Project "Yetti" 87 GMC short bed

[LEEVON]

Meet Yetti. Yetti was born in 1987 at the Janesville, WI plant and shipped to California where it was stolen off of the dealer's lot. After it was recovered, it was sold to Phil by his brother, a salesman at the dealership. It moved with Phil to Ozark, Missouri in 1993 where it lived an easy life. Phil recently decided to let it go after years of badgering by a fellow truck nut whom I know and it wound up in my driveway. So I'm the second owner of record. This is a driver, and Phil took care of it like he would have it forever. I will be meeting with him soon to get some more history. Here is my intro thread: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=549870

My plans are to drive it, everyday and it's completely capable. I haven't driven a more solid 25 year old truck ever. In fact, the day I got Yetti, my wife began driving the kids around in him since her ride was in the body shop. He didn't skip a beat or leak a drop. She was perfectly comfortable, which is saying alot because she has a decked out '09 Suburban. Yetti has a TBI 350, 700R4, power locks, windows, cruise, tilt and push button digital radio. The engine and trans were replaced fairly recently and the suspension, brakes and steering are as tight as the day it was delivered. No wind noise, squeaks, rattles, or wobbles.

Short term:

• clean/repair driver's seat belt retractor
• repair/paint crust bubbles down low
• tint 35% sides and back plus windshield strip
• lower 5.5/6-ish
• smaller tires, maybe 255's?
• dash pad (having it covered by member crsweet91)

Long term:

• 20'' wheels; Eagle 225, TT2's, Coy's, etc. style
• Sway bars
• Sport bumper
• Sound system
• Sound deadening
• Interior clean-up (seat cover, carpet, small things)
• Engine bay detail
• Replace bedsides with GM steel
• Paint? It doesn't need it but black and silver gets me excited

If you're looking for a fast-action, cut-and-chop, whiz-bang, SEMA bound build this ain't it. But I will make this truck mine!

[LEEVON]

My first mini-project will be some rust removal and painting below the trim line. The rear bottom corner of each door, and front and rear seams of each rocker have rust bubbles. The leading lower edge of the bed and lower rear quarters have rock chips. With all of this, it just makes sense to paint from the trim line down. It's pretty straight forward, since this is "virgin" rust, not previous repairs coming back. I'm going to remove the trim and wheel arch moldings, do some light sandblasting, patches (if needed), seam sealer, and spot-in with 2k primer then take it to my buddy's shop/booth. The current lower trim is newer, but was poorly installed so I'm going with new bulk molding and not a pre-cut kit.

[72BlckButy]

It's about time.

Subscribed.

[Low Elco]

MMMmmmmmm. Where's my Sawsall? You can't get going too hard on this, you'll get me all charged up to work on LBT!

[LEEVON]

Sorry no sawzall yet...how about an angle grinder, cut-off wheel and a welder though?

Last night I pulled the chrome trim and wheel arch moldings to prep for rust repair and paint from the trim line down. I spent the morning removing paint and found a couple of surprises, nothing really unexpected though. There were bubbles under the trim. The passenger door bottom was more rotten than it looked and took most of the afternoon to repair, partly because I had to go on a goose chase for 18ga metal but I was able to get it in filler before dinner. I still have to grate, fill, prime and block sand to be ready on this side. On the driver's side a small outboard section of the lower cab corner needs to be replaced. I was hoping to get it all in primer today but I wouldn't have had the cab corner on hand anyway. So here are some progress pics.

[LEEVON]

My search for 18ga metal took me to my buddy's restoration shop with the truck, all stripped and cut. He didn't laugh at me so I took that as a good sign, gave me a couple of pointers and told me to come back and use his booth when I'm ready for paint

The rockers and rear wheel kick outs just had lots of rock chips so it was easier to strip them. I think after paint I'm going to put this clear film on to keep them clean.

[Low Elco]

Good work fast! Looks great!

[LEEVON]

Cab corner and rear rocker are done. There was of course more rust (always is) than I anticipated. My buddy saved my butt today, he had both of the parts in his shop and let me come get them. It took all dang day but I'm very happy with the results, even though the aftermarket stuff needs to be tweaked and the pics don't do the final product justice. I did have to fabricate a piece of the inner rocker. I slathered a good helping of rust bullet back there as I closed it up. I hope to be fully primed and prepped, ready for paint by next weekend. PS, that's an ice scraper hiding in there LOL. It was handy for scraping some filler off the floor!

[LEEVON]

Yetti got his first mod tonight, the 'ole air cleaner lid flip. Probably picked up a few mpg and should get him into the 20's in the 1/4.

Seriously though, it's amazing how well a little unrestricted airflow uncorks these TBI engines.

[JoeyBones]

Ok I've never heard of this lid flip trick.....can u explain?
Posted via Mobile Device

[LEEVON]

Easy, just turn the lid over. Your filter element will be exposed, meaning it will need to be replaced more often. The only other downside I can think of would be cold weather starting but it increases responsiveness big time.

[JoeyBones]

oh this must be for a different type of air cleaner... haha mine is fully exposed

[LEEVON]

I'm slow but last week I had all the filler work done and blocked to 80 grit by work light. Because I don't get any daylight during the week, I have to wait until the weekend to do any real body work. Today I finished prepping, sanding and sprayed some epoxy primer followed by high build 2k. I wish I had some polyester primer on hand but I'm working with what I have. I'll do some glaze work, another coat of 2k, sanding, seam sealer and hopefully get in to paint this week, depending on my schedule and use of the booth. I'll be glad when this is over..."just a little" paint clean up turned into a major project which can only be accomplished on the floor, on my back. Can't wait to get you some fresh paint pics, then it will be on to getting this thing LOW.

