Tom - 1991 GMC Sonoma GT

[aggie91]

This is my first small truck. This is going to be built for my son Owen who just turned 15 earlier this month. We are the second owner of this truck. The first owner bought it brand new with only 4 miles on the odometer. His name was Tom Wilkerson. We knew him and his wife through church. Tom was a retired engineer and lived around the corner from us after we moved a couple of years ago. He was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago and was not given a good outlook. He started chemo, but it made him feel worse and almost killed him the second round. He made the hard decision to not continue the chemo and just focus on making sure his wife was taken care of once he passed. Part of that focus was getting rid of his stuff that she would not need. I bought a Southbend lathe and some other tools as they prepared to sell their house to move into a smaller one. He also decided to give me this truck since he knew I was a car/truck guy and would take care of it. For that, we are eternally greatfull and I will take very good care of it. Before he passed we told him and his wife that we were going to redo the truck for Owen as his first vehicle and that we named it Tom after him. He passed away on July 4th of this year. Owen and I where out of town on a mission trip with the church youth and could not attend his funeral. He was a great man and will be missed by many. We are going to make sure that his wife stays informed of the status of the truck and will show her the finished product.

So, meet Tom:

This picture was taken by his wife and posted on FB the day we got it from them.

Here are some I took of the interior when I got it home:




This first day I drove it, rolled down the windows and the passenger glass came out of the track, took off the door panel to see what was up:


Turns out there are some plastic guides that snap on the edges of the glass in the front and back and there is only one roller on the regulator that rides in the track attached to the glass. With out the plastic guides, the window falls out...I replaced the guide and all is good now.

[aggie91]

I drove the truck for while we decided what to do with it. The only real things wrong besides the windows is the AC does not work and the speedo works sometimes... There are some normal wear and tear items with the truck and the windshield is cracked, but overall and mechanically the truck is sound. My wife and I had been discussing what to do for Owen's first vehicle and had a plan to get him a later model truck and me a 1984 C10 for a daily driver and Owen could help me with the C10 and we could swap around once the C10 was done. Well that was before we received the truck from Tom. Once we had it and had more discussions, we decided that the Sonoma would be his. I am still working on getting me a C10, but that is another story.

Once Owen and I returned from the mission trip, we started on a plan to get Tom redone and cleaned up. First order of business was to get it in the shop and get a good look at it to see what we needed.

Here it is before we took it back to the carwash to get it cleaned up...






Owen had given it a good scrubbing on the outside with a kitchen scrub pad and dawn liquid to get all the dead pain off and see what we really had on the outside:


The are a few dents, the worst is in the bed both sides behind the wheel openings, which I don't have pictures of yet. There is no body rust in this truck that we have found. Just dirty...

[aggie91]

We looked it over and it still has all the factory suspension and steering components on it. Owen wants it lowered so he got online and we found a 2" front 3" rear kit on ebay with a make offer button, he got it for $155 shipped to the house. It is a 2" drop spindle for the front and 3" blocks for the rear.

I got on RockAuto and purchased all the ball joints, tie rods, idler arm, center link, and adjuster sleeves along with all the control arm bushings to rebuild the front suspension.

I also went to Harbor Freight and got their large blasting cabinet on sale with 25% off coupon, out the door for $162.37. We will get it put together and use it to blast parts to prep them for paint. We hope to get it together and the front suspension torn down this weekend.

[Low Elco]

This'll be fun! I love square dimes, came within an inch of buying one just like Tom brand new, and drove a '94 2WD 4dr Jimmy for 9 years when my kids were little. Sorry about your friend. You guys have fun!

[Zane M]

Looks like it will be a fun Father Son project.
I miss my square S10.

[bkilgore46]

Hey Karl,

I just spotted this new thread today. I'm glad to see you starting a build for Owen. I hope you guys have better luck on this one. I'll be keeping an eye on your progress on both the boys' antics now.

Bobby K

[aggie91]

Thanks guys! Football practice started today, so we will see if Owen has enough energy tonight to get a little work done.

[aggie91]

Well, football started and we have not had a ton of time to put toward making progress.

