Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Ah makes sense then.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

once again thanks for the pics and details. What brand bedsides did you go with? Looking forward to the seeing what's required to get them to fit correctly......a shame they don't fit better!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

I believe the "filler hump cutout" changed on the bed floor and bedside somewhere around 1979 when they went to the square filler door??

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

I ordered these from lmc.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

I got the bed put together, and shot some epoxy and slick sand on the exterior. Everything ended fitting ok after some work. There's still a few small dings I have to fix in the bed floor before I finish the inside of the bed, but it's coming along nicely.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Looks great Jayson!!!!!!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

I'm working on block sanding the box, and I think that this a pretty important step in making aftermarket parts work for our trucks. The metal, and the stampings that are used to make these parts are pretty sub part to OEM parts. Where there are transitions in shape, like sharp edges, corners, body lines, ect, on the aftermarket parts there is almost always a low, or wavey area next to it. Block sanding with a guide coat is the only way to find all these areas for sure. Alot of what you find with using a guide coat, you could run your hand over and it would feel fine. But when you put your paint and clear on, that is when you will see those areas. The right side is done with the first round of sanding and filling, on the left side the dark spots show the low areas.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

All of the spot welds on the front panel had to be drilled out, and I had to pull the top down to get it the right shape, and cut, and reshape the profile where the sides slip on to it. That is what was causing the big gap when I put it together the first time. Then I had to cut, adjust, and weld, the ends so the tailgate would have decent gaps. It just takes time, but you can make aftermarket parts fit, and look good. I guess I have more time than money.:metal:

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

These are an invaluable tool to have for fixing wavey panels. There are cheaper ways to spread body filler, but these are Teflon coated, and they are 3 different levels of flexible. The guy that makes them has a ton of videos using them for fixing all kinds of damage. They save a ton of sanding, and shaping time. They help me flatten out a nice large area, without a ton of extra filler to sand off.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

:metal::metal::metal:

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Very nice work.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Stopped by and saw Jayson today on my way back from Fargo, ND. This guy has some awesome talent. I can't wait for him to start on Dad's remaining body work and splashing a little paint on it. He picked me up a 73 complete from clip, original condition, we took that apart this afternoon, it's going on my next truck build (White Woody, build thread on the way soon). Every bolt just came right out, amazing (southern clip)

He also picked me up an 80s SWB bed, dual tank which will go on my Dad's truck (southern bed).

The 4x4 is a parts truck Jayson picked up for the engine and other misc parts.

Thanks Jayson for all your help!! Mike

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

wow nice finds man!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

First round of blocking done on the box:b69:. I hit the bare metal spots with some epoxy, then shot on another couple of coats of slick sand. On my next day off I'll do the whole process again, it should be pretty close now though. I got the doors off of the same 73 Mikes front clip came from, I got those hung on the cab, and as expected they fit great. Doors are 1 item it's nice to try and use OEM if you can, I have used aftermarket, but you are pretty limited on what you can do to make them fit. It was nice to take a break yesterday and watch someone else do the work! Mike made short work of disassembly of the front clip. You guys down south are spoiled!!!!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Got the block sanding on the box done, and sprayed some 2k primer on it. It turned out nice and straight. :metal: I fixed a couple little dings on the tailgate, and shot some epoxy, and slick sand in that. I got a new sata 5000 rp for clear coat today, and I was pretty anxious to try it out, so I got out the inner fenders and got them painted. The new clear gun is pretty nice, it will cut my wet sanding, and buffing time down to next to nothing, it lays the clear on pretty nice.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Excellent!!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

I didn't really care for the silver color after it was on the inner fenders, so I decided to go with charcoal grey, and I like it alot better.:metal:

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Man, that came out purty! I have a couple of Sata's, but man, they're thirsty. I get a lot of really fine fog when I use them. I could easily be doing something wrong, but my Devilbiss doesn't do it as bad. I want summa them bondo spreaders, I SUCK at it.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

I was worried about how much paint the sata use, awhile back I used an old sata jet 90 my buddy has, and that thing was a paint hog, and my exhaust fan couldn't keep up with the over spray. It left a good finish though. The sata 5000 is like a night and day difference, I think anyone could get a nice finish with it, and it seems to atomize the paint extremely well at lower pressure, so less over spray. I sprayed the clear on these inner fenders at 22 psi. I ordered up the sata 5000 hvlp to use for base coat, pretty excited to get that, and give it a shot.

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Good luck with it, and please post a review!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Getting a little closer to getting this thing done.😕 feels like it's taking forever!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Excellent!!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

great work so far... imma keep my eyes on this one..

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Excellent work and beautiful color in the dash!

Re: 73 gmc short Sierra Grande C1500
 

Created a little setback for myself, when I was painting the cab and doors. The new clear gun puts on more paint than I'm used to, and I ended up with a little solvent pop. The finish off the gun is the best I've ever had! Oh well, could be worse, there is just some micro bubbles in the clear, the surface is fine, so after it cures I'll scuff and slam on some more base and clear. The new base coat gun is awesome, the metallics went down perfect, not a hint of mottling, or anything funny.