Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Thanks Mark. I think they look very period correct for the truck. I was considering some mid 60s car buckets but they are getting just too expensive for what you get. I'm glad to hear they work for you since it sounds like we're afflicted with much the same back ailments. I'll have to check them out. :metal:

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

I am afraid I missed it, but where did your floor sills come from?
I am obviously not a purist in regards to my build ..... :metal:

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

I got them from Chevy Duty (ClassicParts). I should have taken a comparison picture showing both the old and new in the same photo, but I was in too big a hurry to get them installed!

http://www.classicparts.com/1960-66-...tinfo/03-065S/

American Classic also sells them, but charges more. They also have the best photo of the item:

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/9...3stainless.jpg

It's the next to the last item on the following link:

http://www.americanclassic.com/asp/d...ype=to&exyear=

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

WOOPS! wrong thread... sorry..

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

I was thinking along the same lines. My first choice would have been 1964 Impala (or similar) bucket seats like these with the chrome band over the back, even thought it will peel the skin off your arm on a hot day!

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/2186/impala01.jpg

Problem being the parts add up to well over $1,000 today, and when you're done the backs still aren’t adjustable.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Thank you sir.
I am guessing they sell by the each and are not side specific?

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

That is correct. 2 each required and they fit either side, there is no front or back, left or right.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

We’ve decided to try a few local road trips up to a couple hours from the house and see if my back can tolerate it. So I thought it might be a good idea to carry a spare tire and jack again. I stuck a new valve stem in a stock 15x6 powder coated wheel I had laying around, and mounted the best left over Firestone 195x15 tire off my wife’s Toyota. I previously ran this size on the front, so it should be sufficient for a spare without taking up too much room in the bed. I never removed the Camaro spare tire bracket from the bed floor, and kept all the hold down hardware in one place so it was pretty easy to remount the spare. The jack went in the passenger side junk bag and the crank handle was conveniently tethered with the handle/straps on top for rattle free convenience.

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/3751/0post00.jpg

I also replaced #6 & 8 spark plugs which need to be cleaned up about once a year.

And the new wide windshield trim is scheduled to arrive Friday. Hopefully I can restart that project next week.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

A few years ago a careless helper dropped the tailgate before the chains were connected, chunking a nice deep matching pair of gouges in the powder coated rear bumper. Since I forgot to take any before pictures, here’s a couple of older images highlighting the damaged areas:

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/8042/0009dv.jpg

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/5093/0010jc.jpg

Fortunately the powder coat is really thick, so I was able to sand out most of the damage starting with 320 wet up through 1500 grit, after which I hit it with the body buffer. The first pass was done with a wool pad and 3M Perfect It rubbing compound, followed by 3M foam pad polishing glaze.

For not having put more than an hour’s effort into it, the bumper turned out looking pretty darn good. At least the gouges are gone and it looks shiny again. Here’s a lousy picture taken late at night.

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/9725/bumper01.jpg

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

i've got a few of the old impala buckets. they are basket cases but my thinking was to mate the bucket seat bottoms to the lower frame of a stock bench seat. so the buckets will track and slide together. then attach the bucket seat backs to the the lower and fill the space in the middle with a fabricated armrest/console. what do you think? i haven't done any measurements but it might work.
with my big belly and long legs the seat has to go all the way back so i don't need the seat backs adjustable, just set it up to fit the driver.

and your right... it will scald your arm, but looks cool.

nice job with the buffer...

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

That sounds like an excellent idea, essentially creating a home built version of buddy buckets, with richer looking seats. I’d suggest take a look at the buddy bucket frame shown on post 5366 of the following thread, for ideas on what modifications your stock bench frame may need to accommodate twin seats:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...seats&page=215

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

I started out washing the truck for a car show this weekend, when I heard the unmistakable sound of a heavy with 4 radial aircraft engines. I grabbed the camera and snapped a couple of shots of B17 Aluminum Overcast heading in to land at Felts Field. Here are a couple of shots showing with the gear up, and gear down:

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3816/b17flying.jpg

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/4859/b17flying02.jpg

The crappy weather made it a little disappointing. When these vintage bombers appear once or twice a year, they general fly an unusual route that takes them within a few hundred feet of my backyard at low level. I had one fly directly over me at about 500 feet a few years back, but didn’t have access to a camera that day.

