Budget first:
previously: 2544.49
new money:
sem quart: 102
headliner/visors refresh: 115
3 rolls peel and seal: 53.04
reflectix 48x25ft: 40.69
locktite spray adhesive 9.98
outside temp sensor: 5.41
front brake hoses: 31.08
usb outlet: 7.99
2 cans duplicolor wheel paint (silver and clear) 15.98
4 gmc center caps and nuts:15.28
tire mount and balance: 40
alignment and ac charge: 110
window latch: 43
park brake release cable: 10.87
total to date: 3144.81
when we left off, it was on stock scruffy wheels, lowered 3 inches in the back, freshly panted, and needing a good interior cleaning and finishing of the suspension and brakes.
So, I did that.
First-ish was the suspension finishing. When I did the rear suspension, the belltech directions had the shims going one way in writing, and the other in pictures. I picked the wrong one initially. So I swapped it around, and the vibrations went away! I also set the back end to 4 inches, as the three wound up looking like too much rake with the drop spindles.
Speaking of drop spindles, I went after them. When I pulled the old, I realized that the upper ball joints were garbage. So I cleaned and painted the uppers that came with the drop spindles. I also installed the new lowers I had bought from rockauto a while ago. Cleaned and spray bombed the LCA, spring, frame, and wheelwells after popping out the knockouts for alignment. Turned out pretty OK!
20201119_124855 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
while I was in there, I pulled the new calipers that came in the parts pile out pf their boxes, cleaned them, painted them red, grabbed some new hoses cause the ones on this truck were scary, and got it all put together. No pictures of painted or installed calipers....
20201119_113941 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201119_114538 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
since were on the topic of suspension, ill talk about wheels. I had purchased a set of 15x8 truck rallys with the stock center caps from my friend patrick. I cleaned and shot the two he had primed, and wasnt really happy with them. So, I figured some hand sanding was in order. I took the worse of the two I had spray bombed, some 150 grit, and went to work. When it felt smoothish, I grabbed the can of duplicolor silver and the wheel clear and shot it. Sanded with 150 on the left, unsanded on the right.
20201119_162218 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201119_162232 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
this reinforced the lesson I have apparently failed to learn, which is that everything needs sanded between coats. Regardless. I sanded the two unblasted wheels, 80 grit on rusty parts then 150 overall. Then I test fit to make sure the color was close
20201116_080334 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
the stock caps were killing it for me. The fit, color, and style was dead on, but those caps....
when I bought the truck, it came with 3 plastic chrome center caps, and no plastic lug nuts. I test fit one, and liked it. So on the next pullapart run, I went hunting a fourth and some plastic caps. As luck would have it, I came across a full set on a 98 sierra. Bought them all! Had my tire guy swap the existing craptastic 235/75/15 on the wheels and bolted them on.
20201201_091936 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201202_171222 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
absolutely nailed the look I had in my head. The visual package will be further refined with window tint, a 4x4 air dam, mud flaps like on my red truck, and a tonneau cover. Also, a set of 255/70/15 tires. That added rubber should really visually beef up the wheels and truck.
To finish us out for this update, I did an interior overhaul. What happened was that I figured out the passengers side seat has a two stage slider to allow rear seat access. Mine only had one stage working. So I went to adjust the cable, and stuck to the seat. There was so much tar and nicotine and filth buildup that there were actually filth stalagmites off the bottom. So I pulled it. And found the carpet not much better....
20201116_151839 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201116_151846 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
so it all came out and got pressure washed. Except the headliner. I took that to the local upholstery shop.
20201120_101037 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
while it was out, I did peel and seal and radiant barrier over the roof, floors, rear cab wall, ans extended cab panels.
20201120_095902 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201120_112623 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
I couldn't bring myself to put the plastics in all different shades due to fading over the years. I had rousers in Salisbury mix me up a close match to the factory tan, and sell me a quart. Loaded into my 4oz harbor freight detail gun, cleaned and prepped all the plastics, and dyed them.
20201121_075012 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201121_162341 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
we did the dash too, as well as the door panels. All of it. I added a usb charge port to the ash tray assembly to make things simpler. Done this in almost all my cars, and it requires a little bore job on the factory hole to clear.
20201124_093430 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
to finish off the “well, hell, im here.....” work, I did the stereo. The mtx sub and box was purchased from the junkyard, the mtx amp and random 4x10 speakers were bought from a fellow GRM guy who was cleaning out his garage. I built a couple simple brackets to mount the amp on the back cab wall, put the rear speakers in, hooked up the amp, swapped in the kenwood from my autocross car, and generally made the stereo kick ass in this thing. I really want a downfire under seat box, and im pretty sure my wife is getting me that and a trailer brake controller for Christmas
20201121_141036 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201121_152841 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201121_141043 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201121_145541 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
so this is generally what it looks like reassembled! Pretty happy with it overall. Been driving it quite a bit since I got all this done. Its comfortable, quiet, and pleasant. Everything my truck should be.
20201124_160525 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201124_160532 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201124_160704 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201124_160724 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20201202_171222 by
Michael Crawford, on Flickr