66 GMC Long to Short LS Swap

[Paul Y]

Just getting ready to do my cab interior, yours looks very similar to what I envisage mine will be.

Hope it turns out half as good and I will be happy!

P.

[Duncan K]

So after my last attempt on the drivers door I decided it would be easier to try and find a rust free set of doors, or at least a set that only needed minor patching. I haven't had any luck with welding skins on. With all the rust repair I have tackled on this truck I am not sure why this is proving to be so difficult. I shopped around for a few months and ended up finding a pretty good deal on a set that had solid inner bottoms, and only minor rust in the bottom corners of the skins. I thought this was going to be the end of my door problems and I would finally be able to move on. I blasted them and shot them with epoxy. I hung them on the cab only to find they didn't fit at all. Gaps were terrible, and they didn't match up to body of the cab at all. I didn't take any pics, but I would have had to do significant chopping and welding to make them fit. This was exactly what I was trying to avoid.So much for the easy fix.

I had cut the skin off the original driver door up above the handle. The reproduction door skins I bought were only usable below the upper body line because the upper body line was 3/8" too low. I had written this door off and left it outside. I bought it in and hung it with original skin, fits pretty good.

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I put a new door bottom on it, mounted the striker on the cab and installed the door lock mechanism. With the door closed and locked in place the middle of the door edge did not line up with the cab. I made a relief cut and then welded in a filler to bring the for edge out flush. With that done I mounted the cowl extension and the fender. The door frame fit great everywhere including at the rocker. I cut the skin off the last driver door I attempted to fix and fit it to this one. I tacked it in and hammered over the corners to hold it in place. As per usual, now it fits like crap, the top pulled, and now it doesn't seem to fit at the rocker.

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I really hate doors!!!! Not really sure what I want to do at this point. This has really killed my motivation. as much as I want to do all the work on this truck myself I might have to admit defeat on this one and hire some to fix it. Going to move on to other things and leave the doors alone for a while, again.

[Duncan K]

My wiring harness for the LS is just a birds nest of extra wire. I have the ECU mounted under the dash being the glove box. I put the cab back on the chassis and made a bracket that comes off the back of the motor and in through the firewall to the ECU. This gives me the exact location where the harness plugs in. With that done I pulled the cab off. I pulled each wire out of the plug, back through the birds nest to its source, rerouted it the way I wanted back to the plug, cut it to length and crimped a new pin on it. Just have to get some braided loom to dress it up and protect it now.

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I think I am going to run all the power wires to a relay/fuse box under the hood

[66C10LB]

Originally Posted by

[IMG

[IMG]

I put a new door bottom on it, mounted the striker on the cab and installed the door lock mechanism. With the door closed and locked in place the middle of the door edge did not line up with the cab. I made a relief cut and then welded in a filler to bring the for edge out flush. With that done I mounted the cowl extension and the fender. The door frame fit great everywhere including at the rocker. I cut the skin off the last driver door I attempted to fix and fit it to this one. I tacked it in and hammered over the corners to hold it in place. As per usual, now it fits like crap, the top pulled, and now it doesn't seem to fit at the rocker.

[IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG][IMG]

I really hate doors!!!! Not really sure what I want to do at this point. This has really killed my motivation. as much as I want to do all the work on this truck myself I might have to admit defeat on this one and hire some to fix it. Going to move on to other things and leave the doors alone for a while, again.

I'm with you on that challenges on door skins. I failed on the drivers outer btm, gave up and went on to A-pillars which were no problem. Worked on the passenger door outer bottoms and after a lot of effort finally managed to get good fit/curvature. Now back to try the drivers door again.

[Duncan K]

I keep walking away and working on other things after every failed attempt. I have a big collection of doors now. I feel like I will have the whole truck complete and still be working on getting door skins on!