The Hillbilly Deluxe dually build

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Sodell

It's in the 20's here so I didn't want to do any body work today. I was going to spring for some LED's but as I get older bright lights hurt the eyes a bit, and I did not want to be in a situation where I could not dim the dash lights. I couldn't even see the gauges on the left side of the dash. I took it apart and after reading several of these great threads I painted the plastic behind the gauges white, and the plastic behind the clear plastic white. I also had a bulb burnt out. I polished the plastic and now the lights are extremely bright and I do like the "halo effect" someone had mentioned. I also used a heat gun to get the fake chrome off. I used a plastic spray-paint ($4), and it worked great for the white. I will have to take the bezel back off and do some more work to it, probably repaint at least the silver. Anyway you can't tell from the phone pics, but its really bright......thanks again..I believe you have my stapler...

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Wonderful post. The results look outstanding. I can tell you're quite a detail oriented person by looking at the pictures.

And, yes, I do have your stapler.



Fellas, let me take a minute to say, I deeply appreciate everyone who takes the time to read and post in my build thread. It's very motivating to me to have a bunch of internet buddies right along side of me (figuratively) as I work on my truck. You guys offer opinions, tech, and encouragement that really helps me to stay the course on making forward progress.

[darkhorse970]

Kevin, your high level of quality is motivation for me to work to achieve that level on my build. Thanks for sharing it with us here!

[calvin78612]

Kevin,found this thread last night and finished reading it today.Wow.You do great work and as far as OCD goes, that my friend is an asset.Myself i'm an A/C mechanic for SWA and I find myself pretty anal about certain things.But hey who do you want working on your plane ? some slacker ! Ha.I met you a couple years ago at Pate.Look forward to going again.I have been thinking about trying my hand at powder coating.looked at Eastwood's site.Any suggestions on a good starter gun.Thanks for taking the time to document your hard work and ideas.It keeps me motivated.Calvin.

[Tx Firefighter]

Calvin, if you can possibly step up to a Hypersmooth type of gun from Powder365 or Columbia Coatings, you'll be set to grow for a long time with a solid gun. My main gun is no longer made, it's an Eastwood Pro gun. I bought the basic Eastwood gun and used it exactly one time before I realized it was very sorely lacking. So I bought the Pro gun and have used it extensively. But, when I need to really throw down on some top quality work, I pull out my Hypersmooth gun (about 600 dollars). It's no 5k dollar Wagner, but it made me a pile of money and I have never had to hold my head in shame or make excuses for the results it gives.

[Sodell]

"""Fellas, let me take a minute to say, I deeply appreciate everyone who takes the time to read and post in my build thread. It's very motivating to me to have a bunch of internet buddies right along side of me (figuratively) as I work on my truck. You guys offer opinions, tech, and encouragement that really helps me to stay the course on making forward progress.[/QUOTE]

I have been pretty active on another truck forum for several years, great sight in it's own right, and full of great mechanics and very helpful people IMA. I was encouraged to put up a build thread on this truck, as I did not on my 88. I have one there, but don't post much on my build thread anymore because it gets a lot of views but very few comments....

[Low Elco]

You got it! I just appreciate a guy who does tight work. Gives me something to aspire to.

[8lugnutz]

Ever since reading this thread this morning, I have had that song on my brain.

"Hillbilly Deluxe, sweet pick-um up trucks, big timin' in a small town......"

Not good!

[flashed]

Tex ,I always read your threads and I hope I always let you know how much I enjoy them .I love your builds .

[Tx Firefighter]

Today I didn't make much progress. I had a hard day and night at the station yesterday, so I wound up falling asleep in front of the Deerborn heater in my shop this afternoon.

On the cluster, I had two cracks in the housing that were worrying me a bit.





So I had an idea. This is a 6mm flat washer. Remember I'm a Honda motorcycle guy so metric hardware is the norm in my shop.



Heat washer up with soldering iron to melt/recess it into the cracked area.



Then I used my soldering iron to weld up the remaining cracks, then added a layer of two-part plastic weld epoxy over the areas for strength. Sorry, I forgot to get pictures of that step.

Now, paint bright white.



Note, I'm working at my inside the house hobby desk. Nice and warm.

A non truck related tip, but it ties into the project somewhat....Hobby Lobby. Great store, great company. They are closed on Sunday for religious purposes and treat their employees very well. A company I'm always happy to patronize. So, I stopped in and got my paint there this morning. Now, the tip. Anytime you're in Hobby Lobby and standing in the checkout line, whip out your phone, hit the Internet, and Google "Hobby Lobby mobile coupon". Then show it to the checkout clerk. They always have a 40% off any item coupon available on the Internet 365 days a year.



And I got my bulbs today. Ordered Friday, delivered today.



Tomorrow I'll start putting it all back together.

