Re: Restoring Rusty
 

A whole year? Booo. But that Busty's a nice truck, love her curves.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I hear you, but try telling that to my 17 year old daughter who just got her driver's license and was promised a hatchback after we sell Rusty and use that money to buy her one!

Don't get me wrong folks, I love Rusty, but I love my daughter more!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

No I don’t send the Medallions in anywhere, I put them on the cover before installing the cover on the seat.
This is the seat that I’m restoring for someone.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Metal wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy chair

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

commencing derustolization situation with an abrasive and acid combination

Note: sum of that black residue is old black paint not rust (that's the story we're going with at 11)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

mandatory stare and compare of the pair

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

then we got em quickly into our organic vegan outdoor paint booth before they flash rusted too much

for those of you eagle eyed among you, that is not a trampoline it's the Lawn Eliminator 3000

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Your doing a good job Greg! Make sure you lubricate the bearings & wheels.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thanks, yup, planning on using my white lightning grease unless HATZIE tells me otherwise, ha ha

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Do you have the spring for your tracks?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I do, thanks for looking out

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

:metal:

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and here are the obligatory before and after glamour shots

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

OK, enough of the seat already, give it a rest! [... see what I did there]

so now we wait 8 weeks for the new seat covers to arrive [ I'm looking at you USA1 ]

what to do? what to do in the meantime

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so these are my Intellitronix (pronounced "cheap Summit brand") digital gauges

they look fine - or do they?

they work fine - or do they?

let me walk you through what's going on here (sorry difficult to take pics of them with that stupid round thing in the way in front of them)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so in terms of looks aka aesthetics the first thing you will obviously notice is the color mismatch, half of them are green and the other half white

I started out with the four green small gauges thinking, hey it's a green truck, right? well I ended up not in love with that hue if you will, so I bought a white speedo and tach which I prefer, but now they don't match color wise

the next problem is fitment, see how both the four small gauges don't actually fill their cavities, as well as the two big ones? that's.... [ahem] ... wait for it... tachy !

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

now in terms of functionality, as much as prefer to read numbers instead of needles, there is an inherent problem with the tach, the last two digits are fixed and they always simply light up two zeros aka 00

so what does that mean? well the tach will show that you are either idling at 500 or 500 RPM but it will never show you 550 because it can't that second "5" led will never light up anything but a "0" and for LS Tuning that sorta sucks

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so I may or may not have been stockpiling some new goodies literally over the last two years, begging, suggesting, hinting that's what I wanted for my birthdays or Christmases (ie gift cards, donations, etc. not necessarily the gauges themselves as they are super expensive)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and thanks to a very generous family and extended family, we finally got a complete set of the AutoMeter Sport Comp II electronic gauges:

• 2 5/8" small gauges
• 5" large gauges

because what I like to do before I sell a vehicle is to put another grand into it!

that's right folks after 7 years of ownership Rusty will be coming up for sale shortly once we have the new seat and these new gauges in

(if you could let me know how much I should ask for it I would really appreciate it, and remember reason for selling is to buy our 17 year old daughter (a straight A student mind you) her first car, some sort of hatchback we think)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I like the needle ones better, but that’s just my opinion. And BTW, the tracks turned out awesome

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

ha ha, I was seriously going to mention you in that post saying as long as ________ approves we'll be happy, but I wasn't sure if I was allowed to name drop

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

:lol:

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I would suggest one of the auction sites, like bring a trailer. This thread might increase the value of the truck a bit, so I think it's worth a try. I'm not sure any other squarebody has been this thoroughly documented publicly.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

thanks, I am hesitant about even mentioning the thread as I was so brutally honest about everything including the costs, some people will go let's see he paid only $1,500 for the truck plus $1,200 for the engine/transmission combo ok here's $3K for it, ha ha

of course it has new tires, belt, brakes, radiator, fuel pump, shocks, springs, $1K worth of AutoMeter gauges going in, heater core, brand new Lokar shifter, new drive shaft, Hooker exhaust manifolds, Grant steering wheel, etc. but how do you put a price on 7 years of labor

I was actually thinking about this the other day while driving to Pick-N-Pull to get something for one of my other trucks, and it was 106° F out, do you want to be out there pulling parts in that heat, but more importantly the time vested in running around from NAPA to AutoZone, to the junk yards, and endless hours spent online researching the parts

did I mention I thinned out the LS wiring harness by myself, ha ha

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

If you're selling it locally, I would think 7k would be in the ballpark.

This thread has made the truck something of an icon. Some folks would pay a bit more to own a truck that's this well known and regarded already. The question is whether there's enough of those folks to be worth auctioning it publicly.

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Great work on the seat structure. I've actually shifted to painting with a brush when it's feasible. I feel like the paint will be more durable since it doesn't need to have a high enough percentage of solvent to be propelled airborne. Those tracks came out particularly nice.

I'm probably more an analog guy than digital, so I won't needle you about your gauge choice...

I know they said 8 to 10 weeks to get your seat cover but when you look back on it I bet it won't seem like it took much more than a couple of months...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Great work on the seat structure. I've actually shifted to painting with a brush when it's feasible. I feel like the paint will be more durable since it doesn't need to have a high enough percentage of solvent to be propelled airborne. Those tracks came out particularly nice.

I'm probably more an analog guy than digital, so I won't needle you about your gauge choice...

I know they said 8 to 10 weeks to get your seat cover but when you look back on it I bet it won't seem like it took much more than a couple of months...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I like that number, it's a good starting point, but I must adjust it to California overinflation, ha ha

honestly I am even considering a trade for a 2010(ish) hatchback and a dirty joke I haven't heard yet

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Too Funny !!!

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

honestly having this faded strip above the tinted rear slider didn't bother me one bit

the splatter on the plastic is from another project (ie us painting the bench seat frame earlier on, remember?)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

I just got sick and tired of people telling me I should paint it, so I finally gave in, in my driveway none the less, figure I'll give my HOA something to complain about, ha ha

shown with the plastic torn off but the blue tape still on there

Fun Challenge: What year, make and model is that thing in the garage?

... and For Extra Credit: What motor/trans combo does it have and what octane gas am I running, ha ha? (you should tell from the smell)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

men that's sexy, not to mention it just totally added $12.50 to the value of the truck

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

here we go...

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

and some parting shots of those Intellitronix gauges

I did mention they was cheap didn't I?

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Digital Gauges - never been raced!

coming to a Craigslist near you :haha:

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

nothing like a clean canvas

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Man I waited 2 years to try these, whacha all think?

when I picked the Sports Comp II series I was going for the least offensive, I wanted black bezels but didn't want to pay AutoMeter $30 bucks per gauge to paint them black for me, I should know I spoke to their [ahem] "Customer Service"

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

oh gawd nooooooo (he's not going to use that is he???)

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

Bruh, wouldn't a Dremel be a wiser choice? Don't you have one?

Why yes, yes I do.... also broken! I swear this stop spinning thing is contagious in my garage

Re: Restoring Rusty
 

so we just use that metal bit to rough out the edges like so, and then we smooth them out with this sand drum thingie and the pink spinner thingie