Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Thanks for checking in quadzero.

What you see on the transmission hump and the rest of the cab floor is U-Pol Raptor Liner. I'll go over the top of that with whatever sound deadener and heat insulation I come up with - still researching that.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

just started following along, looking good!!!

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Thanks Adam! Only progress on small things last couple of weeks. I'm still trying to decide what products I want to use for insulation and sound deadening. Also, a few months ago I bought foam and upholstery to redo my bench. Come to find out, I've apparently got an 81-87 bench which is not the same as 73-80, so I'm on the hunt for a new bench.

I have done some work shimming the bed and working on getting better fit and alignment on my trim. Repainted the GMC in the tailgate band - came out much better this time.

Also working on the stereo. Ended up getting classiccarstereos.com USA-630 so I needed to fix my radio opening. This was kind of a PIA and isn't too pretty but I think it will work. I'll have to do some paint touchup inside now. I didn't realize that the opening for the heat/ac stuck out beyond the dash bezel so far. I guess subconsciously I thought I had that much space when grinding and masking for primer - oops!

Also mounted my corner speakers in brackets I got from member BigBlock73. I've made all the connections for the stereo harness, but the head unit isn't powering on so I'll be troubleshooting that this afternoon.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Really looking forward to the finished dash. Are you going to run amps as well?

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Very nice! :5150:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

The head unit itself is 300 watt, so I don't think I'm going to need an amp.

Thanks Brett!

Well, got the stereo pretty much wrapped up as far as wiring. Like I mentioned, I didn't go with an amp, but I did add a small subwoofer. Without the sound deadeners but also without a bench in the way I'd say it sounds pretty good.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

I mentioned that I was hunting for a 73-80 bench because the one that came in my truck is apparently 81-87 and I'd bought foam and cover for the 73-80. Well, my better half took it upon herself to stop at a pick-n-pull that she drives by once a week to see if they had one. Traipsed through the mud and weeds to the back of the lot to take pics of a bench in a 79 chevy. Looked like it was right and $50 was ok, so she had the folks there unmount it and load it up for her. To be honest, I was kinda blown away that she did this:lol:

Frame was a bit rusty so I had a lot of wire wheel work this weekend. Also had a couple busted springs which I have on order.

My big question is how the heck this foam for the seat portion is supposed to work. It doesn't actually look like the foam for either the 73-80 or the 81-87. No way its going to sit on the springs for my seat - as you can see the old foam is carved out to fit over the springs. Maybe I'm supposed to just get rid of the springs??? Any case, frame is reasonably cleaned up and painted.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Also found an OEM grille. Paint was pretty wore out. I had some of this light driftwood metallic that I thought would look good with my paint color. Also went with black rather than orange/red for the GMC. I'm really not too impressed with the result. My gorilla glue repair of one of the fins turned out good, so effort wasn't a total loss but I need to work on these colors.

I also got my order of sound deadener. A question for you guys. Driver side under dash is pretty busy with wiring, fuse box, pedals, steering column, etc. Would you pull all of that out to try to get sound deadener and insulation on that part of the firewall? Try to fit bits and pieces in between stuff? Ignore it all together? I'm kind of torn on this cause I really don't want to pull all that stuff out of there:waah:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

I bet it sounds great! :metal: Doesn't really take a lot in a regular cab to get a lot of sound.

Frame looks great and your wife sounds like mine, your a lucky man.

Assuming the spray liner is fairly thick (not like the thin mil stuff we used), it's going to make a great sound deadner. :ito: Flat or satin aluminum? Argent silver maybe and I like the black GMC thing you got going.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

You are totally right on being lucky - for over 36 years now!

I sprayed in the U-Pol Raptor liner, so its fairly thick stuff. I'm more concerned I think with insulation. There was a fair amount of heat coming off the engine when I did my little test drive.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Dynamat makes a product called dynapad that I have used several times and it works well. Maybe you could use it? It is cut to fit so you can cut what you can fit? Not sure if that helps but that is how my red step side is done and it seems to work well.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

You guys got me and my better half by 5 years, you old farts! :lol:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

So what have you decided, are you going to bite the bullet and insulate the firewall?

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Yes, don't have pictures with me at the moment, but my son sacrificed a date night (I don't know that he actually had a date he turned down:lol:) and came home for the weekend. He managed to get the sound deadener and foam insulation up under the dash fairly well. Not done yet. I'll have to post a picture or two when I get home tonight.

BTW Brett, I'm not really that old, I just got lucky real young :lol: Ok, so I'm still a fairly old fart!

