Well WTF, do I post my 3500HD project here or not

oh your gunna have shit stacked everywhere.

Progress is looking good!

Just so you guys know to see the full size of a resized picture just click on it, and then it will open in a new window

That's what she said.

OK, jumped back on the truck this afternoon and made some more progress.

Blew the doors off, pulled the steering column, ripped out the complete interior - dash, harnesses, AC/heat ductwork box, all interior plastics, everything. I have to drill out the spot welds on the steering column support to put in the new style one, so the pad and the mount will come out next. Under the floor mat was some seriously wet insulation, which had attacked the floor in several spots. I'll be wire-wheeling it and painting the floor with POR-15. Right now it's just scraped a little bit and vacuumed out. Had a LOT of dirt packed in the door sill areas.


Core support out finally. Took the exhaust out, too. I was getting ready to fight the always-rusty flange between the head pipe and catalytic converter, but I banged on the exhaust a couple times with a hammer and the joint in the front of the converter just popped out. Still had to sawzall the tailpipe off to get it out of there, though.


That's it for now...

Those of you that like your rubber floor mats for use in wet/muddy conditions, you might want to peel yours up and check under it some time. Unlike carpet, once it gets wet under there, say from a leak in the windshield seal, cowl, heater core, cab clearance lights, etc...it has nowhere to go. It can't evaporate, so it just sits there and destroys the floor.

Richard

OK, not a very exciting update, but I did a bunch of work today. It just doesn't look like much.

Finally got around to pulling the clutch master, hydro-boost, brake master, etc. Small amount of surface rust on the firewall; I'll be doing the firewall in POR-15 anyway. Pulled the fuel lines and the harness along the frame rail; the absolute only piece of wiring left on the whole truck is for the cab roof lights, and the only lines left are the brake lines.


Hit the floor pan with a wire brush wheel in the drill. Knocked all the loose crap off; it still looks bad but it'll be fine for the POR-15. That rubber floor mat really held in the moisture and just about ruined the floor. The only teardown left to do inside is drilling out the welds on the steering column support.


Hit the welds on the old torched-off flatbed mounts with a grinder, then beat them off the frame with the 12 pound sledge. A little bit of grinding to clean the chocolate bar welds off the frame and all is good. Fuel tank bolts are soaked down in PB Blaster because it's coming down next.


I'm probably going to go ahead and pull the cab off the frame so I can do the entire frame in POR-15. I've been trying to talk myself out of pulling the cab...but jeez, I'm so close, why not go ahead and do it.

That's it for now...had a few customers today so I had to step away from the project a bunch. Not complaining about makin' money though.

Won't be much longer and it'll start going in the opposite direction from teardown!

Richard

Drilled the welds out of the old steering column support and drilled a new one out from a truck in the yard, mocked it up loosely with a couple bolts through the booster holes. This is required for me to use the '96 column/dashboard:


Preparing to lift the cab off the frame. Chains bolted to the front body mount points and seatbelt retractor mount points to avoid any bending or damage.


With the cab out of the way, did some more scraping/cleaning on the frame; it's about ready for a hit of the wire brush wheel on the drill, a little de-greasing, then get down with some POR-15 painting!


Richard

Removed the rear-mount diesel tank since it'll be in the way of installing the wrecker unit later. It's over half full, and I didn't spill a drop. Floor jack, scrap of wood, and some straps helped:


Did a lot more scraping then towed it down to the car wash to blast it with high pressure soap, engine degreaser for the few oily spots, then rinsed it really well. Spent about $15 in quarters...


There's hardly any loose dirt or rust hanging around on the frame, so after it has a few days to dry thoroughly, I'll start with the POR-15. I may go ahead and do the cab floor and firewall with it today if I can get organized to start.

Richard

Wow your really moving quick! now is when it will get slow....the rebuild

Nah, I want AND need to get it done quick. Using my crew dually for my yard wrecker is a real PITA for a bunch of reasons.

Did some POR-15 this evening. Did the entire engine side of the firewall, the surface of the cowl area...


Also the interior cab floor, interior firewall from the top seam seal line down, and the door openings on the cab.


So the POR-15 instructions tell you: don't paint directly from the can, unless you intend to use the whole can. They say, pour it into another container, paint from that, and seal the can with a piece of plastic wrap under the lid so you don't permanently glue the lid to the can.

What they don't tell you is (and I shoulda guessed anyway) is that POR-15 will eat styrofoam! The bowl I put it in started leaking on the floor and made a huge mess..

The rest of the details on the interior of the cab will just be done in Rustoleum rattle can; no need to brush this $41 a quart crud all over every single area. It's also a pain to work with since it stains anything it touches (I'm wearing some fresh POR-15 tattoos on my hands now) and it runs like a thief in the night!

Richard

Cool Man. She's commin' along nicely.