What To Do ?

[vwnate1]

Last Pic (for now)

Nice original AC cab .

 

[50 Chevy LS3]

Needle in a haystack!

WHAT A FIND, NATE, I'm glad you found that! So cool when a guy finds what he is looking for and at a really good price.
Did PO have a project or just a cab to sell?
Thanks for all the pics., I'll be watching for progress reports.

 

[vwnate1]

Finding That Needle

You're more correct than you realize Steve ~

GM really cheaped out from '67 ~ '87 using decidedly low quality steel then making no effort to rust proof it whatsoever during the initial build so they rusted away in a short time .

I can find cabs everywhere but the junkyards all want $500 and most are rusty with holes every where , I did find one with *perfect* floors , 'A' Pillars , corners and so on but the rain gutter was rusted clean though on one side and no discount so I passed .

This one ca,me from a guy in my '67 ~ '72 Chevy / GMC truck club , he runs an informal junkyard and had 40 +/- trucks plus numerous loose cabs just lying around .

I wanted the '72 1 Ton low hump (! RARE !) cab he had as it had the optional clearance lights but he said he's putting that one on his slant back car hauler .

I visited my truck again and they've not yet touched it ~ I'm going to wait one month then take it back And give it to another guy I found , this other guy builds lots of GM trucks , several have graced " Classic Trucks " Magazine covers but I wanted to use a closer to me Body Shop so I can keep a weather eye on it ~

I just found and purchased , an original 6 cylinder tachometer for it , WOO - HOO ! .

 

[Zig]

CONGRATULATIONS, Nate!!! What a score!!!
Love the photos!
Hopefully it will be painted up soon, then the real fun begins!

 

[vwnate1]

The Original Cab

Here we see a tiny bit of the gaping rust holes :



Here you can see how the floor board pinchweld has COMPLETELY parted from the toe board....

When I was zooming up and down the canyons I felt the cab shifting 1/2" .

You have to click on the second picture to blow it up to see what I'm talking about here .

 

[sidewynder]

That almost looks like my 71 did

My 71 "G" did the same thing. When I pushed the clutch in, the whole front of the cab would lift up. It had all of they typical rust, being in the salt belt. No cab corners or rockers. When I went to replace the cab with a 72 deluxe, I found that all that was holding the cab to the floor was the gas tank and about 9 inches of the original seam in the middle back of the cab behind the tank.

 

[vwnate1]

Cab Rust

Oddly , this cab only had rust wherever the leaves collected , the floors were O.K. and the rain gutter and lower rear corners are *perfect* ~ the windshield pinchweld , I'm lucky the glass didn't fall out on hard stops

Shame on GM for dropping the ball on an other wise very well engineered truck , many are still doing yeoman duty 40 + years later ! .

 

[50 Chevy LS3]

You know, honestly, Nate, I think the 67-72 Chevy trucks were the last really good looking GM trucks made. The 73-up boxes were ugly IMO, even though I had one. They squared the fender openings after that and still do to this day. My 2001 2500HD looks ok, I guess, but, not like the old days. I kinda liked the trucky looking hood on it. I don't mean to offend anybody on this Chevy truck forum, just my thoughts...
Maybe I'm just remembering my youth, cause I don't like the looks of new cars either. The new Camaros and Mustangs are an attempt at classic good looks, but, fall a little short. My brother is really close to buying a brand spanking new Challenger, and I'm excited for him. I was never really a Mopar guy, never grew up with them, but I think his will be fun to drive.
I guess I do own a Mopar, a Jeep, or is that a Fiat?
If I have to admit I drive a Fiat, I think I will be sick.
Anyway, I'll quit rambling on and I'm glad your gonna end up with a real cherry.

 

[vwnate1]

Interesting News

The painter called me this morning , said he wanted me to come by and approve the # 505 (IIRC) paint before he begins painting the cab .

He greeted me with a worried look and asked me to look closely at the frame ~ the Mechanic who'd assembled the new ball joints and tie rods etc. had measured the frame and it was BENT , had two cracks right at the leading edge of the right side cross member to frame bolts and it also was slightly bowed up right at the VIN .


