84 GMC High Sierra coming back to life

[Dalaigh]

Well, I traded my 84 K25 for this 84 K15 plus cash because I wanted a new project, and I got one.

The plans for this truck are;
-factory look two tone
-reliable
-capable
-as fuel efficient as it can be
-just an overall solid truck that can do what I ask of it.

It needs some floor work, but thankfully the supports underneath are near mint, and aside from the drivers outer sill, both cab corners, and some small holes in the floor the cab is in overall great shape. Both doors are shot, so are the fenders and inner fenders. The box is perfect, so is the tailgate. I have two good doors in the garage, a spare tailgate, and hood as well.

Heres the new truck.



heres some better pics of the work it needs










I'l post more info later today, when I have more time. But this is what I have to start with.

[Dalaigh]

I bought this for the other truck, but never got around to installing it. So, it's going on this truck.

[Dalaigh]

Going to start to tear the interior apart tomorrow and tear the fenders and doors off and get this project started.

[Dalaigh]

Managed to get the drivers floor patches off today, only had a few hours and they took up all the time. I need a complete floor pan and sill panel on the driver side.
Old patch panels

Drivers floor








And a few pics of the passenger side, didn't get a chance to pull up the patch panel.

Passenger sill is in a lot better shape then the drivers


The rest of the cab is in pretty good condition for 348,000km

[Dalaigh]

Waiting for the new floor panel to get hear tomorrow, so I started to tear the front inner and outer fenders off. While doing so I'm getting a better look at the core support, it's not in horrible shape some scaling has started, it is repairable. But I'm starting to think about swapping to a 73-80 front end, I mean I've got almost all the front end off now, and I'm going to have the welder out for the floors. With a little welding on the cowl and the 73-80 parts I can do the swap easily and I think the 70's front looks tougher then the slanted 80's. On the other hand, I was thinking of doing a simple resto on the truck back to it's 84 condition.
What do you guys think? 70's front or back to 84?

[nerphin]

This should be a cool build. I'd go round eye, but I'm not the one doing all the work.

Which two tone are you considering? I think the box colours would be pretty badass.

[Dalaigh]

Originally Posted by nerphin

This should be a cool build. I'd go round eye, but I'm not the one doing all the work.

Which two tone are you considering? I think the box colours would be pretty badass.

Ya, if I can find a good parts truck I will most definitely do a 73-80 swap.

It's going to be a two tone brown. Gonna use the tan on the box, but going to go with a dark brown called Copper brown metallic.

[Dalaigh]

Got some work done today. I was able to get the passenger side fender and inner fender off, most of the drivers side bolts came off. A few bolts were seized so I sprayed them with penetrating fluid, gonna let them sit for the night.

The aftermath:
Passenger side cab is in great shape

I can't believe the shape the passenger cab mounts in


Drivers side is the only bad spot on the cowl

passenger side is awesome

the core support is in worst condition then I thought, but still not horrible


passenger side lower cab and sill is great



Hope when I get the drivers side off tomorrow (maybe tuesday if it rains), that the cab is in just as good a shape. And I'm getting the new drivers floor tomorrow, so gonna get started in it soon too.

[Dalaigh]

Little bit of an update. I started working out of town, 14 day shifts, with ten days off in-between for 7 months. So, while I'm home next time I decided to call some body shops, get some estimates to keep the project going while I'm off making more money to spend on the rest of the project. I started collecting some interior parts and under the hood parts while I'm away, so they will be ready for when I get home.

[Corts60]

Looks like you got some work ahead of you. I'm jealous of your 4k tach. Looking forward to seeing the truck come along.

[Dalaigh]

Well, I'm home for the week and have been too busy around the house to do any work on the truck, which is ok. I'm current saving up some cash, so when I get back at it, I won't run out. Anyway I had some free time this morning, and decided to pay the local Chevy dealer a visit. I got them to print out the option list for my trucks vin, because I've seriously been thinking of doing a factory rest on the truck back to the day it rolled off the assembly line. I have already decoded the vin and know it was built in Canada at the Oshawa plant, has a gvwr of 6001-7000, and is a factory 5.0ltr (305). But I wanted to know what RPO codes were assigned to the truck so, if this is the route I go, I can rest it to original condition.

