1986 K10 shorty revival

[gmachinz]

Well, I got this truck in a trade and it was originally a 2WD cab and now it's sitting on a shortbox 4x4 frame and should have dual tanks (wiring is there...mostly anyway....) but previous owner just put a single tank box.

Anyway, original color was grey with black interior-the interior when I got it was trashed for the most part and this truck had a lot of electrical gremlins for me to sort out. It has a GM Goodwrench 350 with miles unknown, a TH350 trans (which is toast) and a 73-77 vintage 205 TC and 3.73 gears. My plan is for a complete interior restore and I'm going with blue interior since I have a lot of it left over from my 90 Suburban build and eventually the truck will be sprayed in GM Arctic White which is a 98 S10 color-absolutely the brighest white GM made.

I'm updating the stereo, converting to serpentine, electric fan, sound deadening the interior, swapping the front clip over to a 90 K5 front end which I have sitting ready to go and converting to electric mirrors-I have both the conversion van style and a few sets of them from a 91 Suburban so I'll swap them around and see what looks better on th etruck-I have several sets of doors with them on so it's no biggie.

I just finished organizing my truck parts and thought I'd take a couple pics before it gets any further along-more pics to come too-I've had it a month now and I've already got most of the interior ready to go back in.

[fulltroy]

Door panels look great. Did you have to dye them?

[gmachinz]

Yeah....they were the correct blue to.begin with but the drivers side was just a little faded on the top and both were dirty-the trucks I pulled them from were kinda rough. I basically decided whatever color GM dashpad I could find that wasn't cracked was going to be the interior color I go with-funny that I found another blue one-my 90 Suburban I'm nearly done with also has blue interior....lol, so I had most of the e,xtra interior stuff I would need for the pickup.
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[fulltroy]

Looks like they turned out really good. What did you use to dye them. I've got a set the same color I would like to dye.

[gmachinz]

Ii have a local paint store custom mix the vinyl dye for older interiors. I have them match it to a nice piece and they take into account the factory finish and the various resins to give you different gloss finishes, etc. So I shoot for the surface finish that gives you a factory finish which if I remember correctly is a medium gloss resin. Cans are about $35 each and two cans is usually enough to do one pickup interior. I restore gbody interiors so trucks are no different for me. I would always rather restore original GM pieces that buy aftermarket.

[gmachinz]

Found a 91 Suburban in the local wrecking yard that donated its front bucket seats and console for my 86 K10 project. I also nabbed the door panel inserts and I plan to trim them to fit the Silverado door panels. The lower door carpet will also be used.



When you opt to put 'Burban buckets in a pickup, you have to make sure you grab the inner seat mounts and I cut a few extra rear bench seat track ends from other donor trucks in the yard so I can cut/weld the correct ends to the bucket seat ones-the Suburban ones angle downward where the truck benchseat angle upwards-this is the only difference in the floors as far as the seats are concerned-then of course you have to add a hole or weld a 10mm nut underneath the floorboard for the inner rear bucket seat track. I also grabbed the bracket that you need for the rear of the console too. The seats were pretty dirty but showed very little wear so i cleaned/scrubbed them with a nylon bristle tire scrubrush using water with a combination of DAWN dishsoap and COMET, then sprayed Blue Coral upholstery cleaner. They turned out almost like new.

I am picky about some things like I wanted the seat pattern to match the door panel inserts so I opted to NOT buy the cheasy bowtie bench seat from a local shop that sells repro truck parts and recovered bench seats. I seen this Suburban in the boneyard and went to town pullin some stuff!

[gmachinz]

Here's my DD 1990 Suburban-I'm kinda of used to having a clean interior so now my truck will be a carbon copy almost-lol. Don't pay attention to the speaker placement-the sound system is a work in progress on the 'Burban at the moment. The truck will be identical except for the door panel inserts/pull straps.

[gmachinz]

Here's a pic of the Suburban door panel insert trimmed to fit the Silverado door panel sitting behind the other door panel to show the subtle difference in the insert pattern-I don't want the Silverado pattern if I install the Suburban bucket seats.


top pic is the Suburban insert-bottom pic is the Silverado one.

