Side Money: 1984 SWB

[DirtbagSean]

Late to the forum and have a pretty solid head start so far so at first it will be a barrage of pictures and updates.

Quick backstory is that I have a 9-5 or 6 or 8... and do some artwork on the side, had a decent side gig and it paid for the truck, since had a baby so it seems like the only way I can justify the cost of my modding addiction is to pay for parts and upgrades with "side money" to keep the wife happy. Makes for a longer road but it's getting there.

Here is what I started with. 84 shortbed, 305 and turbo 350 had been swapped at some point for the 350 and 700r4 in it now. Scored it from a coworker that said his grandpa used it for a daily, had a recent starter, flywheel and tune up done.

[DirtbagSean]

So first things first was to consult the almighty Squarebody Syndicate formula and get some rally wheels, because I planned to lower it a 225/75 thin white was in order to match the 15x8s. Amazon center caps, kia soul green paint job and bing, bang boom....







Thanks to a coworker and a cold $20 bill I was able to snag some "new to me" white fenders in a bit better shape and a pic of the new steering box to eliminate the slop

[DirtbagSean]

Quickly found out during this time why the flywheel and starter were replaced. Starter had a horrible engagement and after shims, it would start fine for a few days and then back to horrible. It was around this time I realized why there was a package of helicoils in the glove box as well. The mounting ear on the block for the starter was stripped, then stripped again, then helicoiled, then stripped. Determined to make this a daily driver tallied up the Uber costs for a month or so.

Otherwise it looked alot like this




And then like this



And one kick in the nuts tow bill i didnt bother snagging a pic of

[RockhoundII]

I hear ya on that side money. Took almost a year after my baby was born to get to where I can start putting money and time into my truck again, lol.

I can't wait to see it lowered!

[DirtbagSean]

Originally Posted by RockhoundII

I hear ya on that side money. Took almost a year after my baby was born to get to where I can start putting money and time into my truck again, lol.

I can't wait to see it lowered!

Its a struggle for sure man! She's been pretty understanding about it, and it didnt hurt that I bought her a new daily before the baby came to get some breathing room.

[DirtbagSean]

onto the super fun stuff, I threw around the idea of LS or Big Block at this time because I really just didnt want to pull a motor to drop another small block in and get the same power out of it.








But at the same time this was a budget build, and I have a computer and should be able to find anything on this Googlemachine if I put my mind to it.

And the Googles did not let me down! This nifty Danchuk Starter adapter plate runs a cone mount starter and scarily enough went in just fine!



add a flex plate, pan gaskets, valve cover gaskets and boom, back on the road for it maiden voyage camping. Oh, and add a bug deflector a buddy snagged for me of course to church up the front a bit

[DirtbagSean]

At this point things were going together at a decent pace and I figured I should get the wife some 80s Chevy fun and build some twin trucks.

Scored a 86 Jimmy for her,cleaner in every way over my truck (but that's what you do I guess) 350 np205, 4ish inch lift, 35s, threw a condenser in it and held a AC charge for 2 or 3 days while she fell in love with it. Two weeks later we got the baby news and I banned her from climbing in and out of it. ***Off to the side the K5 goes ***

[DirtbagSean]

back to the C10, I scored a 81-82 single headlight grille and bezels, a little beat, but good enough. I decided to keep the 84 surround trim because the earlier was just too plain. I need to add the early lower panel in still to dial in the fitment, but of course during my fender swap I broke the nuts loose inside the fenders over tightening and they are going to be a fun time sorting out. Pumped on the look tho





On the other end of town I snagged a couple of bumpers, for a few extra bucks the guy threw in a gate trim panel and some grille trim. Can never have too many extras I suppose and the gate trim was just beat up enough to look ok on the truck

[DirtbagSean]

Using Dinos Git Down as an excuse I somehow was able to swing finally getting suspension. My buddy Tommy at Switch Suspension lined me up with the full Mcgaughys line up, 2.5 spindles, 2" coils, flip kit, shackles, Belltech shocks and a notch.




