Ty

Hey everyone. I have been lurking here for a while and i have thought about making my own build thread to kinda document everything and if i get stuck, i can get some help.
A little story about my truck:
I saw an ad in the paper for this truck and i called the guy. I went that day and bought it for $700. He drove it to my house and left it here lol. This was last july, and i have not had this truck on the road yet.
Here is a few pictures of it the day i got it:


Can you tell he was a painter? =]
The interior stunk, so i ripped the carpet and bench seat out. I started doing research on this truck(i have never really researched before buying). The truck has 140,000 on the clock, and there was no record of the timing chain being done. My dad and i decided to rip the motor apart and do it ourselves. Just a little side note, my dad and i have torn apart motors before. My dad is helping me a little bit. we took the valve cover off and the chain had started wearing into the timing cover, so we took it apart even more and found pieces of the guides in the oil pan. We then decided to take the motor out to paint the chassis and it would be easier to do the rebuild. We bought a cherry picker and engine stand from a guy off craigslist for like $150. I believe we started taking the truck apart this spring, and i have tried to take as many pictures as possible.
Here are some more pictures:





Here is a pic of my chevy beretta getting new brakes and the truck. The beretta we had apart a few years ago. A headbolt snapped causing the motor to burn coolant. We had to drill out the bolt and put in a helicoil...fun...lol

Right now i am doing the chassis outside, and ive been researching types of paint to use. I dont think im gonna go the POR15 route. I might try the loctite or rustoleum. im using some black primer on the chassis right now while im grinding with the wire wheel so it wont rust any more. There is a lot of chipping to do, to get that flaky rust off. Im using a combination of screwdriver, wire-wheel, and welding hammer thing lol. I took the bed off the other day to get at the chassis in the back. Here are some more pics.
this is the rolling chassis in my driveway with no motor/tranny:

Here is how it sits right now:





And im glad i took the bed off too, because i found a few holes in my gas tank:





Oh, and here is my little helper. I found him about a month ago outside my work. I decided to keep him. His name is Yota. lol





My plan is to have this truck done by winter. I just want to fix all the rust, and paint the frame, and toss in a rebuilt 22re, and drive it. This will be my daily driver for the winter, because i dont want to drive my fiero in the snow...
anyone know where i can get a new cheap gas tank?
Well, i appreciate any comments or advice.

Junkers88

Nice! I really envy you as I'd love to pull mine apart and do a ground up build.

Keep at it and keep posting pictures!

SwampThing

If you SAS it, rocks will come.

Ty

thanks, and i will keep posting pics as i progress. =]

haha, no sas for me, atleast not on this truck.

SwampThing

You didn't get the voices in your head telling you to sas it when you bought it? Hmm...

abecedarian

you'd think a painter would know something about surface prep and preventative measures, wouldn't ya?

looks like a fun but involved project. I would recommend one of the rust converters on top of the wire wheel treatment.

zlathim

That's a great project. Thanks for sharing the photos.

The way you have it blocked up looks a little sketchy to me, be careful!

drew303

Your as ambitious as me! I restored a frame last year and did whole the swap-a-roo

You'll be pretty pleased with the outcome I'm sure I know I was... now im just trying to fix my motor, need a new head =/

goodluck!

Ty

thanks for all the compliments guys!
Yea, those blocks are sketchy, but i got the wheels underneath on each side just incase it does fall. It is coming along slowly lol. Im a poor college student hah.

Ty

Heres an update.
Ive havent been able to work on my truck too much because of school and stuff, but i am getting there.





The black spot on the frame was a test of the flat black paint im going to paint over everything with. I painted the wheels that primer grey because they were rusted a little bit. Im gonna see what wheel paint i can get for em tho. I dont have too much to do on the frame. Its getting there =]

mudhoney

wow..thats super sweet!! i like the little truck. the rust really reminds me how spoiled some areas of the country are where we dont get so much rust.
i havnt seen rust like that since when i used to werk on the vw's.a good idea/quick one for the bed rust might be to just bob it real quick b4 you re assemble..

also i highly approve of you continuing to go slow at your build and do it right..sometimes people get so rushed and wut they really needed to do was go crazy on every piece...like the rust for example....pay attention to all of that and then you got twice the vehicle as you would if you just get impatience..i love 90 -95 trucks..my fav.. keep up the good werk..

annoyingrob

Good start!

I completely understand how hard it is to be a poor college student, AND rebuild a vehicle.

4runner999

great start man looking great so far.

Strings

Sweet project!

TorontoYota

[QUOTE=Ty;50935386]Heres an update.


QUOTE]

No one noticed the dirty undies???
Great progress on the truck so far.
Makes me want to start on mine.

Chapman88SR5

post a pic of the fiero. my dad used to have one of those. it was a piece of crap but I loved it.

I wish I could do that to my truck!

Ty

haha thanks for noticing my rag. they make the good rags hah.

I love my fiero, thats why i want to garage it during the winter cause i dont trust myself lol. Here is a pic from a while ago. I have changed the wheels since this picture tho:

Cyberman

Looking good so far. I know time is ticking to get it done for the winter, but next year you should go all out. You can look at my rebuild post for inspiration

imanut43

Where in RI do you live? I have a gas tank at my house that you can have! You just need to drop in your sending unit and cover. Pm me and I will give you directions!!!!

toyospearo

Nice truck!! and nice cat (Yota). I have to tell you, adopting a stray cat will bring you luck. I swear. I had this little calico female kitten hanging around when I was feeding cows. It looked horribly underfed but it had a good meow and it knew when feeding time was for the cows. An unbelievably smart cat! I would drive up and there was this little kitten sitting on the hay bales waiting to say hi and keep me company and follow me up and down the feeding trough. One day it came over and let me pet it and that was that. I took her home and she has been with me ever since. The interesting thing was the day after I brought her home I got a random call from an art gallery in New York City that would like to carry my work. AND, the day after that I got a call about an international award I had won for a painting I submitted a year earlier and nearly forgot about. And, a week after that I won a "best of show" here in my area. Every time I got these phone calls there was this little calico kitten sitting on my desk looking at me.
weird but true.
this is my good luck little cat (P) is her name.