Build thread for the 72 GMC, finally. Thanks John!

so whats going on.....you make old guys like me with no kids or wife do things (i feel guilty after seeing what you go thru for a little garage time)

cutter67 wrote: so whats going on.....you make old guys like me with no kids or wife do things (i feel guilty after seeing what you go thru for a little garage time)

heh...

Thanks for asking.

Tunakids are better now, just barely, the baby has had one day or so of normal digestion and Tunakids #1 and #2 are back at school.

I have three tons or rock and two yards of dirt to finish the backyard project, most of which happens at night during wrenching time. I am getting closer. I expect to get the wrenching back underway Thursday or Friday evening. I worked like a fool trying to get this backyard project done for the kids.

As far as that goes, I have a few minutes more work to do on the rear patch and then I am moving on. Not sure where, either the gas filler patch panel or the inner rocker/floor area.

We are going to be majorly strapped for cash, which doesn't help at all. We got the notice that insurance was billed for tunakid #2 adenoids and tubes... $12k.

glad to hear fam is getting better....i really hate yard work thats why the Lord invented condos for people like me

Had a homework assignment from a state senator, so I did that instead tonight. Ugh. Getting back to this truck is taking forever.

im glad to hear the family is getting better. sad to gear that your insurance is as good as mine.....

and i hate langscapiong as well. ive seriously considered paving the yard and painting it green. i have to ask what kind of project takes that much supplies for the kids, though.

OK, no pics but the rock is mostly moved and the bedside patch is finished. I am moving slowly with this big project in the background (pics and info coming when I get closer to being done) but I am still getting things done. Next up is the gas filler patch.

glad to see you working on it more.

i am totally inspired by you, hhence the reason ive had 6 hous of sleep since thursday....

Dusterbd13 wrote: glad to see you working on it more. i am totally inspired by you, hhence the reason ive had 6 hous of sleep since thursday....

Wow man, sorry about the lack of sleep. I've had weeks like that, although we've been getting better lately.

I'm back into it now. A lot of things collided at once. Kids sick, out-of-town guests, landscaping, lawn mower work, etc. I haven't lost track just yet.

Spent all night making two dinners for a family at church having their second set of twins. That means they'll have five kids under 5 soon. They deserve it.

Is the church taking up a collection for a vasectomy?

Tunakid #1 was up to 103 today. He is now on eyedrops and a zpack and his fever still sucks.

Got the food to the deserving Mother today.

Did some welding.

OK. Before I begin. I am doing something I've never done here before. You'll see some pictures of my welding before I grind it off. It's ugly, I know. I was welding the circle for the gas filler patch, so it's not straight. That kept me from making it super neat - along with lack of skill.

Don't pick on me.

Here are my practice beads for tonight.

Here is the hole

Here is the hole with the patch

And a bit of welding at the time. The boogers at the corners was where it burned through a bit and I chased it to fill the hole.

not bad but the next one is better

Got pretty boogery at the ends of the next few beads

and here it is, all ground flat, just like you're all used to seeing.

Next time it's cab corner - not sure if it's tomorrow or not, but we'll see.

Took a welding class at work today. One of the things they taught us was that for certified structural welds, there should be 4 inspections- pre-weld, weld setup, during welding, and post weld. So, congratulations, your welding is AWS compliant! (and don't look too shabby, neither!)

im not looking forward to rust repair. maybe i can make the stuff and invite you and the kids up for a day? hate to hear aboiut continued illness. ill keep praying for the tunakids.

Welds are looking good. You are correct that the third run is the nicest.

Are you using both hands to keep the nozzle steady or are you a one hand welder? I always use two hands and hold the cup steady. Course I have a glove on!

NOHOME wrote: Welds are looking good. You are correct that the third run is the nicest. Are you using both hands to keep the nozzle steady or are you a one hand welder? I always use two hands and hold the cup steady. Course I have a glove on!

I use two, BUT, the lighting is a big problem. I cannot figure out how to get more light on the work, so I always start basically black, even with a cheapie auto-dark, and it makes seeing the previous passes a challenge. Sometimes one holds a light nearby. Sometimes I have a battery flashlight with an adjustable base on the floor nearby, making a Tuna shadow on the work. Sometimes, like this time, I just deal with the darkness. The garage has two fixtures, each with two 60X equiv CFLs and no glass around them, painted walls, and it's just not enough.

