My 78 K15 High Sierra build - Fish Tremble

[Brettgun]

It's looking awesome Rick. You are so close, your first road trip is in sight!

-Brett

[boynton]

It's a great day!

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by 7dee2

Very Kool!

Thanks Brett!

Originally Posted by cmabolt

Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! Rick. Huge milestone. I got the same response from my little lady. I had to do the, "backing out of the garage," ritual a second time so she could take video and start posting stuff all over god knows where... of it's unveiling. Just as I had to chase down several gremlins, it seems to come with the territory. No way in hell to remember every adjustment, every bolt to tighten, etc., etc.

Enjoy....sounds like she's almost road worthy.
Chris

Thank you Chris! The challenge now will be to get to work on the gremlins when I'd really rather be working on the interior.

Originally Posted by MTCK

Congrats that is too cool! All the quirks sound exactly like my 77 K10 with a SM465 pre fuel injection. Post fuel injection it all stayed the same except you can get in it and go on a cold start hahaha.

Thanks Marcus! I should be able to do better with the Q-Jet, but it obviously needs more tuning.

Originally Posted by Brettgun

It's looking awesome Rick. You are so close, your first road trip is in sight!

-Brett

Thanks Brett! Cool that I got your first post. Glad you've been watching, but likely to still be a while before I'm confident enough to make a road trip to NC - maybe after a few shorter ones

Originally Posted by boynton

It's a great day!

Yes, it was - thanks!

I've already decided that the concrete block is NOT going to provide a reasonable level of comfort for longer trips, so I've already torn down the old bench. I've got upholstery and new foam, but it looks like I'll also need some new springs.

BTW, what are the odds that I'd be responding to 3 Brett's in 1 post?

[rgunlock]

Kind of late getting my update posted, but nothing terribly interesting. Not interesting can be very time consuming though! Spent several hours on a creeper under the truck cleaning up all the wiring for the taillight and fuel harnesses. Final routing now that I know the circuits work, cutting and re-splicing to length, getting the wires into conduit and securing to frame, etc. Hard to get good pics under there, so just a token. Also started connecting everything up for the stereo head unit connection. Got some work to do here still.

[quadzero]

Fantastic work, I can use these as references for the future when I get this far along. Perhaps I missed it from an earlier post but what did you coat the transmission cover plate with? Keep up with the great non-interesting progress!

[rgunlock]

Thanks for checking in quadzero.

What you see on the transmission hump and the rest of the cab floor is U-Pol Raptor Liner. I'll go over the top of that with whatever sound deadener and heat insulation I come up with - still researching that.

[cochino12]

just started following along, looking good!!!

[rgunlock]

Thanks Adam! Only progress on small things last couple of weeks. I'm still trying to decide what products I want to use for insulation and sound deadening. Also, a few months ago I bought foam and upholstery to redo my bench. Come to find out, I've apparently got an 81-87 bench which is not the same as 73-80, so I'm on the hunt for a new bench.

I have done some work shimming the bed and working on getting better fit and alignment on my trim. Repainted the GMC in the tailgate band - came out much better this time.

Also working on the stereo. Ended up getting classiccarstereos.com USA-630 so I needed to fix my radio opening. This was kind of a PIA and isn't too pretty but I think it will work. I'll have to do some paint touchup inside now. I didn't realize that the opening for the heat/ac stuck out beyond the dash bezel so far. I guess subconsciously I thought I had that much space when grinding and masking for primer - oops!

Also mounted my corner speakers in brackets I got from member BigBlock73. I've made all the connections for the stereo harness, but the head unit isn't powering on so I'll be troubleshooting that this afternoon.

[quadzero]

Really looking forward to the finished dash. Are you going to run amps as well?

[7dee2]

Very nice!

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by quadzero

Really looking forward to the finished dash. Are you going to run amps as well?

The head unit itself is 300 watt, so I don't think I'm going to need an amp.

Originally Posted by 7dee2

Very nice!

Thanks Brett!

Well, got the stereo pretty much wrapped up as far as wiring. Like I mentioned, I didn't go with an amp, but I did add a small subwoofer. Without the sound deadeners but also without a bench in the way I'd say it sounds pretty good.

[rgunlock]

I mentioned that I was hunting for a 73-80 bench because the one that came in my truck is apparently 81-87 and I'd bought foam and cover for the 73-80. Well, my better half took it upon herself to stop at a pick-n-pull that she drives by once a week to see if they had one. Traipsed through the mud and weeds to the back of the lot to take pics of a bench in a 79 chevy. Looked like it was right and $50 was ok, so she had the folks there unmount it and load it up for her. To be honest, I was kinda blown away that she did this

Frame was a bit rusty so I had a lot of wire wheel work this weekend. Also had a couple busted springs which I have on order.

My big question is how the heck this foam for the seat portion is supposed to work. It doesn't actually look like the foam for either the 73-80 or the 81-87. No way its going to sit on the springs for my seat - as you can see the old foam is carved out to fit over the springs. Maybe I'm supposed to just get rid of the springs??? Any case, frame is reasonably cleaned up and painted.

[rgunlock]

Also found an OEM grille. Paint was pretty wore out. I had some of this light driftwood metallic that I thought would look good with my paint color. Also went with black rather than orange/red for the GMC. I'm really not too impressed with the result. My gorilla glue repair of one of the fins turned out good, so effort wasn't a total loss but I need to work on these colors.

