Dads ol dodge

[747mopar]

Well I finally got the ball rolling on this restoration but I'll start with the plan........... what plan? The final product is still up in the air but leaning towards fairly stock, two tone white and silver, everything completely rebuilt and maybe some upgrades to the stock 318 for a little extra snap. I'm really kicking around the idea of dropping it but will have to sell it to dad first???

 

[747mopar]

What did I find? Core support is trashed, both floors are gone, bed is in pretty good shape but needs some patching, lower doors need patched and allot of surface rust. All in all this truck is really straight and not all beat up with mostly really easy rust repair. Next on the agenda is to pull the motor, tranny and suspension and get the frame blasted. My plan on this build is to start with a clean painted frame, rebuild the whole suspension, brakes, motor and tranny then move onto the cab and just treat each part as a whole different project bolting the truck together as I go. I really want every inch of this truck to look brand new when it's done so here we go.

 

[747mopar]

Anybody know a good supplier for sheetmetal, I'll need a driver side wheel opening for the bed and both floors.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

LMC has parts and patch panels

 

[LocuMob]

LMC has parts and patch panels

That's what I was thinking.

 

[747mopar]

LMC has parts and patch panels

Thanks guys, ordered a catalog today and found a really nice core support at the salvage yard plus the cracked gauge glass. Man is it nice being able to find good used parts cheap!

 

[bear]

Look's like a good project and it sounds like your taking the right approach to it . Keep us posted .

 

[kiwigtx]

Having gone through much worse, I'm real keen to follow this build. Nice work so far.

 

[747mopar]

Well it's stripped, loaded on a trailer and headed to the blaster tomorrow. I got carried away, after finding rust build up in between all the spring hangers, bed mounts, cross member and front suspension mounts I peeled them all off. It will all get blasted, epoxy primed, painted and then reassembled. Not happy at all with the rear springs, one broken and one side looking funky!! I suspect rust in between the springs is what flared them out like that, out they go in the trash.

Looks like this weekend will be the first bit of paint to fly, from there depending on how quickly we round up suspension parts I'll be on my way to making it a roller again.

 

[kiwigtx]

That's the best way to start - tear it apart and get stuck in. Nice work so far....good to see the Charger parked inside.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Check out classic to current also for sheet metal, decent prices

 

[747mopar]

Got the frame back from blasting, all in all I'm pretty happy but instead of already having it painted it's in the paint booth with a dehumidifier running until I have time to do it right. I elected to peel most of the crossmembers and brackets off just so the blaster could get all of the rust out, I'll likely paint everything apart so it's all protected but have some rust to fix first.

This pic shows what the pitting under a bracket looks like after blasting, I'll weld this all up and grind it smooth.

This pic shows the force rust has clearly pushing this spring hanger all out of shape, it will go in the press and smashed flat before paint.

This is the worst part, when I go to the salvage yard to pic up the core support I'll check on maybe getting a replacement.

And this little thin spot is from the axle bumper!!!!

I had to take a pic of these, I think my 7 year old could weld better than this! Did they use robots back then or is this somebodies handy work? Terrible......... they will definitely get ground and rewelded.

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Looking pretty good so far, nothing rotten to bad.

 

[Martythetrimmer]

that's the only way to do the rails!!....thats one bad weld...

 

[747mopar]

that's the only way to do the rails!!....thats one bad weld...

I actually wanted to remove everything but I suppose the other crossmembers being on the inside of the frame didn't see any road salt because they looked perfectly clean. Can't wait to start putting parts on a clean frame!

 

[747mopar]

Running behind on posting progress, all the major pits are welded up and the frame along with all of the brackets and cross members are epoxy primed and painted.

These are the 2 areas I was most concerned with, after some sanding they didn't turn out to be as bad as they looked. I built up the thin spots and called it good since they are just shock mounts.

Some of the ears were a little thin where the adjuster rides so I beefed them up so it will hold an alignment but the control arm mounts themselves were perfect.

 

[747mopar]

Picked up about $1,500 worth of suspension and brake goodies this week so it's almost reassembly time for the frame. We picked up all new calipers, wheel cylinders, ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman arm, tie bar, shocks, brake hoses, pads, shoes, bearings, seals, brake line, rotors, drums, brake hardware kit, etc, etc, etc. The biggest hold up at this time is breaking down and just ordering the $300.00 upper control arms because after checking the salvage yards and being told what a hot commodity they were I'm loosing hope to score anything reasonable. The other setback is finding time to drive an hour to get new main leafs made up, I'm going to have them punch all of the leafs while I'm at it for insulators to make it a quieter ride while ensuring they don't dig into themselves again.

Just got the 3rd batch of goodies back from blasting so off to the garage to get them in paint!

 

[HALIFAXHOPS]

Check out PST they might have the control arms

 

[747mopar]

Already did, no luck.

 

[LocuMob]

Nice progress! You doing all that work to the frame is making me worry mine needs more attention than I think it might. Sure wish I knew how to weld.