My 1994 GMC ECSB Rebuild Slow and Steady

napoleon.hardy · Mar 24, 2013

Well I joined the forum a couple weeks ago and have been reading threads like crazy. There are tons of great looking OBS trucks in here and the more I look the more I get confused on which route to take. I am creating a laundry list of repairs starting with the body rust. It has the standard cab corners, rockers, and over the wheel well rust. I plan on fixing it all and installing the fender flares and having everything painted a single color. I was thinking black but have been eying the fire engine red one and the solid white ones I have seen in the various threads... but I will figure that out after getting the rust fixed. I am thinking 3 inch body lift because I don't want to mess with cranking the T-bars and making the ride any stiffer. I have 265/16s on it currently and I would like to go to a 285/16 or 305/16's if they will fit under a 3 inch body lift. I have plenty of before pics and as I make some progress (get some cash) I will be posting pics. I am sure I will be asking you guys tons of questions so nice to meet you all and here goes the start of the rebuild!

napoleon.hardy · May 16, 2013

Well a few parts have been ordered and arrived hood, fenders, rear wheel arch patches and the 3" body lift and cab corners should be here next week! Let the fun begin.

napoleon.hardy · Jul 10, 2013

Well I have started the heavy lifting. There are 8 bolts that hold the bed on and after 19 years they were more than doing their job. It took about 10 hours to get them off even with PB Blaster and a torch, but they are off. I used a portable hoist to remove the bed and I will start getting the surface rust off tonight and hopefully have it all done by the weekend. I plan on using the spray on rust converter after I wire wheel off the big pieces. The frame is still very solid but I figure I should clean it all up since the bed is off. So I know there are many opinions about undercoating versus por15 and other products. What is the best choice if you are not taking it all the way down to shiny steel? I am going to clean it the best I can but I realize you can't get it all so is there a product that will stick even if you don't get all the rust, or does that spray on rust converter make it like being on clean steel?