Old77's 1989 S10 tinkering project

[78C10BigTen]

Ordered POR15 tonight.

Tossing around the idea of taking this time to move up to the later style side moulding or sticking with the moulding that came on the 89. I like the later style better but this truck has been painted before and I’m not confident in the quality of the paint job. I’m worried it might open up a can of worms lol

I’m hoping to have something picture worthy again here soon

I like the fender badging on the earlier s10s as mine looks too round body stylish but as far as moulding... im not sure. Heres mine, apparently i have none lol but i think upper models got trim... idk

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[bucket]

I like the later style mouldings, but with the chrome strip blacked out. You have a legit concern with the paint though.

 

[Rusty Nail]

Found a craigslist ad for s-10 / blazer parts.

s10 trucks +blazers - auto parts - by owner - vehicle automotive sale

100 does not buy truck selling parts call 405 eight614695

oklahomacity.craigslist.org

 

[shiftpro]

These truck all need a V8... no not a 305. 350 or better yet 383. Good fuel economy! Too bad the factory didn't make them with an 8. hinkng of the Monza Spider with the 350 and 4 speed. Those were fun and even dangerous for weak drivers.

 

[Old77]

Undercoating complete of the S10 bed. Tonight I’ll flip it over and get started on bodywork. I’ll take before, during, after pics. She’s straight but has a small amount of rust above each wheel well that I need to cut out and patch. Not a big deal but a time sucker when you’re trying to make her presentable

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[Old77]

Bed is flipped over. Here are pics of the rust I will be cutting out and patching over the next week or less depending on how my time goes. Not bad for 30 year old bed and she’s pretty darn straight other than the dented rear quarter (pictured) and I got a patch panel for that, too.

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[Old77]

Been picking away at the bed this week. My goal is to have bodywork complete by the end of the weekend. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes, tho. One road block I’ve come across is the round part that goes across the top of the front of the bed. It’s turning out to be pretty rotten (see pic in previous post) and will take a ton of wire if I weld it up all the way across. Thinking I might cut the one off my existing bed and weld it on to this replacement bed Haven’t quite decided yet.

Anyhoot, on to the pics of junk cut out and patches out in. Driver and passenger side are welded up but I only took pics of driver since they’re both the same. Next up on the patched areas is grinding on the welds and skim coat of filler.

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[Old77]

Welp, I've made my decision on that round part at the top of the header panel of the bed. I initially tried welding the rust holes shut and quickly found the metal to be WAY too thin and it would have taken far too much wire and time to go that route. SO, I went for it and cut out the piece off the bed currently on the truck and spliced it into the bed I'm working on. Turned out pretty decent. I'll body work it a little bit and clean it up a bit but in the end I'm going to have a drop in bed liner in this thing so any imperfections I might have won't be seen.

On to the pics...

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This is what the original piece looked like. You can see near the bottom of the pic where I'd attempted to weld the holes shut. Just was not working out well due to how thin the metal was and the angle with which I had to get at the holes. This bed is up on saw horses (30+ years old) and I don't trust them enough for me to climb into the bed to sit down and really get at those holes so this worked out better anyway.

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[Old77]

Progress is being made. Getting closer every day. Just about ready to start sanding the whole bed through the higher grits and get ready to spray primer after just a little bit more work. Should have it in color and about ready to throw on the truck within a couple of weeks. I'll be out of town a lot of next week so that'll cut into my progress on this.

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[Old77]

@89Suburban

 

[89Suburban]

@89Suburban

 

[Old77]

Been a busy morning already. Bed off and sending unit replaced. Next up, replace rear cab mounts, por15 the frame and get things ready for the refurbished bed to go on (will paint this week). Goal is to have this wrapped by next weekend. It’s the little things that seem to take the longest

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[Old77]

Por15 done today. I was also going to replace the rear body mounts under the cab but the captured nut broke lose on the first one I attempted causing the bolt to just spit so now I’m looking into the best plan of attack to get that completed. Will probably have to do some cutting from inside the cab to get to it I’m betting :-/

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[Old77]

Project S10 bed rehab took a turn today. In the middle of the second coat of primer my compressor shot craps. So, more sanding for me and I’m just going to spray bomb the bed in rattle can primer and rock it until I get a new compressor

 

[Old77]

How the S10 sits now until I get a new compressor in place. On the positive side, this will give me a chance to continue to fine tune some bodywork and make it even better

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