Restoring Rusty

[Rich72C10]

A whole year? Booo. But that Busty's a nice truck, love her curves.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 69Tom

Greg, 8-10 weeks is a walk in the park.

I hear you, but try telling that to my 17 year old daughter who just got her driver's license and was promised a hatchback after we sell Rusty and use that money to buy her one!

Don't get me wrong folks, I love Rusty, but I love my daughter more!

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by 69Tom

So question on this, I assume you had to send in your medallions? I've been waiting for my stock seat cover from SMS since April 2020. I might have tried USA1, but their catalog/online pictures suck and I have no idea what I'd be getting if I order something. I doubt they have the correct material for a Cheyenne Super '74 interior, so I continue to wait.

Greg, 8-10 weeks is a walk in the park.

No I don’t send the Medallions in anywhere, I put them on the cover before installing the cover on the seat.
This is the seat that I’m restoring for someone.

[Gregski]

Metal wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy chair

[Gregski]

commencing derustolization situation with an abrasive and acid combination

Note: sum of that black residue is old black paint not rust (that's the story we're going with at 11)

[Gregski]

mandatory stare and compare of the pair

[Gregski]

then we got em quickly into our organic vegan outdoor paint booth before they flash rusted too much

for those of you eagle eyed among you, that is not a trampoline it's the Lawn Eliminator 3000

[TKCR]

Your doing a good job Greg! Make sure you lubricate the bearings & wheels.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by TKCR

Your doing a good job Greg! Make sure you lubricate the bearings & wheels.

thanks, yup, planning on using my white lightning grease unless HATZIE tells me otherwise, ha ha

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Gregski

thanks, yup, planning on using my white lightning grease unless HATZIE tells me otherwise, ha ha

Do you have the spring for your tracks?

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by TKCR

Do you have the spring for your tracks?

I do, thanks for looking out

[TKCR]

[Gregski]

and here are the obligatory before and after glamour shots

[Gregski]

OK, enough of the seat already, give it a rest! [... see what I did there]

so now we wait 8 weeks for the new seat covers to arrive [ I'm looking at you USA1 ]

what to do? what to do in the meantime

[Gregski]

so these are my Intellitronix (pronounced "cheap Summit brand") digital gauges

they look fine - or do they?

they work fine - or do they?

let me walk you through what's going on here (sorry difficult to take pics of them with that stupid round thing in the way in front of them)

[Gregski]

so in terms of looks aka aesthetics the first thing you will obviously notice is the color mismatch, half of them are green and the other half white

I started out with the four green small gauges thinking, hey it's a green truck, right? well I ended up not in love with that hue if you will, so I bought a white speedo and tach which I prefer, but now they don't match color wise

the next problem is fitment, see how both the four small gauges don't actually fill their cavities, as well as the two big ones? that's.... [ahem] ... wait for it... tachy !

[Gregski]

now in terms of functionality, as much as prefer to read numbers instead of needles, there is an inherent problem with the tach, the last two digits are fixed and they always simply light up two zeros aka 00

so what does that mean? well the tach will show that you are either idling at 500 or 500 RPM but it will never show you 550 because it can't that second "5" led will never light up anything but a "0" and for LS Tuning that sorta sucks

[Gregski]

so I may or may not have been stockpiling some new goodies literally over the last two years, begging, suggesting, hinting that's what I wanted for my birthdays or Christmases (ie gift cards, donations, etc. not necessarily the gauges themselves as they are super expensive)

[Gregski]

and thanks to a very generous family and extended family, we finally got a complete set of the AutoMeter Sport Comp II electronic gauges:

• 2 5/8" small gauges
• 5" large gauges

because what I like to do before I sell a vehicle is to put another grand into it!

that's right folks after 7 years of ownership Rusty will be coming up for sale shortly once we have the new seat and these new gauges in

(if you could let me know how much I should ask for it I would really appreciate it, and remember reason for selling is to buy our 17 year old daughter (a straight A student mind you) her first car, some sort of hatchback we think)

[TKCR]

I like the needle ones better, but that’s just my opinion. And BTW, the tracks turned out awesome

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by TKCR

I like the needle ones better, but that’s just my opinion. And BTW, the tracks turned out awesome

ha ha, I was seriously going to mention you in that post saying as long as ________ approves we'll be happy, but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to name drop

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by Gregski

ha ha, I was seriously going to mention you in that post saying as long as ________ approves we'll be happy, but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to name drop

[kipps]

I would suggest one of the auction sites, like bring a trailer. This thread might increase the value of the truck a bit, so I think it's worth a try. I'm not sure any other squarebody has been this thoroughly documented publicly.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by kipps

I would suggest one of the auction sites, like bring a trailer. This thread might increase the value of the truck a bit, so I think it's worth a try. I'm not sure any other squarebody has been this thoroughly documented publicly.

thanks, I am hesitant about even mentioning the thread as I was so brutally honest about everything including the costs, some people will go let's see he paid only $1,500 for the truck plus $1,200 for the engine/transmission combo ok here's $3K for it, ha ha

of course it has new tires, belt, brakes, radiator, fuel pump, shocks, springs, $1K worth of AutoMeter gauges going in, heater core, brand new Lokar shifter, new drive shaft, Hooker exhaust manifolds, Grant steering wheel, etc. but how do you put a price on 7 years of labor

I was actually thinking about this the other day while driving to Pick-N-Pull to get something for one of my other trucks, and it was 106° F out, do you want to be out there pulling parts in that heat, but more importantly the time vested in running around from NAPA to AutoZone, to the junk yards, and endless hours spent online researching the parts

did I mention I thinned out the LS wiring harness by myself, ha ha

[kipps]

Originally Posted by Gregski

thanks, I am hesitant about even mentioning the thread as I was so brutally honest about everything including the costs

If you're selling it locally, I would think 7k would be in the ballpark.

This thread has made the truck something of an icon. Some folks would pay a bit more to own a truck that's this well known and regarded already. The question is whether there's enough of those folks to be worth auctioning it publicly.