1991 V3500 Project Heavy Hauler

[MTCK]

Once it started raining hard I put on my rain gear, got out the hose, carpet cleaner and scrub brush and cleaned up my new to me seat belts. Not show quality but good enough for this work truck and now I'm not in fear of catching some disease from them.

[Greenlee]

Looks good! Seems like it's not that easy to find decent seatbelts for these old trucks. My passenger side seems to get stuck out and doesn't want to retract. Been looking for replacements and they either look worse than mine or somebody wants an arm and a leg for them.

[MTCK]

Thanks Greenlee. I know what you mean. I was happy when I found these in the right color in decent shape. Seems the CC and burb belts are easier to find around here - actually quite a few of them in the local salvage yards. Reg cabs not so much. These trucks were used en mass on the pipeline in their heyday.

[y5mgisi]

Really makes me want a crew cab. As if i needed a reason...

[Greenlee]

Well, Marcus, your post motivated me to start looking for a replacement passenger side seatbelt again. My wife was complaining that it was so loose she would be killed if we had an accident! I bought a nice looking used one for $59 with shipping on EBay. I guess that's not too bad. I also found a NOS one for 88-95 trucks. It looks awfully similar in the pictures, but after Googling I never could verify if it was the same as a square body belt. I'm also thinking about taking my old one apart to see if I can figure out what's wrong with it.

[MTCK]

Nice! Whatever you have to do to get her to ride in your truck, right? I recall seeing an outfit that will refurbish your own belts... Let's see your new one when it shows up.

[MTCK]

Good weather and a day off meant I could get a little work done on the truck. Finished up installing the closed cell foam, and started on the vinyl mat. This stuff is thick, and stiff! I trimmed the rear shelf the rest of the way, and installed the speaker brackets and shelf.

Then I spent the rest of the day wrestling with the vinyl with a heat gun and various other implements. I started with the door sills and worked my way in. I'm not sure that is the best method or not, as there seems to be excess material. I will see how it looks after sitting for a day or two to see if it lays flat. 29F this morning and only got up to 54F today, so the clock is ticking!!!

My plan is to finish the floor, drill holes for all the headliner trim, and mock that up, then make a trip to the upholsterer that I've been talking to and look at some fabric and vinyl swatches.

[Greenlee]

Looking good Marcus! I put the rubber mat in my truck also. I didn't want to worry about trying to take care of carpet. For what it's worth, I started in the middle and worked my way out. I probably trimmed a couple inches off each side in various places. I think you will be able to work out all of the bows if you start in the middle.

It's cool that you were able to save the factory card board shelf. I ripped mine up a bit taking it out. I haven't put it back in, but I haven't been able to bring myself to throw it away yet either.

I received my replacement seatbelt over the weekend. You are right! It's all about keeping her riding in it.

[MTCK]

Thanks Greenlee. Glad you got your belt so the family cruises can continue. I saved the shelf but it is NOT in good shape. I'm not sure if it came from this truck originally or not. The holes for the rear seat mount bolts look.... Custom.

Good info on the vinyl, thank you. I've talked to a few folks on the site and a buddy I know here and sounds like everybody did some sort of trimming. I'll give it a shot some afternoon this week as we are supposed to have temps in the 60's. All my interior LEDs showed up today so I'll put those in as well.

[y5mgisi]

Killer!

[MTCK]

Started with the brute force method - started in the middle working out trimming at the edges. Much better. I also ran the truck for about 45 min with the heat wide open and used my hear gun. More tomorrow.

[MTCK]

Not much progress tonight. This getting dark at 9pm thing is no good.

[y5mgisi]

Looking good!

[Greenlee]

Looks good! Our longest days of the year it gets dark at 9:00.

[carboncrew]

that looks really nice....don't forget to take a little scottbright & alum polish to those door sills! Sorry its my OCD. They just don't look right against that shinny new flooring.

[MTCK]

Thanks guys. Hahaha yeah everything is going to get a clean and a polish before it gets put into service. I have another mockup or two before final assembly. Hey carboncrew, how is your SEM dyed trim holding up. I have 4 cans of GM medium gray on the way. It was the closest swatch to the slate gray interior I have.

[Greenlee]

I used SEM fire thorn red. It has held up great on softer vinyl materials like the dash. It's held up pretty good on hard plastics also, but I have a couple of areas on the door panels where it has scratched off. I may have to redo them at some point.

[carboncrew]

Everything I painted has held up great. Headliner trim will scratch off (noticed with a slip of a screwdriver) but that trim is up out of the way.

My door panels were not painted, just cleaned. The front armrests were new (originally black) and so far so good.

[MTCK]

Thanks for the info. I have the classic coat on the way (slow boat because no air freight) but I need to chases down the cleaner and adhesion promoter so I can follow their prep instructions.

[chilliwak]

I just love the look of that heavy hauler! A true inspiration to all of us building classic GMs!

[jhama78]

Nice rig man, I don't guess you have too many more weekends before the termination dust starts falling.

Where in Fairbanks are ya? I come up there every year to work on the rocket launchers at poker flat research range out on the steese past chatanika.

Most definitely envious of everybody up there were nothing rusts, and not envious of the winter weather... Lol

[MTCK]

Thanks chilli and j-rod. Supposed to hit mid 70's today, and my moose hunting trip got scuttled by work so I guess I had better go make some hay. I'm near the University here in town. You hit the nail on the head - the sheet metal is nice, but we pay for it!

[jhama78]

Ill have to give ya a shout next time Im up that way, we can grab a brew or something and talk trucks.

[MTCK]

Do that for sure, j-rod. What time of year are you normally up here? We are supposed to be getting some great aurora these next few nights but it is overcast. I've been out to poker flats for a tour about 20 years ago when I was in junior high. It was pretty cool!

Made some progress. I really like how the b-pillar trim covers the gap between the door jambs. Cleans the appearance up a lot. I got my order of operation a little screwed up so I need to remove the rear seat to get the rear outboard seat belts installed. Off to do that and swap steering columns.

[MTCK]

The 4wd shifter boot and center console went in pretty easily. I'm glad I taped around all the holes so the foam insulation didn't slide around.