Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Thank you!

Thanks

Haha well being that primer is very thick and heavy, I find that if falls to the floor quick and dries before it gets there. I wouldn't do anything more than prime in there.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I'd be afraid to try that in my garage. I sprayed some high build from a can in the door jams on the c10 and that crap was on my Jeep outside in my driveway with only the man door open on the other side of the garage. :dohh:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Today I started fabricating a new cab mount nut as I somehow lost one of mine.:waah: I found the base piece on the left in my scrap metal bin. What are the chances of that happening? Luckily my dad had the correct size of square nut so all I really had to do was make the cage for the captive nut. I've got a few small things left to do on it and I can weld it all up and get them installed on the floor.

On a side note, I finally found the leak in my air system that has been driving me crazy for months. Unfortunately my secondary air tank that I painted up and hung on the wall has sprung a leak in the bottom. The previous owner must have left water in the tank for years and it rusted through so now I'm back down to 20 gallons of air until I can afford to replace it.:waah:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Well now that those are done and mostly out of the way (still need to be installed) I decided to start playing around with my seats, console and behind seat audio box. I put in my driver's side seat on some blocking to get to a height and pitch that I'm happy with. Near as I can tell with measurements off my dad's truck, I've settled on stock height at the back, down an inch in the front and slid back as close to the rear panel as possible. This gives me just a bit more headroom as well as legroom since I am 6'-2". Once I had that established, I started creating the skeleton of my behind seat box. It will follow the same slope as the seatback until it hits a level line from the tip of the rear floor hump, then it will drop vertically till it hits the floor. I think that will look best.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

There we go, the skeleton is complete.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Nice use of the gas tank mounting threads.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Thanks, now I just need to figure out speaker sizes and locations and such. I've got lots of time to change my mind before I get speakers.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Alright so now that the skeleton is mostly complete until I figure out speakers and such, I figured I should decide how to do the corners. After some though between trying to make it out of sheet metal and fiberglass, I've landed on fiberglass. This could be interesting as I've never worked with it before. Any advice or tips would be appreciated. So far as I know, I should be able to apply some resin and some matting directly to my cardboard backing and just build up from there?:confused: Wish me luck. :lol:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Do you want the cardboard to remain? Guess it wouldn’t hurt anything. Not a fiberglass expert, but I would recommend using adequate hardener in the resin. If you don’t, the resin remains somewhat gooey- not good:)

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Skeleton looks really good!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I think having the cardboard remain is my best option. Thanks for the tip on the hardener. It would not be good if it was gooey at all. I'm considering painting these two corner filler panels and covering the box in the same carpet as the floor.

Thank you!

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Unless you want the cardboard there permanently make sure to use a mold release agent.

Also, work in stages allowing the resin to flash off before adding more matting on top.

Looking good. Good luck.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Thanks for the advice. I am planning to leave the cardboard there. I feel like it's alot of extra work to make it come off considering it will be on the back of panel and never seen. I am planning to head out there shortly and get the first layer of cloth down. I'll keep everyone posted on the results even if it flops.:lol:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Well I got the first coat of resin and cloth on. I won't say it turned out amazing but I think it will work after more coats and some matting. Here's hoping! ;)

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

After you are done laying down matting get ready for body filler work. More spreading and sanding. :lol:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

You are on your way now. No turning back.

Not sure what you are putting in there but if running subs make sure to put a port hole in there too.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Tonight I went out and cleaned up the edges of my fiberglass. Once that was complete, I quickly sanded a few big ugly bumps out of it and did the second coat of resin with a layer of matting on the top portion of the piece. Matting is harder to work with and uses more resin so I didn't get the bottom section done. :waah:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

The last fiberglass project I did was a sub box I built for my kids car. I stretched fleece over it and covered it with resin. When that dried I applied fiberglass filler and then body filler. What a mess. LOL

Are you going to put filler over this and sand/paint?

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Yes it is for sure messy stuff to work with. I will either fill and paint or fill and cover in upholstery. I haven't decided yet.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Last night I was able to find enough time to get out and do the second coat and matting on the bottom half. Tonight I removed the piece from the mold so to speak. :lol: Once it was free, I cleaned up the edges with my 3" roloc and flipped it over to do a coat of cloth on the back side. Now I will always have a part of my favorite beer and pop built right into the truck.;)

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I'm kind of surprised you aren't using that space for tools or extra oil or coolant or what have you.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I had considered it at one point but it is not accessible at all with the seats and console bolted in place.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

And here is a test fit with the weatherstripping.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

For access behind the seat since I moved the tank out back I got a 68 fold down seat.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I also had thought about that too but I really want to use my factory buckets and console. I even contemplated trying to make my buckets fold down but that seems like it could get really dangerous quickly in an accident.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I have applied the final layer of cloth on my piece and am starting to sand away all the ripples and imperfections. Depending what I do with this piece, as far as paint it or upholster it, will determine wether it will need fill or not. I really don't know what to do with it. I really think it's going to depend what I do for the box. For now I will take it to this point and decide when the time comes.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

I finished up sanding the lower portion to shape. Today I also picked up the fasteners I will use to attatch these corner pieces when I get that far. I also sat down and finally put an idea that I've had rolling around in my head to paper. I designed a logo for my truck. Not 100% sure where I'm going to use it yet but I have an idea. You will have to stay tuned to see it. ;)

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Kyle, a few questions for you -

I'm trying to decide if I should close up some of the holes in my firewall on the cab. I know there are threads out there showing what hole is for what. Curious if you are going to go through all that work on welding up those holes or if you are just going to use rubber plugs?

