All the features mine had and mine was even white.

 

[Dennisch]

Yup, it also had aircon and cruise control when it left the factory, but both have been removed before I bought it. But I don't need either of them. I also have a new switch for the wipers from a later model so that I can get rid of the crappy low and high speed settings. I need that interval option.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

And I thought I was crazy wanting a Peugeot in Canada!

How do you manage to find parts for these cars in the Netherlands?

 

[Dennisch]

And I thought I was crazy wanting a Peugeot in Canada!

How do you manage to find parts for these cars in the Netherlands?

Let me give you 2 quotes from earlier in this thread!

How did you find one of those in the Netherlands?

Bitch, please. Our country is full of cars like that. Very hot items, those classic Murican cars. This one came from Cali just 3 years ago.

Only because I woke up way to late today I couldn't go to a meeting of US cars. Usually up to 500 cars come to the meetings.

👍

Although scrapyard parts are quite rare to find, it's mostly 80's-90's nowadays, most new parts can all be picked up the day you need them, and if it isn't in stock it will be ordered and most of the time it's delivered within a month.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

How long do car companies usually build replacement parts for?