I also got my order of sound deadener. A question for you guys. Driver side under dash is pretty busy with wiring, fuse box, pedals, steering column, etc. Would you pull all of that out to try to get sound deadener and insulation on that part of the firewall? Try to fit bits and pieces in between stuff? Ignore it all together? I'm kind of torn on this cause I really don't want to pull all that stuff out of there

[boynton]

Dynamat makes a product called dynapad that I have used several times and it works well. Maybe you could use it? It is cut to fit so you can cut what you can fit? Not sure if that helps but that is how my red step side is done and it seems to work well.

[MTCK]

Looks good! I recall that was the biggest difference with sound deadener, seat of the pants: good solid thud when you shut the door.

[7dee2]

Nice, your truck is really going to be a pleasure to drive! If my wife saw that fountain...

[rgunlock]

Well, I have a new least favorite part of this build - the carpet. Got this cutpile carpet w/ mass backing which looks nice and is molded to fit (more or less). Wish I'd figured out the tricks I know now before I started. They say you learn from your mistakes...

1) totally remove all shift handles, including the short NP205 shifter. You don't want anything to interfere with just sliding the carpet into place.
2) cut slits - DO NOT try to cut out shapes until the whole carpet is laid in, in position, and laying nice and flat. You CANNOT just roll this stiff carpet up to an obstacle and start cutting!

I ain't no seamstress, but I think I got enough carpet sewed back in (for both shifters) so that the boot will cover what's left. As much as I'm whining, I think it will turn out looking nice.

So carpet mostly done. Decided to mount the seatbelts I got from Julianos. Hard to tell from the pic but this angle bracket needs to be 1" forward or at least 2" taller. The original mounting bolt goes into the floor just ahead of the rear shelf so there isn't room for the seatbelt with cover. Will need to figure out what my options are. Maybe Julianos has a bracket to deal with this, or worse case I'll have to fabricate one.

Honestly, I'd rather be patching rust than doing this interior

[7dee2]

That's some really nice carpet, it's going to look great!

[rgunlock]

I know its been a couple weeks since I've updated, but I promise I've been busy. Just seems like everything I turn my attention to is hitting a snag.

Joe at Juliano's has been great working with me on my seatbelt mounting issue. Turns out their supplier changed the design of the retractor and the new one doesn't work in my 78. Joe sent me the casing for the style they'd been using and it works fine. Now its back to the supplier to see what they can do to get me the correct style.

Running into a little problem with my Vintage Air also. They sent adapters to fit on the back of the ducts, but only 3 out of 4 work. I need to contact them to see if they have a solution.

Also, my dash pad from Cheyenne has an issue. The padding where the dash insert mounts is about 1/2" thick. The original dash in that location was 1/8". So, now the posts on the back of the insert don't go through far enough for the nuts to catch when I have the AC duct mounted. This can't be the first time they've run into this issue so I need to call them to see if they have a solution.

[boynton]

I've used a tooth pick and just dipped it in the paint and then onto the small section I needed paint in. It was time consuming but it worked. Hopefully someone has a better idea.

[Greenlee]

If I remember correctly that Vintage Air adaptor you are holding in your hand attaches to the original duct work on the far driver's side. Hopefully, you still have the original duct work because you have to cut and reuse part of it.

I saw a thread on here one time where someone showed how to paint the letters on the shifter. Seems like they did the same thing you are doing and then used some kind of solvent to wipe off the paint outside the indentions.

The truck looks great!

[rgunlock]

Originally Posted by boynton

I've used a tooth pick and just dipped it in the paint and then onto the small section I needed paint in. It was time consuming but it worked. Hopefully someone has a better idea.

I used a toothpick to repaint the dash emblem and it works pretty well for me since there is a boundary for the paint to flow to and level. Toothpick isn't working so well with the raised letters, but maybe after I strip these pieces and start over I'll give the toothpick another shot.

Originally Posted by Greenlee

If I remember correctly that Vintage Air adaptor you are holding in your hand attaches to the original duct work on the far driver's side. Hopefully, you still have the original duct work because you have to cut and reuse part of it.

I saw a thread on here one time where someone showed how to paint the letters on the shifter. Seems like they did the same thing you are doing and then used some kind of solvent to wipe off the paint outside the indentions.

The truck looks great!

Thanks Greenlee! The VA instructions describe cutting up the original ductwork as you describe, but the picture I'm showing IS the far driver's side duct for my truck. I don't know that it is original but it is what came in my truck.

[rgunlock]

I got another duct adapter from VA which I was able to make work and got all of the ducting run this weekend. On close inspection, I'm pretty certain that the left driver side duct I have is factory but doesn't look like the one VA expected me to have. I'm thinking it may have to do with the fact my truck is a manual. The clutch pedal has such a deep swing that it has made it a real pain to run wiring and duct tubing so maybe the usual duct wouldn't work. Any case I think that is wrapped up so I'm nearly done under the dash - yay!

On the bench, it turns out that GM had the seat with springs and thin foam in the low-end models and you got the full-foam deluxe bench when you stepped up in truck models. I haven't run across a full foam seat frame yet and was ready for a bench. Plus, I already had the seat cover. I think it turned out looking really good. I'll use it until something better comes along.

By the way if you are thinking about doing this yourself (recovering a bench) I advise that you immediately throw away the hog ring pliers that come with the upholstery. I sprang for a $17 set of hog ring pliers from amazon.com and it was night and day. I did this bench in about an hour and would rate the job as easy. Took much more effort getting the frame cleaned up and painted and broken springs replaced.

[7dee2]

Seat looks great Rick! Man the details can be a real ?itch, I'm all ears if you figure a good way to paint the 205 knob. A friend suggested polish then use regular water based house paint, wipe of the excess?

[boynton]

This might be a long shot but what about taping off the top of the shifter with a single wide piece of tape and the gently sanding it or scraping it back with a knife to the letters? I think sanding might work best and it will prep your surface all at the same time.