Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Next we finish up chassis, before it is time to get the engine into the frame.
I'm planning to put the engine in before the body. I am also rewiring all electrical.

It is getting exciting!!! :)

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Things are coming together. The body is on the chassis and next up is the overall of the engine and the new harnesses.

First up, pics from today of the body on chassis.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

A couple of more pictures.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

And a few more of some more body parts about to be mounted.
I can't wait to see the engine going on next. Right now I'm getting a few parts for the door latch and striker that needs to be replaced. Great progress, hoping for completion in October!

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

I've been out of a few weeks. but the engine is back into the chassis, new wiring is in place. the cab has been mounted. right now the top is being sprayed with a shutz gun and the 3m body liner to get that texture back.

i have two pictures. the seats have been re-upholstered. I decided to deviate from stock, i just didn't like to sit on vinyl. I had them upholstered in ultraleather. i also changed color from parchment to a more pure white to match the top. I also had them add a small amount of contrast stitching in the same orange as the truck to make them ever so slightly custom.

I got high wife approval rating on this change... :)

Pictures of a seat before mounting. sorry for crappy cell phone pictures.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Looking good, hope to see it before you take it home.

For sure. Last few times I've been up there I've been crazy busy. I'm thinking about renting an indoor storage facility up in Reno/Sparks for the winter.
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Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

A few updates. Motor and transmission is in the chassis. I steam cleaned the motor/transmission and rattle can painted it with high temperature Chevy orange to keep it as stock as possible. It's a bit more red tint to the engine color than the body, but I wanted to keep it stock.

Wiring harness is mostly done. I replaced all wiring harnesses.
I got more pics of the engine in the bay if you want me to post them. Just let me know.

Its crappy cell phone pictures but it should give you an idea despite the colors bring a bit exaggerated by the cell phone camera software.

Pics:

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Looks awesome! What replacement harness did you go with for the rewire?

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

It was from GMC Paul. I had a chat with them via email and he ordered me the correct harnesses. I looked online at a couple of vendors including summit but the risk of missing something and ordering the wrong parts swayed me to talking to a real human with domain knowledge for that order.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Looking great.....its my jimmys younger twin brother.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Running a bit behind on updates.

Engine, transmission and wire harnesses are in. After I cleaned up the ac lines I realize they will look a bit sad in an otherwise sparkling engine compartment.

Decided to order new hoses, a rebuilt compressor and valving and the thermo switch (sorry I don't recall what is called). Is not big bucks and I know I'll regret it if I don't do it now. Will add another week to the schedule, but I can live with that.

Par

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Long time since the last update. Had to go back and redo a bunch of things.
Added a new steering box (redhead steering box) new PS pump and fittings.

Had to get new AC vents for the top of the dash (i did not like the quality of the ones i got from LMC). Found another source that looks better.
Interior dash pic on the left. Pic of the LMC AC vent on the right.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Grille is painted and installed. Installing new headlights. I really feel like it is coming together.

Sending out the GMC hood logo for rechrome. It looks pretty good in the picture, but in natural light you can see the yellow under the chrome as it has thinned out quite a bit. Should look good with a re-chrome.

I spent a few hours with Autosol and a toothbrush to clean up the hood logo, it was a bit rougher before i started. Pic taken on my kitchen counter with my glasses for reference (used this pic to get a quote for re-chroming).

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Looking great. Are you painting the top of the dash to match the dash pad?

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

I don't know yet. I think i am going for the original look with the dash in the same color as the body and the dash pad in a contrasting color.

I'm having the dash pad made custom from ultraleather, same material as I'm using in the doors and interior sides. Also covering an aftermarket console that the upholstry guy will cover in the same material (i'm saving the original console for the future in case i want to go back to stock). The truck already had the dash pad replaced so no point in trying to preserve the original.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Truck looks great on re assemble!

Once back from chrome, are you going to fill in the indentations of the badge with paint?

JMHO, but wouldn't sandlewood paint look good on your dash top. It would match the orange nicley, and you could do it in non glare

Don't know it you worked on the eyebrow trim yet, but be prepared for a struggle with the mounting hardware, the mounting clips just don't want to fit

Grille looks great with the black accent, that was one of the reasons I changed mine, just too much chrome, didn't think of painting it like yours

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

I'm going to have the dash pad made in a medium brown color (i guess its slightly darker than sandlewood, but only slightly). Very close to the original dash pad color. i'm using orange thread and contrast stitch it to make it slightly custom (i did the same with the seats).

I'm having the recesses in the nose badge painted in, same paint as was used for the grille. I want to preserve that stock look as much as possible.

I hope there won't be too much of a struggle with the eyebrows. So far i have had relatively few missteps. I was far more worried about the wiring harness not working out, but that was no big deal. I researched the original paint the factory put on the 72 grille and tried to keep it as close to stock as i could.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

A few more pictures from this morning.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

My dash matches the interior color (green) and is in a flat finish. It does not match the exterior (white) color.

It is coming along nicely! It’s going to be a beautiful blazer.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

My dash, the metal portion of it, was the same color Orange as the rest of the body both inside and out.

My truck was a bone stock 72 GMC when i got it with nothing done to it, the only thing that had been done was the original carb had been replaced with better electric choke carb, a new dashpad, and an aftermarket steering weel. Oh, and the original radio had been replaced sometimes in the mid 80s for a more modern radio.

My dashpad was replaced as the original had cracked per the original owner. It was a light brown, which i understood was the same as the original color.

I got the truck from a guy who inherited it from his father. It had been in the family since the day they bought it in 72. It had 80,000 original miles on it and was in decent conditions (rusty rockers and a couple of dings here and there).

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Parb - GM painted the metal atop the dash in a flat finish paint that matched the dash pad on all trucks and K5s. When I look at your pics through the windshield it seems the metal is a flat saddle but tough to tell. Do you have dedicated pics that document the paint in this location prior to tear down? It should be saddle originally.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

Just looked through the pictures. The best pictures i have are these two.

What do you think, is that a flat saddle paint on top?
The air intake in front of the truck has just been stripped of paint when i took the picture of the left. my intent wasn't to take a picture of the dash paint, but its the best i got.

do any of you have a picture of the dash with paint so i can check it out?

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

In this photo it sure looks saddle to me. What color were the plastic dash vents? Could have been replaced but if saddle would lend support. There should be guys here w saddle interiors who could post examples. If you want saddle on the dash best to do it now before windshield installed if you wanted to go that route.

Re: ParB's 72 Orange Jimmy
 

The dash pad was saddle, but the dash vents where chrome.

par