As I was drying the truck, the brown truck showed up with my “wide” windshield trim. It arrived exactly as advertised, in excellent condition and well packaged. The upper two pieces are perfect, needing only polishing. The passenger lower has two tiny dings, and the driver lower piece has one dent and 5 or six pinpoint size dings. There are also some wiper scratches, but no real damage. The beauty of this trim is virtually the entire back side of the trim is accessible due to the design of the trim, which will make it very relatively easy to restore compared to the thin trim.

Here are a few pics showing how much nicer the wide trim looks compared to the skinny trim:

The two in front are the new wide lower pieces. The tiny one in the back is the lower driver side from the other set:

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/5048/0000gn.jpg

This is a shot of the upper driver side piece. This stuff is just beautiful if this type of detail matters like it does to me:

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/6776/0001kl.jpg

Here’s a shot showing the driver side lower corner of the thin trim compared to the “molding” of the wide trim. The wide trim retains its shape around the bend, while the thin piece actually flattens out:

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9386/0002kh.jpg

And these joint caps are probably the most graphic depiction of how much different the two styles of trim are from each other:

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/1859/0003od.jpg

This is the only actual dent in the entire set. Even though it’s on the character line, it’s completely open in the back over this spot, and will be relatively easy to correct:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5726/0004yk.jpg

It looks like I’m going to be busy for the next few days, as I also received confirmation the full floor vinyl mat is scheduled to arrive next week.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

i've been wanting to take pics of the planes flying in & out of the Air Force base here...last year i got a bit of a show as the Thunderbirds were practicing for the local air show...they would come zooming by, & like a little kid i would get up and run to the window (or outside) to look everytime, lol....and those big C-17 cargo planes come in & go out not far above the treetops/rooftops, & i'm always staring in amazement...i also saw an Osprey flying by last year...one direction it went by with the propellers upward like a copter, and it came back by a few minutes later flying with them like a plane....my wife laughs at me for looking, or she scolds me because i get distracted by them when driving :lol:...not sure what it is about planes that captures my interest so much

btw, the new trim looks much better...can't wait to see it polished & installed!

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Heh.... 7 years of my life as a gunner on a Air Defense weapon system taught me one thing. If it is flying, identify it.

Cant help it.
Even after all these years I still look at anything in the sky.

Cool pics Mark!
Too awesome.

Cannot wait to see that trim on, with comparative pics.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

I do the same thing every time a 4 engine bomber flies over the house. If it’s quiet enough, those radial engines can be heard from a long distance. I grab a camera and run outside as quick as I can.

The best example I can offer that we’re not alone in this behavior happened back in the mid 1980’s when I was driving north on Highway 17 near the San Jose airport. It was the height of the afternoon commute when a B17 and a B24 bomber appeared in the sky off to my left. The B17 was in front with the B24 trailing. The B17 was close enough I could make out the tail markings, and it was impossible to not recognize that tail fin.

Since this was the first time I had ever seen flying WWII vintage bombers I slowed down a bit to get a better look. I was very careful to watch the traffic and glance at the planes when I could, and each time I slowed down a little more. Nobody was pushing behind me, and it turned out the traffic in front of me was slowing down too. By the time I reached the runway all of the traffic going both directions had stopped, and I got to watch the B24 land. It only lasted a few seconds and the traffic started moving again. Beyond the cool factor of actually seeing the planes, I was amazed that every car on the freeway had stopped to watch, and not a single person honked their horn.

The second time I experienced a complete traffic stoppage due to airplanes was sitting on an overpass near Moffett Field. The Thunderbirds were warming up for an air show, and the Highway Patrol stopped traffic for about 15 minutes to keep drivers from wrecking while they rubbernecked.