Any way here are some of the key codes. Some I were happy to see as well.
17U = Exterior colour - Light stale metallic (if anyone has pictures of that I' like to see them)
23A = accent stripe - dark blue, light slate metallic (is this just pin striping or does this mean it was two toned once)
23I = Blue inerior
B85 + B96 = Belt molding and wheel opening trim (bright)
BS4 = Back of cab insulation
BY1 = Ornamentation, exterior, body emblem (is this the hood emblem?)
F51 = heavy duty shocks
F60 = heavy duty springs front (would this be part of a snow plow package back then?)
G80 = we all know what that is (happy to see it, but I still might replace it with an aftermarket unit, unsure yet)
GU6 = 3.42 gears (I'm happy with that one, good all around gear for highway driving with some tow-a-bility)
MX0 = overdrive transmission ( glad thats factory cause its stain regardless)
N33 = tilt steering column
N67 = Rally wheels
NL2 = auxiliary fuel tank (this truck is missing its passenger side tank, however the bx has a door and the aux parts are still there, just no tank)
NY7 = transfer case shield
TT5 = which I am assuming is a quad headlight set up
V01 +V02 = heavy duty radiator with heavy duty tranny cooler
V76 = front tow hooks
Z53 = Gauge package (this is the one spot I'm changing regardless, It's getting a tach Gauge set)
Z62 = Scottsdale/SLX decor

Thats not all of them, just the ones I thought were good to see on the spid. There wasn't a lot, but enough that I don't want to type them all out.

[Dalaigh]

Originally Posted by Corts60

Looks like you got some work ahead of you. I'm jealous of your 4k tach. Looking forward to seeing the truck come along.

Thanks Corts, I am going to let a body shop do the majority of the body work, because I'm working out of town, but it is still the biggest project I've taken on. And considering I'm doing most of it in a gravel driveway, with a garage barely big enough for my G5 sedan, its going to be fun. I got the instrument cluster with the tach for $50 CDN, which is a steal up here. This truck will probably never see 4K so it will be worth it, but the truck the tach was bought for has seen 4k so it never got put in.

[JRANGER]

Great to see another high sierra build..Cant wait to see some progress!!!

[Dalaigh]

Some updates...
I pulled the wiring harness out of the core support to get it ready to be removed. I also removed the last of the original interior trim and started to remove the unnecessary wiring previous owners installed. Some pretty shotty upgrades.
I also started looking over the complete tan interior I got for the truck. I'm going to have to clean up and paint some of the pieces, but it's in overall good shape.


Just some labels for memory.

I couldn't figure out what this was, but finally found an old tach under the dash that it went to. Going to leave it there till I need to run my new tach wire for the factory tach.

Took this pic so I can remember where everything goes. I don't need it to work, but Canadian emission laws require it be there. Stupid if you ask me.

Found this in a local salvage yard, when I was looking for the coloured filaments for my dash, got it cleaned up and working so I'm going to see about putting it in my dash

Heres the new dash cleaned up and painted white on the inside to help brighten it up.

Found this with the clock so I picked it up to, it's solid but needs paint.

Heres my complete tan interior and brown dash. The dash has three cracks but I'm going to cover it with carpet, so I'm not worried right now.



And this is the dash insert for a clock dash, I painted the back white, so I can use it the new tach dash.



I'm going through the engine bay right now looking at what I can do to clean up the wiring and vac. hoses. I'm hoping to clean it up.

[x ReAcT x]

Where did you get that dash cluster?!? i have been looking high and low for one of those!!

[Dalaigh]

It came from a C60 with a diesel. I still have to have it re calibrated for a gas engine, but other then that it works fine.

[x ReAcT x]

Originally Posted by Dalaigh

It came from a C60 with a diesel. I still have to have it re calibrated for a gas engine, but other then that it works fine.

Thank you I need a tach so bad. How hard of a swap would this be? bolt up and wire in right?

[Dalaigh]

Pretty much, but then again I haven't done the install yet. I'm 2300kms away from my truck right now, working. I was able to clean and re-assemble the cluster before I left, but that was it.

[Gordonr1973]

Truck is looking good! Our salt up here just eats them up over the years...

[Dalaigh]

Yeah, I was actually quite surprised by how little and where the rust was. Considering the truck has 348,000kms on the clock. I'm currently working in Regina, and I'm seriously thinking about buying a few of the trucks out here and towing them home, each time I come out here, they seem to be holding up better here.
I'm trading my little car in on a 2012 Silverado, so may be picking up a car trailer before I leave.

[Dalaigh]

Well, I'm finally back from working out west, and I've been able to pick up a few parts for the truck. I've found a core support, and two aftermarket doors for $70. The doors are in great shape and the core support is already painted black. I will get some pics tomorrow.
Still need to get some inner and outer fenders but I'm going to concentrate on getting the cab done first. I'm glad to be home and able to get back at the 84, although I have decided to go in a little different direction. I'm thinking of change the colour, and I'm considering a lift kit.

[Dalaigh]

After a lot of thought, I've decide to part with this project. I just don't have the time or space for what I want to do with this truck. The new owner is picking it up shortly and he will be able to give it the attention I couldn't right now. I'm in the process of putting my house up for sale and my girlfriends, so we can buy something thats more suited to our needs, in the county.

[makman1297]

looking good.