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

You and me both! :lol:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Over the past 2 weekends, I've been working on installing sound deadener. I am using a product called RAAMmat BXT II for the deadener, then a layer or 2 of ensolite peel & stick foam. I'm sure it is like a dozen other products out there, but I've read some good reviews on this and price wasn't too unreasonable. Last weekend, my son (first pic is him, not me :lol:) got the sound deadener done up under the dash and started with the foam but we still have more work to do finishing the ensolite foam. Otherwise, the sound deadener is done, including strips on the inside of the outer door skin. It truly does make a difference in how the door sounds closing!

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Slipped in a honey-do also. I've had this fountain sitting in my shop for about 7 years just waiting on the right bed to put it in. Also finished cleaning up this 79 bench, repaint and replaced a couple broken springs. Still not sure if I'm going to use this one - only sure that the 73-80 foam I got won't work with it.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Looks good! I recall that was the biggest difference with sound deadener, seat of the pants: good solid thud when you shut the door.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Nice, your truck is really going to be a pleasure to drive! If my wife saw that fountain... :lol:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Well, I have a new least favorite part of this build - the carpet. Got this cutpile carpet w/ mass backing which looks nice and is molded to fit (more or less). Wish I'd figured out the tricks I know now before I started. They say you learn from your mistakes...

1) totally remove all shift handles, including the short NP205 shifter. You don't want anything to interfere with just sliding the carpet into place.
2) cut slits - DO NOT try to cut out shapes until the whole carpet is laid in, in position, and laying nice and flat. You CANNOT just roll this stiff carpet up to an obstacle and start cutting!

I ain't no seamstress, but I think I got enough carpet sewed back in (for both shifters) so that the boot will cover what's left. As much as I'm whining, I think it will turn out looking nice.

So carpet mostly done. Decided to mount the seatbelts I got from Julianos. Hard to tell from the pic but this angle bracket needs to be 1" forward or at least 2" taller. The original mounting bolt goes into the floor just ahead of the rear shelf so there isn't room for the seatbelt with cover. Will need to figure out what my options are. Maybe Julianos has a bracket to deal with this, or worse case I'll have to fabricate one.

Honestly, I'd rather be patching rust than doing this interior:waah:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

That's some really nice carpet, it's going to look great! :metal:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

I know its been a couple weeks since I've updated, but I promise I've been busy. Just seems like everything I turn my attention to is hitting a snag.

Joe at Juliano's has been great working with me on my seatbelt mounting issue. Turns out their supplier changed the design of the retractor and the new one doesn't work in my 78. Joe sent me the casing for the style they'd been using and it works fine. Now its back to the supplier to see what they can do to get me the correct style.

Running into a little problem with my Vintage Air also. They sent adapters to fit on the back of the ducts, but only 3 out of 4 work. I need to contact them to see if they have a solution.

Also, my dash pad from Cheyenne has an issue. The padding where the dash insert mounts is about 1/2" thick. The original dash in that location was 1/8". So, now the posts on the back of the insert don't go through far enough for the nuts to catch when I have the AC duct mounted. This can't be the first time they've run into this issue so I need to call them to see if they have a solution.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

On the other hand, I've been making some pretty good progress getting the engine bay wiring into conduit and secured. I also managed to repaint the emblem on my dash insert well enough that I'm happy with it.

If only I was having as good luck repainting the small raised letters on my NP205 shifter and fuel switch cover. If anyone has any advise on how to get these painted please chime in. I've tried 3 or 4 different approaches and none of them have worked too well for me.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

I've used a tooth pick and just dipped it in the paint and then onto the small section I needed paint in. It was time consuming but it worked. Hopefully someone has a better idea.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

If I remember correctly that Vintage Air adaptor you are holding in your hand attaches to the original duct work on the far driver's side. Hopefully, you still have the original duct work because you have to cut and reuse part of it.

I saw a thread on here one time where someone showed how to paint the letters on the shifter. Seems like they did the same thing you are doing and then used some kind of solvent to wipe off the paint outside the indentions.

The truck looks great! :metal:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

I used a toothpick to repaint the dash emblem and it works pretty well for me since there is a boundary for the paint to flow to and level. Toothpick isn't working so well with the raised letters, but maybe after I strip these pieces and start over I'll give the toothpick another shot.

Thanks Greenlee! The VA instructions describe cutting up the original ductwork as you describe, but the picture I'm showing IS the far driver's side duct for my truck. I don't know that it is original but it is what came in my truck.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

I got another duct adapter from VA which I was able to make work and got all of the ducting run this weekend. On close inspection, I'm pretty certain that the left driver side duct I have is factory but doesn't look like the one VA expected me to have. I'm thinking it may have to do with the fact my truck is a manual. The clutch pedal has such a deep swing that it has made it a real pain to run wiring and duct tubing so maybe the usual duct wouldn't work. Any case I think that is wrapped up so I'm nearly done under the dash - yay!