When he cut out the rivets holding the forward most frame cross piece , it sprang apart ~ he'd taken my assurances that it was straight because it drove so well , I guess back when it was new my 130,000 original mile truck was wrecked and repaired .

Damn .

No worries , he's already gearing up to fix it , he's pulled the frame into proper alignment and will soon remove the cross member to properly weld then straighten it .

Whew .

 

[50 Chevy LS3]

I learned the other day these old (1950) trucks frames must not be heat treated. Mine had some very minor flange distortion and I was able to correct it with a giant adj. wrench.
You CANNOT fix modern big-truck frames that are tweeked. Thay also say to never weld or drill the flanges on them because they are heat treated.

 

[vwnate1]

Frame Repair

Just so Steve .

 

[vwnate1]

Oops :

It appears I dropped the ball on this thread , here's some more pix of the works :

Bare frame ready for bead blasting :



Piles 'O parts :



Poor old thing :

 

[vwnate1]

Pix

The frame on these is fairly willowy , they're LIGHT DUTY trucks and so flex a lot to have better ride :

 

[Zig]

Fun!

Steve ;

It wasn't a poor suggestion , it's the realistic answer I just don't want to take as I hate " color changes ".

Even my Son (who heartily approves of me buying and building this truck) said it needs re painting and to just suck it up and have the exterior re done in Forester Green .

These trucks (1967 ~ 1987) rust out anywhere because GM decided to use decidedly inferior quality steel then poorly prime it then cut a few corners engineering wise so there are multiple water / mud / leaves / trash collection points that hold water / dampness and so _force_ them to rust out .

" Curbstoning " is the making of money by buying up old vehicles and flipping them quickly , not bothering to do any repairs , up dating the tags & title , often they don't check the oil or wash the damn things .

With this attitude of course , it's a short hop to lying through their teeth about any aspect of said vehicle.....

Nevertheless , occasional jewels turn up , this *might* be one as it needs several thousand dollars of parts but the over all condition is , IMO pretty good .

Adding words to your lexicon is always a good thing IMO .

I hope this was helpful .

As far as the truck I would like to buy it and made him an offer he accepted .

I went to the bank and got the lolly and left him a message telling him to call me whenever he's ready to do the deed .

The problem with this is : he can now shop it 'round to others saying " well , I have a cash offer of $$ I'll take but if you offer more $$ right now , you can have it " ~ this has happened to me many times over , if so I'll just keep on looking .

I just now read this~ What a fun piece of writing, Nate!

 

[vwnate1]

Zig

Which part of it did you like Zig ? that post sort of meandered all over the place .

Of course , the damn fool curbstoner kid with the black V-8 of course jerked me off big time , he shopped it 'round , I waste my time with him .

Good thing I'm old now as I'da punched his lights out twenty years ago .

Kids simply DO NOT get taught good manners and honesty these days it seems .

We have quite a few good ones here I am happy to say but try to do any business on cragislist and you'll pull your hair out .

 

[50 Chevy LS3]

So many threads...

Nate, you have a I-6 teardown thread, a I-6 refurb, paint and rebuild thread, a six-banger AC thread, and this kind of overall build thread.
I like 'em all, and I know you're on a nation spanning way cool adventure, but, I'm really wondering about the paint jail. We all need an update.

 

[vwnate1]

The Paint Jail

Good morning Steve ;

Oops ! I guess I kinda dropped the ball here eh ? .

Do you want the many photos and details of lost / destroyed / carelessly thrown out parts too ? .

I'm in Waldoboro , Maine now , been working on my Brother's '87 Mercedes 300SDL S-Klasse all the way across America , I had to buy him four new tires in Kansas etc. .

I'm days behind on my E-mails and tech writing do please keep reminding me as I have some pix in my iPod thing I carry in my pocket .

I hardly ever get replies to my posts here so I didn't think anyone cared .