October, 1999. The Big Before. Am I ever glad I don't have to start this one over. I have zigged when I should have zagged too many times on this first project! It's a good idea to really cherish the time you have with the pre-restoration truck. Things will never be the same again, and you have just committed to several thousand hours of free labor! Will it be worth it in the long run? Only if you do it right. That, in itself is elusive. Good Luck!

Let's fix the rusted-out floor. All three panels were replaced with the reproduction panels currently available. I ran into only one glitch - the center screw-in panel is about 3/8 of an inch too wide and it won't screw down properly. The job was done very professionally by master welder Gene Swartzendruber, and there is no doubt about it being done right. We will have to cut the center panel to make it fit properly. This is only one small example of oddities encountered! It was after this, I discovered I really needed to learn to weld myself, so I got the proper equipment and dove right in. Many mistakes, but worth the effort. You can always fix what you break!

More shots during rust removal, but entertaining to look at. I normally don't do anything half fast, so I spent many hours inhaling rust particulate in the air even with a mask, it can't be a good thing. This is NOT the way to remove rust. A drill with a wire brush on the end may work, but it's way too messy for the result.

The wire brush manufacturer came out pretty good in all this! I only have so much patience however. So, after trashing a drill or two due to side load on the bearings, I had a few decisions to make.

In my defense, it was really dirty. 50 years of crud just had to go! For most people, the reply to this is probably, "quit your bitching and scrape and clean it all off", but therein lies a personality quirk where one mans clean is another mans not-so-much.

It looks worse in reality than here on film. The dirt was unreal. I know, a pressure washer, right? Well, I don't have one! I DO have a scraper and some wire brushes though! I am including all of these shots so you fully understand what you are up against if your goal is a pristine, fully restored truck. It's rather comical now, but at the time, I do not recall thinking it was funny.

Welcome to my humble abode. Since my wife took a look at the bill for this project, I have a new home! Happy guys? Really though, there was some substantial damage to the left outside cowl, cab corners rusted out, and a few other places that were questionable. Since I had decided at this point it would be a frame-up restoration, it was time to completely strip the cab, prepping it for sand blasting, welding and body finishing.

Here is the frame before sandblasting and then after. Hesston Concrete is where I sandblasted it and they returned the frame. I had no idea they would bring it via a high loader, but whatever works! This whole sandblasting thing was a serious education all in itself! The sandblaster used a huge, heavy fire hose and a big diesel engine to power the compressor. After 4 55-gallon drums of sand and 4 hours of blasting, I felt the job was over. Not easy, but worth every bit of the headache! Every small nook and cranny is now free from rust. That felt good in 1999 having it done that way, but fast forward to 2014 and I can tell you, the sand used for this was WAY too harsh and made for a lot of smoothing and prep work that could have been avoided had I use a MUCH less aggressive blaster.

Here is the bare frame, sandblasted and waiting for paint. At this point I have learned about reactionary tactics and am planning each step carefully. After sandblasting, the frame has a rough texture, so I will apply 3 coats of Sherwin Williams 980 Etching Primer/Filler to the frame first. It's a MIL-Spec item, so it's green. This is my very first attempt to use a spray gun attached to an air compressor. It went very well and although I had lots of sanding to do, I got a very smooth and incredibly fine result. This is in no small part thanks to the guys on the OleTrucks list for providing insight on how to paint with a spray gun.

This is after 3 coats of Urethane Top Coat. I AM getting the hang of that paint sprayer! Use a respirator and plenty of ventilation, especially on the Urethane. Ventilation those days was box fans under the garage door! The Urethane is Sherwin Williams 1738 Ultra.

Here are some results before and after painting. The manifolds got new studs and will be painted soon. The front end parts as all the rest are etching primed and then painted with acrylic enamel.

Here is the completed frame up against the wall out of the way so I can assemble the front end and prepare to paint the rear end. Things are looking up! Each leaf was primed and painted separately and a piece of Teflon strip inserted between each one.

Here is my new acquisition... a 1949 3/4 ton. It has already proven really helpful in running around for parts for this project... and that's it for now, folks! More pics to come. I will let everyone know when the next batch comes in, but this is pretty much where I am in this project to date (02 February 2000.) Since then, I have sold that truck. It was an awesome truck and one my son even drove to work, but it needed to go since I only have limited space.

