83 K5 Interior Rebuild

[GoatBeard]

(I'm redoing this post because all my pictures were missing)

The interior was pretty tired and worn out.



Rats were living in the bed side panels.





First thing I did was to take everything in the interior out, seats, carpet, etc.





I got lucky and didn't really find much rust under the old carpet and jute padding.  I went ahead and put down some POR 15 (www.por15.com) on the bed floor and cab floor.





Before I went any further I went ahead and hooked up these cool speaker pods I got from Chris at http://store.73-87chevytrucks.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=7&Product_Code=RD-3069&Category_Code=7387INT

[GoatBeard]

The old cassette deck was a relic.



Their stereo prices are way too high for me, but I'm glad I picked up an install kit from www.crutchfield.com because it made cutting the holes in the dash super easy!



I kinda had a mess...



I installed the new Kenwood CD Player I got from www.millionbuy.com. 

[GoatBeard]

I wanted to use something like Dynomat, but I wasn't going to pay over $400 for that particular product.  So I went to The Home Depot and got a roll of this stuff.  It was $19 for a huge roll -- 1 roll is 6" wide and 25 feet long.  It also sticks to vertical surfaces (doors, behind dash, etc.).



I started puttin' it down, and it worked great!



I decided that I should cover all the seams so I picked up a roll of $4 aluminum tape.  I went over every seam with it.

[GoatBeard]

At this point it was time to move on to the new carpet I picked up for under $200 from http://www.auto-interior.com/chevy11.htm#BLAZER  BTW, that price is for top-of-the line ACC carpet and it's the FULL SET (front & rear K5 carpet, rear wheel well carpet and the 2 side pillars where the seatbelts hook to the wall)

First I fit the molded carpet in.



Once I decided the fit was good, I went ahead and started boltin' it down.



I wanted some extra padding in the bed so I ordered a roll of jute padding from http://www.yourautotrim.com/jutecarpetpad.html  The guy who runs the place is also a K5 owner, which was kinda cool!



I glued the jute to the rear K5 carpet and it worked great!  Also notice that I put sound deadener on either wheel well.



I carpeted both of the wheel wells -- I used the strongest 3M spray glue to attach the carpet; however, the spray glue is crazy expensive!!  if I had to do it again I'd get a quart of contact cement.  If you ever do your own wheel wells, be careful -- you only get 1 chance, as you can see in the pictures, one of mine got a few "bubbles" in it.  It's only really seen from one certain angle, but it still bugs me a little.  They are getting better with time.

[79diesel]

wow looks great..that turned out awesome!

[ccz145a]

Bet your little helper is happy, too.

[Novadiecast]

Great job! For a first time welder cudos to you for making a valid attept. And I like the RED.

[GoatBeard]

Thanks y'all! 

I've got to finish the side pillars in the bed then I'll post some more pictures of the finished product.  I'm going to put some courtesy lights out of a boat in the pillar so there will be some light in the bed area with the top off.  The lights will run off of the existing dome light wires and should turn on/off when the door is open/closed and also be controlled by the lightswitch.

The welding wasn't really to fix the problem, it was just to get by until I have the time to disassemble the rear of the truck.  My welding job didn't look good, but it'll let me screw the sill plate into something.  This project is dragging out -- I'm on my 2nd month of interior rebuild -- time to finish up!  Maybe next year I'll get into replacing the entire tailpan and 2 of the floor sections.  For now my $115 Harbor Freight MIG welder did the job. 

[Captkaos]

Wow, EXcellent !

[GoatBeard]

Just realized that I have never posted a picture of my truck...  This is the truck that goes with the interior above.   

I found this one sitting in a barn -- had been sittin' there for 10 years and had about an inch of green slime on it!  All of the hoses were rotten, dirt dobbers and mice and snakes called it home....and and and....well -- you can imagine.  It cleaned up really good!

[JRConnieK10]

Man, that is a sharp looking Blazer all your work on the interior looks sweet. Good job!!

[79diesel]

love the red/white..awesome barn find!

[78 Chevyrado]

Great lookin truck!  The interior is majorly improved!  Door panels looks awesome! Can't believe how much the new carpet changed the whole inside!

[ccz145a]

Nice snag, dude! One more saved from the ravages of time.

[Dragon]

  Wow Now that's a K5 to be proud of I'm sure that cute little Helper of yours can't wait till she can take it out to the Beach sometime