Mine will need such an overhaul in a year or two, but I'm taking a
different tack.
Yeah - we are usually a little ahead of you as far as rust development
goes. They like road salt too much up here.
Since I need a plow vehicle anyway and I get tired of
poutting the plow on and off or the alternative of driving 20 miles to
work carrying the plow, I'm going to use my 94 as an "off road" vehicle
and just let the body rust away as long as it runs reliably enough to
keep my driveway clear. Then, when this happens I'll reward GM with a
new truck sale ... assuming they are still solvent then!
I almost did that this year since truck prices were so depressed. But -
the truck has really become just a utility vehicle and these days I use it
to plow snow, make a weekly dump run, an occassional run to pick up some
kind of "supplies", (lumber, parts, whatever...), pull the boat once every
couple of weeks or so, and that kind of thing. Just could not bring myself
to signing up for another payment for that kind of usage. So - decided to
rebuild it. The running gear is in fine shape and except for the body
issues, these trucks are really built to run 20-30 years with routine
maintenance.
You should post some pics somewhere of your new truck. Did you do all
the work yourself? How long did it take? Any major surprises along the
way? Where did you get the parts from?
Yes, I did all the work myself, with some help here and there from a couple
of friends on occassion. It took way longer than it should have owing to
the demands of my job, which just didn't allow me the time I really needed,
to get out into the garage. I had to borrow my neighbor's truck for the
first 2 snowfalls, to plow my driveway. After that, I had it together
enough to plow with it, but no box on it, for the next couple of snowfalls.
Now it's back together except for some small stuff like fender flares, some
trim pieces, a new grill and some minor stuff. All in all it was in my
garage for over 3 months, but I probably only had about 3 weeks worth of
evening and weekend work in it.
No real surprises though. While I had the box off, I put new bearings in
the rear end, replaced brake lines, replaced the Y pipe and converter, and
some other maintenance. All of my body parts came from Keystone and are
Platnum Plus parts (CAPA certified). Didn't go with any used parts. I get
good pricing from Keystone so there was no need to cut corners and look for
used parts. I did find that the floor pans were not as nice looking as I
thought they were going to be, but I did not replace them. Had to draw a
line somewhere or it would never have gotten finished. I will replace the
floor pans this summer - at least on the driver's side.
My fenders, box and doors are
still in very good shape, at least last time I inspected it last summer.
Mine were toast. I had purchased wheel arches for the box, but once I
turned it over and really looked at it, the rust in the bottom of the side
panels had gotten too much of a foothold to deal with. I would have had to
go get more steel and fab additional panels and just did not want to do
that. I picked up a very clean box for $700 delivered, and that proved to
be a much smarter way to go.
The only rust of significance is in the area behind the door at the
bottom of the extended cab area,
Very common - in fact, so common that it's almost considered a standard
feature on all Chevy trucks. You'll find that it extends 1/2 way up to the
body crease and 1/3 of the way forward. No big deal though, cab corners
are not a bad replacement effort. If you can weld half decently, you can
cut out the old, weld in the new, and paint both sides in a weekend.
Here's a shutterfly site I put up with some pics. Note - I am terrible
about documenting this kind of thing throughout. When I think to grab the
camera, I take some pics, but I usually think about it after a lot of stuff
has already been done. Let me know if you have any problems with the site.
Oh yeah - to keep this on topic, my truck is shown in the bay where my 06
Sonata normally sits...
)