1972 Build thread.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by Tom Vogel

Look really nice.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by CG

You should put the black gauges in so you can compare. My personal preference would be the black, but I have to admit those white gauges look damn good.

I like the thought of an upgrade like this, but my wallet said no lol.

Great build all around. I really love the tires and wheels.

It took me a while to go with the set I have now. I was looking at the dakota digital stock copy... but I couldn't swallow their asking price. These guys look to have a quality set up, so I hope it fits & works as advertised.

I love the wheel/tire combo as well, probably my favorite part of the build so far.

Thank you for the compliments!

[Spf79]

Been a while since I posted.

I'm trying to wrap this up by the spring. Most of the interior is installed as of this weekend. Hopefully I can start hanging doors this week.

The center console has been a work in progress, I mended together an old console bottom section that was pretty much destroyed... and used the upper from a good console. All of the heated seat elements, 12v power plug-ins, power for the bucket seats and stereo run through the console from the secondary battery.

[Spf79]

Here are some more pictures of the process.

Happy New Year!

[CanadianNascar]

Love the ashtray mod, may use that idea myself, thanks for sharing.

[7D2N]

Perfect very nice, you will be on the road in no time.

[notsolo]

Beautiful work on all of this, your paint is amazing. Are your seats refurbished OEM, or from something else? They look very comfortable, Gage cluster is very nice also.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Beautiful work on all of this, your paint is amazing. Are your seats refurbished OEM, or from something else? They look very comfortable, Gage cluster is very nice also.

Thank you!

The seats are out of a 99 Denali. I thought they were newer until I got into the electrical switches. They came in GM trucks & SUV's 95-99. I had them upholstered to look similar to utility buckets. Between what I paid for the upholstery, heating elements & the 72 dark dark saddle vinyl, I was still less money than a set of sport buckets. I'm including the cost of the rear bench upholstery as well. That makes me sad, I prefer the look of the sport buckets. On the other hand, these seats are way more comfortable than sport buckets, heated, and 8 way power with lumbar, I put heated elements into the rear bench as well.

I'm glad you like the cluster, it was hard to go away from the stock look. I went with Classic Instruments, they were the only company I could find that offered the clock. The cluster was the price point between a Dakota Digital cluster and a new stock cluster... sadly there was no vacuum gauge option.

[notsolo]

Power seats and way more comfortable, wins for me over originality. They look nicer wider deeper etc....I looked at Dakota Digital also not going that way either. With an LS going into mine I am still looking for an option, might build an S10 electric cluster again and use mostly original gauges. Classic instruments looks like a decent option need to read up some....

[yote1234]

i just found this build and admire your work looks great..

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by CanadianNascar

Love the ashtray mod, may use that idea myself, thanks for sharing.

Thank you, I was trying to figure out a slick way to mount a USB rapid charging port that wasn't a 12v socket plug in the cigarette lighter socket.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by 7D2N

Perfect very nice, you will be on the road in no time.

Thank you!

Trying to spend an hour a night. I got a door mounted tonight, no scratches either... all by myself. Lol. Total PITA trying to get the gaps right. I'm close, but not perfect.

That red stool on the floor jack works way better than you would think.

I kept the GMC Jimmy Custom badges on the doors. I didn't know they existed until I started this project, I liked them better than the square CST badges that Blazers had. I know it is not correct for a Blazer, but they make me happy.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by yote1234

i just found this build and admire your work looks great..

Thank you!

It has been a long road, it is almost embarrassing... but I am thoroughly enjoying the process. I only have so much money in the fun bucket per year.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Power seats and way more comfortable, wins for me over originality. They look nicer wider deeper etc....I looked at Dakota Digital also not going that way either. With an LS going into mine I am still looking for an option, might build an S10 electric cluster again and use mostly original gauges. Classic instruments looks like a decent option need to read up some....

Hopefully this link works. I put this in a jeep and it works pretty good. The CJ had oversize tires and the gear adapter at the transfer case was not working great.

https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Dakot...xoCadEQAvD_BwE

This is an electronic to mechanical conversion that allows you to have an accurate speedo and keep your original gauge cluster. Just a thought.