Apparently A10 Warthogs were also part of the show, because a flight of them approached the overpass we were parked on. We first picked them up about a quarter mile away in a shallow descent from an altitude of about 1500 feet. By the time they were within 50 feet of the car they were at the same height as the overpass. We were looking directly into the cockpit and could see the markings on the lead pilot’s helmet! A friend of my older son in the back seat panicked and tried to get out of the car. The rest of us just calmly sat and watched, knowing this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it would all be over in seconds (either way)!

Of course they pulled up at the last second and cleared the cars by about 20 feet, providing a magnificent view of the bottom of an A10. I’m sure anybody that was there that day will never forget the event. I’m equally sure the pilots were probably having a great time scaring the crap out of half the spectators!


It’s the same for me with cars and airplanes, except my expertise has an age cutoff. With cars I can identify just about everything from the 1930’s up until 1973 or so. After that I just never cared even when the cars were new. Airplanes I’m pretty good from the time they started flying up until the 1960’s. I grew up an enthusiastic student of military aircraft since childhood, and certainly could identify every WWII airplane, from every country, far better than my dad could. And he served in WWII, but aircraft identification wasn't one of his passions.

It’s kind of hysterical watching old Sci-Fi movies from the 50’s, because they inserted whatever footage they had with the plane pointing in the right direction. And if it wasn't pointing the right way, they just flipped the film over and the markings are all backwards! A guy takes off in an F80, which turns into an F86, F101 Voodoo, F84 Thunderjet, F102 Delta Dagger, F104 Starfighter, etc, and they’re all suppose to be the same guy in the same plane! What surprises me (and my wife) is that I actually know what they are. I mean – who cares?!! :lol:

Interestingly we took a drive out past Fairchild Air Force Base a couple of days ago, and they had some really big cargo plane flying around I didn’t recognize. I looked up C17 and believe that was it. About all I could determine at the time was it had four engines and a T tail with the horizontal stabilizer up near the top of the vertical stabilizer. I thought maybe he was practicing tough and go landings, but after making several wide circles, about a dozen guys were seen behind the plane floating down in their parachutes. That was something neither of us had ever witnessed before, and created a memorable event.

Anyhow it’s all good. Thanks for the comments guys, they are always thought provoking.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

I have been that guy jumping out of the air plane too....
C-130 and C-141 are the 2 main favorites for airborne operations, until you start getting into helicopters of course.

Cool memories, thanks for sharing them.
I know that area of south bay well, also. We lived down there when I was a kid, then again I spent 4 years at Fort Ord, down in Monterrey. HWY 17 is awesome to drive at 0300 or 0400 on a Sunday night/Monday morning at 60 to 85 mph and you have both lanes to yourself.....
Not that I would be so reckless.... well ...... not with passengers anyways....

LoL

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Today we participated in the 20th annual Reardan Mule Days car show. Unfortunately it rained hard all morning right up until the parade started, which deterred a lot of people from bringing their cars out. The total entrants added up to 3 trucks (including ours) and 5 cars.

One of the trucks was an early 50’s Chevy that was both chopped and sectioned. The other was a 1967 (I think) that was really clean.

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/961/post001.jpg

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/441/post002.jpg

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7520/post003.jpg

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8207/post004.jpg

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/8348/post005.jpg

Several of the locals mentioned the park is normally filled to overflowing, and this was the lowest turn out they had ever seen. It didn’t slow down the spectators however, as there was a lot of interest and discussions with owners.

In spite of the low attendance we had a great time. The rain departed, the sun came out, and there were multiple events being held simultaneously, keeping things interesting. We only stayed a couple of hours since my wife works nights and needed some sleep, but it was enough to have fun and enjoy the trip.

And another highlight of the trip – there was a 63 Chevy short stepside sitting right on the edge of town in clear view of the highway. We pulled over and snapped a couple of pics. It looks to be in decent shape. At first I thought the front fender had the typical extensive rust behind the tire, but with a closer look it appears a fence post it in the way of the fender and appearing as damage. This is what it looks like from the highway with the naked eye:

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/2724/post006.jpg

And here it is zoomed up a bit:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6623/post007s.jpg

This was also my first opportunity to take photos with the new UV and Polarized lens filters. They certainly did make a difference, but I need to play with the Polarizing filter more to maximize its effectiveness. I think it may also work better without my Polarized sun glasses. I’ll try that next time.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Nice pics.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

The vinyl full floor mat showed up this morning from Auto Custom Carpets (ACC). It certainly does look attractive in a deep rich black color. The OEM style rubber floor mat it is replacing looked terrible from the day it arrived, the entire surface being covered with crazing and cracks, which can easily be seen here:

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/5606/floormat.jpg

I’m thinking either the rubber material wasn’t mixed correctly or was molded before the fixture came up to operating temperature.

