83' M1009 Rebuild to Civilian

[Massboy]

Well, It's been almost a year and I've gotten back to it. I got all the new metal welded in and patched any holes that had been drilled in the back floor. I'm not a body putty and sanding type of guy and my friend who owns a body shop and is going to paint it hooked my up with one of his real good body men who lives just a mile from my house. He is going to do all the remanding work on the body to get it prepped for painting. My buddy is so busy he couldn't take it for over 6 months. He will be able to paint it for me sooner though, he just couldn't get the body done in his shop. I will be sandblasting some areas and then acid etch primer them. The whole underneath will get POR and the whole inside floors. I will get some pictures tomorrow and post of all the steel welded in.

 

[496truck]

I was thinking about this the other day, wondering what has been going on. Glad to see you are still at it. Keep us updated!

 

[Massboy]

Got a decent amount done tonight. I had the driver's side bucket seat bottom foam repaired at the local interior shop. $10 and the seat is all set, like new. He is putting new cloth on my headliner cardboard too. Got all the seat brackets painted gray. Used interior paint on the maroon center consul, dash defrost grates, and the 4wd shifter cover. All came out pretty nicely. Here are some pictures of all the body pieces I welded in and the seats all done. I still have to power wash the mud off the bottom of the truck. In the pictures it looks like rust but most of it is mud on top of the tar underliner.

 

[Massboy]

More pics. You can see in a picture where I popped all the spot welds and lifted the floor off the rear support. No rot here at all but will sandblast, paint with weldable primer, then weld back down. Want to make this area new as this is where they all rot out. One picture shows all the mounting hole for the radio gear with patches on them.

 

[82355]

Nice.

Martin

 

[Massboy]

Been working on it in all my spare time. Got a good body man to come and work after hours doing all the filler work and some of the small welding. Turns out this body which came from Alaska must of had some special body and aerials mounted on it. It did not have a regular fiberglass top with it and when I picked it up the inside was filled with leaves. Well the water and leaves heavily pitted the driver's compartment floor and after blasting I've got quite a few holes to patch. It's a shame as it rusted from the inside because of it not having any top or even a canvas over it. Another strange thing is the body has 1/2" holes all the way down the body's side and up the pillars. These were all body filled in with putty when I bought it so I didn't know they were there. After I sandblasted they all showed up. It is an 84' and I'm suspecting that it had some special radio type body on it so it could monitor Russian radio transmissions of the 80's era.
Back to the work. All those 1/2" holes have be filled with 1/2" discs welded in and my body guy has started doing the filler work. He works pretty fast and is a fanatic about it being right. He has over 25yrs experience and has the same sort of goals for it as I do. I blasted all the sides and have gotten a lot of the rear bed support done but all the rain has prevented me from doing more. The bed had small areas of rust through at each corner over the rear support to the point that there is a small hole at each corner in the support. The bad bed section was cut out and the holes in the support will be cut out and new steel welded in. I used an extra tailgate pan that I had to make the floor patches. The panel has the ribs with the ends formed exactly like the bed finishes at the tailgate. Unfortunately the spacing and width of the ribs is different so it all got cut in pieces and welded together to match the bed panels. Once I can get the rear support finished blasted and repaired then I will paint with weldable primer. I will weld the rear floor back down and install the patch panels I made.
The body man almost has the passenger side done with some final sanding before the overall spot putty skim coat. I also removed all the paint from the exposed dash area and the door jambs. My body guy also had me remove all the seam sealer the will be redone before painting. Didn't realize how much of that junk they spread on. It will be done much nicer this time. Good news is the windshield area has absolutely no rust through or even surface rust at all. The roof has some dents and drilled holes that again, were filled with putty only exposed by blasting. It will all get welded and done right.

 

[Massboy]

More pictures. My wife walked into the garage the other day and said " I thought you said this body was in good condition! ". I tried to explain to her that this thing is 30yrs old and yes, although there are a lot of holes and some rust, that YES, it is in good condition.

 

[Massboy]

Pictures of the rear bed area removed and the patch panels made up from the tailgate pan. The pan had some rot through anyway luckily not in the areas I needed. The first rib towards the outside of the pan is the exact width and size to match the bed. I was able to use two sections of the same rib to make the patches.

 

[Massboy]

Last two pictures in the camera right now. Those damn 1/2 holes all around the bed and pillars. On the back edge of the roof also. Here they are before being welded with 1/2" discs of metal.

