Restoring Rusty

[y5mgisi]

Pretty interesting!

[77K10Silverado]

Are you going to have it covered? Leather maybe?

[rusty76]

I like it. Luckily years ago I pulled a pad from a truck and it was in great shape. Now I really like the looks of yours. Dog gone it.

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by Gregski

so the plan is to cover the speaker with a 4x10 speaker grill of some sorts

The factory 4x10 speaker grill would work pretty good there.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by BRUISER

The factory 4x10 speaker grill would work pretty good there.

would you know who sells one, I recon my truck didn't have one by the time I got it, perhaps it disintigrated in the sun, and I think same would go for any used ones in the wreckin' yards

[Gregski]

this is where I'll be trick or treating tomorrow

we will be hunting for seat foam cushions, since LMC Truck wants $480 bucks for a new set

Now wait a minute, is there really a difference between the 73-80 pads and 81-87 ones?

LMC Truck says the 81-87 ones have molded openings for the seat belts to come through, is that it?

[rich weyand]

Originally Posted by Gregski

would you know who sells one, I recon my truck didn't have one by the time I got it, perhaps it disintigrated in the sun, and I think same would go for any used ones in the wreckin' yards

I think he means the grills for the cab corner speakers. The dash "grill" was molded into the pad.

There's a couple of them on ebay. Don't know what your hole spacings are, or if they match.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SPEAKER-GRIL...-/111584815167
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-1980-Che...-/231653724751

Looking back at your pictures, that looks more like a 6x9 opening. You can just get a generic 6x9 speaker grill. There's a zillion kinds of those out there.

[mcmlxix]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/64-77-Rear-D...VRQhQX&vxp=mtr

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by rich weyand

I think he means the grills for the cab corner speakers. The dash "grill" was molded into the pad.

There's a couple of them on ebay. Don't know what your hole spacings are, or if they match.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SPEAKER-GRIL...-/111584815167
http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-1980-Che...-/231653724751

Looking back at your pictures, that looks more like a 6x9 opening. You can just get a generic 6x9 speaker grill. There's a zillion kinds of those out there.

That's the one I was thinking of. Cheap and easy, but tall.

Originally Posted by mcmlxix

http://www.ebay.com/itm/64-77-Rear-D...VRQhQX&vxp=mtr

That would look better than the one I was thinking of.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by mcmlxix

http://www.ebay.com/itm/64-77-Rear-D...VRQhQX&vxp=mtr

me likes, but it comes up as a 6x9, oh well might could work

[Gregski]

this one was nice, but dummy over here allowed the eBay auction to expire, cheap too $6.99 (I liked the low profile) and it said it was a 4x10

[UKNOWME]

Wow that dash is gonna be sweet! I had no idea all that metal was behind the foam. I may mess with my old crusty pad since its sitting in the corner after I scored a NOS one.

[Gregski]

so found a seat in good nick from an '85 (that should knock off 11 years of farts off mine) for $25 bucks, take that LMC Truck, either this will be the deal of a century or it won't fit, ha ha

the donor seat looks better in pics than it was, it was pretty crusty, also it wasn't gray but a faded blue color

[Gregski]

I took my time with some basic tools and decided to take the burlap like backing material also, I just used some old pliers to undo the hog clips

[Gregski]

some more pics of the extraction process - maybe we will refer to these pics later when we put ours back together

[Gregski]

and here it is at home posing for a close up photo shoot

[Gregski]

I have no idea what LMC was talking about this '85 seat has no holes in the foam for the seat belts

hey check out that part number

[trixter99]

That isn't the original seat for that donor truck every truck I have been in from 81 up has holes in the seat for the seat belts to pass through. And from the pics it looks like the interior colour for that truck was a tan colour judging from the door panels.

[Chaplain]

Nice find. I have a late model seat just like that from the donor truck my daddy had. It was one of the first things I swiped. I took the complete seat.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by Chaplain

Nice find. I have a late model seat just like that from the donor truck my daddy had. It was one of the first things I swiped. I took the complete seat.

nice, did it bolt right up?

[Gregski]

on the way home from the junk yard, we swung by Blue Collar Supply or as I like to call it the Dash Pad Hospital

I love Mom n Pop shops like this, and this is like Home Depot for you know blue collar guys, not your neighborhood yupies pretending to be craftsman, ha ha (myself included when I do honey do lists for the wife)

[Gregski]

so we splurged .50 cents on four 3x12 (approximately) strips of 22 gauge bandages for the dash, and since for that price I felt like I was robbin the place I decided to buy some sheet metal sheers ($20 bucks), first pair I ever bought, wasn't gonna cut these with my trusty angle grinder, found out that indeed they are directional, ie what some folks call right handed vs left handed, I got the ones with the arrows pointing straight and merging to the left as if to get on the freeway, lol

[Gregski]

we came home victorious, the sun was shinning and the birds were singing (or so I think) I couldn't hear them over the neighbors lawn mower - ha ha

we once again removed the dash pad (or what is now left of it) the skeleton I guess, and we made a list of tools we will need for this operation

Sharpie
Scissors
Penne Pasta box (though any pasta box will do)
and Jay Bee Weld
all the C clamps we got (not shown)

[Gregski]

our mission is to use the cardboard to make templates for cutting the sheet metal patches out of, ready, get set, go

first up was the Six Pack - we drilled some 1/8th inch holes in the patch for extra stickability, and so that the extra JB Weld goop had somewhere to go

[Gregski]

then it was on to the Fab Four holes

same process as before, rinse, lather, repeat...

the magnets I am using are stupid strong, they are from an old computer hard drive, they will crush your thumb if you are not careful, ask me how I know