As noted in the tag stapled to the mat, it has to sit for 48 hours to relax the wrinkles from shipping. Hopefully that will be enough time to allow the pinched nerve in my neck to let go so I can get out in the garage and pull the seats, shifter, seat belts, sills, etc.

Here’s a shot showing the overall size and gloss, along with a couple of close ups highlighting the pebble grain finish. After it has warmed up for a day or two, I'll try pressing some additional form into it and remove a few more wrinkles:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6578/post00.jpg

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/7445/post02.jpg

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5928/post03s.jpg

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/3743/post04.jpg

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Hey Mark, I was at a cruise night here in Cambridge tonight, and there was a nice, very original 63 GMC, thought you might like to see a pic or 2.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Wow, that really is a beauty, thanks for sharing. Ironically that’s actually what I was looking for when we found our truck. I wanted a 1963, either GMC or Chevy. I specifically didn’t want the any 60-62 because of the torsion bar suspension, and preferred the wrap around windshield.

Had my truck started life with an inline six, it would still be in there. I always wanted to build one with a 4 barrel and headers, but mine came with the 850 pound 305 which I was not crazy about at all.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Think of the polarizer as a venitian blinds.
If you put two of them together, one north south and the second east west you could blot out the line of sight.
They really only cut down on oblique glare, like from glass off to the left or right if your polarized lens is oriented up and down.

Your skies in the photos are showing more blue sky than stark white washed.

Reardan is such a wheat town... LOL
Picturesque too. Surprised you didnt get some with some of the old buildings in town, or the main drag.
Even been out to Tekoa?
It is out in the Palouse about half way to Pullman and spring time is fantastic as the rolling hills are turning green with the fresh wheat growing and you can see thunder storms a hundred miles away....
Just a tiny little farming town, but lots of photogenic spots there.

Best friend and I went golfing out there one morning, I should never forget it.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Not too many pictures this time because it was a real short trip for us. My wife works graveyard, just got off work and had to work again Saturday night so I needed to get her home to sleep. We were both having a great time and would have enjoyed staying longer, and I could have possibly come home with a “major award”! With only 8 cars in the show, 3 trophies to present and a plaque for every car, it was the best chance I was ever going to have at winning something! :lol: But we were long gone by the time those were handed out.

Haven’t been to Tekoa – yet. Thanks for the suggestion that may well be our next destination. I haven’t traveled more than an hour from home in over 10 years because of degenerative back problems, but now that we’re on the recovery side of the heart attack we’re planning some 1-2 hour day trips to see how much can be tolerated. We both really love and miss traveling and seeing new things, and I'm not finding the photo opportunities I'm looking for locally.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Probably high on the list of why I think Spokane is just the best place in the world to live.
No matter what you like, you can find or get it in Spokane. Nowhere I have ever been in this world had the diversity in geography, outdoor activities, all the creature comforts of a major city but still have a small town feel to it....

Not to wax Norman Rockwellian on you all, but you truely have to see this city, and the diversity in an hours drive in any direction, to truely appreciate it.

I grew up out at the end of Long Lake, so Reardan was in my "neighborhood" so to speak....

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

The last couple of weeks haven’t been very productive trying to cope with increasingly limiting pinched nerves in my back and neck. Chiropractic adjustments, massage therapy, pain pills, and anti-inflammatories failed to produce any noticeable improvement.

So I decided this morning it was time for some alternate therapy. With my new floor mat burning a hole in my pocket, I decided a few hours disassembling the interior would provide some vigorous physical activity which would either make things better (or worse) and improve my crappy attitude at the same time.

