Decided to go with the black billet & keep the chrome trim ring on the grille. I also scored a vintage GMC emblem on eBay, which will be mounted onto the billet. I sent it home to my dad, & he's having a local shop re-chrome it. After shearing two 5/64" hex bolt heads holding the billet grille into the shell, I eventually managed to get it removed. I ended up having to cut part of the mounting bars just to get it out. Now I have to fix it back as best as possible. I went ahead & got some quotes for powder coat last week. Gonna do the billet grille in satin black, & the front bumper will be done in a gloss black.
I also started trying to remove the chrome trim ring from the grille shell, in anticipation of having the shell repainted. That's a PITA! Been trying to Dremel the tabs holding it into place, while trying not to butcher anything. It's getting close, & I'll try to get some pics uploaded of the process. I'll also snap some pics of the billet grille fix as well.
A couple weeks ago I noticed the blower fan was making noise. It wasn't too noticeable on low, but increasing speeds resulted in more noise. I decided to dig into it last week. My motor has the cover over it, & that was a bit of a pain to deal with. There's also one bolt on the top right that's directly behind a support brace. Getting that out was a challenge as well. After finally getting to the internals, luckily it was only leaves in the cage on the motor. That's what I get for leaving the wiper cowl off for so long!
While I was in there, I wiped things down, cleaned the cage, & lubed the shaft on the motor. Smooth as butter now!
A few weeks ago, my wife drove the Hoe to work. She mentioned that it didn't seem to be cooling properly (A/C). I just had a new compressor, accumulator, & orifice tube installed in May. I think it's just low refrigerant, as the compressor seems to keep cycling constantly. Gotta look for leaks though. Taking back to the shop Monday morning for diagnosis on that. I thought I was past the A/C woes!
