Project NiteMare-1970 C10 LWB build

[Molberg]

Manual release cable. Used a kink free pto cable.. fished through fender and drilled into lower door with a grommet. I split the operator rod, and slipped on the sleeve piece I made from 1/4" steel tubing. (slides on rod nicely) Welded rod back together with a stop washer for the cable slide assembly to act against when operated. A return spring keeps the manual operator closed. The inside handle operates as normal.. it slides inside the tubing without moving the cable. When the cable is operated, it hits the stop washer and pulls the rod like I'm opening it with the inside handle. (cable not pulled in any of the pics)

[Molberg]

Ok... ugly pto knob time. Wasnt sure what I wanted... came up with this. Measured and drilled 6 holes(approx .357 cal. lol) and used pencil grinder to notch sides out similiar to cylinder from a revolver. Polished some casings with buffing wheel. Painted knob. Sanded middle of casings (not visible) and set them into knob with fiberglass. Sprayed the whole thing with clear when done. Fabbed a bracket for inner fender, sprayed and installed

[Molberg]

The next step was to make something for behind the seats. Thought I'd take a shot at a stretched resin type panel. I used 1/8" x 6" grid type concrete mesh for the base frame. In and out numerous times to get it to fit nice.(cut and tack weld... try fit again) Positioned wood discs for the speakers and amp mount and supported from underside with left over pieces of concrete mesh. Laid it down on a sheet of plywood covered in poly, and found a stretchy type flannel blanket. Stretched over speaker discs and fastened to plywood around edges. Rolled the entire thing with fiberglass resin.

[Molberg]

After making sure it fit, I decided to add a place for a decent stereo head unit, without chopping dash up. Came up with this. Used kitty hair to fill large areas. Thats my old hood emblem stretched under the resin for the stereo insert. Dragged the panel with body filler, and shot with hi builds primer

[Molberg]

After trimming edges, the backside got another layer of resin and fiberglass blanket for strength. Tried to keep as much of the wiring concealed as possible. Test fit in the cab once more, after installing speakers, sub and amp. (sorry... cab is dusty)

[Molberg]

The panel had holes drilled at top to match the top fuel tank strap mounting locations. I then made a trim bar to extend full width... with the same holes drilled into it.(restrict movement of seat back as well) Some marine type stainless pull handles with LED lights were welded to the bar from the back side. Removed mounting pads from the handles, cut holes to match diameter of the handle.. slid ends of handles into holes in plate, and welded from back side to look clean. LED lights wired into interior light circuit. Finished the chevy emblem off with some poor mans carbon fibre. Beaded type drawer mat placed over the emblem. Shot with rattle can silver, remove the mat and dust with black spray paint. Shoot with satin clear when finished. Same effect done to trim bar. The audio cables hanging at bottom are for tweeters in console.

[Molberg]

After completing the speaker panel, I installed the console I fixed/painted from an early '90's chev truck. The console required fiberglass repair, holes cut for speakers into the front side, and paint. I hated it immediately. (wife shaking her head again) Tore the speakers out of it, kept the cup holder and bushed the rest. Thought I'd take a shot at a console to match the speaker panel. I picked up a B&M mega shifter (in case I upgrade to 4L80E)... and wanted to make it look like it was meant to be there. Came up with this...
Went through quite a few designs. Lots of cardboard templates made before settling on one. Traced onto plywood and cut. Some braces made to strengthen console. Found a Halloween ornament I liked. Fastened it to console. The challenge was to make a console, and have it so shifter can be removed through the hole for the cover plate.

[Molberg]

After some changes to the skull.. I wrapped it in blanket and resin. Twice. The first time I sprayed the skull with adhesive.. and pressed the blanket onto it to keep definition of the skull in place. Once it dried, stretched the blanket over the backside and brushed with resin. Big mistake! As soon as the resin began to set... the spray adhesive let go... now I'm scrambling to remove blanket/clean off resin with acetone before it totally set up. Tried a second time by pressing blanket onto skull with a small amount of resin..allowed to set up... then stretch/finish. Fabbed up a metal plate for shifter area and front speakers.(not visible in pics....facing skull)

[Molberg]

The wrapping/resin part of the console was done in 2 stages. Skull first, then the console body. Stretched the top with stretchy thick flannel blanket, trimmed it.. then hit the sides with resin and fiberglass blanket. (Goes clear once the resin hits it) Sanded the entire thing... and brushed with resin again. Lots of sanding to the skull, trying to maintain definition. The underside of blanket areas reinforced with resin and mesh. Had to break down and clean shop ..lol

[Molberg]

After the resin work completed, it was dragged with body filler, sanded, shot with hi builds primer... and sanded again. Hole in upper level of console for cup holder piece I kept from the 90's console.