 

[Chevy305]

Awesome work, subscribed

 

[Massboy]

Getting more done each week. The body man pretty much has the passenger side done with just a couple small areas of glaze to sand. The area by the fuel door was really problematic as the rear military antenna mount must have been hit and it had twist in the metal between the tail light and fuel door. Of course getting the line in the panel correct and no bow in the panel itself was a job. Lots of hand work sanding with the blocks. He did a little glazing in the door jambs and has started the drivers side which appears to be much straighter. Still, all those filled 1/2" holes down the side are requiring lots of fill/sand, fill/sand time. Got the whole underneath blasted including the rear support and the lifted box floor. This area got primed with a copper colored weldable primer then the floor got welded back down. Got the larger corner floor patch all welded in and now just the smaller patch to do tomorrow. It really motivates you when you can see it all coming together. The rear floor has been lifted for so long it's great to have it all welded down and the rotisserie bolt going through the flooring rather than underneath it.

 

[Massboy]

More pictures.

 

[Massboy]

Driver's side rear quarter is now about done. Looks like a lot of filler but the bodyman doing it uses a fine skim coat of glazing so that is what you see. Put on one of the new aftermarket doors. Of course they are a PITA as they are not perfect. The hinge contacted the front edge of the lower door and I had to trim out a little of the edging so the door could come in more towards the hinge. Put the inner gasket on and got the door aligned pretty good now. The upper part of the door by the top of the vent window is in to much though while the rest of the door seems good. Talked with a local old timer who has done body work for years and he told me that a piece of 2x4 up in that area and pushing on the door is what he has done in the past to help correct the "twist" (as he called it) in the door. Any one have any other ideas or does this sound correct?

 

[Chevy305]

I bet it'll be straight as an arrow when its done

 

[496truck]

I have seen with my own eyes bodymen stick a 2x4 in the door frame and give the door a couple good shoves to "adjust" them.

 

[Massboy]

I have seen with my own eyes bodymen stick a 2x4 in the door frame and give the door a couple good shoves to "adjust" them.

Yup, that seems to be the consensus. When my body guy got back to my garage today he said to me "how long did it take you to get it right" . After I told him I worked about another hour or so he then said "that vent window area up the top, we'll just put a 2x4 in there and push on the door, that will fix it. It's what we do all the time!"\

What was funny is when he loosened the bolt on the rotisserie to rotate the body a little it almost took him with it. It's amazing how much one door can "load" one side of the body.

 

[kickstand]

Looking good!

 

[Massboy]

The door got the 2x4 treatment today and it worked perfect. I had ordered 2 new chrome bumpers as it will be cheaper than painting my lightly dented painted ones. I will be cutting the square holes in the bumpers for the military tow/sling loops. I ordered from an eBay company for about $150ea delivered. They came today, about 3 days for shipping! Really nice bumpers with really good chrome on the front and good chroming on the back. Both had a slight oily protecting film on them. I will take some pictures of them tomorrow and post. I also have been going through all my wiring harnesses and cleaning all the plug terminals with a wire wheel on my Dremel. I remove each terminal from the plastic housing and polish it up then put it back in the housing. All the plugs will have dielectric grease used in them. I am trying to trouble proof all connections so there is no future issues. Picked up brand new tail light lenses and front fender marking light housings. My military brush guard is in perfect shape with no rust or bends. It will be getting painted in the same color as the truck.

This truck had some sort of aerial straight through the metal roof on the passenger side at one time. A patch was welded on the outer roof (top) and the welding has made a buckle in the roof. We have tried pulling the dented area and shrinking some of the surrounding area with heat but it still is too flexible and will flex back down. We will be pulling the area up and spraying expandable foam between the inner and outer roofs, holding the roof up while the foam cures. We will be using the medium expansion foam. The foam should also help with sound.

 

[Massboy]

Forgot to say thanks for the compliments guys,
Ted

 

[Massboy]

Both rear quarters are done and so is the roof. Started fitting the passenger door and like the drivers, is a PITA. Have sandblasted more and it's almost all done, ready for the POR treatment. Will be doing the total underneath and all the inside flooring. Finishing up all the welding too.
Found another trouble area, cut it out and will sandblast the area before welding in the new metal. Once this last patch is done the floor will finish the blasting.

Went and picked up the rest of the new sheet metal from my buddy's shop. New fenders, tailgate, and inners. The tailgate had some shipping damage and my buddy had repaired what he though it needed. Unfortunately when I mounted it on the truck you can see in the picture that it was way out. I ended up working the steel panel a lot to get it back to the proper shape and it will require some more light body work. What I couldn't believe is the edges of this new tailgate are just rolled over with no spot welds. When working the steel with the body hammers the inner panel "popped" out of the top skin. I put it all back correctly and ran spots of weld down both sides.

I also painted all the body mounts which are in virtually "like new" condition. I also have the highly sought after "D" rings for this baby. All were blasted and will be painted the same color as the truck.

Got in my two new chrome bumpers from eBay. The rear was excellent, the front was lousy. Sent an email to the seller and they told me no problem, would hand pick out one, send it to me, and told me to keep the other one! Pretty darn good service. Got the new front bumper today and it is like the rear, both for less than $300 delivered.

No more this weekend as tomorrow is father's day and I'll be trapshooting with my kids then a cookout. It's a family tradition with my brother and his kids too.