83 K5 Interior Rebuild

[JJSZABO]

AWESOME!!

Good job

[cracker0169]

I have an 83 C10 that you can come do for me! Looks awesome.

[78BBSTEPSIDE]

Looks Good, hopefully you left the snakes and mice in the barn! What the heck is a dirt dobber?

[ccz145a]

What the heck is a dirt dobber?

Imagine a black non-agressive wasp that builds mud nests in carburators.

[GoatBeard]

Thanks for the compliments everyone! 

I got lucky on this truck find -- at some point it had been repainted so once I got the slime and mold off and waxed it 7 or 8 times, it actually looked fairly good!  I only found a couple of rust spots, very unusual for the model.  I think Chevy quit painting their engine blocks orange in the early 70s, since this one has an orange block, I assume it's been rebuilt.  When I found the truck it wasn't running so I replaced the carburetor, starter/solenoid and changed the oil.  I was able to get it going and actually drive it 2.5 hours home (with only one brake working! ).  Just about everything on it is new now.

Hopefully I'll have some finished pictures this weekend.  Really the only thing left to do is build/carpet the rear pillars that I built out of Eucaboard.

Dirt Daubers
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=743

[bigkountry]

Very nice K5!


Dirt dobbers eat spiders too, so they are nice to have around...lol

[cubicdollars]

great Job 

[DnStClr]

Thanks for sharing, Goatbeard! Great save on your K-5! I think you're being too critical on yourself about the wheel wells. They look great.

[gbskunk2006]

Goatbeard,

Very nicely done!

http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php?topic=6879.15

[ssgoodman]

nice work on that k5, hope you'll be around to give me pointers when i get to that point of my jimmy.  can i ask where you got them kick panels from?  i'd like to snag some myself if they arent an arm and a leg.

[GoatBeard]

Thanks!  I'll be here!

You can get the kickpanels here from Chris, both the pods for speakers and the carpeted door kickpanels.  If you don't see what you are looking for e-mail him.  I don't think he has the carpeted ones like I got listed, but I believe he can get them.  Here's the link to his store:  http://store.73-87chevytrucks.com/merchant2/

If you are going to put new carpet in, you might want to get the carpeted kickpanels with your new carpet order so the color is the exact same.  Each time they change their carpet spool (or bolt) the colors are a little different.  They are around $50.

If you are talking about the "pod" speaker kickpanels, they were like $90 I think.

[GoatBeard]

It was time to move on to making new bed side panels.  For this, I ordered some black speaker carpet/trunk liner from http://www.yourautotrim.com/black8.html  I had to have a carpet that was ultra thin.  The way the tailgate closes over that side panel on a K5 doesn't give you much room for a thick carpet.  I went with black because I figured I'd never get a red that matched the red of the ACC carpet.

I went ahead and put some sound deadener behind where my 6x9 speakers would eventually go.



I got a sheet of thin Eucaboard and used my existing ratty panels to trace as an outline.  Then I cut the outline, trimmed it about a thousand times and made sure once the carpet was installed it was going to have the right clearance for the carpet to meet at the exact top of the bed.



I laid the panel down and sprayed it with 3M glue -- then slowly rolled the carpet out on top of it being sure to get all the wrinkles out.



Next I made sure to poke all the holes in the carpet!  That's probably the most important thing NOT to forget to do.  After I had my holes marked, I folded the extra carpet over, then glued it to the back.  For good measure I put about 400 1/4" stainless steel staples in the back of either panel -- in case the glue fails the staples should hold it forever.



I fitted the panel in the bed and it fit perfectly! 



I also installed this boat light to use as a courtesy light.  I wanted to have a little extra light in the bed side I'm gonna be running it most of the time without the top on it.



Here's a close-up of the light.



So I bolted everything down using #10 finishing washers and stainless screws.



Here's how the speaker turned out.



Looks a lot better than the old rotten one!



I got the small pillars installed.



Here's a better picture of the pillar.



Full view.



And another.

[GoatBeard]

Or is it that the ground, rather than the hot, is what gets disconnected and therefore breaking the circuit?

[GoatBeard]

Well, I went ahead and wired it up to the place I was talkin' about above.  It works with the door -- open door, it comes on, shut door, it goes off!!!  WOOHOO!

I love it when a plan comes together!   

[CruzinHigh]

Wow, it looks fantastic!

That Blazer is awesome.  Really sweet ride!