[notsolo]

Thanks, have not seen that, electronics part is not easy. Your door gaps look great, are you going with a full hard top? Some posts show the top needs to be on to get the alignment right. If your going top less or soft top probably doesn't matter.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Thanks, have not seen that, electronics part is not easy. Your door gaps look great, are you going with a full hard top? Some posts show the top needs to be on to get the alignment right. If your going top less or soft top probably doesn't matter.

Thank you! Getting to that gap made my eye twitch.
No top, sunny day cruiser only.

[Spf79]

Installed the early style e-Brake lever tonight. I need to massage the cover a bit, it needs to be wet sanded and rubbed out... along with the rest of the paint. I honestly thought about getting a personalized license plate that reads "ORG-PEEL". Anyways, I shimmed the handle so that is was more horizontal compared to the bottom of the dash. Not shimming it allows the handle to hang down away from the dash and hit the speaker when fully disengaged.

[LT7A]

Great truck. Good that you get back on the build when you can. I bet you'll love it when it's done. The orange is cool. Always like to see trucks go back to their original color too.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by LT7A

Great truck. Good that you get back on the build when you can. I bet you'll love it when it's done. The orange is cool. Always like to see trucks go back to their original color too.

Thank you!!
I'm getting closer daily, feels good to get back into a groove on it.

Almost finished the door assembly, the window felts were a nightmare, had to cut them down to fit. Lots of blue tape.

[notsolo]

Looking great, all your dark saddle pieces match pretty well, did you paint the dash pad? Any idea what your upolstry people used material wise? Is it available? brand? Color?

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Looking great, all your dark saddle pieces match pretty well, did you paint the dash pad? Any idea what your upolstry people used material wise? Is it available? brand? Color?

Thank you! It was a lot of effort.

I wanted dark saddle everything, but usually you get dark brown, brown or a different tinge of dark saddle whenever you order something online.

I went to Top Flight Automotive and ordered their corvette dark saddle vinyl paint and painted door panels, dash pads, boots and anything else that it worked on. I also took that vinyl paint/dye and had some auto paint matched from it. I painted the column, and all interior seat brackets with this and then clear coated everything. Fyi, Rustoleum crystal clear paint was far superior to the expensive auto paint I had purchased.

The carpet is ACC dark saddle, and the seat material is 72 dark saddle from SMS auto fabrics in Canby, OR. Sadly, the seat belts I ordered do not match very well... not sure what the plan there is yet. I didn't want to try and refurbish old belts, or pay for it to be done so the options are not great.

[Spf79]

I am wrapping up some engine compartment items before I add the front clip.
I purchased a larger booster/master cylinder set up from a local vendor, and it did not cross my mind that my support brackets coming off of the booster and master cylinder would no longer fit. Is there a consensus that we actually need these brackets?

[notsolo]

Thanks for the reply, ...Well the effort has paid off. Best compliment I can give is I am going to try and copy some of what you have done.....I also went with a bigger booster same problem, I think there might be a brace for the 3/4 ton trucks. I cut a 2" piece of stainless 1x1 tubing, polished and attached under lower brace at the firewall, with longer bolt, not the best solution. But not in a place you can see too well.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Thanks for the reply, ...Well the effort has paid off. Best compliment I can give is I am going to try and copy some of what you have done.....I also went with a bigger booster same problem, I think there might be a brace for the 3/4 ton trucks. I cut a 2" piece of stainless 1x1 tubing, polished and attached under lower brace at the firewall, with longer bolt, not the best solution. But not in a place you can see too well.

Thank you, I appreciate that.

[Spf79]

Wiring...

Almost finished with my engine compartment, I integrated the MSD and double checked all of the other connections. I have a few grounds to add, and some heat wrap to apply on the main harness running behind the engine.

Tranny cooler lines are installed finally, and I need to finish the fuel line to the carb. Tomorrow I need to finish up the stereo wiring that will be hidden behind the rear side panels. After that I feel good about testing everything with both batteries installed.

Praying for no fires. Lol.
Sorry about the upside down & sideways pictures.