Ole Yeller is back from the stripper

After waiting months and months, my precious bed is back in my hands, and looking better then ever! I was very nervous sending my bed out to be stripped for several reasons. One was that beat up old truck that hauled if off. Two you'll never know how damaged or full of rust a old panel like this can be until you remove all the paint and body filler. All in all I'm very happy.

Here's the bed and tailgate.

I knew there were these two rust spots in the floor. I discovered them a while back when I was removing the old bed liner.

Not to bad for a 39 yr old. I've seen people the same age that don't look nearly this good.

The front bed panel is a little damaged, but nothing that a hammer won't fix :)

This is the left bedside. See all the little holes. Way back in the day when a panel was dented the body man would drill holes around the dent then pull then out with a huge wood screw. This is not the way to fix a panel. The worse part about this repair style is usually the holes aren't welded up, so that allows water to enter the paint from the backside of that panel.

The tailgate. I want to get the body work done on the tailgate first so I can paint it, and display it in my office. I found my color last weekend on a Dodge Challenger and I'm super excited to see what the truck looks like painted baby blue metallic!!

Even the underside of the bed got stripped. I thought about painting under here, but it will never be seen, so I'll apply new black undercoating to the underside.

Well I have alot of work to do on this bed. Before the rust coating can be applied I have to sand the bed down to smooth everything out and wipe it down with wax and grease remover. Once the bare metal is covered. It will be off to get the body work started.

Has anyone seen my bed???

Well it's been one month since my bed got loaded in the back of that beat up Ford dually, and guess what??? I still don't have it back. Whats the deal has been my question to the owner of the company since last month. Well you know he had other larger jobs, and I was out of town and the weather wasn't good. I've heard every reason in the book, but still no bed.

So onto something else. I mentioned in my last post that I'd like to C- notch my frame. Theres no better time then the present to get this done since it requires the bed coming off anyways. I'll explain what this means for my mom, sisters & bro- in-laws that follow my blog but don't understand this lingo.

I bought this truck with a 4/6 drop. The four means the front of the truck has been lowered 4 inches and the rear 6 inches. When you lower a vehicle really all your doing is lowering the vehicles ride height. Since the truck was lowered 6 inches in the back I lost six inches of suspension travel. This is okay, and the vehicle will still ride just fine, until its loaded with people or something is in the bed. As more weight is added the springs in the back compress and the rear axle gets closer and closer to the frame. Any speed bump or ruff spot in the road will cause the truck to bottom out, or the axle will hit the frame. Not good for several reasons.

So a C- notch fixes this issue and allows more suspension movement with out damaging the frame or the axle. Now I've only done the right side. Tomorrow I'll tackle the left, but for now I'll show you whats required in installing the right side.


This is a picture of the rear suspenion in my truck right now. The axle shock and coil spring are shown here. Usually the axle is 4 to five inches away from the frame, but I have the tires off the ground so theres more room then normal.

First things first get the truck up on jacks and support the weight. Next remove the rear tires, shocks, springs and disconnect any brake and fuel lines.

Next get out the torch, remember the fuel lines I just mentioned!!! Make sure there way out of the way!!! With the torch and a chisel I cut the old bracket off the frame. It will no longer be used.

After all the brackets are removed and the bare frame rail is exposed, thats when you begin cutting. Yes, cutting the frame. Have you ever heard the saying measure twice and cut once???? The new C-Notch bracket sides onto the frame and allows you to trace the frame portion above the axle that needs to be removed.
This took me a little while. Cutting the frame would have been easier if I had access to a plasma cutter, or if I felt comfortable with a torch, but I used a cut off wheel instead. After all the cutting and trimming the C-Notch will then bolt onto the frame. Like so


The Notch as you can see encloses the cut frame rails and strengthens the frame. Theres several extra bolts that need to be installed to complete this right side, but I don't have them yet. Once both sides are installed and bolted in I'll weld the C-Notch to the frame for extra strength.

Last night Oct.12th I completed the left side. So I'm ready to weld and re-install the rear suspension. Just in time too, the bed just showed up from the stripper and I have to get it sanded and coated with a rust primer, before it begins to rust.

Against my better judgement!!!!

Do you ever feel lik your doing something you shouldn't be doing. Take this for example.

Now I know my bed isn't all that pretty right now, but I would be willing to bet that its worth more then this guys truck. I found this company after calling restoration shop all over the valley. They use baking soda to remove paint, rust, body filler and other materials off of metal. The baking soda is easier on the metal which means less body work I have to pay for. I've been told the stripping process will take a week or so. Good luck, be safe and see ya soon bed!