Also, it's tough to pull the puddle around a circle when you can't see where you're going.

I ALWAYS use two gloves. That E36 M3 is hot.

tuna55 wrote: The garage has two fixtures, each with two 60X equiv CFLs and no glass around them, painted walls, and it's just not enough.

Get a few of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-660-Watt-Keyless-Twin-Socket-Lamp-Holder-Adapter-R52-00128-00W/100356967#.UW8jC79Ri-I

and stick them where the 60w equiv CFLs are. Then put 2 23W (150W equiv) CFLs in each splitter. Now you are only at 46 watts which is below the rating of the socket, but you'll have about 5x as much lumens as your current situation. I put splitters and big CFLs like this in my dad's garage about 4-5 years ago, no problems since. I wish I could do it in my garage but I have fluorescent tube fixtures.

I am not sure that will work because my fixtures have two bulbs parallel to one another. I'll have to look.

So let's see what I am up against on this side.

That rocker looks a bit better than the other one, but I'll still cut a lot of the good one off and use the factory seam for the weld joint.

A scary amount of bondo here.

Facing forward, looking through the rocker panel cavity.

Wire-Wheeling off the surface bondo on the cab corner (where I decided to start) shows some... issues.

Left some here so you can see it, maybe 1/4" thick.

Slice it off!

Not too bad

But I have a problem. The cab support is in a bad way. It's right up against the cab corner, well, it's supposed to be. I need one, and need to get it in before the cab corner patch, and it's pretty bad. I may try to patch it rather than replace it. Take a look.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. Tunakid #1 is headed back to school tomorrow. He said he was feeling ikcy, but I am hoping it was just him being tired.

The plot thickens. I found this in my E-mail... from 05/09/2008, when I had a pregnant wife and zero kids.

Tuna

5/9/08

to GMCPAULS GMCpauls, I forgot something on my order... is it too late to add the following? Cab support, original style, rear drivers

Thanks

Hi, I will add that to your order right now. Thanks Amber@GMCPauls

Now...

Where the berkeley is it?

I will just leave this here...

NOHOME, I have been placed on 'no spend' for a bit, but I will research exactly that solution - it looks perfect.

I did go out there. I dug around, cleaned, organized, looked, shined and begged, but I cannot find the support. I have a buddy who has one, so I will move to the rocker panel until Monday when he brings it to me.

Well most of the drivers side, other than the aforementioned cab support, is much better than the passenger side. Wet on the side of the road maybe? Not sure.

Here is what I found.

Most of the front of the rocker was still there! WHOA.

Although.

If you notice, the front of the rocker in the horizontal plane was pretty much all bondo.

But it looks like the A pillar is mostly intact. It also looks like the inner rocker is pretty decent at the front of the truck.

So I trimmed the rocker panel, and it ended up pretty decent.

I had to take the door and fender off, and I have some work to do on the rear of the rocker, but tonight was encouraging.

Also, neighbor Jimmy from a few pages back finally made good on his promise to buy beer for the numerous car repairs, so I'm feeling pretty good now.

Folks, this was actually pretty annoying.

The rocker panel was still there, in a stub, on both sides. On the rear, it was spot welded to part #9 (which you'll remember from the other side), and I wanted to keep as much of #9 as possible. This yielded much prying, cutting, drilling, pulling, hammering of fingers, cursing, and rust dust.

See below

I eventually had to just grind through the metal thickness to get to the metal underneath. It was annoying, too. But.

In the end, things fit.

That stuff was mostly for show - the inner has to fit first.

Look at what the truck left behind.

That's crazy. I have a bit of trimming to do before I can tack on the inner rocker, and the floor on this side is a mess, but we're making progress, folks.

The tunakids are all well... for the moment.

OK folks, bad news. I cut up the A pillar tonight to begin matching the patch, and cut piece #9 for the same reason... but it looks as though a lot of the floor on this side is toast. That means I need to order some floor stuff before proceeding too far, and I am on near-lockdown with costs. I'll move on to the fender for now. We'll see when I can get the floor pieces. See the pics below;

A pillar cut off

B pillar cut off

And the floor.

Or what is left.

With the new job I don't have time to check up with my oatmeal every morning anymore. I came in tonight and was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of progress. Go tuna!

As for that floor, it looks like just that corner and end-piece, yes? Make some patches, it's just flat steel! Hell, I can mail you some scraps from our slitter, what gauge do you need?