My Official "bring er back" build thread *edit* more pics, more progress

[Pookster]

Its been 4 years since I had my truck registered. I first found Coloradok5 way back when... I know it was at least in 2000ish.

I thought about selling her... even handed my dad the title...

But then you realize, how can you part with your first truck?

And then I had to find one of the videos from a while back... brought a tear to my eye.

I literally built a garage around this truck. And quite literally have spent thousands on tools, to keep er running. But hey, its a capital purchase aint it?

So Im bringing her back. Here are the pics so far.

exhaust was rotted through post collector. O2 was stuck. Muffler lost its rear section already.
Summit just dropped my new stuff off today!

You know there's rust. You just dont want to admit it.

Oh shoot, you know THIS cant be good. I think thats the backside of the carpet!

And someone was complaining about a CRACK in the driver seat area.

Rockers aint lookin too good.

little cuttin away. A air cut off tool does NOT do the job right. I have it on a 4.5" angle grinder.

Oh yes. You again, mr Rust. How I hate you so.

Whats this? A spare piece of 403 stainless? Perfect!

A little trimming and hammering, and grinding , almost perfect fit.

Finished product. Used my Lincoln Mig 130T.

Grinded down. STill need to grind the back side, got good penetration.

Old girl, you'll be back on the street in no time!

 

[kgblazerfive]

Good job the one benifit of not selling her is you don't have to buy her back

 

[Pookster]

all the exhaust parts came... Anyone from NY know if I'll pass the machine without a cat?

 

[sweetk30]

visual emisions test will fail with out cat. and thats a aftermarket good style. it will be fine reuse it.

 

[Pookster]

visual Im not worried about... the one I took out, the header was completely shot, the steel was like paper thin. The cat shield has already fallen off, and its in overall pretty bad shape.

 

[Pookster]

Bought some more needed tools...

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 95987-1VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]29.99
BLIND HOLE BEARING PULLER[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 42925-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]19.99
.030'', ER 308 STAINLESS STEEL WELDING WIRE[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 46526-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]12.99
ADJUSTABLE FACE SHIELD[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 90590-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]9.99
1/4" AIR REGULATOR[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 7535-3VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]5.99
AIR HOSE 1/4'' SWIVEL CONNECTOR WITH REGULATOR[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 94221-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]29.99
13 PC. 1/2'' DRIVE LASER ETCHED METRIC IMPACT SOCKET SET[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 36846-3VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]7.99
3/8'' & 1/2'' UNIVERSAL JOINT IMPACT SET[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 94955-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1.99
7-IN-1 SCREWDRIVER SET[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 3 95276-2VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]4.99
LED MOTION SENSOR LIGHT[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 95054-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]4.99
VIBRATION ALARM TWO PACK[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 93068-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]19.99
DRIVEWAY ALERT SYSTEM[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 5 90566-4VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]0.99
4'' MAGNETIC PARTS TRAY[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 93583-1VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3.99
25 FT. 120 GRIT ABRASIVE ROLL[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 3 47926-4VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1.99
2-1/2'' BRUSH CUP, TWISTED WIRE[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 45058-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1.99
HEAT SHRINK WIRE WRAP ASSORTMENT[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 1 47260-7VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]22.99
8'' DIGITAL CALIPER[/FONT]
Ok, maybe I didnt need all of that. I scored some great 1/2" and 3/8th" drive SK tools the day before from a retired guy- didnt need them anymore.


I had to get the face shield. I am really really tired of rust falling into my eyes, and with this job, I need to grind/sand under the truck. Shoulda got this YEARS ago, just never really learned my lesson.

Twisted wire cup, because sharp edges ate the crap out of my 3m bristle disk , and roloks were not digging the surface rust out, grinding disks were too rough.

Blind hole bearing puller: THis was definately a fringe thing, I will be surprised if I use this more than 3 times, but there are few things that I had that could substitute it. In fact, I ruined a mallory pump because I didnt have this tool.

SS mig wire: Different project, but for some reason couldnt find it locally.

Magnetic trays: I seem to loose these for some reason. But you can never have enough of these, just great for keeping stuff where you need it!

screwdriver: I lost my buddies screwdriver, so... I had to replace it.