I wish my truck was still in running condition. I'd like to drive it like this. I might get in trouble thought, so it's a good thing it's not!

The truck looks alot more basic now with out the bed. Hmmmm what to do next??

This blazer gas tank has to go! I could never fill the truck up very well and now I can see why. The filler neck is squished between the bed floor and the frame rail. I don't care for the way the frame has been bent to accomidate the filler pipe!!! I'd like to C notch the frame next while the bed is off

Todays Funtivity

Do you ever get down? Do you ever feel like your weekend is just being wasted away in front of the TV? This is the way I've felt all day. Landon's been so fussy. He won't eat, won't sleep, won't play by himself etc. Robyn has been out and about and I've been getting stir crazy here at home.

On top of that I've been wanting to get down to the shop for truck time, but this week hasn't allowed it yet. But at last Robyn came home and I split to the shop.

Where would I start, and what would I do was racing through my head while I drove to Kale's. Upon getting there I decided to pull all my parts together and begin working on the front end. Some of my old yellow parts were in the paint shop, some were by the frame machine, my fenders were in the parts dept., and the rest of the truck was in the back shop. Thats what I started with. I hate clutter and messes and getting these parts put away really helped. After doing that I moved the truck away from the wall and began fitting the 1967 front end. When I say front end I mean, both fenders, hood, grille, radiator support and fender liners. It took me a lot of time to find these panels, and they have 42 years of wear and tear on them, but they are all factory parts which makes it wurth it to me. I was really suprised with how well the first fender fit. The second fender was a little harder, but the hood was the hardest. I guess I say that because I lifted it onto, and bolted it onto the truck by myself. I won't be doing that again!!! After the panels were bolted on I began fitting everything. Getting the gaps good from the doors to the fenders. From the fenders to the hood and so on. This was tough work, and I didn't get it perfect but I made some great progress.

Check it out. Not quite as ugly as a red headed step child anymore, but not quite ready for the ball.








Once everything is fitted the fenders will be removed and stripped and bodywork will begin. The hood and edge of the fender trim will be removed. The turn signals will be removed and holes welded up along with the holes where the Chevrolet letters were across the front edge of the hood.

After cleaning up I was very proud of what I got done. Working on the truck helped me relax and enjoy my weekend more. Who ever says this truck project is getting to expensive can pay for a therapist for me.

Man Time.....

The Labor day long weekend helped me get started on my truck. That friday I came to the conclusion that I wasn't getting any younger and the truck wasn't fixing it's self. So after work I decided to find a managable project on the truck and tackle it. I have all the pieces for the front end, and they need to be fit on the truck, but the bed seemed the easiest.

When the truck is all said and done I want the inside of the bed painted. I have several reasons why too. First since I don't have the older styled bed with the wood, so why not clean it up and get the trashy bedliner out. Second I don't want people thinking since I have a truck that I'd love to waste my weekends moving there junk.

So the bedliner is coming out and a lot of body work and paint are going in. I've found a company in Cave creek Az that will soda blast my complete bed for cheap, but they want a arm and a leg to remove the bedliner. So to keep cost down I began peeling out the bedliner material. This is what I started with.



Two days and eight hours later, this is as far as I've been able to get. This material was really stuck onto the bed. My fingers hurt from picking and peeling the material out. I tried grinders, heat guns and even a torch, but my fingers worked the best.


After peeling out the bedliner I was shocked to see another bed liner below it. Whoo, I was so excited!!!!

Along the front of the bed is able to get down to actual paint. So far this truck has had several shades of blue, maroon, grey and yellow on it. Thus the reason its going to all come off. The paint job I'm going to put on needs a good foundation.

After peeling all this way I'm glad to say I only found two small rust spots at the back of the bed floor. All that material must have sealed the metal from rust.

The tailgate

And finally the trash can full or rubberized bedliner material. What a pain that was, but the bed is ready to be unbolted and shipped out to be stripped.

What does the future hold???

Well I've told how I came about adding this project to our family. We've used the truck, and I've had tons of fun tinkering with it, but where is this project headed???

Every once and a while I'll have a slow day at work where no matter what I do, I can never stay busy. So I turn to the trusty internet to continue giving me ideas of what to do with my truck.

So, This is what my dream truck looks like.

The color is going to be a medium baby blue metallic.