I mention Tommy because he came thru big time for me on this lowering debacle. with 2 days until the GitDown the springs finally came in. Then at 8pm the night before I realized I ordered the 1.25" spindles instead of the 1". He left the Git Down pre-party, met me at the shop at 9pm, and sorted through pallets of spindles until we found a set I could use. The guy is a champion



Of all the "bolt on" suspension I've done it's been imports (sorry to say it, but the Japanese and Europeans are doing it better) , I have some kustom cars and have always made alot of my own parts on anything 'Merican. Needless to say the quick you-tube vids and 45 minute install suggestions were not part of the nights ahead here.



Bending the brake lines for clearance cost me 2 calipers, whether its my inexperience hammering on brake lines or what have you, it was an expected part of the process, so new calipers, pads, and brake lines happened. Most of the day leading up to the Git Down was chasing parts, trimming the bed, grinding the control arms to clear the 15x8s and sorting out ride height. Unfortunately the truck wasnt meant to make the show.

[nlped]

Hate you missed the show, but the truck is lookin’ cool for sure!

[DirtbagSean]

Originally Posted by nlped

Hate you missed the show, but the truck is lookin’ cool for sure!

Thanks buddy, its come a long way for sure, I'll try to post the rest of the updates today to get up to present

[DirtbagSean]

end formula is drop spindles and 2" springs up front, flip kit and shackles at the 1" mark in the rear, one helper leaf out





and of course, so I could get the feeling like my truck was low enough I dusted off the Jimmy for a side by side

[DirtbagSean]

Scored a CB off Ebay, not sure why I needed it but since my only real K5/C10 childhood memories always included a CB I figured it was something I must have, and CW McCall is pretty badass





while we were at it I scored a New in Box 8 track player from a guy in town, extra pumped on this one and super surprised at how easy it is to dig up 8 track cassettes. Found another guy with an 8track to cassette tape converter so I'll be rocking like its 1985 in no time!

[DirtbagSean]

Had a real overzealous body guy in the shop that was certain he could sort out my bedsides for me. Unfortunately when I checked back in with him he bailed on the bed project and bodyworked a fender instead. (because I snapped the mounting nuts inside the fenders I planned to replace the fenders anyway). Anyway it looked a little better than before and white sealer seemed to just about match.

[DirtbagSean]

after about a year of ownership the dash was really driving me crazy, I have a dashmat place steps away from my shop but just couldnt bring myself to cover it that way. And no matter how many times I looked at the LMC or USA1 sites I couldnt reach into my pockets for those options. So I went old fashioned DIY



I watched a handful of Youtube videos and started digging with a die grinder, a lot of this was just chasing cracks all over, first I tried the expanding foam and it seemed to be more of a mess than it was worth.



my concoction was a mix of a few things, fiberglass backing where there were full blown holes, kitty hair filler on tip, and sandable seam sealer on the small ones



In the interim I pulled the clean crack free dash from the wife's K5, it was some aftermarket situation, weighs about double and fits like garbage so that was a short lived run.





At this point it got a little hairy, I like to think I'm a reasonable smart person, and every bit of common sense says that a Coverlay cover is probably a bad choice. But they have a lifetime warranty, one of the vendors I use gave me a solid discount on one....... so lets glue a cover over a sorta smoothed dash.

Test fit was pretty solid surprisingly enough



There were just a few final issues on the overlay, they dont include nearly enough of their "adhesive" but some panelbond did the trick for me, otherwise, with the added cover the trim and vents need some light massaging to fit right, and the speaker vents dont quite line up with the originals.
At first glance it's pretty good. It makes a ton of sense why the instructions say to only glue around the perimeter, in the AZ sun this thing swells in the middle quite a bit. With AC on or in the shade it keeps its form pretty well

[nlped]

Dash is improving for sure. I must confess that I went with the Cheyenne Truck Parts dash pad...a bit speedy, but less than the other 2 mentioned and great fit. But I’m contemplating a coverlay for the dashpad I took out just for a future project.

