Project Evil Tow Rig - '87 CC SRW Conversion

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

Well, I finally found my project truck...it's an '87 CC dually, 52,301 actual original miles, full service history, 454/T400/205. The truck has been sitting for years, the owner is an old boss of mine and he literally only starts it yearly to go smog and register it yearly.

It looks like some neighbor kids were playing basketball and dropped it on the hood, right on the center crease and the passenger side rear door has some weird old body work that didn't last, so I'll have to either skin it or replace it. Since I want a SRW, I'm going to drop the rear axle, aluminum dually wheels and the bed, which are all it great condition.

Really, the truck just needs a ton of cleanup work and paint...I went ahead and made a pretty big list of things to order with LMC, so as I strip and raplace everything, I'll update the build thread...it should move fairly fast because Evil needs a tow rig to haul her around!

List of "To-Do's"!

1. 6" spring lift (custom rear pack no sag...) and Rear Sway Bar
2. 35x12.50 BFG M/T KM2's on 17x9 Classic II's
3. Completely new interior, except for seat upholstery
4. Factory Tach Retrofit
5. O/D Shift Indicator
6. 4L80E swap with new ECM, Engine Harness and drivelines
7. Corporate 14 Rear Axle
8. Fleetside Spindle/hub conversion for Dana 60HD Front Axle
9. Fleetside Bed
10. Complete Billet Grille/Headlight/Trim Package
11. Full Tune-up on Engine w/moderate additions/mods
12. Full Body Work, Goodmark Cowl Hood and New Paint (Color Scheme Undecided...IDEAS???)
13. New OEM Front and Rear (plus mounting brackets for rear) Bumpers w/Hardware
14. Full Weatherstripping and Window Channel/Vent Window Replacement
15. All New Parking/Marker/Brake/Clearance Lamps w/Complete LED Conversions (LMC Marker/Brake LED Panel Conversion)
16. Any additions I am missing???

[manimal]

Very NICE!

[Pop's C-10]

nice rig

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice truck to start with!

[Devillusion]

Wish I had that interior.....looks great!

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by Devillusion

Wish I had that interior.....looks great!

x2 It looks like a great project!!

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

I'm still spending $900+ in interior parts to get it perfect...haha!

I got a PRN-OD-D21 gear indicator and I'm bidding on a tach cluster as well right now...it is the proper tach for the '87 gauges but the small fuel gauge is the "unleaded fuel only" one which is technically not correct for a Non-California Emmisions 454 equipped 1-ton, but it's close enough for me and my intentions!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

I haven't been updating this build thread at all and I apologize!

Progress has been slow as the final push on the Trailblazer took a lot of time and energy but the crew cab is shaping up to be a nice long winter/spring project!

I found a front lube 4L80E complete with a spare NP205 in case I ever need it. I bought the package because it came with one of the fabled 15629600 4L80E-to-NP205 adapters that was supposedly "perfect", but when I had a friend ship the adapter alone to me. When I got the adapter, I threw it in the media blasting cage and this is what I found...





Needless to say, I was not thrilled! Good thing I got the whole package cheap! I have since decided to go with a '99+ central lube core 4L80E, build it to Level 5 spec and have my friend Dave at Yank Performance build me a custom multi-disc towing converter for the truck as well. I'll be selling the 4L80E I already have soon, so stay tuned.

After months of asking him, I finally got a member on CK5 to sell me one of his perfect condition 15629600 adapters, so I should have it in the next couple weeks.*

I found an NOS OD gear indicator months ago, so I have that here as well as a complete '81+ tach cluster I found from Blake_H, who is local to me!





I already pulled it all apart and cleaned everything, traced the printed circuit to the harness so I can plan how to re-pin everything once I start the cluster swap.

Blake also has a pristine '86 fleetside bed for me as well...

I still need to buy the SRW front hub assemblies and crossover steering kit from ORD and 14-bolt FF...then it will be time to figure out what I want to do for spring packs...
Posted via Mobile Device

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice. It is weird how the square parts are getting harder to find now that more of them continue to get crushed. Nice parts!

[mcmlxix]

Nice truck... if I had space and money to burn I would build short bed version...

I have the perfect rear axle for your truck... is an AAM 11.5" from an 05 GMC crewcab diesel with factory disc brakes and integral e-brake... It measures about 68.5" from WMS-WMS (wheel Mounting Surface)

I'm also working on custom D60 front caliper brackets. chec out my thread here

PS: if the golden goose 4l80e/np205 adapter doesnt materialize, check out this custom configurable piece... here

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

I got the 14-BFF out of an '87 K30 at home and I am getting ready to rebuild it!

I got the tach installed and the the whole cluster restoration done and working perfectly! I converted to LED backlight, re-painted the cluster case and back of the shroud gloss white and the front of the shroud gloss black, cleaned the gauges as good as I could without re-screen printing them, everything looks great!




