Sullii the 72 GMC 1500

[Graham57a]

So cool to see this thing in person the other weekend. You have done an amazing job on it and I love that you drive it and enjoy it with your kids!

[hewittca]

Thanks everyone! Sorry I've been slow to reply, I've actually been away from the forum for a bit. I also haven't had time to even drive the truck for the last two months or so. Just in the last week I've pulled it out again and started thinking about what I want to do next. It should be interior, but I keep thinking about putting a cam in it instead!

Coming back to the truck, I still get the feeling that I wanted to do something different with the front of the truck. At certain angles, the GMC grill looks so awkward and I couldn't really figure out what I don't like about it until now. The center vertical bar has a peak in the center which forces the horizontal bar to angle out at a different slope than the hood. This makes the whole center cross look strange to me, so I decided to try and flatten it out. I started pushing on the center and was able to straighten it enough to make the center horizontal bar at the same angle as the rest of the grill surround. It's a subtle difference but in person it does improve the flow of the grill when you walk around the front.



The other thing I didn't love was the clash between the white bumper and the chrome grill. I never went back to chrome because I love the white rear bumper. After several years, however, I finally decided to give the chrome another try. This time around I definitely like the change. It makes the front look more cohesive to me. Of course, this meant I had to strip the rear bumper as well. I don't hate the rear with the chrome bumper, so chrome it is! Now, I just need another can of paint stripper so I can finish the job.

[hewittca]

Lately I've been working through some of the items further down the to-do list. First up was replacing the window seals. They leaked terribly and were completely dry rotted. I wouldn't be surprised if they were still original. While the windshield was out, I figured it was a good time to replace the dash pad and clean up the top of the dash. At first, I was going to leave what was left of the original paint. After cleaning it I didn't really like how it looked. The original color was a darker flat blue, but I could not find a code for it. I searched around and landed on matte ink blue from Krylon. It was a close match to original and looks great against the medium blue on the rest of the truck. The dash pad is from Dashes Direct and was an easy install. Also, a welcome improvement over the badly cracked original.







Now that the dash was done it was back to the windshield. Unfortunately, when I removed the windshield I did not notice a small crack that had started in the top left corner. While trying to reinstall the windshield, the crack spread until it was cracked top to bottom. Worse still, the window was not fully seated. After several reattempts the windshield was beyond usable and I had to accept defeat. I've heard these are difficult to install, but I've installed windows with the rope technique before so I thought it wouldn't be too bad. This one proved too much of a challenge, however, so I went with a professional. I used Adam's Auto Glass in Statesville and they did an outstanding job. He used a Fuyao windshield which turned out to be a perfect fit. I've used this brand for replacement glass in my classic VWs and it is well known, so I wasn't too worried about going with this one over OEM. He also used a Precision window seal which is as good as it gets. The new seal and windshield coupled with the refreshed dash and new vents (also painted ink blue) really sparked my motivation to start working on the remainder of the interior.







While I try to stomach the cost of seat foam and cover, carpet, and door panels, I continued on with my list. Next up was fixing the awful fuel filler problem. Filling the truck with my original solution behind the marker light was not easy and it drove me to finally cutting a hole in my bed floor. I decided to cut a 6" hole because I want to use a hinge that I had lying around from a 6" fuel door for a Blazer. I will use the piece I cut out as the door for a relatively seamless solution to the problem of having a giant hole in the bed floor! Filling the truck is SO much easier now. I will come back to the fuel door once I have that finished.





Next, I've started cleaning up the original paint again. I polished this truck within the first month that I bought it and then never touched the paint again. It has faded again since then so I am going back and repolishing it. I always go back and forth about doing a matte or shiny finish. I think this time around I will go shiny.





In between working on these smaller projects I've also been driving the truck as much as I can and using it as a truck, weather permitting. It has now been one year since I got the truck back on the road and it is still performing as well as I could have hoped for. My original goal was to take it to the C10 Fall Revival, which I did. Now, it's already time to prep for the next one in a few weeks. I don't have any real changes from last year, except the keen eye might notice I now have chrome caps instead of white.