We got the front suspension off and the rest of the dirt scrubbed off the frame rails. We need to do a little prep work for paint, then we will spray some satin black on them. I picked up a HF Blasting Cabinet a few weeks ago when it was on sale and used a 25% off coupon, that and 50lbs of media, out the door for under $200.

Here are some pics of where we are at:






Progress will be slow during football, but there will be progress...

[aggie91]

We have been sneaking time in here and there on this one. We have made a bit of progress. The scope of this build has changed directions. We will be finishing the suspension rebuild and maybe get the AC fixed then most likely sell it to offset the cost of Henry, Owen's first square. We got Henry from a friend and it is in amazing shape and will need way less work than this one to make a great first truck.

Here are some pictures of where we are at. I gave the Krylon Maxx a try after reading and seeing the results that N2TRUX had with it. It works out good and I'm pleased with the results too.

Before:

After:


Steering linkage was done with a Duplicolor rattle can:



Drop Spindles done with the Duplicolor and the Dust Shields done with the Satin Black Krylon Maxx:


Owen starting the cleaning on the rear frame rails and getting it ready for the drop blocks:


That's where we are at now. I have the a-arms going to a shop to have the bushing swapped out. I can do it at home, but my time is limited and the shop doing the work is walking distance from my office, so money well spent I believe. I hope to have the front suspension finished up by the end of this weekend.

[aggie91]

Not sure I mentioned it, but one of our set backs was Owen's hand. He broke the knuckle in his left hand during a scrimmage in mid August. He rebroke it 3 weeks later in a game and played thru it. We did not know he rebroke it until 4 days later when we took him back to the orthopedic to have it looked at because it was swollen up...the boy is a tough cookie!

Here is a pic of the knuckle, not the best pic, but you can see the break on the left side of the bone...

[Hankster]

Dang, Tough dude for sure! I'd love to have this little pick up if I had the money.

[aggie91]

Got the front end back together finally last weekend. Here are some pics in process.








The front shocks where in great shape so we taped up the shaft, blasted them and painted them before reinstalling.



The HF Blast Cabinet is paying off to have in the shop. Here is a pic of the battery tray in process of getting blasted.


And one of it painted with Krylon Maxx.


It is now all back together and the bed is off. Took it to the carwash to pressure wash the mud and grime off the back end. It will get the rattle can treatment and the lowering kit. Once that is complete and the bed back on, it off to the alignment shop. Its turning out to be really nice on the under side.

[aggie91]

Well its been awhile since I have posted on this one. A few weeks ago, I made the decision to let this one go. After a lot of thought and a conversation with my wife, we decided to let it go just for the amount of money I had invested on the new parts that I had bought. Since it was given to me, it was more about helping someone out then trying to make some money off the truck. The next day, a friend posted on FB that they needed a cheap car to get thru a tough time and so he did not have to ride a motorcycle to work (30 miles one way) during the winter. So we told them about it. They came and looked while I was out of town and where interested in it.

I got up yesterday and finished putting it back together. They came by about 4:30 yesterday. He took it for a drive, liked it and handed me $500. I had not even really given them a price, my wife told them " around $500 " when they looked at it in the shop when it was still all apart.

So its gone, I feel like I helped someone out in need, and ended up making a few dollars more than I had invested in it.

Sorry now pictures, but I did paint the rear half of the frame and detail the shocks before I made the decision to let it go. I took out the lowering spindles to put the stock ones back in. Glad I did, I realized I made a mistake when I put it together the first time. Can any see what is wrong with this pic:


Did not take anymore pics of the rear or anything else after I did the battery tray shown above....

[ProudSoul]

Wish it was acquired on better terms but looks like it's coming along nicely, should be a fun first truck!

[rusty76]

I know I am really late on this but has there been any progress.

[UKNOWME]

Any updates on this, Karl?

[aggie91]

We sold this one for what I had in it to help out a young man who needed a car. We turned around and bought Owen the 1984 C10 "Henry". Look for a build thread soon on it.

[rusty76]

I'll keep my eyes peeled.