While I had the dash torn apart, I went ahead and scrubbed and cleaned all the hidden places under the dash since they hadn't been clean since the light of day the truck was assembled! I pulled the A/C control panel and re-painted the black metal panel and polished the clean plastic panel out and converted its backlight to LED as well...


Posted via Mobile Device

[hick]

Lighting looks AWESOME.. top of the list for my truck

Are you the gentlemen that used some of that LED stripping and soldered it directly onto the circuit board on the back?

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

That is not what I did. I just used replacement 194/168 diodes. See the link below. I didn't want the lighting to be glaringly bright and overpowering, I just wanted the pure white of 5,000k LED. These little guys have one .5 watt high power mini SMT diode firing out each side. This way I don't have to worry about "hot spotting".

http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-B...54124-1-2.html
Posted via Mobile Device

[hick]

Same bulbs for the climate control?

Its been a long time since i have pulled one of these dashes apart, I forget what's back there

[hick]

Do you have any pictures of these installed?

I am looking at them and I can;t figure them out...

did you just place them behind the cluster and wire direct power to them?

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

The LEDs plug right into the OEM bulb socket just like a normal filament bulb. If you look at the LEDs, you will see a single yellow LED Diode on each side at one end of the chip board. At the opposing end, there are the positive and negative terminals. Those terminal slide right into the socket just like normal bulbs. I will snap a picture when I get off work because I bought a bunch of extras as well...

http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED-B...4124-1-2.html#
Posted via Mobile Device

[Devillusion]

freakin' expensive little bastards!!!! Look great, but WOW!

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

Posted via Mobile Device

[hick]

Now I feel like an idiot... DUH!


Thank you sir, I'll be ordering some tomorrow

[hick]

How many do you need for the entire dash?

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

These com as a pair, so you need 3 pair and will have an extra as there are 5 backlights for the gauges. If you feel inclined rip apart the climate control unit and use the last one the make it match the dash. I also swapped the turn signal indicators to LED but left the high beam, brake, SES, seat belt lights all stock bulbs since they barely ever get used...I figured it would be a waste to do those.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

After hunting down wiring issues under the dash and under the carpet, I've decided that the interior is the first big project I am going to tackle on the CC. This weekend I am going to gut the interior, scrub and clean everything, cover the entire interior with Dynamat Extreme, and pre-wire for all the audio upgrades I will be doing this winter. I'll order a full carpet kit and pad/insulation kit as well.*

One of my friends owns a well respected upholstery shop and he quoted me $800 for the following work:

- Re-do headliner
- Re-pad/bolster upholster both seats
- Remove and re-dye all plastic/vinyl interior parts
- Rebuild all fabric door inserts with matching material from seats
- Carpet the lower door panel pieces i am building to house the component speaker systems (front & rear)

And for an extra $150, he is going to rebuild the dash pad with a hand stitched grained leather looking material (probably high quality vinyl)
Posted via Mobile Device

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Evil Trailblazer SS

After hunting down wiring issues under the dash and under the carpet, I've decided that the interior is the first big project I am going to tackle on the CC. This weekend I am going to gut the interior, scrub and clean everything, cover the entire interior with Dynamat Extreme, and pre-wire for all the audio upgrades I will be doing this winter. I'll order a full carpet kit and pad/insulation kit as well.*

One of my friends owns a well respected upholstery shop and he quoted me $800 for the following work:

- Re-do headliner
- Re-pad/bolster upholster both seats
- Remove and re-dye all plastic/vinyl interior parts
- Rebuild all fabric door inserts with matching material from seats
- Carpet the lower door panel pieces i am building to house the component speaker systems (front & rear)

And for an extra $150, he is going to rebuild the dash pad with a hand stitched grained leather looking material (probably high quality vinyl)
Posted via Mobile Device

That sounds like a decent deal!

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

Today's project is to gut the interior and get ready for the Dynamat Extreme! I ordered one 36sq. ft. bulk pack from Amazon for $127.95 since the GF signed up for Prime. I figure I will need at least one more bulk pack to complete the floor, back wall, roof, fire wall, doors, etc. but for now this will get me started!

Summit didn't have it in stock, so I can't get it done today! That will give me till Tuesday to scrub and clean everything!
Posted via Mobile Device

[Evil Trailblazer SS]

Well, I got the interior completely stripped out and scrubbed down clean! There were a bunch of little wiring issues I had to fix and there was an old school "car phone" installed by the dealer when the truck was new...weird! The rear speakers were tapped by this system and someone did a horrible job of removing it whenever they did remove it! The original owner was clearly a baller because the truck even had a really nice power rear slider installed when the truck was new as well! The power rear slider is getting removed in favor of a fixed glass back glass!




I still have some weird wiring issues to work out under the dash as the overhead dome light is non-functiona and there was some "suspect" wire splicing done with the feed to the door jamb pins and overhead dome at some point...but the courtesy lamp under the ash tray works perfectly!

On a side note, the winner of today's Darwin Award is this retarded quail that thought glass was easy to fly through...

Posted via Mobile Device