[baclay9]

Nice man. Looking really good.
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[Corts60]

Looking real good man. I appreciate your attention to details. In my opinion, that is what makes or breaks a build.
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[gmachinz]

I appreaciate the compliment. For me, I try to focus on things that I would notice if I were to buy a truck or car that was redone....stuff like mismatched material drive me crazy....or things like door seals that don't seal, body lines that are off because previous owner didn't want to rebuild or replace the door hinge bushings, etc. stuff like that.
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[gmachinz]

Well yesterday I got home from work and decided to mock up the Suburban buckets and console in my truck-I dont know what anybody has done when doing this swap, but after carefully analyzing my options-I decided the best route was to use both the LH and RH bench seat tracks on each of the buckets because of the way the rear seat frames between the two are shaped-the Suburban ones curve down while the truck floorpan curves up in that area. I had thought about cutting/welded but decided against it. I had to redrill a few holes on the bottoms of the bucket seat frame, add a small hole for the spring tension for the adjusting back/forth and drill/add a hole in the actual truck seat brackets themselves. I measured and mounted one of the inner mounts and temporarily bolt the RH seat down to get a location for the rear inner seatframe bolt location too. I still need to cut off about 2" from the front of the seat bracket frames since the truck bench ones are slightly longer than the bucket ones.

I degreased and painted the frames with self-etching primer and then dark grey gloss paint-bolt heads I painted semi-gloss black.








hopefully after this weekend I'll have the other bucket seat in along with the console and inner seatbelts....rigthnow I have the AC firewall box off for a complete overhaul and reseal-then I'll seal the floor, sound deaden it and get my new carpet ordered.

[gmachinz]

Ok.....got to put some pics up but today's mission was to restore the AC firewall box. I scored a super low mileage assembly from the pick n pull from a 75 High Sierra....also grabbed the radio suppressor wire since my 86 don't have it...might help the sound system out for when the blower motor is on...idk.....we'll see.

So I cleaned out the evap core, cleaned and resealed the housing halves together and to the firewall.....installed new heater core, New blower relay, New resistor. Now I need to order an inner fender before going forward. Also scored all the factory underhood jack stuff....yes!
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[Car'n'Guitars]

Interior looks awesome, I may be getting some blue interior pieces that I either want to make burgundy or black, hope they look as good as yours.

[gmachinz]

Thanks! Im basically duplicating what my 90 Suburban has for interior only I'm modding what I need since the pickup floors are a bit different up front. I scored dually rear anti-sway bar that will most likely find it's way on the Burb....I'll have to get some "under construction" shots for ya'll to see-the pickup was a basket case of a truck when I got it-still is kinda....lol.

[gmachinz]

I told ya-this truck is partially dis-mantled....lol





I was kinda inthe middle of a serpentine swap when I decided to get into the AC firewall enclosure-the cab developed a small water leak that I had to get to the bottom of. That and I had the electric fan setup mocked up and mostly installed but ran out of stock on one of my terminals I use for my harnesses-so that held me up. Then I pulled the trans pan to discover that I am in dire need of an overhaul-thus I'm letting go of a few of my tach clusters....the list just goes on....lol

[gmachinz]

Been hectic lately-got a lot of parts for the truck but havent had the time-maybe this Saturday-gotta a lot to do to it too! Anyway, the other day it rained all day long and after it stopped I checked the inside of the truck on the floor-NO WATER! So even with the hood popped up a little I have eliminated the water leak it seems-so it was the entire firewall AC box seal that was the culprit-it particular the foam seal around the heater core inlet/oulet tubes that had shrunk/deteriorated to the point that water would get right past them and saturate the firewall sound deadening jute backing and leak onto the floor. Now it's on to the 88-91 front end conversion for ole 'Shorty! I have the rest of my seat/console install yet to come too-I have pics just gotta upload/post them!

[MTCK]

Looks real good. I like the grey on the serpentine brackets. Keep up the good work.
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[gmachinz]

Thanks.its kinda a mess undehood right now....I have a lot of uncobbling to do-I thought about going AC delete but changed my mind-I am redoing the AC, stock radiator is mocked up with a Crown Victoria dual speed fan using the stock radiator support brackets, I'm upgrading the charging system-also discovered the PO cut the wires going to the washer fluid reservoir pump because they put an early 80's LH front fender on and the truck and the spacing for the correct reservoir w/pump is off-just a lot of stupid stuff like that.