STuff to avoid at harbor freight:
Drill bits are a bit soft, but adequate.
Dont try to overtorque screwdrivers, they will snap their tip too. DEpends on which one you get.

 

[Pookster]

More rust...

More rust, and tune up parts...

Cap, wire, rotor...

new headers from Summit. No 02 bung.

TBI spacer, + injector spacer

Extenders. Too bad my cheap made in taiwan flare wrench couldnt grip it tight enough, and slipped. Need to order a snap on one before I can get this sucker off.

these dont fit the summit headers! This pretty much only fits flat flanges. The summit headers are not flat- each exhaust port extends out further than the rest of the flange. Luckily, the summit headers came with its own el cheapo gasket.

195 thermostat. Its a cheapy one, I dunno how well it will work.

 

[Pookster]

Third day (sorta)

It is the third day. ITs really like 2 months later, but only the third day of work...

my new (old) harbor freight sheet metal brake. got it off craigslist from some guy for 10 bucks. (its only 30 new). I couldnt justify 30, but 10 was ok.

Little check of the angle...

seems ok, a few more adjustments....

little welding blanket so I dont burn up the truck....

cleaning up the joints...

a little tacking to keep the panels cool (used a wet rag too)

grind down the weld...
And a little weld through primer, since I still have to add piece

Any advice/recommendations I will take! this is taking too long!!!!

 

[mudboggink5]

Lookin good, bring her back

 

[Avery4jc]

LED MOTION SENSOR LIGHT [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1 95054-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]4.99
VIBRATION ALARM TWO PACK[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1 93068-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]19.99
DRIVEWAY ALERT SYSTEM[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]5 90566-4VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]0.99
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

 

[k2mslskier]

Member of the Blue Man group. I caught your show last week...really enjoyed it.

Good job, keepem coming.

 

[Izzy]

Rust!!!!

I know exactly what you went through did it myself. And funny thing is the areas you fixed were some of same I had to repair.. LOL Nice work!!!

 

[Pookster]

LED MOTION SENSOR LIGHT [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1 95054-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]4.99
VIBRATION ALARM TWO PACK[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]1 93068-0VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]19.99
DRIVEWAY ALERT SYSTEM[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]5 90566-4VGA[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]0.99
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]

Yeah, that was for something else entirely, but I wanted an alert if someone was sneaking up on me or something..

 

[Pookster]

I know exactly what you went through did it myself. And funny thing is the areas you fixed were some of same I had to repair.. LOL Nice work!!!

hey, quick question, is it even worth replacing the rocker? I dont mean the outer one, but the inner one. It seems like that inner rocker is what held in moisture and finally caused the rust.. I was just going to replace the outer, and paint/treat the back side, and call it a day. At least this way I can rinse out the backside from time to time..

 

[68MUDSTUD]

if your rocker box (inner rocker) is completely screwed, then yeah, by all means repair it! That is where you get most of your strength!

 

[loafer]

looks good.

My only suggestion is to replace your single wire O2 with a three-wire heated sensor because it's mounted at the collector.

 

[Pookster]

I know what you mean (heat wise) with the 02- But the collector is the only place where all the gasses meet, so to get a more accurate reading, I have to do it down there. Plus, I got this 02 off ebay for like 5 bucks.

 

[Izzy]

As stated By Mud

if your rocker box (inner rocker) is completely screwed, then yeah, by all means repair it! That is where you get most of your strength!

He is correct, the inner rocker is the strentgh of that portion of the door, sorry to kill any hopes of making it easier. Now maybe you can seal the inside of that area with some expanding type foam stuff, but I would research that and see what the pros and cons of that would be..

 

[Pookster]

Ya, your right about the strength. Thats easy enough to weld in, keeping it rust free is the problem. I guess I could cut some reliefs into it so that I can acutally hose it out and leave the ends open. No crud=no rust.

 

[Izzy]

Inner rockers

Actually when I redid my rusty spots, the inner rocker was in fairly decent shape, a couple lil spots that I welded in new metal but not to bad. I think the plastic piece that connects to the bottom of the inner fender well kept most of the grim out of mine though..