Isn't this color beautiful? This is also the same front end I plan on putting on my truck. I've already tracked down this complete front end and have it at the shop. All its waiting for is some T.L.C. in the form of body work. The only thing I don't like about this truck is that the mirrors, door handles and rear bumper have been removed. It might be a little to low to the ground too

This OLD thing has to be rebuilt or thrown away! The engine is a constant struggle with me. I could rebuild the 454 I have for 4K and get somewhere in the 500hp range. Theres always the GM create 502 Ram Air engine. Out of the box complete with fuel injection and computer the engine puts out 502hp and 500 foot pounds of torque. That engine "my cost", through the shop using there discount is almost 10K. If your going to spend 10K why not add 3k to it and get the 620 hp, 572??? I know this truck is going to cost huge money, but why sell yourself short?
The tranny will stay the same, but will be rebuilt to handle the new engine which ever one fits into the budget when I get to that point.

This is the fuel injected 502 I was talking about. Look how well it fits! What a match made in heaven. If you've got the big bucks, or at least a credit card that will handle this next engine, this would be the way to go.

Chevy sells two versions of this motor. The street version is 620hp running on pump gas, and the race version 720hp on race fuel. I've priced these two motors and there both out of my price range.

I'm pretty happy with the interior at this point. The cab is painted black which I like, but the paint is beginning to crack and doesn't look its best so that will be repainted. The gauges on the dash I'd like to change out with Auto Meter gauges. Last but not least I want to fill in the ash tray and radio holes and mount a 7.5 inch touch screen sterio DVD player w/Navi.
This dash is very similar to the one I want. I can't make up my mind which gauges to use and if I want the bezel painted or chrome???

Wheels and tires will follow. I like a Foose wheels and Boyd Coddingtons. I came across these last week, and there my choice right now. I love the ride height of this truck to.

So how long will it take to get this Cinderalla fixed up and to the ball??? Honestly I have have no clue. I want it done in two years, but I'll be happy if its done before Landon's 16 birthday.

So what have I been doing???

Although I just gave you a laundry list of problem idems on the truck, it was still drivable. Robyn and I took several trips to the drive in movies. We took it out to the lake, to the saturday night car show on main st. Even the pavillions a couple times. The truck at this time was just a fun ride we had in the family. Once a week I'd take it up to work in scottsdale. I could only take in once a week because of the terrible gas mileage. I don't know what it gets to a gallon still to this day, but I don't really want to know!!!!

So what have I done, I think the easiest way to get through this post is to just list the items, and maybe go into a little detail about the change, but not to much.

Starting out at the front of the truck and one of the most expensive things I've done is replacing the radiator and cooling fan with a Be Cool radiator and electric fan assembly.

This new 4 core aluminum radiator with dual electric fans is set up to handle 700 hp. Not that I have that now, or will ever have that, but with the A/C running in Az in the middle of the summer I thought the more cooling power the better. The radiator also has tanks in the sides for the transmission fluid to be cooled in as well.

As you can see in the last engine shot I posted the headers on the truck were painted black and kind of rusting. So thanks to Bret Micheals and a little wheeling and dealing I got my headers jet hot coated, almost for free!!! Although Bret doesn't know he paid for my headers to be coated I'd still like to thank him!! Thanks Bret!!! By the way Bret I love the eye make up and bandana.

You can kind of see the coated headers in this picture. While we are speaking of exhaust. I had the whole system ripped out and replaced with dual 3 inch pipes with flowmaster mufflers. That made a huge difference.

I added a power brake booster to the front brakes. Thanks to Early Classics in Fresno California.
I bought a lot of stuff from them. A stiffer front sway bar and new shocks and coil springs all around. And to tie everything in a torsion bar in the rear to keep the axle from moving around.

H4 conversion headlamps were added with aftermarket xenon lights lite up the road at night

The interior of the truck got a little freshening up too!!! The first thing I did was install a tilt column with the column shifter. This allowed me to remove, and round file the P.O.S. B&M shifter that was in the middle of the floor. While I had that all ripped up. I layed dynamat, new padding and new carpet down in the cab. The old bench seat was thrown away and replaced with a original bench wrapped in black leather. The lightening bolts soon met their death. The original panels this truck came with were completely metal and cleaned up really nice. With a little gloss black paint they were reinstalled. New sun visors finished off the interior. While my seat was out of the trunk I still wanted to drive it every once and a while so this is what I came up with:

One day I was coming home from work and a police officer pulled up right behind me. Great I thought, I have no seat, no seat belts I was going to get it, but he didn't stop me!!! That was the last time I drove the truck sitting on a bucket. Here's a shot of the finished interior. Of coarse the new leather seat, black trim panels, new carpet and the shifter where it belongs on the column.

