85 GMC Sierra Classic 1 Ton Crew Cab

[Mattman2010]

Well I finally got my tranny hump made. I decided that instead of welding it in I am going to make it bolt in.



After getting that done I wanted to make sure that the floor modification was what it needed to be, and that I was going to clear everything on the frame. I put my 84 cab onto the 85 frame and it is looking good! It is so tall!



Had to throw the front clip on to get an idea, also parked my k10 next to it to see the height difference.


So now I am going to get the tranny tunnel holes cut and all ready to be installed. I am going to be pulling the cab off one more time and set it on my dolly and get it into primer then set it back on the frame for final paint. I cant wait to get this thing done, it just looks so awesome!

I also noticed that I am going to have to get a lift kit for the front end because I am going to have quite a bit of rake. If you look back a few pages you can see that I mounted the front rear spring hangers lower than they are suppose to be on a stock k30. This gave me quite a bit of lift and so the front end is not level with the back.

Matt

[72XLCHhd]

Good looking progress.

What are your plans for your extra crew cab frame? I may be looking for one in a few weeks if you are going to sell it.

[Mattman2010]

Well I still have my rusty 85 cab so I might turn that into a project as well with my extra frame.

Matt

[jltait]

Matt,
If you only need a little extra lift 1" zero rate springs from Offroad design or Diy4x's Eazyinch do a great job. They give an 1" of lift, are safe because they bolt into the spring pack and do not affect ride quality negatively. Order the 3" wide version for the front if you go that route. If you need more lift than that I recommend Tuffcountry springs.
Jason
PS Zero Rates are $45-$55.

[Mattman2010]

I think I am going to need more than 1 inch, I measured the bottom of the cab in the front and in the back and there was almost 2.5" difference in just the height on the cab from that small of an area. It almost seems like i raised the back 4 inches haha.

Those 1 inch lifts might be a good thing to remember about when I do go about fixing the rake, I might not be able to find the right springs I need and those might be what I need to fine tune the height.

Matt

[Mattman2010]

Well I got the tranny hump set into the cab while it was on the frame. This allowed me to cut out the holes needed for the shifters. With the transmission/transfercase dropped 2 inches, and the new high hump I built my np205 shifter is kind of short. I was not able to use the NP205 shifter boot on the transfercase and tried the SM465 boot and it allowed for the movement of the np205 shifter. So I will be swaping the boots so that everything works. Now I do kind of like the NP205 shifter down short like that. it keeps it low so that it might not get hit and it wont really be put into 4x4 very often.



Now the tranny hump is still not fully mounted. I was going to weld it in and now I decided that I want to make it removable because it was really nice to have that big hole in the floor when I was putting the cab on the frame, and if I ever need to drop the transmission it is a good place to hook up a chain to my cherry picker so that I can lower it down to the ground!

To be able to fully install the tranny hump (I need to weld tabs to the body to be able to bolt my hump to the floor) I pulled the cab back off and put it onto my cab dolly. This will also allow me to also be able to do the body work while it is on the cab dolly great! it works well and also holds at least an extra 500lbs so it wont be going anywhere. I did notice that I did not really get my measurements quite right, so at some point I will figureing out the difference and I might post up some plans for anyone that might want a cab dolly for their crew cab.



Matt

[jltait]

Matt,
The floor hump turned out real good!!! I'm jealous and want to scrap the body lift Idea and go this route now. Need it done though so no changing direction now, maybe an upgrade for another day.
Jason

[Mattman2010]

Thanks jason! Yeah I don't like body lifts, but it will do what you need to for now till you can get around to modifying the floor. Its not that bad, but there is time to figure out how to go about making it the way you want and making it so that it fits well to the floor. I built my top part and then used a line laser to make lines across the floor so that it would all line up.

Matt

[1985-GMC]

The hump looks good Matt! but you know you have your shifter boots mixed up right... lol

Edit: I guess I should read the post next time instead of just looking at the pictures and commenting. haha kinda reminds me of high school.

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

The hump looks good Matt! but you know you have your shifter boots mixed up right... lol

Edit: I guess I should read the post next time instead of just looking at the pictures and commenting. haha kinda reminds me of high school.

Haha good job tony!

I did start to mount the tranny hump yesterday, I have been trying to figure out how to get it to seal so that water and mud dont come up through the gaps.

I removed the rear window, and then started to remove the front window and right before I got it free it cracked. So I guess Ill be getting a new front window.