2 days in a closed bedroom with a space heater set on 80 degrees eliminated virtually all of the packaging wrinkles on the new mat. This is how it looks today without anything underneath to support the shape:

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/7445/post02.jpg

The vinyl material is certainly unlike anything I’ve ever had on the floor of a truck. At 80 degrees it’s as flexible as very fresh piece of licorice. At 72 degrees it’s more like a very stale piece of licorice. At 55 degrees it’s more like a 3/16” sheet of ABS plastic, except it can be bent without breaking.

Out in the truck, the first thing to go was the shifter handle because it was easy to remove sitting in the driver’s seat. My neck won’t bend too well so I wasn’t enthusiastic about getting under the truck to hold on to any fasteners. As it turned out I didn’t have to and everything was removed from above. I just used a pry bar to apply upward pressure on the seat mounting brackets and outer seat belt bolts.

These show the front floor mat, and the older floor mat that was chopped up to fill in between the seats.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/1102/post0001.jpg

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/8200/post0002.jpg

And here it is about 3 hours later. The seat brackets, and belts have been removed, but the old eye bolts for the racing belts still remain, because they have to be removed from underneath. The firewall and rear panel upholstery has also been removed. I’m going to try leaving the upholstered kick panels in place and tuck the mat underneath, but they may also have to be removed:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/402/post0003.jpg

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/5392/post0004.jpg

If everything goes well in the morning, I’ll have my wife help pull the eye bolts along with the gas pedal. . A good vacuuming and wipe down should finalize the prep. The mat was delivered with a jute pad, but I haven’t stretched it out yet to see how much it covers.

If my patience holds out, I’d like to lay out the new mat in the cab, set the space heater in place at 80 degrees and leave it for a couple of days until it is perfectly molded to the floor before doing any trimming. We’ll see. I’ve wanted one of these full floor mats for a long time, so I’m enthusiastic to see how it turns out.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

This morning we removed the racing belt eye bolts, throttle linkage/gas pedal and upholstered kick panels. After lunch everything was vacuumed up and ready for the new floor covering:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/4530/post02y.jpg

ACC generously provided a front floor piece of jute padding. Unfortunately it was punched for the small hump floor, even though they sold me a high hump mat. Gotta love quality in America. I sliced out the middle and used the two side pieces. The chunk in the middle in the photo is just a scrap I couldn’t reach without bumping the tripod:

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/6346/post03o.jpg

Here are the first photos of the mat in the cab.

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/3743/post04.jpg

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/3901/post99.jpg

ACC advertises it is cut oversize for custom trimming, and they aren’t kidding. The back and sides probably have an extra 4” included and the nose has 6-8” extra beyond the standard mat shape. No complaints about that. I was hoping to retain some of this excess material and shove the mat well up on the firewall providing a nice finished edge that was so far up it couldn’t be seen from the seats. But there’s just too much material in the way. The drop in the floor just ahead of the seats needs to move forward another 4 inches and can’t. Some of the material at the top of the firewall will have to be trimmed before the mat will fit. I’ll probably remove it from the truck and use the original mat as a template for some rough trimming. I also learned that coming out of a 78 degree room wasn’t enough to make this stuff workable. So right now I’ve got a space heater set in the cab to bring the temperature up to at least 80-85 degrees to see how much that helps.

More to follow.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Well I pulled the mat back out and matched it up with the original. Still leaving a generous amount of surplus I trimmed 3” off the leading edge, and 7” out of the center over the firewall hump. The fit is now within a hand grenades range, but still needs a lot of trimming to fit correctly. At least it's starting to look like I have the correct mat for the truck now.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4826/post06.jpg

I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing but I lost my white crayon which is critical for anymore trimming, so that will be it for tonight. I feel like I’ve been wrestling a gorilla. Carpet certainly would have been a lot easier!

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Another 4 hours of effort completed the driver’s side of the floor mat installation. The outboard drop area just in front of the seat is clearly molded into the mat so I used this as the primary reference point to know when everything was in the correct position. With this corner of the mat aligned with the floor, the fit at the transmission tunnel/gas pedal area was optimized, and the back wall of the cab squared up with the back edge. The position was fixed by locating the threaded nutserts in the floor, poking through with an awl, and then cutting a hole with a stepdrill, which came out clean after passing the bit through from both sides. A temporary bolt in the forward location held things in position.

http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/712/post01r.jpg

A bulge at the gas pedal mount was pushed in/reversed at which point it fit perfectly into the firewall depression. The top left of the mat was marked with white crayon, pulled back and trimmed to the shape shown. The pedal mount was removed and relocated on top of the mat. All of this firewall coverage is well above the top of where a standard rubber mat ends. I’m very thankful they designed this product with so much extra material in the front (even if it is a pain to work with). The gas pedal mount now has mat behind it, instead of leaving the old pivot area bare. Here’s an after and before comparison:

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/7816/post03.jpg

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/7585/beforeyg.jpg

After the top left of the mat was trimmed and the gas pedal reinstalled, I cut the smallest hole possible allowing the shifter to poke through, so the mat could still move around if needed. The rest of the driver side seat attachment holes were cut and the mat was bolted to the floor in two places. With no chance of it moving around, the area under the door sill was trimmed away and fitted around the back edge.

Obtaining the best possible fit along the left kick panel and around the dimmer switch took a bit of extra effort. I’ve seen too many mats with a big oval hole near the dimmer switch because it’s not always easy to predict exactly where the hole should be, and I didn’t want to mess this up.

On 1960 models the dimmer switch is mounted to a removable panel with half of the switch held in a cavity formed into the floor. When I created the diamond tufted kick panels the factory switch was too close to the side. So I fabricated a flat steel plate to cover the cavity and installed the newer style switch that bolts directly to the floor.

To trim the mat I removed the steel plate and the dimmer switch. This allowed for a perfect cut right along the edge. I then removed the dimmer from the plate, drilled a 1/8” hole directly under the center of the dimmer switch, and ran a long screw through from the bottom (pointing up). With the plate reinstalled on the floor, it was simply a matter of pressing the mat over the screw to have the exact center of the switch punched into the mat. The plate was removed, the switch reattached and reinstalled on the floor. The mat was drilled out with a stepdrill, this time using the biggest bit I have which is ¾ inch. The hole in the mat is a stretch fit over the cap, but the exact size of the switch body so it fits perfectly.

For anyone that’s wondered how much of the floor this mat actually covers, ACC promises “full floor” coverage and they aren’t kidding. It rises 2-5” higher than a standard rubber mat in the front, and goes all the way to the back wall of the cab. For those that have eliminated the in-cab gas tank this is a very nice feature:

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1972/post02h.jpg

One issue on my 1960 is the cavity near the rear of the driver’s door. My truck has wiring in this area and a steel plate over the top that matches the contours of the floor. The mat has a cavity molded in, so I’m assuming later trucks didn’t have this cover. My first thought was to cut out the mat inside the cavity and reinstall the plate on top. But looking at it, I’m not sure I won’t just leave it alone and eliminate the cover. It’s not like anyone is going to be stepping there to climb into the back seat. For now I’m going to leave the cavity looking like this. If I change my mind later I can always reinstall the cover plate on top of the mat:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3743/post04.jpg

Right now the truck is cooking back up to 90 degrees so I can finish the passenger side. The only remaining tasks are to pull any remaining surplus out of the transmission tunnel, add the seat mounting bolts to hold it in position, and trim the door/kick panel area. Once that is complete the shifter stick and boot can go back in. The final chore will be filling unused holes and repainting the seat mounting brackets. They looked just fine on the old crappy floor, but need some attention before going back in now.

If there aren’t any surprises the truck will hopefully be back together tomorrow.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

That is looking real nice Mark. It's making me have second thoughts about installing carpet.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Looks great, looks like it grew there. Once you are done, could you take some pics outside with natural light (no flash, no incandescent lighting)?

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Thanks for the comments guys. I’m losing my enthusiasm for taking pictures of each micro step so the next interior photos will be after its back together which should be tomorrow.

Finished the passenger side floor last night and reinstalled the door sill, passenger kick panel, tufted firewall pad to the right of the heater, and tufted panels behind the seats.