The most expensive mod then came, and I had to sell my green samauri to get it. A Gear vendor over under drive system was added to the end of the turbo 4oo. What this unit does is takes a three speed transmission and makes it into a four speed. Or if your adventurous and or pulling something heavy you can manually shift the transmission as follows. First gear then first gear overdrive, Second gear and second gear overdrive, and so on. Thus you keep your RPM's closer and make your three speed tranny into a six speed tranny. Adding this unit onto the back of my tranny meant I had to shorten my driveshaft. While I was rolling around in the tranny fluid. I installed a shift kit and replaced the stock tranny pan with a deeper aluminum pan with cooling fins. Along with the shortened driveshaft, and since the tranny was loose. I added a new tranny crossmember and frame crossmember. This stiffened everything up.

New BFG tires were added for better handling and safer freeway driving.

So maybe I haven't done that much to the truck??? Its hard to tell and even harder to handle financially. All of these changes really made a difference in the way the truck ran, handled, sounded etc. One day coming home from work in scottsdale I was able to get the truck up past 90mph. The speedo was wrapped all the way around the gauge and stopped at 10mph. So was I doing a 100??? I don't really know, but the truck felt great :)

Built cost so far to this day, as requested by my wife : 10k for the truck and a somewhere in the 5k range in upgrades!!!! Haha and the funs not stopping there either.

Time to get caught up......

So next month will be the second anniversary of Ole yeller joining our family. Wow, two years has flown by already. In a way I feel like I haven't gotten enough accomplished in that amount of time, but I think once I itemize everything I've done to this point, I think that feeling will change. My plan with this post is to describe the truck in the condition "we" bought it in, and it's short comings. The next post will cover what I've done to get it to this point, and finally I'd like to paint a picture of the truck completed. That will be my goal.

So just as any 37 year old, Ole Yeller had a few aging items. Either they were aging issues or the past owner was stuck in the 80's. The worst thing about the truck when it was purchased was the interior. I would place my hand on a Bible and swear before anyone that the interior was stolen from the Miami Vice T.V. Show. The seat was the worst! It was covered in black pleather with yellow piping running over all the edges. In the center of the seat was a little storage compartment that contained a hidden start button. Why the owner couldn't have installed an alarm I have no clue, but that was his way of securing the truck. If the seat wasn't enough the door panels would have been the extra push to make you throw up. The panels were covered in black cloth " not a bad idea", but a large yellow lightening bolt was sown into both sides.


Even if you managed to break into the truck as soon as you started it the owner and everyone with in a square mile would have heard you. The trucks exhaust was ground shaking and ear deafening loud. The exhaust tips exited right below each door. The first trip Robyn and I took was to the lake. We were so excited to drive around in it that we took it out to saguaro lake before it was licensed and insured. Upon arriving we both had terrible headaches and weren't able to enjoy the movie we'd planned on watching in the back of the bed.

One of the main reasons you buy a truck with a bench seat is to get your woman as close as you can while you drive down the road. As ugly as this seat was, it did allow Robyn to slide over and sit next to me, but the shifter always got in her way. The shifter was located in the center of the floor right where her feet would go. On top of that it always for hung up between gears and didn't allow manual shifting.

Now I bought an old Chevy truck, and I wanted it to ride like an old chevy truck. The prior owner had installed air bags in the back that gave me more of a buick/cadillac type ride. I felt a bopple head bouncing down the road

The engine has always ran strong and never ran hot, but driving it up and down the freeway going to work in the morning the cooling fan would spin like crazy. So that was very loud. Not to beat a dead horse, but the tires were bald, taillamps didn't work. I had no power brakes and one of the wheels was bent.

And on the Eighth day, God created the truck, and man was happy

Actually we don't have to look back quite that far. October 25th 2007 I took on a new project. Not that my 7 month old marrage wasn't enough, and the daily feeling of being a day behind at work wasn't enough to keep me up at night, but a project. Something I could relax with and enjoy. Anthony's own tinker time. This is what "We" bought

I say "We" because of the guilt trip I had to use to get my new wife to okay the purchase. This is my dream truck! A 1970 chevy C-10, 2wd, shortbed with a 454cid big block.

These three pictures were taken the very first night I saw the truck in west phoenix.

The owner at the time had just been diagnosed with a type of brain cancer that was told would take his life in a short time. So per his children all of his beloved toys, including my new truck were to be sold off before his passing.

Thus his toy, became my toy for a reasonable 10 grand.

The purpose of this blog it to track the progress I'll be making with my new toy. I've now owned this truck for just under three years, and for the past year its been in peices beginning the long road to perfection in my eyes. My hope is to, someday complete the truck, while still being married J/K, and not finacially in the hole, but to be able to look back with a book of memories and remember the road we came down in taking this truck from what it was, to what I dream it can become.