[bufmatmuslepants]

Just read all 19 pages and gotta say I really appreciate the way you tackle these projects, definitely motivates me on my own projects. Keep it up

[1985_C10]

superbrightleds! i used to drive by their warehouse here in saint louis every day. i have to say they have a very bright led sign on the front of the building. haha.

[1985_C10]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I changed directions a little bit today with my efforts. I decided to work on a different part of the project than the suspension, wheels, etc.

I'm gonna refresh this stuff





And hope I can turn up some better parts than these before I reassemble the dash.



I'll need either a better dash pad or at least a cover for it. I'm not going to drop the coin for a new GM pad. Probably not even an aftermarket one either. I got two little girls that like to eat and want Legos on December 25th. I don't know what I'll wind up doing exactly, but it's not gonna be too expensive. I'll also need a new insert panel since mine has multiple screw holes all in it.



I know y'all are thinking " man, this guy is a crackhead. He's all over the place on this project." Well, fact is, I do my work on the truck in the big shop with the green floor and blue roof if you know what I mean. And, I'm facing this....







So I needed an inside project where I can keep warm, but still make progress.

So, after removing the cluster and counting bulbs, I placed an order for new LED bulbs from Super Brite LEDs. I'll do the normal clean, paint, and detail job on this like has been so well documented on this board in the past.

i also work in that shop. i know what you mean. let me know what you do with that dash pad. i dont want to buy a new one either and mine is just as bad as yours.

[Sodell]

I am interested in knowing if you are going to figure out the dimmer.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by Sodell

I am interested in knowing if you are going to figure out the dimmer.

Absolutely. I'll see the project all the way through so it works properly.

Update coming soon. Working on the cluster right now. I have an unexpected surprise for y'all on my cluster rehab. Give me a bit....

[MalibuSSwagon]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I have an unexpected surprise for y'all on my cluster rehab. Give me a bit....

factory tach?

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by MalibuSSwagon

factory tach?

Not this time. I'm poor. Think no cost.

[Tx Firefighter]

Update time.

-Cluster parts painted bright white
-printed circuit cleaned and detailed
-all light sockets cleaned thoroughly to assure good electrical connection.

Now, one issue I faced was that my speedometer has a resettable trip odometer. But, problem is, the knob/shaft was damaged and didn't work.



Funny deal, the other day Valerie and I were watching tv on the couch when the cat started playing with some random little thing. I looked close and it was a plastic cap. We never did figure out where it came from or where the cat got it from. I picked it up and laid it on the table and forgot about it.



Now, trip odometer....I cut the old shaft off of the trip odometer and removed the little gear. Back to the little black plastic plug. Perfect fit for the now unused hole in the lens. Kitty gets to eat for another day.



Gauges cleaned up so-so. Not great, but good

Trip odometer removed and lens plugged with the mystery little plastic cap.



I still need to polish the lens some more and then start on the bezel. I did dig out my extra radio block off plate out today.

[Tx Firefighter]

And the little surprise....

Valerie made me a decal to put in the empty spot on my cluster.



Hillbilly Deluxe !

[Sodell]

That's awesome...The lettering make the look...

[83GMCK2500]

Ah yes, that is looking good. I always look forward to the new post notification in this thread. I swear I have seen plastic caps like that SOMEWHERE! Alas, I have no clue where the cat got it either. Your resourcefulness is awesome, it looks good in the lens. Tell Valerie that at least one forum member thinks the decal is fantastic! That Testors paint is a nice shade on those needles.

I have seen these cluster rebuilds with the white paint and I am going to have to try it myself one of these days.

How is the finger doing?

[Tx Firefighter]

The finger got a lot worse. The pain became unbearable so I went back to the doc. It had gotten a pretty good infection going.



He did some painful digging under the nail with needles to get it all out. My doc is one cool guy. He knows me by first name and he knows that when I come to his office I'm bad off and need help. He just apologized up front and went to work. I'm a pretty tough guy when it comes to pain but apparently I was grunting, moaning, and yelping enough to be heard for a distance. When I came out of the room, the nurses at the nurses station all had panicked looks on their faces. It must have sounded like a murder was happening in there.

So much better now.



It is a real gut check to sit there and watch a doc run a long needle up underneath your fingernail repeatedly without pain meds.

It's been 9 days now since I did it and the finger is still very swollen.

[MalibuSSwagon]

I operating on almost no budget as well, but I did manage to get a clean C60 cluster for $40 off CL awhile ago. Tach works great too.

I do like that vinyl tho.

[83GMCK2500]

*HRRRRRRNNNNNGHHHHH* Ow... I don't think I have ever seen a finger that swollen. Good to hear you went in when you needed to. I've seen a couple people wait too long and end up worse off than if they had gone in when they needed.

[TheBlueBomber]

I felt that one... That thing needs to hurry up and heal already!

[flashed]

Damn I know how bad that hurt ,hopefully it will get well now with the infection out .That is like an absess tooth ,it hurts like hell with every beat of your heart .