in the town i live in, i saw a guy driving a truck and wanted it the first time i saw it... after about 5 years, he called me asking me if i wanted it and i got it for $1000. it originally was a regular cab, long box, inline 6 300, 4 speed manual trans, 2WD when he got it and he turned it into a 351W, C6 auto, flatbed, 4WD. i drove it for 4 years and the motor blew(i'm really hard on engines lol). i got an 86 part truck for free and switched mine over to the 86 5.0 EFI and put the complete drive-line in mine as the parts truck had a bad frame. so i drove it for another 5 years and for whatever reason, the harmonic balancer broke on the crank stub. new balancer, ran for 2 days and something let go inside the motor... it sat for 2 years after that and i'm now in the process of rebuilding the entire truck... pics follow








the different colours under the hood are from it being on fire once





look between the cab and bed... the foam is so the door will latch lol





even has a sun roof





cab off reveals lots of rust













i will be posting some more progress tomorrow

 

man that cabs rough look like it been sitting in water or something. Whats your plans for it, u gonna get a new cab?

 

that cab is junk... that is what 12 Canadian winters without undercoating does LMAO

and yes, i'm replacing the cab completely with the one in the pics below





currently in the process of making a new flatbed. 3x3 square tube. will post some pics of the finished steel work

 

nice build man can't wait to see the progress u make keep up the good work

 

That's a nice cab you got. Is it gonna be painted black to match the old one or is it staying white? Looks like a great project with a ton of potential. Best of luck

 

yes, it will be painted black like the old one. i'm hoping to get the rest of the steel done on the flatbed today and have a little work to do on the cab and frame. so far, i only have $850 tied up in the project... $500 for the steel and $350 for the complete cab and front clip

 

flatbed fabrication is done. just some grinding to clean things up a bit and then shoot some primer and paint



taillights go on the 4 brackets and the tow hitch welds to the bottom center when it gets put on the truck making for a nice solid receiver






a spot for my cable hoist to mount that my original deck didn't have



i will be just using spruce 2x6's for the deck as i can get them for free any time i need them.

tomorrow, i'm hoping to get the few repairs on the cab done and post the pics

 

been a while since i've had time to work on my truck but i'm still plugging away at it as i have money and time

current condition with the frame almost stripped down




3 of the cross members need to be replaced as well as all 4 upper shock mounts. the shock mounts will be new Dorman mounts and the cross members will be fabricated from c-channel steel. will also be fabricating a new custom tow hitch that will be welded solid to the back of the frame as well as the back of the flat bed making it as solid as possible. more pics to come as progress is made

 

Cool Build, anxious to see progress

 

I like the timeline progression. It'll be cool once it's all done and you can see the transformation.

 

haven't been here in a while and just updating the progress on my truck

first thing to mention is that i have gotten 2 complete parts trucks since my last post. the first was an '84 that was in fair condition that i got a lot of wiring and important connecting bolts like all the factory shock and mounting bolts, some heat shields and all the factory brake line ends. the second truck was an '85 that has an amazing interior and the cab has around 90% of the factory paint still on the bottom of it. i did finally find out exactly what my motor was, it's a '95 5.0 HO roller with the proper heads and all the internals to match.
















what i've put into it so far...

new rear leaf springs 3000lb rated
new front shock towers and heavy springs
new shocks front and rear
completely new brakes front and rear
all brake and transmission lines are NiCopp so i hope i never have to do them again
full length headers with the rest of the exhaust left to figure out routing
too many small things like bolts and sensors to list

i'm hoping to be able to drive it within the next month or two but it will definitely be finished for the winter as i'm not going another winter without my truck

 

made a bit of progress yesterday. got the cab mounted on the frame and got the steering and linkage all hooked up. when i was taking the cab off the frame on the latest parts truck, all the cab bushings and sleeves were in almost perfect condition with very little rust on them and i now have an extra set of cab mount sleeves and a set of factory bushings that i will not be using if anyone needs them

 

finally got things ready for a test run on the motor. first time i turned the key showed me i had everything set pretty close

 

fenders, hood, grill and trim, rear deck(without the wood as i don't know what i'm going to use yet), all tail lights put in place... starting to look like something now

also took it for a rip down my road before i put the deck on... pretty wild and seems to have lots more power than the old stock 5.0 it had before. so far, i'm very happy with the way things are going with it

 

I love seeing projects like this. I couldn't help but notice the moose antlers in an early shot. Of course I was wondering where you were but later noticed Ontario. looks like you are doing a good job especially with rust repair . not as bad here on the south.