1972 4x4 Short Bed Project "Seven-Deuce"

[mjensen]

Ok...new month. Is it done yet?

[JimJones]

Just found this thread. Very similar to what I am planning. Love the green and white 2 tones.
Check out this vid for inspiration to help you finish your project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF2lg06Xfh0

This vid is what started my quest to have a green / white long bed 4x4

[yfs200p]

I've seen that before, very nice truck. Just a few things that caught my eye about that one was the shifter is out of a 73+ truck and the radio says GMC on it. Also the front center caps are solid so you cant access the locking hubs. Again its a very sweet truck thats very similar to what mine will be, just the few odd things i noticed about it

[JimJones]

Yeah I noticed the hubs as well and was wondering WTF was up with that. Also the hood doesn't look like it lines up with the cab too well and the fact that the "AC just needs to be charged". But overall it still looks like a nice truck.

[yfs200p]

Well, I've been waiting for the seat cover to arrive in order to move forward. I didn't want to hang the doors, fenders and hood and then have to monkey around with the bench seat afterwards. I had purchased my Avocado highlander plaid fabric from SMS a while back, and at the end of July I sent it to member "Truckseats" to be sewn into a seat cover. It took a lot longer than I had anticipated, but its not something he had laying on the shelf. And once it arrived, it looks beautiful.
The seat foam was a mess under where the drivers butt would be. Through some reading on Jim's 1969 C/20 build, I used his method of repairing the foam. The block of foam was about $65 (a far cry from the prices of all new bench foam). I am still in the middle of that right now, it is pretty time consuming. Here are some pics

EDIT 1/5/14: I've gotten a few PMs about the foam. It is available at www.DIYupholsterysupply.com The foam block I used was 24" x 22" x 7" thick. Based on the info in Jim's 1969 C20 build I chose firmness of 40lb and density of 24. The new foam is significantly firmer than the old seat. To the point where it feels like I am sitting higher up in the cab. Not necessarily uncomfortable, but definitely noticable. Hopefully it will wear in after a while. The next softer foam might have been too spongy, though. This is Jim's build that has much more detailed info than mine. Begin reading at post #211 http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=456911&page=9



Just placed the cover on there to get an idea of what it would look like


Foam work:




THE POINT OF NO RETURN!




Shaved down to match the old foam using an Electric turkey slicer and flap disc. Still plenty of shaping left to do...

[RANDY COX]

Very nice build, lots of hard work there. Looks great.

[yfs200p]

Keeping it alive...

Got the seat finished, that was a bit of a chore. But man does it look nice! Thanks to Truckseats for stitching the cover for me. I finished the foam repair with a layer of burlap across the bottom like the factory. Did a scuff and paint on the frame while i was at it. Turned out the best way to put the cover on was to separate the bottom and back.















Got all ready to bolt it in and then realized i need to install my cab corner speakers and subwoofer first. So thats what I'm tinkering with these days. I chose a retrosound Zuma head unit for its ipod connectivity and RCA outputs for an amp. Oh yeah and you dont have to cut the dash!
For speakers I will run a set of Alpine 4" in the center dash location, a set of Focal Audio 6-3/4" Component speakers in the cab corners, and one Kicker 10" square Solo-Baric subwoofer. And a 5 Channel amp to juice everything. I normally dont like using all different brands of equipment but oh well, I picked the best rated stuff..... more to come as i get it finished

[Jwood70]

Great build man, I love seeing what you've done with that truck.

[yfs200p]

Made a pretty big step yesterday. I DROVE IT! It was only down to the neighbor's driveway and back but still a nice feeling nonetheless. I bled the new Master and all the new brake lines, which is not the most fun thing ive had to do. Only one problem; a stubborn stripped bleeder on the left rear drum. Going to take some crafty work to get that out. I have some time off for the holidays so i should be able to get the stereo finished up. After that i can bolt the seat in, and then comes doors, fenders, and hood. So perhaps by the new year this thing will really be taking shape!

Question for you people who are better than me at this: What is the proper way to hook up the tach? When i first started cranking it it would not fire. Had fuel, so there was no spark. I unhooked the coil wire and re-hooked it to see if it was loose, and left the tach wire off. She fired right up after that. Once i put the tach wire back on the dist. it would not run. What am i doing wrong? I used the AAW Factory Fit kit and connected everything according to the book. Like i have said before, electrical is not my strong area. Thanks and here is a pic with the garage (mostly) cleaned out. Merry Christmas everyone!

[ryanmctee]

Truck is looking great! Nice work with the seat - I may try that with my sons truck as his seat is toast. As for the starting problem, I had the same problem with my truck and it was the positive lead to the distributor. Check this thread and hope it helps. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=573953

[yfs200p]

Made some good progress in the past couple days.

The stereo is finished, here is a list of all the components I used.

1 RetroSound 'Zuma' Classic style Radio
1 pair Alpine SPS-410 4" speakers for the center dash.
1 pair Focal 165A1 6.5" component speakers for the cab corners
1 Kicker Solo-Baric L3 10" Subwoofer
1 Kicker ZX700.5 5 Channel Amplifier 700 Watts RMS
1 Soundstream 4AWG Amplifier install Kit
1 Pair of 6x9 cab corner brackets (from the parts board)
1 Pair of 6x9 to 6.5" round speaker hole adapters
(I Planned on using 6x9 speakers, then changed)
1 Sheet 4'x8'x3/4" MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard)
1 Roll of Gray carpet I had laying around from an old project.