[Molberg]

After sanding.. I sprayed it with midnight black. Speakers fit into front holes.. and audio cables ran to plug into leads from speaker panel. This thing was in and out several times.. while making mounting brackets for shifter, and modifying shifter frame itself, and running cable and wiring.

[Molberg]

Seats were next on the list. The high back buckets were a little too high for my liking. Upholstery was removed, the headrest pans were cut off... lowering the seat backs 8-10". This also allowed reuse of factory moulded seat foam, with minor trimming. The drivers seat is power.. the passengers is not. Used a piston from a blown chainsaw motor (after sanding and polishing) as a knob for passengers seat. (was originally going to be for column shift knob before plans changed)

[Molberg]

I wanted to restrict rearward movement of the passengers seat.. due to subwoofer location. Drilled holes and placed pins through the tracks for the slide. They can be removed for full travel of seat this way. (like when your bolting lower cushion back on)

[Molberg]

Seats back from my upholstery dude. Assembled and installed them.

[Molberg]

Some odds and ends on this one. Installed popper assemblies in same holes as lower door stop rubbers. Picked up a radio for the dash at a swap meet. Tore the guts out of it for weight... and wired up the light inside to come on with dash lights. Gave it a buff and installed it. Installed some new sill plates. Ordered upgraded dash buttons/cig lighter with the stainless insert. New dash pad, glove box liner as well. Dashpad was a royal a$$ to try and install. I removed the hub behind the steering wheel where the unused shift lever was. Cut the nub off where the roll pin used to go. Was left with a hole in the hub assembly. Sanded and polished it. Stuck a grommet in the hole... it seemed like a nice place for the wired microphone to go for my stereo head unit.

[Molberg]

Gonna back up a bit... ok a lot. (initial tear down) Found this tucked in beside/behind the fuel tank in the cab. Owners package that came with the truck.

[bigguy69]

nice

[Molberg]

Originally Posted by bigguy69

nice

Thanks... I don't know how the mice didn't find it.

[Molberg]

Getting close to current state with the pics.. Wanted to do a reverse handle on this project. The original tailgate was in beautiful shape... shy of a 2" bow in it. Didn't notice this until I laid it on the bench to start mods... and it rocked side to side. So I grabbed the tailgate off my parts truck. Again.. not enough pics taken. I removed the catches and rods. Cut a hole in the inside of the tailgate. The curved arms had to be reworked and shortened for clearance to the skin of the tailgate... and to meet flush with the cover plate I made. The piece I cut out of the cover plate for the handle... became the handle

[Molberg]

Matching holes drilled into handle assembly and cover plate. Nuts welded on inside of handle assembly. The latches and rods were flipped left for right. I cut a piece out of my spare tailgate to use as a filler piece

[70CHEVYBB]

Cool build, Could I get you to measure the height of the Chevrolet letters and the over all width of the Chevrolet. I have a plain tail gate and want to paint on the Chevrolet. Thanks, Wes

[Molberg]

Sure can...

[Molberg]

Chevrolet lettering measurements on tailgate. Thought I'd upload these to help with a general forum search. Overall width is 46 1/2"... and are 5" tall. Pic for reference distance from feature line included.(3/4" below feature)

[70CHEVYBB]

cool , thanks

[Molberg]

Another update on something I've been messing with.. front roll pans arent "legal" in my area due to lack of strength/ front end protection. So I gave this a shot. Took my factory bumper, trimmed off the top edge and sides. I made filler plates for the sides and top out of 1/4" plate steel. The bulge in the lower center of the bumper (license plate area) was cut out, flipped over and welded back in. Frame rails had to be shortened of course... all mounting hardware will still be in place, with the mounting bolts being back welded for a clean look.