Today was focused on cleaning up the seat brackets. They’ve been drilled numerous times for multiple locations and adjustments, two different types of seats, and both 2 and 3 across seating. Since I’m about the only person that sees them I made a half hearted effort to make them look better.

The old wrinkle paint was stripped down to the bare aluminum and numerous surplus holes were filled with JB Kwik, followed by a skin coat of Rage body filler. Everything was smoothed up with 320 on a D/A, and shot with JD Blitz Black from a spray can. The extra holes were eliminated partly for cosmetics, but mainly to make it easier to reinstall the seats. The only holes remaining are the correct ones for each position. Here are a couple of before and after photos:

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5331/post01v.jpg

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/3549/post02n.jpg

The brackets won’t be winning any awards, but look a lot better than they did before. They’re currently cooking under the lamps, and when they stop stinking I’ll mount them in the truck. All that’s left to do is reinstall the shifter handle & boot, inboard seat belts, and the seats. If tomorrow provides the kind of weather we got today, I’ll pull it outside for those no-flash photos.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

One last picture for the night. The only thing left to accomplish is tightening all the bolts after the seats are set in place tomorrow morning:

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/7307/post001a.jpg

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Looking good.

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

I made adapter "feet" for my bench seat too couple weekends ago, next is to get the seat back in the cab, mark them and get them set.
Then it will be setting up the seat belts with shoulder straps.
Once all that is done, off the the upholster for the seat.

Your mat does look good though!!

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

The floor mat install is finally complete. The wife helped set the seats, attached all the mounting bolts, and managed all the fasteners under the truck. I pulled it outside for a few photos, and got the camera back inside just in time for another rain shower! So much for June in the Northwest.

There are still a few bumps in the mat that I’m presuming will flatten out with time and heat. It hasn’t been over 70 degrees in the garage since I started on this. 100 degrees ambient would have made everything a lot easier. Right now it doesn’t fit as tight as custom carpet or an original floor mat, but I think it will come very close once it has a chance to heat up and fully relax. Of all the MIP mat photos I’ve seen on the web, this 60-66 high hump example has the most accurate molding I’ve seen.

It’s not at all slippery, but it is very smooth and easy to sweep off unlike the stained/dirty grooves in the factory mat. Cleaning out any debris on the floor is as simple as blowing it off with an air hose, which is certainly easier than vacuuming carpet. What I like most is how much of the floor it covers. I made the previously installed tufted firewall pad over the transmission tunnel mainly because so much of the metal firewall showed above the factory mat. I never liked the design because it had such a big drooping bulge on the passenger side. The new mat covers the entire area eliminating the need for the tufted panel.

In photographs, the mat looks gray in bright sunlight. In real life it looks gloss black even in the sun, compared to the rubber mat that was more of a brownish gray color. Here are a few snapshots. The two odd looking black dots on the floor under the pedals are the shadows of my ball style dash knobs, and the strange grid marking to the right to the tunnel in the 2nd photo is light shining through the speaker opening in the dash.

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/8921/copyof001.jpg

http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/2576/copyof002.jpg

This photo just shows the generous coverage all along the front line:

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/6880/copyof004.jpg

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Looks absolutely Fantastic!!!!!!!

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

I second that motion, could not agree more, lovely install Mark

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

x3...looks really nice! great job once again

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

Mark, do you think a blow dryer, or something like a blow dryer would do the trick?

Re: Markeb01 Build Thread
 

A hair dryer might do some good, but I'm not sure it would put out enough heat to really make a difference. I actually have a regular heat gun in the garage. The output is high enough to burn things so I was a little reluctant to try it until I tested it on some scrap pieces. Now that the project is done I'm more inclined to let nature do the work, but I still intend to test the heat gun on some scrap pieces to learn how much it can take before damage occurs, or if it can get so hot gloves are required to touch it without causing problems. I’d like to know those answers.

For those that don't visit my build thread, I’m thinking about posting a separate summary thread offering my experiences working with the vinyl mat. There have been quite a few inquiries over the last couple of years with very limited response. With a specific topic thread it might make it easier for members to find input during a search, and knowing how much direct heat it can tolerate would probably be helpful to include.