Step 1: remove seat.


Here is the subwoofer box I built. It was very hard to design this to fit behind the seat, as well as give enough mounting depth for the woofer. There is very limited room behind the seat and the sub requires about 6" of depth. And a third concern is that the sub requires 0.9 cubic feet of space in the box to function most effectively. It ended up being 22" across the front and 17" tall. The depth is 8" at the bottom and 4" at the top. MDF is the best material for subwoofer boxes and always be sure to caulk everything to create an airtight seal.



It fits right underneath the old fuel tank bolt holes, and i added a piece of wood where the back of the cab meets the floor. This went under the carpet to give a level surface for the box to sit on.





Next, I cut a piece to mount the amplifier and crossover boxes. These get power from the amp and send it to the 6.5" components and tweeters. The tweeters went right at the shoulder belt hole and the wire dropped right down though... perfect. I covered it with carpet and made 2 brackets to utilize the gas tank mounts. I ran the 4ga wire under the carpet and out the firewall under the heater box, and right up to the battery. Ground cable got bolted to the floor about 1' from the amp.





After all that, it was done! Only have about 25 hours into that.... lol It sounds great though. I was very worried about the seat not being able to go all the way back. Put it in and voila!, it can go back all the way to the 2nd to last click on the track before hitting the box. I'm about 5'-8" so thats perfect for me, but i did slide the column forward a little to make the steering wheel feel a little more comfortable.



Heres a crappy iPhone video of it playing. Who doesn't love a little Jane??

72 Chevy K10 retrosound Zuma install - YouTube

[swamp rat]

Nice work! Curious, how many gallon is the Blazer tank? I have a Boyd tank, and honestly i cant remember how many gallon it is, guessing 20-25? I was debating on if i should keep the tank in the cab or not and add a mechanical switch to basically double the range between fill up's. Or give in and improve the sterio.

[ryanmctee]

Nick, it is scary how similar our builds are. I did pretty much the exact same stereo setup. The box behind the seat was tough, but mine fit the same as yours. Keep on keepin' on, you are gonna LOVE driving this every day!

[yfs200p]

Originally Posted by swamp rat

Nice work! Curious, how many gallon is the Blazer tank? I have a Boyd tank, and honestly i cant remember how many gallon it is, guessing 20-25? I was debating on if i should keep the tank in the cab or not and add a mechanical switch to basically double the range between fill up's. Or give in and improve the sterio.

Thanks for the compliments. I believe the blazer tank is 21 gallons. It would be nice to have both tanks hooked up with a switch because we all know how fast 21 gallons can disappear. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to high quality stereo systems, so for me a subwoofer was a must.

[yfs200p]

Originally Posted by ryanmctee

Nick, it is scary how similar our builds are. I did pretty much the exact same stereo setup. The box behind the seat was tough, but mine fit the same as yours. Keep on keepin' on, you are gonna LOVE driving this every day!

I know, I can remember reading yours a while back and thinking "holy crap this guy has good taste!" I'll have to go through yours again since I've made some headway on mine.

[yfs200p]

And since i like being up at the top of the Builds page- Here's a picture of what i was up to yesterday. Panel alignment is not fun to say the least.

[sdailey]

Looking good Nick. Keep up the good work.

[CanadianK10]

What a fantastic looking truck, can't wait to see the final result. Did you consider slim mount subwoofers? I was thinking I'd use one when the time comes to do the stereo in my truck.

- Adam

[yfs200p]

Originally Posted by CanadianK10

What a fantastic looking truck, can't wait to see the final result. Did you consider slim mount subwoofers? I was thinking I'd use one when the time comes to do the stereo in my truck.

- Adam

I did not consider them, although i probably should have. I've always been a fan of the square Kicker subs, they perform better than round ones of the same size. A 10" square hits like a 12" round and 12" square hits like a 15" round. I thought I would have more than enough room, but it turned out to be just right with no extra room. Thanks for checking it out.

[waybad]

this is a great build,, love the color,,almost too nice to drive,,,,,,,,almost!! well done!

[Dieselwrencher]

man, your truck is lookign awesome! Nice work on the seat, and the stereo is awesome. I really like the tweeter install. I need to slide my column forward some too. I forgot how much cab room these trucks don't have in them. After looking at your truck I am getting second thoughts about putting steels back on mine. Keep up the good work!

[yfs200p]

I pulled it out to bake in the sun the other day and snapped a couple pics right before i pulled it back inside. It's starting to really look like something. I have the hood ready to go on, just waiting for a few guys to stop by and give me a hand with that. Also got a nice delivery from GMCPaul yesterday....





A picture of the fleet...

[CUSTOM/10]

Is that a new bed in the boxes ???? Your truck is looking great !!!
My build is a bit behind yours, but seeing how close your getting gives me inspiration. I need to pick the pace up a notch.... I want to be driving it before snow flies again !

Gary

[waybad]

perfect!!!

[Daddy'O]

Just found this - love the truck - Very nice work!