Thanks 5851a... I am glad of the options it has and is in the color that I wanted. I did a lot of searching to find this truck. The previous owner told me it was a 429 but I too an starting to think it is a 460.

 

I see a lot of trucks with vented cowls and they are a trash magnet. There is an access plug to help get the leaves out.


Some times it isnt enough. The drain holes are clogged on this one. I will clean it out with a vacuum cleaner and air hose when the shop dries.


I used some Easy Off to get the grease broke down. I still have a ways to go. I built my shop with painting in mind and being able to keep the floor wet. While cleaning the front end, I gave the truck a bath and washed the underside as best as possible in hopes of keeping dust out of my eyes when I start on the bed bolts.


Exterior cleaned up descently.

 

I have a ton of time just in cleaning. I did manage to get half of the drive shaft cleaned of rust. It took a lot of wire brushing and sand paper to get it into primer. Two of the motor mounts look like it was replaced when they swapped motors. A little paint and I can add these to the parts that are nearly ready to be reinstalled at some later date. I like to try and get something done at least on a day or every other day basis.

Half shaft and mounts in primer. Earlier picture may not showed at how much rust was on the shaft. The shafts are actually cleaning up real nice. Mostly surface rust.

 

I tried to use the air gun to blow out the debris from the cowl. That got some but not all of it. It kept moving to the front instead of to the drain hole. On the passenger side it was half full of debris.


Some of what was in the cowl in front of the windshield.


What was in the passenger side. I finally got it all out when I took and flushed it out with a water hose.


I did some more cleaning and got about 5 pounds of build up off of the frame of mud, oil, and gunk. I had to cut a bolt off of the passenger side motor mount as some one had the wrong bolt in it and it was not going to come out. Cut off saw made quick work of it.

 

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Hello Riley... Hope I can show a few things on my build. I will eventually get into some things that might help you out. I seen you are wanting to learn about restorations. I have done a few and it is a slow process but it is great when you see a truck from start to finish and did it yourself. You can make it what you would of bought if you could go back in time.

 

I had to cut a bolt off of the passenger side motor mount. A previous owner used an inferior bolt and it would just strip. I knicked the mount when cutting it and put a scratch in it with the cut off saw. It wont show when in the truck.

Some parts cleaned and painted. I did some more cleaning on the front end. A ton of time on it. Going to start working on getting the bed off tomorrow. We have one more descent day before the weather cools.

 

I looked in the Haynes Manual about getting the Heater Core and Evaporator out. Manual says getting the Heater Core is doable but recommends having a professional to get the Evaporator out. Been looking online about getting the Evaporator out and have not found any good links.

I was wondering if you could drill out the rivets and access it that way to get it cleaned? Replace the rivets with nuts and bolts? I am sure as dirty as my Cowl was, the Core and Evaporator are filthy. I have seen this problem in other cars and trucks. I will eventually figure it out.

Anybody got any good links to getting the Evaporator out and cleaned? Drilling the rivets?


Mostly flash rust on the frame. I will get it cleaned off before painting. Tons cleaner then it was.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes. I am wanting to learn because one day in the distant future I want to do a frame up restore on my truck one day. Probably numbers matching except maybe a larger engine. Thanks for the reply, hope I can learn a lot and hope everything works out on your truck! By the way, that's gonna be a beautiful truck! Gonna keep it green?

 

Hello Riley... When I was young, I hauled hay for a farmer and he had a green standard cab long bed truck. Back then it was new and I remember as a kid that I thought it was a nice truck and some reason I just liked that truck. I passed on some other color trucks. Had I gotten a different color truck, I would of painted it green. Painting a firewall and interior is something I really wanted to avoid. It is a big job to do a color change correctly.

Forums and Build threads is one of the best kept secrets and an invaluable tool at your finger tips for several reasons. You are going to find information while reading others post and find information that will save you some mistakes, where to get parts, how to information and several other things that will pay off many times over and can save you hundreds of dollars. You may see links that I have found and went back and posted them in my build for later use.

Besides reading others post, another thing I have done, if you have access to a salvage yard that will let you dis-assemble one of their trucks, is to dis-assemble it and not destroy a truck in the bone yard. It lets you learn on their truck and someone that needs a part can just pick it up without destroying the truck. Good practice for your truck when the time comes.

A frame up restore is something you can be proud of and when you are done and driving it down the road, it is because you did it, an experience that most people have never experienced. A good time to get all the bugs worked out and corrected. It will cost a few dollars but is not as expensive as you may think. Learn to shop different sites for parts and the best deals.

When the time comes, start a build thread and post lots of pictures and information to remind yourself when putting it back together. You are going to forget when you get to re assemble it. Below is a picture and will be memory lane for me when the truck is done. I had to cut the bolt off and I knicked the passenger motor mount with the cut off saw. It lets me know I when I did it and I need to replace a bolt.

You see car shows where they bag all of their bolts. I suggest NOT doing that when you dont have to. You will have hundreds of bags of bolts and even for the same part can be a night mare to remember where they go, even for the same assembly. In a previous post, I have my son putting the bolts back in the fender.

 

That's funny, I haul hay for a farmer now. Well did, back in the summer. Glad you're going to keep it green. Thanks again for the advice!

 

Hello Riley... Most have went to round bales now but back when I hauled hay it was the square bales and that would get you in shape real quick. I dont think I could do it today, that is some hard work. I will try to throw in some tips I have learned thru the years that may help you.

 

While out in the shop, I was looking at the truck from an angle. All in all the truck is in great shape for around here. Most trucks had a hard life in my area as they got worked. You cant see the dings it from the side, but looking at an angle, you can see several door dings. My guess is a previous owner was always parking to close to gas pumps or front row parking. I always park way out in parking lots just to avoid dings.

Dings I found in the door.


Probably at one time there was not much rust on the rear wheel well but when this truck was repainted, they put body filler over it and probably made the rust much worse. I will replace it with some patch panels when I get to the body work stage.


I have soaked the bed bolts with PB Blaster several times and I can not get the bolts freed with a breaker bar or Impact wrench. I am ready to get the bed off so am just going to cut the bolts off. I tried cutting the bolts with a horizontal and vertical cut and just cant get them to break free. I am having to do several cuts to get them cut. I got one down and several more to go. Should have the bed off tomorrow if all goes well and plan on getting on the fuel tanks and clean the frame some.

 

thank you for that. We bale round bales, all I have to do is pick them up with a tractor, and put them on a flatbed trailer. It's not that bad of a deal

 

Your making some good progress Terry, the truck is looking good! I can't believe how much debris was trapped in those vents! Look forward to seeing your next update!