Originally Posted by Spectreblazer

that thing has less rust than my 82.

if your doing a frame up. you might as well take the body off.

check out my build thread if you want to see pics of mine or need ideas.

Originally Posted by swartlkk

Looks like a nice project. If it were my truck, I would leave it as a 4wd. But it's yours, so do what makes you happy!

I would definitely recommend bracing the body up with that much rot in the rockers and floors. Get some 1"x1" thin wall box tubing. Weld braces from the top of the B post (where the door latch post is) of the bed rail up to the top of the dash area on both sides (1). Run another one from the top of the B post down to the kick panel area on both sides (2). Take another and run it from B post to B post welding it to the other horizontal supports (3). Next, run a support from B post on one side down to the kick panel on the other side (4), again welding it just to the previously welded supports. Lastly, from the opposite side as the side to side diagonal support, run a bar from the dash area and weld it to the front edge of the bed down at the base of the B-pillar on the opposite side (5). This will triangulate the door gaps as well as the body to keep everything proper. If you can, put the supports in such that the doors could be installed without removing the supports so you can check your gaps, etc.

See the attached illustration (warning, I suck at paint). I did not draw the windshield frame to cut down on the lines that could potentially confuse matters.

BTW, if you have more than 5 images you would like to share, please do so through any one of the free online photo hosts or by uploading the images to an album of your own on the forum.