83 Longbed project for son's 16th birthday

[1981lt1]

Good afternoon folks.  I am beginning my adventure of rebuilding my 83 longbed for my son's 16th birthday which is about 1 year from now.  I bought this about 2 years ago for $2000 as a running and driving truck.  I knew it had some rust spots and needed every bit of rubber replaced but it was all there and it's fully loaded (AC, PW, PL, Cruise).  I was never going to keep the 305/TH350 combo so I don't care that it leaks from every single gasket.  The plan is to fix the rust (which is way more than I saw), do a shortbed conversion, 4" lift, replace all of the rubber parts and bushings, and install a 5.3/4L60e combo.  As you can see from the pics below, the amount of rust is way more involved than I ever expected.  Some of you will probably be thinking I should scrap this and start with something a bit cleaner but, in all reality, the only parts I can't buy are the firewall pieces.  Fortunately, I have the tools necessary to rebuild the parts I can't buy, and, due to all of this COVID craziness, I have plenty of time to work on it. 

[1981lt1]

Here is the teardown and shots of the rust:

[1981lt1]

[1981lt1]

And I also found this surprise.  I just assumed the bed gap was due to worn bushings, but as you can see, the frame has a bit of a twist to it.

[1981lt1]

From all of the searching I've been doing, nobody makes firewall or cowl panel replacements for the 73-87 trucks.  Don't suppose anybody out there can prove me wrong?

[Irish_Alley]

nope you either have to find a donor or fab your own

[Shifty]

Ambitious project, make sure to post progress pics!

[1981lt1]

Finding a donor would probably be the smarter thing to do but that is time I don't have and i've exhausted my options locally from what I've found online so far.
 
Spent the day tearing deeper into the cowl so I could cut out all of the rust.

[1981lt1]

Got the firewall patched and ready for the cowl.  Once I get my weld thru primer I'll coat the bare metal and then get everything lined back up and get the cowl welded back on to finish the patching on that.

[Mike81K10]

Big project on your hands. Would be good if you can find a good deal on a donor truck for parts. Look forward to the progress.

[VileZambonie]

Looks good! Those who don't take on these types of challenges will never know how it feels to accomplish. In the end, the hard work pays off in more ways than one. Are you leaving the firewall stock or going to clean it up? Nice job

[1981lt1]

Gonna leave the firewall stock.  I thought about doing a Vintage Air system and cleaning up the firewall but I am not a huge fan of their system after I used it on my camaro. 

[JohnnyPopper]

You're a brave brave man! Like VZ says, your reward will be great.

[1981lt1]

Not sure how much progress I can make now.  I ran out of MIG gas yesterday and the welding supply store here is only delivering to their commercial customer because of the stay at home order in place.  I do have a TIG welder but I suck at it so I'm not sure I want to make it worse by trying.

[Mike81K10]

Same thing happened to me. I put on a face mask and gloves and went to pick up a refill in person. We don't have a mandatory quarantine in AL and AirGas said, they have to stay open.