The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network - View Single Post - drivabeater 4.0 the truck i should have built last time

dusterbd13 · 10-03-2020, 07:23 PM

previously: 1741.47

new stuff:
returned trailer hitch and socket, trans cooler and lines. -64.46
correct hitch, front tow hooks, gmt800 master cyl: 15.00
power mirror switch: 14.99 amazon
stereo adapter harness 3.98
stereo dash kit: 4.99 pullapart
blaupunkt Tennessee stereo: free
belltech 4 inch rear drop kit: 161.30
inner door handles autex from amazon: 19.69
infinity reference speakers: had
door sound deadening: had
used belltech spindles: 50
15x8 truck rallys and center caps: 50
new chrome grille/lights 100
overhead console form a blazer: 22.96

new total 2119.92

so, ive been busy! Well, not very busy, but busy enough I guess. I like this truck, and its all been fairly simple maintenance and repairs so far, with a little fun stuff thrown in. because I like fun stuff.

Anyway, when we left off last time, dad and I had done the steering linkage and given the truck a good once over. I didn't have a picture, so I took a crappy one to make up for that.

20200925_180506 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I went ahead and changed the rest of the fluids and filters. I had planned while the trans pan was down to replace the 1-2 accumulator due to hard shifting, but saw no appreciable wear or any issues with the one in the truck. So I left it alone, hoping fresh fluid would fix it. I also found that the used cooler and lines I picked up were not usable, so I returned them. Same with the suburban trailer hitch (hint: apparently the freaking frames are different! ) I eventually got the factory in radiator trans cooler hooked up and the hacked in aftermarket one out of the system. Unfortunately, none of this fixed the hard shifts. But it did give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. So I have that going for me.

20200925_180454 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

we also fluched the brake fluid, chenged the diff fluid, lubed all the hinges, greased all the zerk fittings. You know, normal maintenance.

When I brought it home, I went ahead to go after the broken passengers side door handle. I swear it worked when I bought it, but stopped. Anyway, ordered a nice pair from amazon, and cracked the filthy freaking doors open. I didnt take a before picture, but the nicotine and filth was appalling. The factory door speakers were surprisingly intact though! Regardless, I swapped them for a pair of infinity reference 6.5 speakers I pulled from a parts car. They are my favorite speakers of all time, and I try to put them in everything. I also have a pair of nice sounding 6.5 from a different parts car for the rear speakers if I ever dig that deep.

20200926_181058 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

so, I cleaned and lubed all the window mechanisms and latches, added some peel and seal sound deadening, replaced broken door panel fasteners, tightened loose fasteners, etc. just cleaning and maintenance, with replacing the broken handles and upgrading the speakers.

20200926_181839 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I also cleaned up the door panels. Castrol superclean, a scrub brush, and a hose. Passengers side (done) vs drivers side (not). Both were done. Before re-installation. The difference was hard to photograph, but easy to see.

20200928_081050 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

went ahead and did the same stuff to the drivers door, in addition to replacing the dead power mirror switch.

20200928_132816 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

then moved on to the turn signal switch. Pulled the steering wheel and airbag, replaced the switch, and glued the column covers back together in the hops of making it better. No good picture of the switch, but you can mostly see it in the picture here. You can also see the funky and collapsed drivers seat. If anyone withing a reasonable drive if Charlotte NC has a tan 60/40 bench with armrest in good shape, please let me know. Reasonable is 5 hours each way.....

20200929_074931 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20200930_123116 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20201003_185106 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

while I had it all apart, I went ahead and installed the free stereo my scrap guy gave me. Works really good! Grabbed the dash kit from the junkyard, the antenna adapter came with the stereo, and the wiring harness adapter was cheap on amazon. So, roughly $10 stereo upgrade!

20200928_132812 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

since were talking about interior stuff, I went ahead and grabbed the long console from a blazer. The DIC supposedly reads the data stream for instant MPG and stuff on the obd2 trucks. However, this one isn't obd2 yet. Eventually it will work properly when I swap an LS in. after the tbi dies.

20201001_115959 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I also grabbed a proper hitch for a truck, instead of the suburban one that doesn't clear the bumper. It has a neat setup for wiring, and i'll show that when I utilize it. This came off a service body truck over at my scrap guys house.

20200930_080046 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

went ahead and did a tune up as well, since we did everything else. Somebody had put motorcraft platinum plugs in it. Dunno how that seemed like a good idea, but apparently it was at the time....

20201001_074728 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20201001_073921 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20201003_185146 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

lastly, I have made a plan and goal for the truck. Stock appearing, 2/4 drop on 15s, and black. I found this truck in a thread somewhere and it speaks to me. Its what I want to own.

Pic9913[1] by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

so, I worked out a trade. Beige bed for a straight black one, beige hood for a straight black one, and fix a honda for paint and body labor. I have a gallon of matrix black basecoat and good clear like I used on the neon on the shopping list for next week. This week, I got the belltech four inch drop parts (wifes birthday present to me!) and dropped off the bed with steve.
When I dropped it off, we noted that despite multiple rounds of undercarriage washing, this thing still look like a swamp truck. Also, the rear cab wall is pretty banged up.

20201003_151314 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20201003_151319 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20201003_185051 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

so, pressure washer. Again. For the umpteenth time.

20201003_153827 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

20201003_153833 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

next up, rear hangars install and frame paint, along with bodywork on the back of the cab. Im not looking forward to removing the rivets on this.....