These are parts of the donor cab left over from the cab sheet metal project. Looks like good stock to play with in my quest to learn how to weld. As I stated earlier, the welding thus far has been done by Gene Swartzendruber. After noticing all of the welding that is in my future on this project, I decided to purchase a MIG welder and do the work myself under Gene's supervision (at least for awhile). Meanwhile, back to the task at hand... assembling the chassis. This shot is of the completed rear end (brakes and all.)

In these two shots, the frame is sitting on sawhorses and the floor jack. I am working on aligning the running gear to the frame. This really wasn't all that difficult, but with all new rubber and spring bushings, I wanted to take care to do it right..

To break the monotony (like there IS any!) I move around to other things that need doing anyway. Here the original horn was being prepped for the black high temp (high gloss) engine paint it received shortly after. The next shot is the final coat of cast iron paint used to restore the original look on the steering column. I maintain that primer and paint on everything is a must. Especially after seeing what 50 years has done to the bare parts. This cast iron paint looks exactly as if nothing was done at all to a new part.

I needed an excuse to buy an engine stand and it's proven very useful. Here the oil pan is removed and I am preparing to remove the guts. After carefully laying out each part to ensure I know what goes where, I shot this one. I then numbered each part with its exact location so all rods, lifters, etc go in the exact hole they came out of.

These shots are after the stainless steel brake lines have been installed and tested, the shocks are installed, and other small details are complete. The shocks were a bit hard to find because stock shocks are not long enough to mount once the leaf spring strips and the re-arching is done. I wanted the shocks to have a decent amount of movement in both directions afterwards. These are new Monroe gas shocks (blue) that were stripped and repainted black. The brake lines were installed with mounting clips that have rubber inserts to keep the lines from chafing against metal (something GM forgot to do in 1950.)

These are misc parts in various stages of restoration. All parts associated with this truck are sandblasted and primed with high grade etching primer for preservation.

More shots of the finished product. It was a lot of work taking about 4 hours per piece (at 60 psi with a siphon blaster) but was worth every minute!

A shot of the already dry stripped cab. Not very clean and by the time I am through, the cab will shine like the rest of the sheet metal. The next shot is of the repaired top door hinges on each side. They usually have broken springs but thanks to reproduction spring and pin kits, we can rebuild them. For the perfect fit, use an 11/32 bit to drill out the hinge and a letter R bit to drill the hinge frame.

Here we go... sandblasting the cab. I am in this picture, upside down under the dash blasting the inside of the dash. Nothing was left out. This proved to be a 6 day operation (10 hours a day). It wasn't pleasant, but necessary. Suggestion... use sunscreen! 10 hour days in the sun without sunscreen make for a rather painful lesson in logic! I went through quite a few face shields and ceramic nozzles too. The entire project (all sheet metal and the cab) took approx. 30 bags of sand (about $150.00.) Even though I had pretty good luck reclaiming the sand, wind, a smaller tarp than the distance the sand can travel, and poor aim took its toll as well. Still that 30 bags of sand represents about 140 hours of sandblasting. The dry strip place charged me $650 to do an inadequate job, so this is way more economical and you have the benefit of it being done to your standards.

The die grinder I bought at Harbor Freight for $19.95 was the perfect tool for the job. Nice straight cuts that left the edges nice and smooth. Bending the crimp-over was a bit tricky (at the bottom of the door) but was necessary to get the patch panel under it. I ended up cutting that crimp-over off completely and welding a strip back on after the panel was installed. The job came out looking really good and removed all the rust-through and pitting.

Well, I will be kind here and say that after 5 months and $400.00 over what was estimated, the engine shop finally finished re-babbitting my 216 engine. Needless to say I won't be using that shop again. But at least it's back and now ready to super-clean the outside of the block for priming and painting.

At last the engine is ready to go back on the frame. Another major milestone and nobody is happier about having the shop space back than me!

A very short roll but it's a busy time of year for our business so I don't get as much done as I'd like... it's January 20, 2001. Time to start work on the cab sheet-metal but after a few other pickup projects get completed. Stay tuned for more!