Okay - so in the process of wiring up the cab, I scored a pair of rust free power doors from an 87 suburban. The only issue with them was the giant speaker holes cut in the bottom section of the doors. This proved to be an advantage on the passenger side as the connector for the window motor was missing and there were just the two wires siliconed into the motor. Needless to say that a new connector was soldered in.
I replaced the motors after I did a weatherstrip replacement as the old motors wouldn't roll the glass up all the way in the new rubbers. I followed this procedure:
http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/interior/winmotor.htm
I haven't had the truck out on the highway yet so I'm hoping that resealing the vent windows will eliminate the whistle that was driving me insane. Here's the write-up I followed for the vent windows:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=514602&page=2
A big thank-you to 1425956 for the excellent instructional!
*** NOTE - if you have a 1981-1985 chevy truck and are planning to rebuild your vent windows and have the 2 piece seal - DO NOT order from LMC. They have a one-piece seal listed for 81-87. This incorrect and will not work. I found out the hard way. I got the correct seals from Brothers truck parts ***
I didn't want to cut holes in the new carpeted sections I ordered from LMC to put door speakers back in the holes cut by the PO, so I followed an article I found on custom classic trucks:
http://www.customclassictrucks.com/t...l/viewall.html
I didn't like the ghetto plumbers putty way they sealed the speakers, so
I did mine a little different. I cut out a surround similar to the article and mounted my 6X9's in each. Then I bought a pair of foam 6X9 backers:
Siliconed them to the frame and bolted them to where the crossflow vent was in the door. 6X9 sound, no more holes.
With the guts of the doors up to snuff, I had to do something about the interior - The door cards were pretty badly sun damaged and the tops were flaking off. Also the dash was cracked in 4 places (sorry - no pics). I nabbed an entire interior from the same guy that I got the a/c from. The pieces were in great shape - Best of all, the truck still had it's headliner! (mine was gone when I bought the truck) Needed to be recovered but it was intact! Yeah! So after I pulled my original black carpet and gave it a mega scrub, it got laid back in with my new sparkly interior panels.
The instrument cluster bezel was going to pose a bit of a problem. It was an original, uncut bezel. With how hard some of these parts are getting to find in good condition, I couldn't bring myself to cut that bezel.
The only recourse was to install a knob radio. I found the Concours USA-630 radio on fleabay and ordered it. Getting it into the dash would be another story. The PO had cut the steel dash to get a late model head unit in. After a stop at the local wreckers I came home with a donor dash plate.
Here's what I started with:
The new side tabs welded in, and painted:
The new radio installed - looks almost factory
and powered up:
The pros: looks original, deters theives, has USB and AUX inputs, has subwoofer and cd changer outputs
The cons: underpowered - pre-amp sucks balls. Needs an amp for the internal speakers