1976 Chevy Truck 3/4 ton 4x4 - 2nd rebuild

[firefighter]

Thank you again for letting me join your website. I've read and learned a multitude of valuable information here already.
I own a 1976 Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4 with a 454 backed by a turbo 350 transmission and original transfer case.
I'm in the middle of my 2nd rebuild of this truck. I did it the first time about 15 years ago. At that time I used a rust free cab and box, with aftermarket doors and fenders. Rust started making its way through a few years ago and it continued to get worse. In that 15 years I had only put about 38,000 miles on the rebuilt 454 and drivetrain so I figured I would just get some new parts and make it rust free again. This time I will pay way more attention to rust proofing the troublesome spots. As I mentioned in my introduction to the site, during my first rebuild I did no rust proofing at all since I keep the truck in a heated garage. I just thought I would keep it clean and that should be good enough. I was very wrong.
I live in the Iowa salt belt and I use my truck regularly for cutting wood and hunting.
For this rebuild, I purchased a mostly rust free 1978 cab and rust free box. I will be using used original GM doors and fenders from Texas that I bought at a local swap meet. I'm going to wire wheel the frame and gas tanks the best I can and spray them with some type of coating. I'll replace all the rubber lines while they're easy to get to. I'm also going to upgrade my 2" lift to a 4" Rough Country suspension lift. I can't afford to pay a professional shop to paint it so I'm going to try my hand at painting it myself. I want the truck to look good since I'm putting all this time into it, but I also keep in mind it's not going to be a show truck. I just want my daily driver work type truck to be rust free and clean.
I know I'm new here but I've been a vehicle wrench turner for years. I enjoy mechanics and fixing things myself. I thought I'd share a few pics of what I've done and where I'm going with it.
Your thoughts and questions are certainly appreciated and welcomed.

Here is how it started. Rust on the box, inner and outer cab corners and rockers, floor and cab supports.



Box off


Front clip off


New cab with a few small spots to fix and add tall tunnel hump


Cab getting closer to paint

[thirsty]

Nice work so far!

[bake74]

     Man am I glad I live in California, I love older vehicles too much to see rust like that all the time.  Good start to fixing it, look into por-15 or even chassis saver for coatings this time.

[80stepsideguy]

Or do what i did, sand the bottom and put a good coat of truck bed coating like herculiner top and bottom in the cabs floor.Anywhere you dont want rust to form again , same goes under the bed n in the wheel wells..

thanks
pat

[big bear]

great truck man...like the project. keep up the good work

[1980c10]

The truck bed liner might last a little longer but I will never use the stufff as I would hate to have to remove it when the time comes to do a little more rust repair.

[jdl71]

Did you weld that floor pan in or is it just screwed down? Not trying to criticize your work, it looks like a good fit.

[79k30guy]

coming along nicely!

[Engineer]

Doing something similar myself.

Keep going, doing your own paint isn't as hard as you might think.

My old square body is my first attempt at painting.........So far so good.   

[80stepsideguy]

The truck bed liner might last a little longer but I will never use the stufff as I would hate to have to remove it when the time comes to do a little more rust repair.

I would only put the stuff on after i would be satisfied with the finished welds. I used it on the inner fenders of the rear fenders and the front inner fenders to prevent any flying rocks come in n put a divit in the metal.And to prevent any rust come thru on the floors.After all the work i put into mine its added insurance.

thanks
pat

[firefighter]

Did you weld that floor pan in or is it just screwed down? Not trying to criticize your work, it looks like a good fit.

It's sealed and screwed down with 10-24 machine screws and nuts on the bottom side. I thought about welding it but in some of the corners and contours the new panel didn't fit the best. I knew that trying to push it down and tack it in place would be challenging so I just used screws so I could suck it fully down into place. I suppose I could go back and weld in now, but it seems solid enough. What do you guys think?

[jdl71]

It looks pretty good to me. As long as you've got all the seams sealed so there's no chance of getting moisture trapped in there.

[1980c10]

looks solid to me as well, but would look a little better welded and it would be a great time to do it with the cab stripped. Shouldn't cost ya anything. I would weld then remove the screws and weld in the holes as well.

[firefighter]

Here are the two cabs next to each other. The green cab is the old rusted one and the red is the new one.
I'm taking parts from the old one to eventually put on the other.
New cab is an AC cab and I don't have AC so a few modifications will need to be made to the firewall.


Stripping all electrical and heater assembly out of original cab to put into the new cab after paint.

[firefighter]

Someone had gotten crazy with the strap when they pulled my new cab off the chassis and dented both sides right above the doors.
I don't have a stud spot welder and didn't want to drill holes in the cab for a pull tool, so I made my own slide hammer that would screw onto threaded studs. I spot welded bolts down into the lower part of the dents and gently pulled the metal back out. I then used a skim coat of bondo to finish it off. It really turned out pretty good.

Here is the dent above the drivers door


Bolts spot welded into the deepest part of the dent


Skim coat of bondo