Bedside Rust: replace or fix with fiberglass?

[Chief Brody]

man...this one is going to take quite an effort to rid it of rust...I can see that the wheels are badly rusted too...this one has the look that it has sat for a long, long time...

 

[Chief Brody]

It is a 1975, I can tell by the fender badges...it has the Cheyenne round emblem instead of the K5 emblem

 

[ryoken]

First pic gives it away ... full 'vert
And profile says it's a 75

ah yeah, missed the B-pillar...

 

[Chief Brody]

My advice, from personal experience, is that IF you can find a bodyshop willing to replace those quarter panels...get them to do it. Putting the quarter panel back on a full vert is an absolute nightmare.
I paid $300 each for my quarter panels and they don't fit full verts right out of the box...they have to be modified...the front inner brace has to be modified...it's like they say they are for 1973-75 but they are made like they are for a 77 or so...

That was the single hardest thing I had to do I think...re-aligning the quarter panels...if a body shop would do both of them for $1200 that would be a deal for you...they can get the panels at wholesale which is probably closer to $200 each

 

[BloodMoon]

Anybody ever use Rust Bullet?

just kidding....I had too

Once you remove all the rust on that, there isn't going to be anything left of the top of the rails....I've never seen a skin of just that upper part...

haha! I did not think it was that bad until I got real close and took pictures....
I never saw the light before under the top.

eesh, that's freakin ugly..

I'd qrter it.. if ya had a junkyard qrter with rotted bottoms, I'd scab a piece in... but if I was gonna spend the money on a qrter, I'd do the whole thing.. and that's the only way to get that section..

if you do the qrter, it's a series of spotwelds in the jamb, a fillet weld at the bottom of the C-post, and about 20 bolts.. depending on yr...

a qrters gonna run ya $300 prolly these days.. stop in a collision shop, ask em what'd they charge to get it into prime.. don't expect perfection out of the a market tins..

for some reason; your first sentence made me laugh!

Yes I can get a complete quarter inner and outer for about $300 locally. So I will be doing that. The driver side looked to mainly be surface rust so far; until I can get the top off and verify.

I was curious as to what year that one is too..

First pic gives it away ... full 'vert
And profile says it's a 75

it looks like a 1/2 cab..

I thought the roof right over the vent looked like fiberglass...wonder if it is a 73, 74 or 75?

Yes, it is a 1975 with a fiberglass top.

man...this one is going to take quite an effort to rid it of rust...I can see that the wheels are badly rusted too...this one has the look that it has sat for a long, long time...

My father bought the truck in 1978, took decent care of it... at that time... supposedly.... but sadly yes; it has been sitting for a long time, it was really only ran and filled up with gas to avoid getting a ticket from the street sweeper.... I have officially claimed it as mine, and he has not stopped me from working on it...

My advice, from personal experience, is that IF you can find a bodyshop willing to replace those quarter panels...get them to do it. Putting the quarter panel back on a full vert is an absolute nightmare.
I paid $300 each for my quarter panels and they don't fit full verts right out of the box...they have to be modified...the front inner brace has to be modified...it's like they say they are for 1973-75 but they are made like they are for a 77 or so...

That was the single hardest thing I had to do I think...re-aligning the quarter panels...if a body shop would do both of them for $1200 that would be a deal for you...they can get the panels at wholesale which is probably closer to $200 each

I will have to do my shopping around, you think $1200 for parts and labor? or just labor?

 

[ryoken]

2 g's all told...

 

[BloodMoon]

2 g's all told...

ok, and you mentioned earlier to ask them to get it into prime, that's just asking them to primer the truck too right?

 

[ryoken]

nope, just the qrters into the rockers and jambs...