Sparky's 1978 Silverado Build "Addiction"

[CMACDONALD1]

Your truck is looking fantastic. Keep up the good work!!

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by CMACDONALD1

Your truck is looking fantastic. Keep up the good work!!

Thank you Sir. JaysonB is at it again!!!

[aggie91]

So Jayson is painting this one too!

[Dads79GMC]

Yes Sir! That final work, I don’t have enough patience!! I really enjoy the metal work, hunting parts, chassis work and priming! JaysonB is too good and way more detail oriented than I. JaysonB is painting the truck in thirds. He has the cab and doors right now, clip next, then box.

[Jaysonb]

Well, here we go again! When Mike came and picked up his 79 gmc, he brought the cab, and doors for his 78 chevy. He had all of the hard work done, but the winter weather was going to prevent him from making much more progress. I keep my garage sunny, and 72° all winter, so I offered to get it painted up for him. So far I have just had to do a little fine tuning on the cab, and have body worked the doors. I now have everything in final primer, and have the inside of the cab painted. The plan for this evening is to get the cab masked up, and get everything painted!

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by Jaysonb

Well, here we go again! When Mike came and picked up his 79 gmc, he brought the cab, and doors for his 78 chevy. He had all of the hard work done, but the winter weather was going to prevent him from making much more progress. I keep my garage sunny, and 72° all winter, so I offered to get it painted up for him. So far I have just had to do a little fine tuning on the cab, and have body worked the doors. I now have everything in final primer, and have the inside of the cab painted. The plan for this evening is to get the cab masked up, and get everything painted!

I think Jayson has done a little more than "fine tune" the cab. I had the passenger side rocker a little high in the back and he fixed that with some strategic surgery. Whoever gets this truck will have a nice one on their hands. Yes, the plan is to sell this one to fund the "80s Parts Truck Build" more to follow on that one.

While the 78 cab and doors are up north for a face-lift, I've been working on ditching the 2-link idea and am piecing together a 4-Link that I've been working on with a young man out in Washington (Matt). I will post his information when I post pics later tonight or maybe tomorrow on that progress. Here's a couple teaser pics.

Pictures:
1. 4-Link Axle Bracket. Robust stuff. Not tacked in nor straight
2. Bolt-on 4-Link Bracket

[Dads79GMC]

Another pic. I had Matt build the bolt-on link bracket to match the factory off-set of the original front spring hanger. All pieces are built from 1/4 steel. Initially I sent him an MDF template for the base plate (that bolts to the frame) and he went from there. CNC magic!! Mike

[Low Elco]

Question for Jayson- How do you Vent your shop? I just built one, and the fan I pou in isn't cutting it, I'm considering some changes. What do you do?

[Jaysonb]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Question for Jayson- How do you Vent your shop? I just built one, and the fan I pou in isn't cutting it, I'm considering some changes. What do you do?

Unfortunately the way I have mine set up doesn't really work that great. I built my garage about 3 years ago, and used the fan that I had in the old garage. The fan has plenty of suction, but the garage is just to big to have fast evacuation of the over spray. I need to take the time to design, and build a booth that I can put up, and take down as I need it. This is the fan I use, and I have storm doors on the 2 entry doors to help keep the bugs out. The old garage was 12'x28', and with the fan I use now it would clear the air immediately, and the new garage is 28'x40', and it takes a few minutes to exchange the air when I spray clear coat.

[Low Elco]

That's hilarious. It's almost the exact same fan setup I have, vented out through the eaves. It's built into the ceiling with a trapdoor out through expanded metal in the eaves. (stealth) It works kinda ok, I was hoping for better. I have another squirrelcage that flat gets down, but it has the motor in the middle, which is bad. I think I just need more motor to spin it faster. I can tell you that if the man door isn't open, it'll suck it right open for you. I was priming last night at 33 degrees, and it wasn't bad sucking it out in shifts. The storm doors isn't a bad idea, I may have to look into it. My new shop is 26x28. Thanks for the reply! Sorry about the hijack!

[Jaysonb]

We have paint!

[Dads79GMC]

Looks awesome Jayson! I better move out on the other stuff!!! Now, to get it home?? Oh boy!

[aggie91]

Man Jayson, you work fast, in just over 24 hours you masked, final sanded, cleaned that up, wiped down with cleaner and a tack cloth, shot the white, masked the white, shot the clear, unmasked the white and shot the clear. Cleaned up and staged for a picture...got er done!

Looks dang nice!

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Man Jayson, you work fast, in just over 24 hours you masked, final sanded, cleaned that up, wiped down with cleaner and a tack cloth, shot the white, masked the white, shot the clear, unmasked the white and shot the clear. Cleaned up and staged for a picture...got er done!

Looks dang nice!

aggie91, believe me, Jayson is definitely focused!! When I've gone up in the past to lend a hand, it's non-stop, all night. I'm good through about 0200, then I'm done!!! Of course, he works overnight hours, so he has a different "Battle Rhythm" than most of us. Great guy!

[Jaysonb]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Man Jayson, you work fast, in just over 24 hours you masked, final sanded, cleaned that up, wiped down with cleaner and a tack cloth, shot the white, masked the white, shot the clear, unmasked the white and shot the clear. Cleaned up and staged for a picture...got er done!

Looks dang nice!

Thank you Sir! I agree, that was a pile of work in a short amount of time.

[Dads79GMC]

This evening I continued to wrestle with the 4-Link, not that it's difficult, it's that I'm being a bit picky with my measurements. I went and purchased some large hose clamps to keep the bracket in place (saw it on a video) while I got nit-picky with my measurement!! I "believe" my link bars will be 21.5" eye to eye!! I just have to make sure I'm all square, bars are adjustable and I want enough wiggle room to adjust my pinion angle; as it sits, I'm right on.

Pictures:
1-2: Shot of the drivers side 4-link. I will more than likely change out the bump stop to something a bit smaller.
3. Passenger side 4-Link. You can see the clamps holding the bracket in place.
4. Great shot of the link bar. It's a 1/4" wall. No skimping there!!
5. Matt makes a great product and is great to work with!!!! He basically built what I wanted. I was kind of the test project.

Thanks Mike

[Dads79GMC]

Couple pictures of the front hanger set-up
.

[Jaysonb]

That 4 link stuff looks very well built Mike. You will be kicking that old blue truck to the curb when this one is done!!

[Dads79GMC]

Originally Posted by Jaysonb

That 4 link stuff looks very well built Mike. You will be kicking that old blue truck to the curb when this one is done!!

Not quite!! I want a 2WD 73-75 Blazer/Jimmy, so I'm going to pass this one along...!

[Dads79GMC]

Yo, you taking a break and having a PB&J?

[Jaysonb]

Yes I was!

[Jaysonb]

Making some progress! This hanging the door with one hand, and trying to get the bolts in by yourself, without scratching the new paint is going to make me feel like an old man for at least a week!

[Dads79GMC]

Yes Sir! Looks excellent!!

[Jaysonb]

Phase 1 is complete. The front clip will be next.

[Dads79GMC]

BEAUTIFUL!!! Looks outstanding Jayson!!