On the bench, it turns out that GM had the seat with springs and thin foam in the low-end models and you got the full-foam deluxe bench when you stepped up in truck models. I haven't run across a full foam seat frame yet and was ready for a bench. Plus, I already had the seat cover. I think it turned out looking really good. I'll use it until something better comes along.

By the way if you are thinking about doing this yourself (recovering a bench) I advise that you immediately throw away the hog ring pliers that come with the upholstery. I sprang for a $17 set of hog ring pliers from amazon.com and it was night and day. I did this bench in about an hour and would rate the job as easy. Took much more effort getting the frame cleaned up and painted and broken springs replaced.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Seat looks great Rick! :metal: Man the details can be a real ?itch, I'm all ears if you figure a good way to paint the 205 knob. A friend suggested polish then use regular water based house paint, wipe of the excess?

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Oops, sorry Rick commented on the wrong part of the shifter! :hh: I've had pretty good luck using a Sharpie (and a steady hand) for raised letters?

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

This might be a long shot but what about taping off the top of the shifter with a single wide piece of tape and the gently sanding it or scraping it back with a knife to the letters? I think sanding might work best and it will prep your surface all at the same time.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

No problem. Just looked again at my knob. The letters are still legible but don't look that great. The parts that need to be white are stamped into the surface and my best success with this has been just dipping the tip of a toothpick or needle into the paint and then just painstakingly letting the paint flow from that into the letters/stamped areas. May give it a try, but not sure in my case it would be worth the aggravation I'm sure would be involved.

I think this idea has promise. I am going to give it a try. I'll report back how it went.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Seems like others would have posted on their techniques for this but maybe I am just lousy at choosing my search keywords:lol:

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Turned out pretty well Boynton - certainly much better than any other technique I've tried.

Covered the letters with Scotch painter's tape. It's fairly thin. Rub it down with my thumb around the letters/numbers. Sanded with 220 grit on block with steel back until all the surfaces that needed paint were shiny. Used a blunt toothpick at this point to drive the tape down all around the letters/numbers. Painted a coat, blew air on it from 16" or so to flatten and dry paint and then the same for a second coat. Removed the tape (exacto knife where needed on insides of letters/numbers). Voila!

A little more time and patience would have probably had a bit better results, but for a piece that goes on the floor that you'll barely see in front of the bench seat I think this is plenty good enough:metal: BTW, from a little further off than this close-up it looks even better.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Nice job on the 4x4 shifter!

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Turns out the shifter knob is pretty easy Brett. Unfortunately I can't take a good picture to save my life - flash wasn't doing me any favors. This actually looks pretty good in person.

Just gobbed white paint over all the areas that needed paint. Wiped the excess off gently with a paper towel, then cleaned the paint smears off the flat surface with another paper towel just lightly wetted with laquer thinner. Masked the grip part of the knob and sprayed a little clear over the top. I did not repaint the black surface of the knob since it still looked pretty good - just cleaned it up real well before doing the paint.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Turned out great Rick. Down to the details. The fun part.

Chris

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Looks great Rick! I'm glad it worked.

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Such an awesome build!! I spend a few hours between last night and this morning reading through the whole thread. All I can say is WOW!! Your talent and patience is just amazing.
Your at that part of the build that is my favorite part, the interior. Everything and I mean everything looks amazing!! I know that seat has given you fits but it still turned out looking great.
Here in a few more months you'll have that seat you've been searching for, a full foam AND it tilts!!! Can't wait to meet you Rick!! Keep up the awesome work your doing on the truck, it is BEAUTIFUL!!

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Thanks Chris! Not sure how much fun, but my to-do list of details fits on a 4x6 sheet of paper now.

Sure appreciate the suggestion.

Thanks for the compliments and kudos for getting all the way through this. Not so sure about the talent part, it feels like it has just been more about stubbornness and perseverance:lol: Look forward to meeting you as well!

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Nice, boynton nailed that one! Good job as usual Rick!

Re: My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble
 

Thanks Brett! Well, got the dash nearly buttoned up this weekend. Just missing the black plastic piece that goes under the steering column. I'd bought one from LMC but it didn't fit at all. The wings going off to each side were too long and too wide and actually had unusable standoffs molded into the back. I'm guessing that my ebay dash bezel isn't actually correct for a 78 although it works fine with my guages, radio, wiper switch, etc.

Also discovered tonight that I've had a bit of a setback. All the black I painted into my exterior emblems and tailgate trim are peeling off in sheets. I think it is due to mixing too much hardener into the sign painter's paint. I washed the truck last weekend and I'm guessing some water got under the already loosening paint and humidity is finishing up the job. The stripes in the trim I just masked off and sprayed with Rustoleum still seem to be fine.

Sorry for the unusually bad batch of pictures tonight. I've really got to learn to take a picture :lol: