This is what it looked like when we picked it up in Reno. There
was no engine in it, and someone had swapped in a 1960s 4x4 front axle,
and a 1970s 205 divorced transfer case. The body had some rust in
the usual places, and it was obvious that there was a problem with the
front of the frame, it was pushed over to one side about an inch, and
the sheetmetal mounts were cut and modified to get the fenders to fit
on in the wrong place. But the glass was all there, the inside
was almost presentable, the seat had been redone and was still ok, and
it's the hard to find short Fleetside truck. Also we had a 235
from my 57 Suburban, that I had done all the machine
work on, and put a bunch of new parts in, so the missing engine was not
a problem. The suburban also had a good stock 2wd front axle that
I
wasn't using. So we decided to haul it to Las Vegas and see if
the owner could get the title straightened out, so we could buy
it.
Gary didn't know for sure that he was getting the truck, because it was
stuck in Vegas...but Steve and I hauled it to Tucson just before
Christmas 2004, and Gary got his present.
Early in 2005 we took the front sheetmetal off the truck, and
straightened out the frame using a portapower, which was even easier
than I thought it would be.
Later that year, after I put my Suburban body on it's new
chassis, we removed the 4x4 axle, installed the 57 axle, and Gary
started
cleaning things up.
Here the firewall has some holes welded shut, and the new axle is in.
Now I'm stripping the old paint off with the sandblaster.
Gary is sanding the filler at the holes we filled.
And now it has a nice pretty coat of Turquoise on the firewall.
The original color was a darker dull looking blue, so Gary decided to
liven it up when he does the paint on the rest of the truck. We
wanted to get the firewall done before installing the engine.
Also, we blasted and painted the front of the frame and the suspension
with black spray can paint.
Here the engine is in it's new home.
There was a lot of work to do inside, such as fixing the wiper motor
(it had the optional electric wipers installed), running the wiring,
installing the proper switches and stuff, and putting the floor mat and
pedals and stuff back in.
Here it's mostly done. Still need to get the turn signals, heater, wipers, dome light, and a few other things connected.
The engine is almost ready to fire up.
At last, it's running! The engine fired right up, and seems to run nice.
Just a few more things to fix, and it'll be a truck.