[DirtbagSean]

Originally Posted by nlped

Dash is improving for sure. I must confess that I went with the Cheyenne Truck Parts dash pad...a bit speedy, but less than the other 2 mentioned and great fit. But I’m contemplating a coverlay for the dashpad I took out just for a future project.

I definitely think I would rework an original with an upholsterer next over an aftermarket pad solely based on the unbranded aftermarket one in my k5, I like how sturdy the original is. I updated the end photos of the Coverlay and think it turned out decent for a driver, not a show quality fix by any means. Need to decide on interior color and get some color on it and the rest of the plastic panels though.

[DirtbagSean]

Other than finally getting an AC compressor in the truck, I put out a WTB ad on our local Squarebody FB page with ridiculous requests like: White, LH side gas door, and preferably installed in my driveway while I slept.

And low and behold, someone messaged me, with a straight white bed, fuel door on the right side, and already cut for the lowering shackles. Not installed in my driveway while I slept, but he had it on his lift at his shop ready to drop!

I couldnt have asked for a better match, and thinking back now I should've bought a lottery ticket. The better side of it was that he had realistic expectations for cost and I had my old bed sold in an hour before I had even taken it off!




AND HERE IT IS!! a lot less damage and shines up pretty well, the PO sanded off a ton of plastidip that was on the bed when he got it and churched it up with 3000 grit and a light buff. I still needed to sand out the cove in the tailgate but it wasnt that bad.





Topped off with a new license plate and its back to a shabby shiny driver *for a little while at least** I cant decide on a paint color to save my life.

[lownuff]

Banana yellow. Duh.

[LT7A]

Cool truck and it's coming along nicely. I like the work you did on the dash. I'll bet some SEM texture and color coat and it would come out great. TBH, I don't mind if you can see the history in my trucks but I get a kick out of improving how things look even though it stops well short of perfect. The amount it improved is what always makes me happy.

[DirtbagSean]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Cool truck and it's coming along nicely. I like the work you did on the dash. I'll bet some SEM texture and color coat and it would come out great. TBH, I don't mind if you can see the history in my trucks but I get a kick out of improving how things look even though it stops well short of perfect. The amount it improved is what always makes me happy.

Thanks for the compliments, I'm with you on the progress vs perfect, I have a few other looooong term projects burning and I tend to get lost in the details, frustrated, then burnt out and disinterested.

So I'm trying to keep this simple and I keep telling the wife "this is the last thing I need" But she knows better and deals with my disease pretty well

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by DirtbagSean

Thanks for the compliments, I'm with you on the progress vs perfect, I have a few other looooong term projects burning and I tend to get lost in the details, frustrated, then burnt out and disinterested.

So I'm trying to keep this simple and I keep telling the wife "this is the last thing I need" But she knows better and deals with my disease pretty well

Since you're trying to keep this simple..... Why not just stick w/white as the color? Lots of different interior color schemes can work w/a white exterior for some color-splash that you can see/experience from the drivers seat.

[daddyjeep]

There is certainly nothing wrong with a white truck. The little bit of green on the wheels seems to set off the white nicely. Maybe just a matching stripe on the truck. I know the dilema, being an artist myself, deciding on the final look is the hardest part of the whole thing. Both of my current builds are planned with White and grey with an accent color.

[Low Elco]

Cool part with white- you buy a big bucket of single stage and do one panel at a time. Neet ol beater!

[DirtbagSean]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Cool part with white- you buy a big bucket of single stage and do one panel at a time. Neet ol beater!

Definitely leaning towards white for sure, working in the collision business I can't bring myself to single stage, but maybe simple with some accent color or colors... going to see what I can do to get it wrapped up for the Git Down so I have a little time to round up parts and make up my mind.