[JoeyBones]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

My first mini-project will be some rust removal and painting below the trim line. The rear bottom corner of each door, and front and rear seams of each rocker have rust bubbles. The leading lower edge of the bed and lower rear quarters have rock chips. With all of this, it just makes sense to paint from the trim line down. It's pretty straight forward, since this is "virgin" rust, not previous repairs coming back. I'm going to remove the trim and wheel arch moldings, do some light sandblasting, patches (if needed), seam sealer, and spot-in with 2k primer then take it to my buddy's shop/booth. The current lower trim is newer, but was poorly installed so I'm going with new bulk molding and not a pre-cut kit.

How do you fix/prevent this from happening? (sorry if thats dumb)

[LEEVON]

Not dumb. As for fixing it, I've have just blended and cleaned up the bare metal with a 3" roloc disk and scuffed the whole rocker. Then epoxy primer, urethane 2K high build primer, sand and paint. Prevention isn't really a big deal to me, it took 25 years to get to that point...however you could either apply a clear film or some aftermarket door sills. If you look closely you can see the bottom of the door itself is in the same condition.

[JoeyBones]

Yea I've got this going on with my truck and wasn't sure if the door hinges had shifted or what the deal was...Thought it could be an easy adjustment I just didn't know how to make.

[LEEVON]

Should be in paint next week.

In other news I think I've found a new bed. This one isn't bad but the bedsides are reproduction and the floor, although it has literally not a single dent had three rust spots on the top and back of the rear seal. It's strange, especially considering the bottom side looks great.

[Gordonr1973]

Your door hinges could be sagging a bit if the bottom of the door is rubbing on the sill when it opens & closes.

Just a matter of lifting the door a bit with the bolts slightly loosened.

If it is just from shoes, I like the 3M clear film because you can replace it easily when it gets worn but I have polished sill plates in my other truck and they look good too.

[LEEVON]

It's just shoes, no sag. Doors shut perfect. I figure it will take another 25 years to get that bad again so I'm just painting. I might get some film on the rockers and in front of the rear wheel arches. My buddy said he uses something like 3M but it conceals better and doesn't yellow...might try that.

[LEEVON]

Well, the body repairs have been in urethane primer for a few weeks, waiting for me to get some free time. I think the paint will probably happen between Christmas and New Years.

I did a little project last night, wish I had pics but it was dark in the garage. The start of it was the fact that the dash pad wasn't properly installed and had a cheezy carpet cover that fell off all the time. I'd rather have a lightly cracked dash than a crappy piece of carpet. Also, there was a pen inside the dash that had been rattling all week and driving me nuts. Add to that sketchy speakers. So I took the dash apart, cleaned and polished the gauges and bezel and cleaned the metal dash itself (filthy). Found the pen (vintage), an original key to the door and $.25. During this rehab I realized that my ETR stereo install was a complete freaking hack job. What is the deal with people trying to burn their trucks down like this!? After removing 5 lbs of spaghetti I located all of the correct factory wiring, made some new connections and hooked her back up (sound quick and easy when you type it LOL). Then I discovered that the left channels don't work at all. Speakers are fine, just no signal. They had spliced the right channel for all of the speakers to compensate.

I considered adding a CD/MP3 but I don't use CD's anymore and I like the shaft style factory radio look and feel. I decided to ditch the ETR radio and will be getting this. It's perfect for my needs. Future plans include an amp/sub, 6x9's and new dash speakers. http://www.retrosoundusa.com/products/details/id/31

[LEEVON]

Scratch the Retrosound...found waaay to many bad reviews with quality issues. I will be installing a Kenwood head unit.

[Low Elco]

Dude, leave the stocker! Have you seen the new thing from Kicker? Looka here-

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-rYgUqjv...11PXI50-2.html

Kinda want one myself!
Posted via Mobile Device

[LEEVON]

That's pretty cool, pricey though! And I am a dinosaur, no iPod.

I tried, couldn't make it work. Stocker is toast. Custom Autosound and Retrosound both appear to have quality issues that I don't want to deal with. I'm not crying about cutting the dash, I guess if this thing is someday in the same league as a '64 'vette then some poor dude will have to repair the dash.

The local car audio place was having a Christmas warehouse sale. It was very, very difficult to stay in budget but I came with with a nice Kenwood head unit. I just bought and installed one of these a few months ago in another project and liked it alot. I upped the ante and got Bluetooth though. For awhile, I've had a bluetooth receiver on my visor, which I use to communicate with my smart phone to the stereo of whatever vehicle I have. It works ok, but it's cumbersome to get started, stopped, etc. With a Bluetooth receiver I can just hit a button and whammo, I'm synched. I can also send and receive phone calls. Pretty cool!

I completed the wiring and took it for a test run. I have to wait for a dash install kit before I can make the cuts and finish, so it's not "official" but close. I also plan to replace the front dash speakers and upgrade the rear to 6x9 at some point along with a shallow 10" sub and amp.

It is a my daily driver after all!

[LEEVON]

Here are some pics of the body repairs. Recap; one door corner, one cab corner and about 8" of rocker. There were alot of rock chips down low, so those areas were also worked over. I still have to seam seal, sand and paint of course.

[LEEVON]

And in case you were wondering, the truck has been tested and approved by our 10 year old Jack Russell/Shih Tzu mutt named Harley.