1976 Chevy Truck 3/4 ton 4x4 - 2nd rebuild

[bd]

It does look really good!  The color glows!

[firefighter]

It does look really good!  The color glows!

Yeah, it almost looks lime green in those last two pics. Weird day for lighting in my garage I guess. Maybe the camera was high on paint fumes too !!   

[greenmonster]

Love the color,but I'm a little partial.

[jdl71]

Gotta tell ya again how much I love the color. Props to you and thirsty for both your color choices. Great work!

[firefighter]

Thank you very much !!
My goal is to have the cab on the rolling chassis by the end of the weekend. Just gotta get a few buddies over here.
I'll keep ya posted.

[firefighter]

Between yesterday and today, I got the doors in primer, cab back on the frame and doors painted with color. I'll post some pics soon.
Now it's time to go party with the family and celebrate the truck progress and the bringing in of the new year.
I'm pretty happy with the progress lately.

[thirsty]

Sounds like you had a full two days! Can't wait to see the cab on the chassis. Must look good if it made you break out the paint gun again that quick. Don't loose your momentum. And be careful of that fresh paint tomorrow with a hangover 

[firefighter]

Yes sir, I had a couple good days thirsty.
Actually, I just spent a couple hours on Friday afternoon to shoot the doors in primer. I only primed the outside and just scuffed up the inside original paint.
Yesterday was the good day starting with sanding the primered doors, setting the cab back on the chassis and then spent 2 hours shooting color on the doors. I have found that lighting is Sooooooo important when painting. Man, you can just see when you have enough paint on. The surface turns from fog dull, to wet and smooth. I'm actually starting to feel good about this stage.
I had a small spot in the lower part of one door (primer side) that I can see like 5 little fish eyes or weird spots. I'm not that worried since my build is not a show truck, but after reading about all that can happen to paint, this is the first bad spot I've had.
Anyway here are a few pics of my last few days progress.

Doors ready for primer


Over view of paint booth and doors in primer.


Doors painted. I'm happy with the way they turned out.


And the bare cab finally found a new home. This step alone is a real milestone for me.

[Project86]

Looking good! Great start for the New Year.

[VileZambonie]

Lookin good!

[bake74]

     Fierfighter, I have to say, I am impressed with how it is turning out.  That color is going to make it stand out for sure.  It is always good to stand out from others in your rides.  (unless you plan on evading police on a regular basis) 

[Jason S]

Very nice!

I also really like the color... It'll look great when it's all back together.

[gharris79]

Great build!!!! Keep up the good work!!! I'm loving that color choice

[firefighter]

Welcome to my first update of 2012. Happy New Year!!

After having such a productive day on Saturday, I only had a few scattered hours on Sunday and Monday.
Since the cab was now on the frame, it was time to start putting things back in place. I first covered the entire firewall with an 1/8" thick self adhesive roofing material called Peel & Seal from Lowe's. I'd read where a few other have used it and it has good reviews for sound dampening. It may help a bit for insulating too but I think it's strong point is sound deadening. It sticks real well and has an exposed aluminum foil covering. I'll eventually cover the floor (under the carpet) and possibly a few other places with it.


Then it was time to put in the brake and accelerator pedals, heater box, new heater core and blower housing on the firewall.


Next came the electrical.
My wire harness is pretty straight forward since I don't have AC. For interior lights, my new cab was set up with door switches that activate a floor light, above the back window light and a cargo light. My old truck only had a switch activated floor light so I had to steal the wiring from the other harness. I fought for an hour trying to get the cargo light to work only to find out (after replacing it) the wire going up to the light had a cut in it, like it had gone to a switch or something?
Anyway, got all the switches and wires hooked up to the harness as well as the firewall connector and then everything worked perfectly.... except the headlights. What the Heck?? Answer to this problem? Make sure the dimmer switch is in the circuit !!
Now the headlights work too.   
I've got my old original original steering column loosely and temporarily bolted in to make sure everything worked perfectly and then I'll switch it over to the tilt column and see if I have any compatibility issues.


I'm enjoying this build as well as watching the great progress from a few of our other members.
Now I gotta decide if I go with 33" or 35" tires!!
I hope to post some more progress in the next week or so.



 

[Bitzer!]

just catching up with this!
Nice build fella and a great colour. Worth all the hours