Also, what type of primer and primer gun did you use on your cab. The more I look at my cab to figure out what stuff I can do, the more I realize its time to get a gun and material to shoot some 2k. It would be sweet to see your air setup. I should probably invest in some equipment to flush the condensate out of the line before it reaches the gun.

Your cab looks great. Can't wait to see more progress on this one.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Ok I'm going to try my best to answer your questions. As for my firewall, if you go back to page 9 post 211, that is where I started all my firewall mods. As far as what hole is for what, I essentially just plugged all but throttle, brake booster, column brackets and parking brake.

For the primer I used, it is called Upol High Build primer, I'll attatch a pic. The gun was one I borrowed from my dad. It is a gravity fed HVLP with the strainer screen removed or it doesn't spray primer well at all, nothing very fancy. My air setup is a 20 Gallon compressor that feeds into a second auxillary 20 gallon tank. From there, I run it into an air dryer, again nothing too fancy, it is one that doesn't use those little silicone beads or whatever they are. It works well for primer but if I was to paint with it, I'd likely have to make a few upgrades.

I hope this answers all of your questions. Thanks for following along with my very slow build. :lol:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Holy smokes, I guess I didn't check in on thread as much as I thought. I missed a bunch of your updates to your cab. That looks incredible!

After checking at my parents house, I realized I have a bunch of parts that were sandblasted or all the paint is removed. I should probably get a gun and shoot those. I will probably have to stop at a paint store and get an air dryer, gun, and primer. Did you wet the floor or anything special when you sprayed in your garage?

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

No I didn't I just set my exhaust fan on high and went to town. I figured if I get dust and stuff in the primer, it will get sanded away during blocking. That's the nice thing with primer, if you mess up, you just sand and it's good.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Now that I have confirmed that my corner piece works as planned on the driver's side, I am able to start the passenger side. I got the cardboard all cut and fit and the first coat of fiberglass cloth layed down. Looks like it will be a nice mirrored image of the driver's one so at least I did something right.:lol:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

How do you like the Upol high build?

My son ordered this and I just got it yesterday. Hoping to spray soon.

https://i.ibb.co/0qf24x1/IMG-5044.jpg

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

It's hard to say how much I like it so far. It sprays pretty nice so that's good. Haven't done any blocking on it yet so I can't say if it's any good in that respect as of yet. My dad has used it alot and likes it. I haven't used evercoat primers before but I like their fillers so I can't see that they would have bad primer.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Let me know how it sands.

We pretty much use Evercoat exclusively at the shop. They make great products. Fortunately my brother inlaw has extra bottles of the activator that he is going to give me so my son didn't have to spend another $40 for that. This stuff is already expensive enough.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Today I was able to "extract" the passenger side filler piece from the mould so to speak. I got a layer of cloth layed down on the back side so I will be ready to build up the front to the same thickness as the other side. Once I had that done, I stripped the old nasty cover off of the passenger side seat and repaired all the bent areas around both seat bottoms. I then got a couple of angle irons made up and bolted them to the bottom of the seat. My next move will be to temporarily weld on some steel rod to the angles so that I can place my seat and pull measurements for the rest of the brackets.

The first picture is what the seat bottoms looked like before straightening, they were both like this. The second picture shows after I had straightened the corner out. I'm not too sure if these seat foams are in "usable" condition or not but I would like to clean up and paint the seat frames and as far as I can tell, I have to completely ruin the foam to get it off of the frame?:confused: If there is anyone put there who has any info on this, I would be greatly appreciative.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

On a side note, it would appear that my buckets were originally in a blazer. You can see the holes were the fasteners held the back covers on and where they were touching the foam for many years.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Tonight I got my driver's seat placed in the truck right where I'd like it to be. I welded a couple of "stilts" to my angle irons to get the proper height and angle figured out. Then I made like 842 reference measurments to get it sitting as square as I possibly could. After all that, I figured I better make some marks at the base of each stilt in case I bump it. I sort of have a plan of attack for the rest of the brackets so we will see how that plays out. :lol:

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Here is something to ponder....the base of the seat is sitting very square to everything on the floor yet if I stick a steel rod across at the metal frame between the top and bottom cushion, I have a difference of 5/8". And further so, the top of the backrest measures exact to the rear window pinch seam. Its almost as if there is a sight twist towards the center of the cab built into the bucket. Has anyone else ever noticed this? I thought that the driver and passenger buckets are identical but possibly not. I will have to re create what I've done here on the passenger side and see if I get the same measurments.

Re: My 1970 GMC “Project Splice”
 

Well that escalated quickly! I learned today that my bucket seat frame, possibly frames are bent. Possibly from an accident I'm thinking. So once I got the passenger seat in and saw how it was fitting to the rear window frame, out came the exacto knife and the seat foam was a goner. Well it wasn't quite as easy as that. For anyone wondering, it is not an easy or clean job. Once I had the foam removed from the frame and shredded all over my garage floor:lol:, I discovered the culprit. The twist in the backrest was extremely difficult to straighten but I got it straight again! There were also the two cross bars between the top and bottom of the seat that I had to straighten. Those were easy. I will have to re weld the broken spot weld and it will be good to go. It now fits very nice in the cab. Next will be the driver's seat foam.