My 86 C10 Silverado

[Mike86c10]

Hi, here's a semi-long journal of events.  Pictures at the bottom.

I bought the truck in 2013.  It looked clean, had some minor rust in various spots but nothing major.  After the first car wash my rugs were wet.  I found rust holes in the interior kick panels, a gaping hole in the firewall, and major cowl issues.  After not being able to find a firewall panel, and figuring the price on a custom repair, I started to look at a replacement cab.  I found a junkyard and body shop in Newtown PA (Wrightstown Auto Body) who had cabs, but Don the owner told me to drop it off to see if he could fix the holes without removing the engine.

Fast forward a few weeks, I hit a deer on the highway! (I posted it on the forum in Nov 2013).  At this point, not knowing if I could ever fix this rust issue, I was hoping the insurance company would total it.  I didn't have a garage to work on it myself, but more annoyingly, I had to worry about rain all the time.

Well the insurance company decided to repair, so I figured hey, let's have Don fix as much rust as he can while the whole front is being dismantled and repaired.  So the following was done:

-Front left fender replaced and painted
-Replacement core support and paint
-Driver door repaired and painted  (I spent extra on this to fix rust)
-New grill and headlight (and other front related stuff)
-Front inner fender wells replaced
-Repaired rust hole in firewall (welded in new metal)
-Repaired interior kick panels left and right (new metal)
-Repaired cowl (new metal where needed)

The front left corner (25% of the total exterior) looked new after this and the leaks were gone!  In June 2014 I moved to a house with a garage and started phase 2 planning. 

Phase 2 has just been completed (by Wrightstown Auto Body)
-Hood repaired and painted
-Right front fender repaired and painted
-Tailgate rust removed and repainted
-Left truck-bed fender rust repaired and repainted
-Right truck-bed fender replaced and painted
-Removed chrome wheel molding all around

Phase 3 currently in motion
-I found a new-in-box GE passenger door.  The current door, while looking pretty clean, has rust in the usual spots (corner and near the handle at the seam).  I have an appointment in a few weeks to have it fitted and painted.

Phase 4 in planning
-Roof painted which will involve removing the windshield. 
-Rusty rockers
-Lower the truck a few inches

And here's some pictures:

[mcintyrederek]

Looks excellent all the way around!  Something to be proud of.

Valve covers and wire looms are especially nice.  Wish my 86 could look this good!

Mack.

[cvbear]

your truck looks great!  Where did you get the wire loom for the spark plug wires? where is your PCV hose routed to?

[mcintyrederek]

I still can't get over the dash.  It's always tempting to try and push your finger on the speaker grill and see just how good the vinyl really is.  Of course, 99 times out of 100, it'll crumble through, like mine did..

The photo makes it look like it's in really good shape.

Mack.

[LTZ C20]

Truck looks great

[Mike86c10]

Thanks all!  Mack I was reading your thread earlier. The truck looks awesome.  I'm now tempted to go buy another from the yard and start fresh.

On my engine, the wire looms and valve covers came with the Crate deluxe package. It's a Crate 350 HO with vortec heads.  I'd like to one day coat the headers and dress the rest of the engine compartment.

The PCV valve goes to a T with the brake booster which then connects to the intake manifold.

My dash looks as good in person as in the picture. It's original too. Not sure how it lasted all those years. Reminds me I have to buy some Armor All.

[Don5]

That is a good looking truck!

[lyndoncp]

Did I see this on Reddit? 
good looking truck you have here.