My daily driver/beater : How I turned lemons in lemonade

[Low Elco]

Looks great! Turning trash into treasure!

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

Tx....

What did you think of the Raptor liner? Kit or??

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Raptor liner is fantastic. I can't say enough good about it. I bought the kit about 5 years ago and sprayed the inside of a cab with it. That used half of it. I saved the other half all these years and finally used it this morning. It's about fool proof, comes with its own gun, and the finished product is nice to look at.

Kevin is right, the Raptor liner is a great product. I used the tintable kind when I did the underside of Korbin's cab. Plan on using it again on my white '85...

Kevin - your work on the bed looks great, I noticed the small D rings in the corners of the floor, great idea for a working truck with a step side bed. Then I see that you put them to good use to move the bed around with the engine hoist...

[mcbassin]

Excellent work as always Kevin. Looking forward to the next update. Love me some Raptor too. I used it extensively in my build as well.

[Sodell]

What psi did you use for the Raptor liner? I am getting ready to do mine with it, I had heard that 60 was a good start..

[chewiebarker]

Inspirational! Thanks, Kevin!

[slammed427]

I've spent the last little bit reading this thread, and I'm impressed. Makes me want to get off my phone reading about people working on their trucks and go work on one of mine.

[SCOTI]

That bed thrash around 8/22 must have taken its toll. I'll knock the bondo dust off this for ya TX.....

[Tx Firefighter]

Still working on it all day, every day. I took off the whole month of September to work on it. No dropmember yet which is disappointing because I ordered it early enough that it was supposed to be here by September 1st. Doing paint and body work. Swap meet next week. I have a list of parts to try and find.

This truck will get done by February like I planned.

[bluex]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Still working on it all day, every day. I took off the whole month of September to work on it. No dropmember yet which is disappointing because I ordered it early enough that it was supposed to be here by September 1st. Doing paint and body work. Swap meet next week. I have a list of parts to try and find.

This truck will get done by February like I planned.

Wow I'm shocked by that.......










Not really....

[flashed]

Looking forward to updates on the bodywork when youre ready .

[y5mgisi]

Me too! Hopefully a good amount of progress pics!

[Tx Firefighter]

I said in the beginning of this build that I hated 73-87 dashes.

For the record, it doesn't take long at all to remove the dash with an air powered body saw.



64 model dash



There's still work to be done, but its a very straightforward fitment. A couple of filler pieces on the ends and a little welding and it will be permanent.



Interfacing the electrical will be the biggest amount of time. I have to hit the swap meet next week and come up with an instrument cluster, heater control, light switch, wiper switch, and maybe ignition switch. I'm thinking hard about swapping to an earlier column without the key on it. I got to redo all my steering shaft for the dropmember anyway....

[midnight rambler]

i like that dash

[flashed]

Never would have thought of that but I really like it .Next ?

[rusty76]

I like the dash. Although the wheel.......I'd have to find another steering wheel with that dash though. It's a great steering wheel but that dash deserves some love....

[Bean Counter]

Love the concept of integrating the older dash! One question - are you going to keep the motivational bumper sticker on the glove box?

[brakenit]

Looks like the old dash fits pretty well. Swapping steering columns would also give you the chance to change the steering wheel position as well. The dash and steering wheel position are probably the only two things I've never cared for with these trucks.

[UKNOWME]

Even more interesting now!

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I said in the beginning of this build that I hated 73-87 dashes.

For the record, it doesn't take long at all to remove the dash with an air powered body saw.



64 model dash



There's still work to be done, but its a very straightforward fitment. A couple of filler pieces on the ends and a little welding and it will be permanent.



Interfacing the electrical will be the biggest amount of time. I have to hit the swap meet next week and come up with an instrument cluster, heater control, light switch, wiper switch, and maybe ignition switch. I'm thinking hard about swapping to an earlier column without the key on it. I got to redo all my steering shaft for the dropmember anyway....

You know I was thinking of this the other day and how much I personally hate the dash of my 74 as well and wondering what a dash of a earlier truck would look like.

This totally has me sold and perhaps in the next couple of years I'll do this myself. Keep us updated with pictures as I'm sure fitting a few things like heater controls and vents will pose a challenge.

[RDrancher]

Nice work!

Strangely enough...I found this site while searching out muffler sound videos for my freebee '56 Studebaker President. Your video of the farm truck and Brockman mufflers somehow led me here. I started going through your build threads. The Stude has been on the back burner ever since.

My wife had been complaining about not being able to put groceries in the back of her diesel without them blowing around. Long story short...I ended up finding a nice '85 Suburban for cheap on CL. She loves it. I love it. I was into wheeling and rock crawlers for over thirty years, but always liked the look of a lowered Chevy. Now I'm finally building one myself.

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Low Elco]

Looks nice in there.

[joe1982]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Raptor liner is fantastic. I can't say enough good about it. I bought the kit about 5 years ago and sprayed the inside of a cab with it. That used half of it. I saved the other half all these years and finally used it this morning. It's about fool proof, comes with its own gun, and the finished product is nice to look at.

That looks great! What raptor kit did yiu get? I saw a couple available, just wondering.

[Average Joe]

I love the "new" dash!

[C.W]

Awesome build! Lots of reading from start to finish but well worth the time it took. Keep it up, I'm sure it is inspiring a lot of us with our builds, I know its inspired me, especially having to build on a budget. This is proof it can be done.

[jhama78]

Any Updates Kevin?