85 GMC Sierra "Scarlett"

[05duramaxhd]

check with USA1 Industries for that dash piece.
http://www.usa1industries.com/

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by 05duramaxhd

check with USA1 Industries for that dash piece.
http://www.usa1industries.com/

Thanks, I will give them a look.

[N2TRUX]

Friday morning I got up early and put some time in the shop before work. I finished up wet sanding and put two full wet coats of primer on. I went triple coats on the raw spots so the rust issue is gone now.

[N2TRUX]

Friday evening the thrash was on to get the core support sanded and spotted in for a color coat. Since the filler panel is exposed I went over it a few times to level out old chips and scratches. I spotted in all my sand throughs and moved on to the face of the support.

[N2TRUX]

On the face of the support I had been able to lay the primer down smooth enough that light sanding and a pass with wet Scotch Brite was all that was necessary. This gave a smooth finish and enough bite for adhesion of the top coat. It was getting late but I had to mask and lay down some color.
With every removed I was able to get color under the top panel ask well. Unfortunately it had rained earlier and the humidity was thick. I grabbed my fans and forced air on the fresh paint to save it from blushing.

[N2TRUX]

In between sanding, priming, and painting I bead blasted all the small parts. I fought with humidity but managed to get the hood latch and hardware painted and hung to dry.

This morning I got up early hung the hard parts. I went with stainless button heads on the hood latch, and added a nylon clamps to clean up the release cable.

[N2TRUX]

For the first time in several months Scarlett is road worthy. Well, sort of road worthy. Not road legal, but close enough to get to the muffler shop. She is on the rack and we are mapping out some upgrades for better esthetics and flow.

[GAc10boy]

Really nice work on the core and filler panel. Can't wait to see how you run the exhaust. Would love to hear a clip too.
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[N2TRUX]

I went to New Star Muffler and had them build new mid pipes. Considering what he had to work with I feel he the results are fantastic. Here's what they started with. By the way, I have now replaced the bushing in the shift linkage, added a washer behind the cotter pin and painted everything.

[N2TRUX]

They extended the headers and added 2.5" collectors. From there he built mid pipes with slip joints. This means the headers can be removed now, and the transmission is serviceable with out removing the entire system

Besides the tranny linkage, the crossmember is an obstacle too. The factory crossmember is designed for single exhaust so it's not the same on both sides. Consequently the mid pipes can't be either. I am pleased with the results, now it needs a coat of ceramic paint.

[N2TRUX]

After the trip to the muffler shop Chris came over and we got started on the wiring harness. We rerouted the harness to hide it under the filler panel. Chris worked on routing and cleaning while I soldered old splices.

Chris hung the headlight buckets while the routing was decided on. We used mesh loom to cover the system. It's much cleaner, and no chance of malfunction due to poor quality splices

I had a family function to attend so we thrashed till I had to leave. We cleaned shop and called it done for the day.

[N2TRUX]

Sunday was not Funday. I got up early and did Pool maintenance then rotated tires on my wife's Denali. It had a vibration issue and this resolved it. The sun came out and I headed for shade in my shop.

Chris finished his Sunday chores and got back on the headlights. With the lights installed we could start the tedious process of mocking up the new Grill surround trim. This is not a job to rush so allow ample time and take breaks often.

The kit came from LMC Trucks and it's moderate quality at best. It doesn't fit well and takes a lot of adjustment to get to a pointwhere you have to accept what you have. The best advice I can offer is run the PAL nuts down on the clips before you put them in. It's darn near impossible to cut threads with the clips in place.

[superdav]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

The kit came from LMC Trucks and it's moderate quality at best. It doesn't fit well and takes a lot of adjustment to get to a pointwhere you have to accept what you have. The best advice I can offer is run the PAL nuts down on the clips before you put them in. It's darn near impossible to cut threads with the clips in place.

Is it worth buying?

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by superdav

Is it worth buying?

It's not horrible, and probably doesn't fit much worse than the stock trim, it's just very thin. I don't know that there are many options so yeah I guess it's worth buying.

[N2TRUX]

Once we had the Taiwanese thin tin installed we worked on the grill. The grill and headlamp bezels were new, but the park lamps were not. I ordered a set from Amazon Prime but one was back ordered.