[Mattman2010]

Alright, well not a whole lot has been going on. School is finally out for the summer so I am picking up some more hours so I can get this thing finally rolling and get it done by the end of summer.

Been thinking a lot about paint and have decided that I am going to go with white.

Also got the transmission hump finally installed in the truck. So now I am working on all the rust that I have so that I can finally start on the body work.





Basically what I did was to make the transmission hump to weld into the truck, I then cut a 1/2 inch section all the way around to make the mounting frame, I welded tabs to the back of this 1/2 inch section to be where the hump bolted to and also be able to put some sealer on it to keep water from coming up through the hump. I then welded the 1/2 inch section to the floor and it bolts right in!

[my4by2]

White's a good color choice man! With mine hopefully that'll be two on the roads again soon!

[Mattman2010]

Things are moving pretty slow. I did pick up a 86 reg cab long bed frame that had the correct core/front spring mounts for this truck so I am going to be swaping out the brackets at some point so that I can use all the same bushings.

I started on rust repair. The rockers where rusty in only some places, When I cut them open I saw some surface rust, but I sprayed a rust converter on them to keep it from going any farther.



Patched the passenger front rocker


Just need to finish patching the rust. Fill in some holes in the cab for moldings, grind it all down, power wash one more time, paint the bottom/firewall black, and then start doing the body work on the rest of the cab. Once it is in primer I am going to be getting everything else in primer and then start the real body work on everything.

Plan was to get it done by summer, but things keep popping up so we will just see. No real dead line, Just hope to get it done at some point, I already have plans for my rusted out crew cab cab, mud/rock truck

[Mattman2010]

Well not much to really update. Been doing a lot of cutting, welding, and grinding fixing rust and all of that. I will be putting the cab in primer in the morning.

I did end up picking up a turbo setup for the 6.2. Its all of of a 6.5 and the turbo is a GM-8. I want to put it on, but I am just not sure yet. I have to modify the A/C box or get a S10 box, but I am not sure about all of that just yet.

[Mattman2010]

Well Saturday morning I got up early when it was cooler and sprayed some primer on the cab. I do not have the cab floor primed yet because I will be drilling and welding on the floor to install the suburban bucket seats that I bought.



Once I get the cab fully covered in primer I need to finish up some things on my frame so that I can get the cab on it and then start putting all the other body parts in primer.

[GmtGmt]

comming along nicely

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by GmtGmt

comming along nicely

Thanks GmtGmt!

I did get the cab onto the frame, and am really close to putting the final layer of primer on. Then hoping to get paint on the front clip and cab soon. I am just going to run my doors black for now as I have some big dents that I can not fix in the doors so I will need to find some new doors. As for the bed. I am still debating the Dually vs single wheel. So the dually bed will kind of be on hold while i drive it around some to make sure that I want a dually.

[GmtGmt]

duallys are the coolest

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by GmtGmt

duallys are the coolest

Dont get me wrong duallys are cool, but that isnt a good enough reason to keep one. Practicality is what counts. With a 23 foot long truck that is a little over 8 foot wide doesn't make for fitting in very many places. I am in college and it is already hard enough to get my dodge 1500 quad cab short bed into some of the parking spots. I have been watching everywhere I go to just see how close some of the places I go are. And a lot of the places will not allow for a dually to fit. Ill just have to drive it around to see how it will work out for me.

[Mattman2010]

Well the day has came. I finally sprayed some white onto the truck! Friday when I went to get the paint I told them that I needed the chevy code 12 white, which I was told was the white that they use on these trucks. Went to open the can to spray it and it was more of a cream color. So I took it back and they fixed it for me. So now I am using Olympic white. I only got the cab in paint for now. The rest of the front clip will be getting painted soon. I need to find some drivers side doors for my truck as well.

[kikkegek]

Subscribing. very nice build!

[STOCKISH]

Nice work man.

[Gordonr1973]

Looks great!

[68Timber]

Very nice work.

[Mattman2010]

Originally Posted by kikkegek

Subscribing. very nice build!

Thanks man!

Originally Posted by 1972SuperCheyenne

Nice work man.

Thanks man, I hope you get your DD all figured out. Seems like every time you start to get somewhere you have to end up selling everything!

Originally Posted by Gordonr1973

Looks great!

Originally Posted by BRUISER

Very nice work.

Thanks guys.

I am going to try to get the front clip finished up in paint tomorrow night. I did find some doors that seem to be in good shape. So I might go pick them up this week. Then I am going to try to get most of the stuff back on the truck so I can get it running.