Getting the build started

Hello there! Thanks for visiting! I've been away from the blog and truck for a few weeks because of the holidays. But we were able to get started just before 'winter break.' Here is what happened:

Day one of the build went amazingly well. I had some very high expectations for the day – I wanted to pretty much get everything stripped off the truck – including the drive train and take the bed off the frame; You know, just like those TV shows portray? Well, needless to say, that wasn’t reality. Reality is, we were able to accomplish quite a lot.

I arrived around nine thirty in the morning with some pep in my step. I was very excited to get started! After all of the thought, planning and scouring for the perfect specimen. After building the shop and the minor hick-ups that were had which is expected with any new construction –the build was finally underway.

Rich and I talked for a bit – roughly planning out the day, he said that it would be a good idea to start on the outside of the body and work our way around it. We started by taking off all of the trim, and molding that was not going to stay on the truck – which was most of it. We didn’t encounter many issues with taking the trim pieces off; some of the screws were hidden inside of the quarter panels so we can’t get to those until the panel is taken off. Other than two small trim pieces all of the trim was removed. (Picture of truck with trim removed below)

After all of the trim was off, we moved onto the right, and left mirrors – no issues. We moved from the mirrors to the tailgate. More time was spent on the tailgate than we had planned. The tailgates’ lines and gaps weren’t correct. The right side of the tailgate had a greater gap than the left side. We were able to correct this issue by carefully manipulating the steel back into place where it was supposed to be. Along with the precision hammer work provided by Rich, we were able to identify that the hinge was slightly bent and was showing its self in the gap, where it wasn’t supposed to be. Again with the hammer work, Rich knocked it back into place. We didn’t get crazy and take measurements, but we did do a great job by eye.

We moved around the truck with precision and efficency – coming together at the front of the truck. The headlight housings needed to be removed, along with the grill. This was an interesting endeavor – many of the bolts holding the front grill in place were not easily accessible. Despite the inaccessible bolts we successfully were able to remove the front grill without any issues. Along with the grill we removed the headlights, and their housings.

Once all of the trim pieces were removed, bagged, and categorized they were placed on the shelf, then we moved on to the interior. Rich didn’t expect us to get this far on the first day; maybe the pep in my step was contagious?

Once we got started, we removed the seat, carpet, seatbelts, head liner and sun visors without issue. All the while planning and discussing the different options that were available for everything in the cab. We discussed color schemes, whether to keep the original seat or to get another, keep the carpet versus getting new, length of the seatbelts etcetera.

This would be the end of the first day. We really did accomplish a lot for the first day. The second day was not as successful.

Rich had some errands to run in the morning, so we decided to get started a little later in the day, 11 o’clock. When I arrived we were both raring to go, but the electrical gods had other plans. About a half an hour after I got to the shop the power went out. We had just got done talking about the path of the day; which obviously didn’t go to plan. So we adapted both of us being veterans of the US Military this was a familiar – and didn’t completely derail the day. We decided to go through the truck and part catalogs to decide what was needed to be purchased. The list as of right now isn’t that far-fetched or very long which means I won’t be spending a ton of money (on small stuff like rubber seals, gaskets and the like).

We were really able to accomplish some important things despite the power not being on. There wasn’t much tangible work done on the truck, but the work that we did do was necessary. Hopefully in our next installment I will be able to report that the engine, transmission and the bed of the truck have been removed.

Until next time –