While we were at the muffler shop Chris took me to Outback Truck parts in Spring. We picked up a set of bumper bolts and the missing Park light housing. I ended up paying more for the housing but Outback carries much better quality parts.

[N2TRUX]

With the grill installed we moved on to the bumper. The bumper bolts we bought from Outback Truck were correct, but needed polishing. Chris worked his magic on them while I pulled the bumper and brackets from storage.

We spent a couple of hours mocking up the bumper and brackets trying to figure out why we were so far off. We now know that one side had been replaced and it appears to be a bit longer. We enlarged the bolts holes enough to get fairly close. The entire front end needs fine tuning on the fitment, but it's all back together now.

[ztk123]

Very nice work! After reading your build threads I think I'm inspired to build a 1987 GMC Sierra SWB. Bought the truck a few months ago, 60,000 original miles, 1 owner, base model, rust free work truck. I have a 71 2wd Blazer and had been partial to the 67-72 gen but wow the squarebody trucks are really coming on strong. I've also a Scott's Hotrod IFS, 14" wilwoods, Bonspeed billet wheels, accuair air management system with shockwaves, and 4.8L LS engine that I've already put a new cam in. Kinda hard to Hotrod the original 4.3 v6. It's pretty plain for sure but gots potential. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Mike

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by ztk123

Very nice work! After reading your build threads I think I'm inspired to build a 1987 GMC Sierra SWB. Bought the truck a few months ago, 60,000 original miles, 1 owner, base model, rust free work truck. I have a 71 2wd Blazer and had been partial to the 67-72 gen but wow the squarebody trucks are really coming on strong. I've also a Scott's Hotrod IFS, 14" wilwoods, Bonspeed billet wheels, accuair air management system with shockwaves, and 4.8L LS engine that I've already put a new cam in. Kinda hard to Hotrod the original 4.3 v6. It's pretty plain for sure but gots potential. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Mike

I'm pleased that my builds offer motivation to inspire you. I have found that by taking on small achievable tasks each evening it goes much better. Good luck with your building. Keep me posted on your progress.

[sambrutay]

Originally Posted by ztk123

Very nice work! After reading your build threads I think I'm inspired to build a 1987 GMC Sierra SWB. Bought the truck a few months ago, 60,000 original miles, 1 owner, base model, rust free work truck. I have a 71 2wd Blazer and had been partial to the 67-72 gen but wow the squarebody trucks are really coming on strong. I've also a Scott's Hotrod IFS, 14" wilwoods, Bonspeed billet wheels, accuair air management system with shockwaves, and 4.8L LS engine that I've already put a new cam in. Kinda hard to Hotrod the original 4.3 v6. It's pretty plain for sure but gots potential. Thanks again for the inspiration!
Mike

Mike,
What happened to the green square you had?

[aggie91]

Great to see it coming together. What are you doing for the GMC emblem on the grill?

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Great to see it coming together. What are you doing for the GMC emblem on the grill?

Karl I think I am going to paint them the same red as the body color. The correct color for the 85 is very close to the orange thats on them now. It was brush painted and needs restored so I'm going with what I think will look good even if its not correct.

[N2TRUX]

Chris and I celebrated Labor day with by laying back and relaxing under the truck. He really wanted to get started on the interior, but I suggested we coat the exhaust. I pointed out that the interior wont be even close to completion for C10s in the Park, but we could get the exhaust finished up in a day.

I found a couple of partial cans of Dupli-Color high temp ceramic paint I had on the shelf. I really like the look of true ceramic similar to the high end finishes that I got from a spray can. Unfortunately it appears that its no longer on the market. We tried to buy an extra can, and couldnt find it anywhere.

We used our foil and cardboard strips method of masking and spent the afternoon laid on our back painting. I'm sure there are some thin spots, but its coated and we will hit it again when we get to the headers.

[N2TRUX]

The mufflers are Borla with a stainless housing. We painted the ends and Chris polished the bodies to add a bit of sparkle. It's no custom build with mandrel bends, but its a whole lot cleaner that what we started with.

[86454k30]

Very nice progress! I am excited to see how the tach works and fits, I've been eyeing them for awhile now.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by 86454k30

Very nice progress! I am excited to see how the tach works and fits, I've been eyeing them for awhile now.

Unfortunately your going to have to wait a while for that. I will be working on the interior next, but won't try to rebuild the cluster till after my trip to C10sinthepark on the 17th