My 86 build
 

I'm updating my build from last fall, heres what I started with.

Re: My 86 build
 

and after the flip, and these....

Re: My 86 build
 

I've been pluggin' away with the body work, I started it shortly after I finished dropping it, the usual spots, cab corners, rockers wheel arches and I also started shaving everything off of it that I could. I had bought a '90 gmc parts truck mostly for the wheels and robbed it of some other parts like the steering wheel and tilt and shift levers. and also the serpentine setup that I still haven't put on yet. Which brings me to this point...

Re: My 86 build
 

A few more pics from last fall...

Re: My 86 build
 

some pics with the wheels...

Re: My 86 build
 

So thats basically the way it looked last year before I had put it away for the winter. This spring I started working on it every weekend. I bought a set of Airlift 2600 bags for the front and made myown upper and lower bag mounts out of 1/4 steel plate, i'm still running it off of a schrader valve till I get something fab'd up for the back end. I lowered the rear about 2" more by moving the sping hangers. I don't have pics of the work but you've seen it done before anyway. Here's some pics of the front aired out and my fuel filler relocated to the bed floor....

Re: My 86 build
 

After looking through DV8's build thread a 100 times, I started to get alot of ideas of what I wanted to do with my truck.....like the tailgate.

Re: My 86 build
 

sorry crappy phone pics.....I'll take a better pic of it finished. people actually think it came this way!

Re: My 86 build
 

Pics of my new valve covers....and performer intake I bought of my bro. I wasn't thinkin when I bought the k&n that I should've went with the shorter filter, this one is close to hitting the hood now. Its not gonna fit when I do a "Z".

Re: My 86 build
 

The last few months I've been doing bodywork, the boxsides, tailgate and I made my own roll pan, had to make a box in it for my license plate. I shaved the stake pockets, fuel filler door, front marker lights, drip rails, rear cab seam, wiper cowl, side emblems, mirrors and switched out the rear slider for a solid glass rear window (those are really hard to find). This truck is my daily driver so its covered in primer and I got tired of everyone asking me "when are ya gonna paint it" so a couple of weeks ago I painted the whole truck flat black with some spray bombs, this will have to do till I can afford a real paint job. Then I got this idea.....

Re: My 86 build
 

more pics..... I'll try and get some better ones

Re: My 86 build
 

here's a better pic of the tailgate.....

Re: My 86 build
 

I had started to work on my dashpad after listening to people whine about it. So I decided to try and fiberglass it, I really had nothing to loose, mine had about 4 or 5 good cracks across it and the speaker grills were all punched out. It looked like wolverine attacked it. So I roughed it up with the d/a sander, covered a few holes, soaked it with resin and covered it with fiberglass weave. I tried using the fiberglass mat that I had lying around and it was no good, kinda like trying to paint a cat. I was surprised it turned out as good as it did and as easy as it was. The first pic is after the resin dried and I painted it black to see what it would look like. I know it looks pretty rough! The others are as it is now, still needs a good sanding and some puty. I want to paint it the body colour so for now its just primer....

Re: My 86 build
 

damn looks good! the flames and the dash.. looks like your leaking somethin by the looks of the tailgate tho.. wanna do a dash for me?

Re: My 86 build
 

Thanks.....yeah I think its the pinion seal. another job on my list!

Re: My 86 build
 

another pic....

Re: My 86 build
 

Just got word today that my wheels will be 4-6 weeks from now.Turns out the order was missplaced. It took two weeks to find this out?....oh well more time to save $$.

Re: My 86 build
 

I'm thinkin of getting some pipe and start cupping my lower bag mounts this weekend....I'll let ya know how it goes.

Re: My 86 build
 

subscribed!

Re: My 86 build
 

Just picked these up today....had one of my old plug wires lying on the manifold and burnt right through to the core. a good reason to replace them all, i'll just make sure they're tied up.... don't want to burn these baby'$.

Re: My 86 build
 

...also got my brackets for my serpentine conversion beadblasted the other day. I'm not 100% sure that I'm gonna do it. It might look really cool , but it might look too cluttered up as well, but I would really like to have A/C someday....

Re: My 86 build
 

Looks great! I saw a chopped merc with the same paint job flat black with gloss flames I was thinking about doing that on my truck.

Re: My 86 build
 

Installed my new plug wires today.....I made them long enough to go around headers someday....

Re: My 86 build
 

more pics I found...

Re: My 86 build
 

nice job on the dash how exactly did you do it. did you use fleece or did you use the chop mat?

Re: My 86 build
 

good looking truck man like the ling bed

Re: My 86 build
 

Thanks....I used a woven fiberglass cloth, I think it's used for boat repair, came in like a 4x6 sheet, about $35. I tried the fiberglass mat, too hard to keep lying flat always wanted to clump up when brushing on the resin. The weaved mat stayed flat and flowed with the contours of the dash, and soaked up the resin easily... It almost looked like it was carbon fiber when I was done. I even thought of painting it faux carbon fiber......

Re: My 86 build
 

Thanks.....

Re: My 86 build
 

Dash is sweet for sure. My Charger dash is cracked..never thought about glass. Will see how it goes.

Re: My 86 build
 

Yeah..I'm glad I did it now, it wasn't too hard to do just took some time, and I had lots of that... I have a little over $100 bucks in it, and well worth it IMO. It should look even better when painted.....My buddys charger's dash is probably in the same shape as yours. I'll likely end up doing it for him, it will be easy its only a small strip across the top

Re: My 86 build
 

With all the talk of the square body gauge pillar's you could mold your gauges in your dash..??

Re: My 86 build
 

looking good

Re: My 86 build
 

Wow! Awesome job on that dash!

Re: My 86 build
 

I thought about molding some pods in the dash for air guages and such, but I think i'm goin with the smoothed look.

Re: My 86 build
 

Thanks....it stll needs some work tho....

Re: My 86 build
 

How much did you lower it the first time around? or did you go straight to bags ? I am running the same rims and i think mine looks a bit too tall. Where in ontario are you located ? cant wait to see it with the new rims.

Re: My 86 build
 

I did the flip in the back, 3" drop spindles and cut the coils in the front. I think I cut a full coil off. that gave me roughly a 4.5/6" drop. I knew I wanted to bag it anyway so I wasn't about to waste money on lowering coils....I live in a little ****hole town west of Ottawa....Yeah I can't wait either 2-3 more weeks hopefully and they will be here

Re: My 86 build
 

" trying to paint a cat. "

That cracks me up. Truck looks good, nice tail gate work too. On the dash did you just scratch up the vinyl or did you go down to the foam padding before adding the cloth and resin? You may have developed the last fix for these cracked dashes.

I'm originally from southern Ontario, (now in BC). I have to admire anyone that takes on rust in Ontario.

Currently looking here for a short wide 4x4 driver, most here are flogged pretty hard in the mud.

Re: My 86 build
 

Thanks bro....no I left the vinyl on and just roughed it up with the sander to give the resin some bite....well It worked for me, no way I was paying that much money for a new dashpad, and the cheaper ones are just that...cheap!

Re: My 86 build
 

....thinking of going with nitto nt555's 295/45/zr18 and 245/45/zr18 just wondering if the 45 series is "too" low profile....i like a bit of sidewall!