1991 V3500 Project Heavy Hauler

[MTCK]

Once it started raining hard I put on my rain gear, got out the hose, carpet cleaner and scrub brush and cleaned up my new to me seat belts. Not show quality but good enough for this work truck and now I'm not in fear of catching some disease from them.

[MTCK]

Good weather and a day off meant I could get a little work done on the truck. Finished up installing the closed cell foam, and started on the vinyl mat. This stuff is thick, and stiff! I trimmed the rear shelf the rest of the way, and installed the speaker brackets and shelf.

Then I spent the rest of the day wrestling with the vinyl with a heat gun and various other implements. I started with the door sills and worked my way in. I'm not sure that is the best method or not, as there seems to be excess material. I will see how it looks after sitting for a day or two to see if it lays flat. 29F this morning and only got up to 54F today, so the clock is ticking!!!

My plan is to finish the floor, drill holes for all the headliner trim, and mock that up, then make a trip to the upholsterer that I've been talking to and look at some fabric and vinyl swatches.

[Greenlee]

Looking good Marcus! I put the rubber mat in my truck also. I didn't want to worry about trying to take care of carpet. For what it's worth, I started in the middle and worked my way out. I probably trimmed a couple inches off each side in various places. I think you will be able to work out all of the bows if you start in the middle.

It's cool that you were able to save the factory card board shelf. I ripped mine up a bit taking it out. I haven't put it back in, but I haven't been able to bring myself to throw it away yet either.

I received my replacement seatbelt over the weekend. You are right! It's all about keeping her riding in it.

[MTCK]

Thanks Greenlee. Glad you got your belt so the family cruises can continue. I saved the shelf but it is NOT in good shape. I'm not sure if it came from this truck originally or not. The holes for the rear seat mount bolts look.... Custom.

Good info on the vinyl, thank you. I've talked to a few folks on the site and a buddy I know here and sounds like everybody did some sort of trimming. I'll give it a shot some afternoon this week as we are supposed to have temps in the 60's. All my interior LEDs showed up today so I'll put those in as well.

[y5mgisi]

Killer!

[MTCK]

Started with the brute force method - started in the middle working out trimming at the edges. Much better. I also ran the truck for about 45 min with the heat wide open and used my hear gun. More tomorrow.

[carboncrew]

that looks really nice....don't forget to take a little scottbright & alum polish to those door sills! Sorry its my OCD. They just don't look right against that shinny new flooring.

[MTCK]

Thanks guys. Hahaha yeah everything is going to get a clean and a polish before it gets put into service. I have another mockup or two before final assembly. Hey carboncrew, how is your SEM dyed trim holding up. I have 4 cans of GM medium gray on the way. It was the closest swatch to the slate gray interior I have.

[Greenlee]

I used SEM fire thorn red. It has held up great on softer vinyl materials like the dash. It's held up pretty good on hard plastics also, but I have a couple of areas on the door panels where it has scratched off. I may have to redo them at some point.

[carboncrew]

Everything I painted has held up great. Headliner trim will scratch off (noticed with a slip of a screwdriver) but that trim is up out of the way.

My door panels were not painted, just cleaned. The front armrests were new (originally black) and so far so good.

[MTCK]

Thanks for the info. I have the classic coat on the way (slow boat because no air freight) but I need to chases down the cleaner and adhesion promoter so I can follow their prep instructions.

[chilliwak]

I just love the look of that heavy hauler! A true inspiration to all of us building classic GMs!

[jhama78]

Nice rig man, I don't guess you have too many more weekends before the termination dust starts falling.

Where in Fairbanks are ya? I come up there every year to work on the rocket launchers at poker flat research range out on the steese past chatanika.

Most definitely envious of everybody up there were nothing rusts, and not envious of the winter weather... Lol

[MTCK]

Thanks chilli and j-rod. Supposed to hit mid 70's today, and my moose hunting trip got scuttled by work so I guess I had better go make some hay. I'm near the University here in town. You hit the nail on the head - the sheet metal is nice, but we pay for it!

[jhama78]

Ill have to give ya a shout next time Im up that way, we can grab a brew or something and talk trucks.

[MTCK]

Do that for sure, j-rod. What time of year are you normally up here? We are supposed to be getting some great aurora these next few nights but it is overcast. I've been out to poker flats for a tour about 20 years ago when I was in junior high. It was pretty cool!

Made some progress. I really like how the b-pillar trim covers the gap between the door jambs. Cleans the appearance up a lot. I got my order of operation a little screwed up so I need to remove the rear seat to get the rear outboard seat belts installed. Off to do that and swap steering columns.

[MTCK]

The 4wd shifter boot and center console went in pretty easily. I'm glad I taped around all the holes so the foam insulation didn't slide around.

[COS399]

Looking good. We have already had some snow and below freezing mornings over here.

[jhama78]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Do that for sure, j-rod. What time of year are you normally up here? We are supposed to be getting some great aurora these next few nights but it is overcast. I've been out to poker flats for a tour about 20 years ago when I was in junior high. It was pretty cool!

I'll actually be coming back out there sometime between Turkey Day and Crimmas for about a week to do some surveying work on one of the launchers. But, we normally are there in the summer since 90% of our work is outside.

Ill give ya a shout when I head that way in Nov/Dec for sure.

[MTCK]

Thanks COS. Glad to see you are getting out and driving your rig a bit. I'm hoping the white stuff stays away another couple of weeks... I have some more outdoor home improvement work to do before the snow flies.

I swapped the steering column, adjusted the shift linkage (after a brief freak out when I couldn't put it in park), and decided to just button it up. I've seen a few of these trucks be able to pull off the wood grain trim, but this isn't one of them, so I put the Cheyenne trim in place of the Silverado trim before installing the dash pad. I put in all my LED dash lights, dome light and courtesy lamp under the front dash. Much better. Had to tweak the contacts on the lights as the dash lights are supposed to be replaced as an assembly that includes the plastic mounting base. I took them apart and made it work.

I couldn't resist taking it for a little ride, so I took my wife a coffee since she is on night shift. Turned over 100k miles on the way there. Sure is nice having tilt steering, a real steering wheel and a stereo with Bluetooth.

Need to center the steering wheel, install the rear belts, install the fat mat on the roof, doors and pillars, drill the rest of the holes for the trim and and and and.....

[whitels1]

I gotta get me some of them LEDs they are super bright! Looking good man!

[MTCK]

Sounds like a plan, j-rod. Thanks Dave. Funny you should mention how bright they are, since they come from www.superbrightleds.com Haha. I was farting around looking for pics of this stock color on a 3+3 and came across this truck. For 25k you could not duplicate what this truck had done to it:

http://www.cajeeprestoration.com/tru...91/crew-cab/45

http://www.2040cars.com/Chevrolet/Ot...on-4x4-626276/

[MTCK]

Had to work a half day so didn't get as much done. I picked up a steamer from Walmart and removed the film from the back window and rear doors. No more purple tint! I also finished the fat mat install on the rear doors and got the left side all buttoned up. I had to trim the plastic where the power window switch was originally to allow the crank to pass through. The fabric trim piece covers the exposed end almost perfectly. When the interior upholstery is getting done I'll have them make a smaller hole centered at the crank.

Amazon came through with my seat heaters for four seats. If you are sitting in the middle back you are SOL. Everybody else will have toasty buns. These were highly rated and made by Dorman.

[MTCK]

Made in the USA! Thanks CaptKaos. Quality appears to be excellent, just don't ask what shipping to AK cost.

[whitels1]

Lookin good!