Nor_Cal_Crawler
Newbie
Hello everyone,
This is my build thread where I will go over my project and elaborate on the headaches and sweet sweet joy I experience along the way. I owned this truck for about 3 years before selling it off after a DUI and losing my license. Sold it to a local kid who was still in highschool and was his first truck. I dont seem to have any pictures of it before the sale, but I can begin to explain how just plain awesome this truck was before it fell into the hands of a teenager. Anyways long story short he had a LOT of fun in it and the poor thing showed it. When i sold it to him i told him that if he ever got rid of it I wanted to have the first shot at buying it. About 4 or 5 years later he came through on his promise and contacted me so i swooped it up. This is what I bought back:
Bear in mind that when I sold it to him, it was satin black and straight as an arrow. In this condition he had ran roll on bedliner over the whole truck and painted over the liner. Dents all over, part of the fiberglass bed was torn off around the fender well, beater rims and tires, gutted much of the interior, had racing bucket seats with no padding and 5 point harnesses. Just a mess. I couldnt bare to look at it so i left it in a lot for a few years before even thinking of tackling the project. All I know is I wanted it back and I couldnt pass on it. At times I wished i had but projects arent just money pits, they are fun right?
So first things first I went out and bought a donor truck when I was feeling like I was ready to start the project. I began by tearing off all the crap I was going to replace.
While I had seats and such out I replaced the flooring and did some dash paint ot kind of freshen up the interior a bit, definately not keeping the red. It seemed much more subdued in my garage, as soon as it saw daylight i realized how horendously loud the color was.
Did myself a solid and replaced the rear silder. The old one was a 4 piece and the passenger side stationary glass was bust and replaced with some sort of plastic. Also the seals were all bad and the slider wouldnt lock. Redneck first time glass job. If I ever do it again though I will have zero problems (and in hind sight should have had a helper of some kind, lone wolfing that was a pain)
Next was removing the junk bed and treating the frame for the rust. I probably should have taken more time and really got EVERYTHING under there while it was exposed but by this time winter weather began to set in. No snow yet but lots of rain and cold as all hell.
Alright so bed was on, window done, door seals replaced just in time for a long bout of rain and just generally ****** weather.
Truck was mostly straight at this point but the doors on my donor were in good shape however they were auto rolling and locks. I had bought new plastics from rock auto earlier in the year for a manual crank and the weather was so bad I didnt have a place in doors to do them ( my garage BARELY fits the ol ladies ford focus so was a no go for the truck) However after some time I finally got all my front end parts stocked up and finally gave a buddy a call who has a large 2 car garage. It was time to do new bushings, ball joints, rod ends and sleeves, driver lower control arm replacement, drop bracket, wheel hubs, brakes and calipers, and CV axles.
This is my build thread where I will go over my project and elaborate on the headaches and sweet sweet joy I experience along the way. I owned this truck for about 3 years before selling it off after a DUI and losing my license. Sold it to a local kid who was still in highschool and was his first truck. I dont seem to have any pictures of it before the sale, but I can begin to explain how just plain awesome this truck was before it fell into the hands of a teenager. Anyways long story short he had a LOT of fun in it and the poor thing showed it. When i sold it to him i told him that if he ever got rid of it I wanted to have the first shot at buying it. About 4 or 5 years later he came through on his promise and contacted me so i swooped it up. This is what I bought back:
You must be registered for see images
Bear in mind that when I sold it to him, it was satin black and straight as an arrow. In this condition he had ran roll on bedliner over the whole truck and painted over the liner. Dents all over, part of the fiberglass bed was torn off around the fender well, beater rims and tires, gutted much of the interior, had racing bucket seats with no padding and 5 point harnesses. Just a mess. I couldnt bare to look at it so i left it in a lot for a few years before even thinking of tackling the project. All I know is I wanted it back and I couldnt pass on it. At times I wished i had but projects arent just money pits, they are fun right?
So first things first I went out and bought a donor truck when I was feeling like I was ready to start the project. I began by tearing off all the crap I was going to replace.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
While I had seats and such out I replaced the flooring and did some dash paint ot kind of freshen up the interior a bit, definately not keeping the red. It seemed much more subdued in my garage, as soon as it saw daylight i realized how horendously loud the color was.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Did myself a solid and replaced the rear silder. The old one was a 4 piece and the passenger side stationary glass was bust and replaced with some sort of plastic. Also the seals were all bad and the slider wouldnt lock. Redneck first time glass job. If I ever do it again though I will have zero problems (and in hind sight should have had a helper of some kind, lone wolfing that was a pain)
You must be registered for see images
Next was removing the junk bed and treating the frame for the rust. I probably should have taken more time and really got EVERYTHING under there while it was exposed but by this time winter weather began to set in. No snow yet but lots of rain and cold as all hell.
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Alright so bed was on, window done, door seals replaced just in time for a long bout of rain and just generally ****** weather.
You must be registered for see images
Truck was mostly straight at this point but the doors on my donor were in good shape however they were auto rolling and locks. I had bought new plastics from rock auto earlier in the year for a manual crank and the weather was so bad I didnt have a place in doors to do them ( my garage BARELY fits the ol ladies ford focus so was a no go for the truck) However after some time I finally got all my front end parts stocked up and finally gave a buddy a call who has a large 2 car garage. It was time to do new bushings, ball joints, rod ends and sleeves, driver lower control arm replacement, drop bracket, wheel hubs, brakes and calipers, and CV axles.