1986 K10 shorty revival

[rs74]

Have you ever had to dye the lower door panel carpet to darken it back up if it is faded. If so what is the process and what do you use.

[gmachinz]

I haven't tried dyeing the lower door carpet but I do have an idea on doing it...I just got my new blue carpet but its not the same style as OEM so its gonna look different....not going to like that-need to come up with a solution.
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[gmachinz]

Here's my carpet installed....



Hardest part was finding the console holes through the carpet and 3/8" jute backing I laid down as extra insulation...lol

Next will be the addition of a slightly modified LMC brushed aluminum instrument cluster insert and hopefully mock-ups of the sub box I plan to install behind the bucket seats....that will be fun.

[MTCK]

Interior looks great! Aren't those donor suburbans nice?

[gmachinz]

Lol....the 'Burbs offer a lot of great parts for these trucks. Very little of my interior is new...most of it is either junkyard sourced or used parts from past parts trucks/projects. New parts are limited so far to carpet, jute padding, headliner and door panel insert trim....well and the cluster trim insert.

[gmachinz]

Got the LMC brushed aluminum trim fitted to the Suburban 1.5 DIN cluster bezel-turned out good I think. Also repositioned the GM cd player to sit inside of the radio opening slightly-this allowed for a better fit of the bezel to the dash-otherwise it had a tendency to stick out about 1/4". Now, I just need to swap out the trans and transfer case this weekend and hopefully take her for a spin. Here's a couple pics after the bezel install tonight....









There's a few other little things to order that I don't have...things like brake/e-brake pedal pads, nicer e-brake cable release handle, inner fender splash guards, etc. stuff like that but she's almost ready for street duty!

[rs74]

Looks great man!. Turned out pretty dang nice.

I think it is the lighting because it looks like sometimes the blue doesn't look as dark as other times. Regardless you have done what I want mine to look like. Nice and clean.

[gmachinz]

Thanks for the compliments! I have a short list of to-do things before driving it....made new trans lines, New flexplate cover, New dual tank harness, etc. So we'll see soon how she turns out. I need the rear driveshaft shortened too.....it'll get there lol.

[rs74]

I am going to try your dish soap/comet concoction tonight on a couple of pieces to see how it does. Then I might do the rest.

[gmachinz]

How'd you do with the comet/dishsoap method? I haven't done much to the Shorty lately...I had to pause to get front and rear drivershafts made. The front required a bigger u-joint and the grease seal was splitting so I figured I'd replace it-then, I sold the rest of the K20 truck I was parting but forgot to pull the rear driveshaft-I needed it because the TC I have requires a 2-joint shaft instead of a 1-piece...oops. So, either way, I went ahead and had my local powertrain shop build a new rear shaft for me. So, updates with pics when I pick up my new shafts!

[rs74]

Originally Posted by gmachinz

How'd you do with the comet/dishsoap method?

I started to try it but then the fuel pump went out on my 03 2500HD. So one truck gets moved out and the 03 get the shop space. Hopefully be able to get fuel pump in tomorrow and get back on the K30. Will let you know.

[gmachinz]

Well....I lost some photos and have been busy with other stuff....but, I did manage to fool around and start routing my new front lighting harness on my new core support. I put in the headlight buckets, cleared out a wasp nest under my air cleaner inlet duct opening-now I'm sizing up my support to notch it for a newer style AC condenser. You can see the Suburban oil cooler and power steering cooler all mount in the stock location on this pickup support-the factory holes are there....just had to basically bolt them up. I love Suburbans....so many parts to use....

[gmachinz]

Been wiring my dads Jag w/V8 conversion....put a few parts on my front end before I end up tripping over them and breaking em. Restoring an OEM grill for it at the moment-then I'll be putting the rest of the front end together-heres a pic of her sitting beside the teardown project garage....

[gmachinz]

Well, I added my new junkyard score grill assembly. Started adding headlights, need to prep a few front end parts for the grill before final assembly. The grill is all OEM and doesn't even need refinishing. I grabbed a few other grills just as nice as this one so I'd have extras. I did manage to find 3 various GMC grills but all were busted in some form or another. I may go back and get them for parts if I can find a decent enough 77-80 grill.

[gmachinz]

Haven't made much progress on my truck this weekend besides the new grill install. In had to junkyard source a clean front/lower valance panel and vertical support for itnsince I couldn't find the couple I thought I had stashed away some place. Now, my wife sprung the drivers door on her 05 Denali and it trashed the fender too. So, insurance is going to pay me enough to do a complete re-paint plus I'll have enough to buy new GM seat covers and misc. interior trim. So, it'll look like a brand new spankin truck in a couple weeks!

[gmachinz]

Just bring my old thread back from the dead....got more pics to post but today one of my new fuel system parts showed up-l today-woo hoo now I just need to find 1 more to complete my NOS dual fuel tank install. I don't get to work on my own truck as much as I'd like....seems I'm still in the "gathering" stage for it lol

[gmachinz]

UPS man dropped off a couple goodies....LH fleet side gas filler pocket was the last one in the country so I got lucky on these! Main filler hoses are gone tho so I still to find those....may have to order repros....

[gmachinz]

Going with a stealth electric fan install, I opted to use a spade bit to put a 1" hole in the side of the shroud for the grommet protecting the fan lead wires....I'm using an RF24 Motorcraft T-Bird fan mounted inside the stock SB fan shroud.

[gmachinz]

Here is my resistor board mounted on the air inlet scoop. The coils need air movement to keep cool-this will provide me with 3 or 4 fan speeds from the RF24 fan instead of just the two....when used with (2) temp switches-I'm opted to use a BMW dual temp switch (180/195).

[gmachinz]

I've decided to go with this relay bracket (GM piece) and will be using Hella relays for the fan control as well as my headlight triggers....

[gmachinz]

Had a little time this afternoon for some work on the project truck after several months of no action lol. A lot of people wanted to know how I mount my door harness sections so I'm posting some pics....here's a few before shots:

[gmachinz]

Pics of the relay bank mount, both solid state modules for auto down/up and an overhaul layout of the door harness mostly installed-if it seems like a lot of wires it is-I've added power mirrors to the truck as well.

[Greenlee]

Nice work! I always enjoy seeing your wiring projects. I still have some window harnesses from you that I need to install in my truck one of these days.

It’s a bummer about Photobucket messing up your pictures on the first few pages. I had a build thread that is completely ruined because of this.

[gmachinz]

Holy crap-well its been awhile since I’ve touched my project but I figured Id add an update-I’ve gathered a lot of parts for it lately and this latest piece is a tach cluster housing from LMC. Yeah I know typically I dont order a lot of stuff from them but since I could not find a good used oem housing I figured this was worth trying for $60. They come molded in light green so of course first order of business was to spray the entire inside high gloss white-this will make the bulbs super bright which is a good thing on these old clusters. Why use stock gauges you ask? Well imo the aftermarket stuff will always look “dated” 5-10 years down the road and I dont want that-classic stock analog gauges are fine with me. Btw, the cluster I’m restoring is an 80/81 which I purchased from a member quite awhile ago but it arrived nearly completely destroyed-seems there wasnt any thought given to proper packaging-just put it loose in a bigger box and it’ll be fine right?

Anyway, this is my weeks project that I hope to find time to finish quick.

[gmachinz]

Had a little time to basically start laying out my new replacement parts from LMC to restore my 80/81 tach cluster. I had a member sell me a cluster with ZERO packing concerns so it arrived destroyed-here is my progress so far on it...