10-03-2020, 07:23 PM	#2
dusterbd13 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: albemarle, nc Posts: 42	Re: drivabeater 4.0 the truck i should have built last time previously: 1741.47 new stuff: returned trailer hitch and socket, trans cooler and lines. -64.46 correct hitch, front tow hooks, gmt800 master cyl: 15.00 power mirror switch: 14.99 amazon stereo adapter harness 3.98 stereo dash kit: 4.99 pullapart blaupunkt Tennessee stereo: free belltech 4 inch rear drop kit: 161.30 inner door handles autex from amazon: 19.69 infinity reference speakers: had door sound deadening: had used belltech spindles: 50 15x8 truck rallys and center caps: 50 new chrome grille/lights 100 overhead console form a blazer: 22.96 new total 2119.92 so, ive been busy! Well, not very busy, but busy enough I guess. I like this truck, and its all been fairly simple maintenance and repairs so far, with a little fun stuff thrown in. because I like fun stuff. Anyway, when we left off last time, dad and I had done the steering linkage and given the truck a good once over. I didn't have a picture, so I took a crappy one to make up for that. 20200925_180506 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr I went ahead and changed the rest of the fluids and filters. I had planned while the trans pan was down to replace the 1-2 accumulator due to hard shifting, but saw no appreciable wear or any issues with the one in the truck. So I left it alone, hoping fresh fluid would fix it. I also found that the used cooler and lines I picked up were not usable, so I returned them. Same with the suburban trailer hitch (hint: apparently the freaking frames are different! ) I eventually got the factory in radiator trans cooler hooked up and the hacked in aftermarket one out of the system. Unfortunately, none of this fixed the hard shifts. But it did give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. So I have that going for me. 20200925_180454 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr we also fluched the brake fluid, chenged the diff fluid, lubed all the hinges, greased all the zerk fittings. You know, normal maintenance. When I brought it home, I went ahead to go after the broken passengers side door handle. I swear it worked when I bought it, but stopped. Anyway, ordered a nice pair from amazon, and cracked the filthy freaking doors open. I didnt take a before picture, but the nicotine and filth was appalling. The factory door speakers were surprisingly intact though! Regardless, I swapped them for a pair of infinity reference 6.5 speakers I pulled from a parts car. They are my favorite speakers of all time, and I try to put them in everything. I also have a pair of nice sounding 6.5 from a different parts car for the rear speakers if I ever dig that deep. 20200926_181058 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr so, I cleaned and lubed all the window mechanisms and latches, added some peel and seal sound deadening, replaced broken door panel fasteners, tightened loose fasteners, etc. just cleaning and maintenance, with replacing the broken handles and upgrading the speakers. 20200926_181839 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr I also cleaned up the door panels. Castrol superclean, a scrub brush, and a hose. Passengers side (done) vs drivers side (not). Both were done. Before re-installation. The difference was hard to photograph, but easy to see. 20200928_081050 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr went ahead and did the same stuff to the drivers door, in addition to replacing the dead power mirror switch. 20200928_132816 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr then moved on to the turn signal switch. Pulled the steering wheel and airbag, replaced the switch, and glued the column covers back together in the hops of making it better. No good picture of the switch, but you can mostly see it in the picture here. You can also see the funky and collapsed drivers seat. If anyone withing a reasonable drive if Charlotte NC has a tan 60/40 bench with armrest in good shape, please let me know. Reasonable is 5 hours each way..... 20200929_074931 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr 20200930_123116 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr 20201003_185106 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr while I had it all apart, I went ahead and installed the free stereo my scrap guy gave me. Works really good! Grabbed the dash kit from the junkyard, the antenna adapter came with the stereo, and the wiring harness adapter was cheap on amazon. So, roughly $10 stereo upgrade! 20200928_132812 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr since were talking about interior stuff, I went ahead and grabbed the long console from a blazer. The DIC supposedly reads the data stream for instant MPG and stuff on the obd2 trucks. However, this one isn't obd2 yet. Eventually it will work properly when I swap an LS in. after the tbi dies. 20201001_115959 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr I also grabbed a proper hitch for a truck, instead of the suburban one that doesn't clear the bumper. It has a neat setup for wiring, and i'll show that when I utilize it. This came off a service body truck over at my scrap guys house. 20200930_080046 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr went ahead and did a tune up as well, since we did everything else. Somebody had put motorcraft platinum plugs in it. Dunno how that seemed like a good idea, but apparently it was at the time.... 20201001_074728 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr 20201001_073921 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr 20201003_185146 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr lastly, I have made a plan and goal for the truck. Stock appearing, 2/4 drop on 15s, and black. I found this truck in a thread somewhere and it speaks to me. Its what I want to own. Pic9913[1] by Michael Crawford, on Flickr so, I worked out a trade. Beige bed for a straight black one, beige hood for a straight black one, and fix a honda for paint and body labor. I have a gallon of matrix black basecoat and good clear like I used on the neon on the shopping list for next week. This week, I got the belltech four inch drop parts (wifes birthday present to me!) and dropped off the bed with steve. When I dropped it off, we noted that despite multiple rounds of undercarriage washing, this thing still look like a swamp truck. Also, the rear cab wall is pretty banged up. 20201003_151314 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr 20201003_151319 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr 20201003_185051 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr so, pressure washer. Again. For the umpteenth time. 20201003_153827 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr 20201003_153833 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr next up, rear hangars install and frame paint, along with bodywork on the back of the cab. Im not looking forward to removing the rivets on this.....