Farm Fresh Silverado
 

So... I haven't had a project, or anything I enjoyed driving in about 7 years. Finally decided it was time and picked up this 1987 Silverado from my buddy. His grandpa was actually the original owner. 100% original, pretty well loaded (power windows and locks, A/C, cruise, dual tanks). 350 TBI/700R4. It has 153,000 miles, 1,000 of which I put on it in the last 9 days, because my commuter car crapped out and I had to drive it to work, a 120 mile round trip. The only things not working right now are the A/C and the cruise.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Got it cleaned up a little bit this week. Still needs a deep clean.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

I did this little trick with the PEX tubing, so the doors shut a little better. I know the red tubing is a little "The Fast and The Furious", but my only options at Home Depot were red, white, and blue. I thought the white would look dirty pretty quick. It was only $1.97 for 5 feet. If I end up finding some black, I'll probably change it out. All in all, the doors shut a lot better now.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

I ordered a dash kit and some Kicker 3 1/2"s from Crutchfield, also some of those fancy cab corner 6x9" speaker brackets from 73-87.com. Still need to order 6x9"s, but I wanted to make sure the ones I wanted are going to work with the brackets.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

87 is a great year.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

I installed some dash speakers and a stereo last night. The dash speakers are a little tall, but my dash pad is so hammered anyway it doesn't really matter. I'll probably have to figure something else out when I get a new dash pad.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Nice truck!

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Thanks!

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Holy crap! We've been working 60 hour weeks at work lately, with only Sunday off. I haven't had time to do anything with my truck, but I do have a growing pile of parts. I ordered a wood grain Grant steering wheel with the billet adapter and a drop kit. We're supposed to have a 4 day weekend coming up for the 4th of July, so I'm hoping my other 3 boxes from Summit get here in time! I got the wood wheel, adapter, and the shocks 34 hours after I ordered it, from Nevada to Washington, but the 3 boxes with the actual drop kit aren't supposed to be here until the end of next week. I still haven't installed my 6x9s either.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Nice truck! What kind of dash kit did you order? How difficult was it removing the dash?

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

I ordered the Metra brand kit from Crutchfields. Removing the dash pad and bezel is cake, just a few screws.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Got the new steering wheel installed.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Got most of my 4.5/8 drop on. Still need to put the notch in and figure out what I need to do to get this thing to turn. Ha

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Sweet ride! Looks killer with that drop. I have the same Grant wheel on mine.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Thanks man! Yeah that definitely my favorite steering wheel. I had it in my old 83 Malibu wagon lowrider back in high school, too.
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Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Got some of the frame painted.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Upside down? Hmm... I'll fix that later.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Can we not edit our posts on this forum? I guess I'll just repost the picture and some others.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

looking good!

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

I thought that you hung the truck from the ceiling to paint the frame. :)

The frame cleaned up nice. What did you use for paint?

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Just some Rustoleum semi-gloss black.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Did you have to prime the frame or does that rusteloum work direct to metal?

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

I didn't prime it, scrubbed it all down with a scotch brite pad and sprayed it. Honestly, I just did it to make myself feel better, no one is ever going to see it.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

So, I got the rest of my parts I needed for my truck. New ball joints, tie rods, rotors, pads, wheel bearings, etc, and my buddy at the parts store accidentally ordered my the JB3 drums instead of the heavy duty ones. I'm thinking about just returning them, instead of exchanging them and doing a rear disc conversation instead.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

Got the rear all buttoned up. Decided against the rear disc swap for now.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

Starting to look like a truck again. Set the bed back on it. I need to cut out some of the bed supports to clear the leafs, so the back will look a little lower when I'm done with that.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

Sweet stance Red! I'm working on a similar project and have a couple questions for you concerning paint. My truck has way more crust underneath so it'll needs more attention! I plan on painting my frame and rear diff exactly like yours and I'll have to shell out a fortune for a product like POR15. Would you mind giving a few details on the rusteloum products you used? I kinda like you where nobody will see it I just want to feel better about cleaning that mess up under there.
Thanks!

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

Also I don't plan to go as low as you did but I will eventually do the rear disc conversion so keep us posted!!

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

Nice start! If you mount those dash speakers below the brackets you can space them down with washers or the plastic spacers from an ACE hardware store...thats how I did mine.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

Cool truck.. Don't know where I have been but I'll be watching for sure.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

I just hit everything with either scotch brite or a wire wheel. Used some cheap-o Rustoleum semi-gloss black; the springs, shackles, brake lines are a different paint.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

I was checking that out, wondering if there was a way, for when I get a new dash pad. Mine is cracked so bad I didn't mind if the speakers poked up a little. Have any pictures?

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

I don't have any pictures but it is pretty straight forward. I used 2 machine screws and nuts instead of the sheet metal screws to attach the speakers. As long as the top of the speaker is below the bracket your good to go. IIRC I used a 3/16" spacer like these

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Hi,

Does this stop the doors from rattling when you close them? Or having to close them again and again just right, like with mine? Why? What is this fixing?

Thanks,

Michelle

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

It makes it so you don't have to slam the door as hard as you can to get it to close. They sell the actual bushings, but this is much cheaper. I bought the bushings two years ago and they are about shot again so I will be going this route.

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

What Chris said. Makes the doors shut a lot easier.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

These are the two things I need to deal with. The stock exhaust, that GM didn't attempt to tuck up in the slightest bit. Also, I thought it was my tires rubbing on the inner fenders, but come to find out, it is my wheel getting a little friendly with the lower control arm. Still need to blow the front end back apart and replace all the tie rods, ball joints, brakes, etc.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

Also took some pictures with my actual camera, instead of my phone, just for good measure.

Re: Farm Fresh Silverado
 

Looking good

Re: 1987 R10 Silverado
 

Hi again,

I'm hoping to fix the rattling doors/missing bushings this weekend (except I will buy pre-made bushings to limit my errors!). Does this just require a hex star wrench that I would likely find in the hubby's tool box? Or something else? Is this straightforward for a newbie, or is there room to mess this up and make the doors worse?

I ask because I watched a related video (different vehicle) and the guy highlighted lining up all the pieces. From the rings around the washers, does it look like the assembly could be out of alignment?

Thanks!