I also am running a complete 90 Suburban front clip w/trans cooler and fan as well as the factory engine oil cooler. I can't even believe somebody drove this truck like it was when I first got it....it was such a turd.
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[gmachinz]

I've been busy working on an 80 Monte I got awhile back and I've spent more time lately on my truck after neglecting it for a few months-hopefully this photobucket slideshow link will work....
http://s975.photobucket.com/user/gbo...tbox%20Project

[rs74]

Originally Posted by gmachinz

Here's a pic of the Suburban door panel insert trimmed to fit the Silverado door panel sitting behind the other door panel to show the subtle difference in the insert pattern-I don't want the Silverado pattern if I install the Suburban bucket seats.


top pic is the Suburban insert-bottom pic is the Silverado one.

Lookin nice! How hard was it to cut the burb fabric and make it work on the other panels. I am thinking about doing the same thing on one of the two trucks I have.

[gmachinz]

It wasnt hard-make sure you use fabric scissors though-they have a serraded edge that makes cutting easier. The inserts themselves are only glued at the edges on the backside of the plastic and the back of the insert is a foam type material so after careful trimming, and several dry testfits, I used 3M headliner adhesive spray on the backing, waited about 5 minutes to get tacky, then applied the trimmed Suburban insert over the pickup backing-it fastened in place right away-pay extra attention to trimming at the top corners at the door handle trim cover-if you trim too much of the corner away and you run the risk of the corners fraying out over time and you'll have to redo it again.

The hardest part was waiting until I had a suitable doorpanel before even starting-I got lucky though and after dyeing one LH door panel, I found another one in a K5 that was dirty but no rot and had all of it's grain on the top still! My previous panel was worn smooth and I won't buy LMC replacement door panels-they're junk imo.

I should mention too that I cut my own door panel insulation trim sections too to be glued on the backsides of the panels for a quieter interior and it helps seal the cabin better. I also reinstall a foam seal along the bottom of the door panels on the back in the groove that held an OEM sealing strip-I just replicate what GM did only I use better materials-stuff like that you don't find in catalogs. I'll post pics of those once I finish them-I have the lower sealing strips on but have yet to glue the panel insulation in place just yet-I'm on the hunt for a clean LH door and fender-again, I only use GM stuff so I'm willing to wait for the right parts...heck I bet I have enough blue interior pieces to build 2 more interiors after redoing my Suburban and now this truck....! lol

[gmachinz]

So yeah, these are the final door panels with the 2nd LH panel which turned out to be 100% perfect and that was amazing since the Blazer was a complete rusted turd that it came out of! The only pieces I was not able to find either nice used or NOS was the long silver door panel trim pieces-those I did have to buy from LMC but hey...what can ya do?

[rs74]

Wow! You did a very nice job on those. What brand of dye did you use on those. They look pretty dang nice. If the drivers door map pocket wasn't loose you would almost think they was new.

[gmachinz]

There was another thing that annoyed me while refinishing the inside of the firewall-in particular the firewall pad. I had to remove pretty much everything and rebuild the entire underdash climate control case because previous owner was a complete nimrod trying to replace the heater core which he failed to do so it leaked over time and saturated the original padding-there are hinges for the blend doors which have rods that need to be pulled so that the two halves can be taken apart-well, previous owner didnt do that-result? broken hinge attachment at theblend door so it won't open....and the threaded rod was loose because the plastic snap in bushing that secures it was cracked-not to mention all the sealing foam strips were worn away to nothing. After pulling three complete junkyard units out I was able to restore one good, complete one.

Anyway, when it came time to order the firewall pad, I seen a company called Brothers also sells truck parts similar to LMC so I took a chance and ordered what appears to be their only option for 81-87 pickups. The pre-cut holes didn't align very well with the firewall for one and some were omitted altogther! I had to cut my own holes for the cruise control hose/wiring, as well as the wiring for the dual tanks which exit out almost in the middle below the windshield on the firewall. Even the precut opening they provide for the steering column was not right-I had to trim that also.

Out of everything I've done on this truck so far, the firewall padding was the biggest PITA!