"The Ayatollah of Rusty Hole'a 1987 SWB 6.0 4L80E

[1980GMC]

Saw an add on Kijiji with what I think is your box on it. Are you partin it out?

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by 1980GMC

Saw an add on Kijiji with what I think is your box on it. Are you partin it out?

Yes & no.

Work has been light this winter so I've sold a few things (car, ski-doo & Avalanche) and bought a truck (03 GMC) to share with my wife.

I'm also going to list my '79 GMC this spring and look at moving to Calgary. So in the meantime I've got to downsize & have been selling parts I'm not 100% happy with.

I recently sold the cab & now the blue dash and door panels Chuck recovered for me as I wasn't 100% happy with them either. I'm going to get Connor to do some up for me as soon as I can locate another set at the wreckers.

I'm still working on smoothing the cab firewall, it's going slowly as I only seem to do a little bit each week.

[old yelr]

How do you like the quadrasteer?

[Gordonr1973]

I like it. I never owned a truck from this era before & I'm pleasantly surprised.

The rear end does help steer it, but the wheels don't turn as far as the front by anymeans.

[Greenlee]

Looking good Gordon! Still can't believe you started over.
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[|ow|ife]

damnit now I'm hooked on this build. And subscribed for updates. Gordy, guys like you make guys like me feel like slackers no matter how good our work turns out...

Keep it up!

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by |ow|ife

damnit now I'm hooked on this build. And subscribed for updates. Gordy, guys like you make guys like me feel like slackers no matter how good our work turns out...

Keep it up!

Thanks guys!

Lowlife: if you do your own work or as much as you can you have all my respect no matter how it turns out, at least you tried!

If you drop off your truck at a shop with a bag 'o cash and a rendering, then I respect the guys at shop that do the work.

Just my point of view

Case in point, my cab isn't perfect, but I did it all myself so I'm to blame....and I can live with that!

[Devillusion]

Looks great, wishing I could make some progress on mine. I'm at the stage where it seems like it is going nowhere but I'm hammering away at it daily. God I hate body work after a while...lmao.

Keep up the great work!

[Slammed66]

Man, I had a good look at your truck at super run , I was thuroughly impressed
I think your nuts for blowing it all apart again.
With that said, I can't wait to see how it comes together this time..
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[Gordonr1973]

Testing my gaps...needs alot of work!

[Greenlee]

Can't wait to see how that hood looks with some paint on it.
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[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

Can't wait to see how that hood looks with some paint on it.
Posted via Mobile Device

I'm slowly getting to it!!

Maybe you might see some primer on it by Friday!!

[Gordonr1973]

This post is to help out a few guys with aligning their door gaps by themselves....maybe someone has a better way, but this is how I do it:

- I first bolt the hinges to the door. I try to start off with the holes in the same spot as before but if you can't see where the bolts were, just try to center them to start.

- I then try to bolt the hinges to the cab....again trying to get the bolts in the same position on the hinge. You will see wear marks on the hinge where the bolt was tight to the hinge before if you haven't repainted them.

- You can think of the hinges as four points of axis:

1. door bottom can go in or out (bottom hinge on door)
2. door top can go in or out (top hinge on door)
3. door bottom can go left or right (bottom hinge on cab)
4. door top can go left or right (top hinge on cab)

So, as you can see in the pics, I try to support the rear of the door by the handle to the ceiling and the front of the door by the hinge spring to the ceiling. I use ratchet straps as I can get pretty small increments of movement with each click of the ratchet strap.

- I try to get a nice line up and down at the rear of the door to the cab to start....you might have to adjust #1 and #2 for that.

- Remember that the final "flushness" of the rear door line to the cab is going to be set by your door latch bolt

- I then look at the line on top of the door & adjust #3 and #4 for that

- I don't really care about the size of the line at the bottom of the door to the rocker too much, if the line on top of the door is good, the line at the bottom of the door should be good.

- In any case, more people will see the line gap on the top of your door verses getting down and checking your bottom gap....but your bottom gap should be evenly gapped anyways so use that to check how 'level' your door is to your cab rocker.

Usually takes me a while to do this...when I get the doors decent, then I start on the fenders, then the hood. To do those is a whole nother story!

[1980GMC]

Trucks lookin great! Are you going with the same pearl white as before?

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by 1980GMC

Trucks lookin great! Are you going with the same pearl white as before?

I think so, I still have lots of the base coat left over.

I'm going to put all the chrome trim on it this time I think as well.

I have some parts coming tomorrow for my other one so it might be on the road this summer too (even though I might sell it). Will look alot like Squaredaway's truck. -- he has a great looking truck!!

[|ow|ife]

Great posts as always! WHen you get to gapping the fenders and hood, please post a blow by blow like you did with the doors!

[squaredaway]

Originally Posted by Gordonr1973

I think so, I still have lots of the base coat left over.

I'm going to put all the chrome trim on it this time I think as well.

I have some parts coming tomorrow for my other one so it might be on the road this summer too (even though I might sell it). Will look alot like Squaredaway's truck. -- he has a great looking truck!!

Thanks, Gordon. I REALLY, REALLY can't wait to get back to North America... 1 more year!

[Mr.Chevy4x4]

Great build! I wish I had stuck with the late model LS engine plan. I appreciate the door hanging post, and not as much for the lesson, but for the close ups of the sport mirror brackets. I'm about to mount mine and it's nice to see exactly where they belong!

I can't wait to see yours with some paint on it!

Mike

[Gordonr1973]

Originally Posted by Mr.Chevy4x4

Great build! I wish I had stuck with the late model LS engine plan. I appreciate the door hanging post, and not as much for the lesson, but for the close ups of the sport mirror brackets. I'm about to mount mine and it's nice to see exactly where they belong!

I can't wait to see yours with some paint on it!

Mike

Mike: the passenger door mirror is in the correct location, I'm going to move the drivers mirror further back towards the door handle as it is too far forward right now and it's blocking the vent window from opening!!

[Gordonr1973]

Couple things are happening the past few days:

- Moved the rear bumper bolts forward 1.5 inches so the sport bumper tucks better (there is a pretty good thread somewhere of how to do this; it was done by the fellow with the SWB silver truck that races it at the track)

- and I am fixing the rusty rear quarter panel. It looked like it got slightly dinged several years ago and they bondo'd it back up.

[Gordonr1973]

Couple more, pretty much done on this side:

[Gordonr1973]

Connor emailed me a surprise tonite: I'll post more of the 2 dashes tomorrow!!

[Gordonr1973]

More:

[Gordonr1973]

And:

[Gordonr1973]

And the black dash: