Project Two - '74 Sierra Grande

[Low Elco]

I dig the shifter handle.

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

I dig the shifter handle.

Hahaha...that came off within 30 seconds of driving. Its found a new home in the truck bed, next to the remains of the undercoating from this morning.

[Jonboy]

I dig it!

[mikentosh]

Yesterday we really tore into things. Started by removing the bed...





The back had been hacked with flipped leafs and it was riding on the bumpstops. I got a McGaughy's 4/6 kit to put in, so the rear got a notch and flip.



I tore apart the front end and tossed the original ball joints and cut springs. Rebuilt the steering with fresh Moog parts and put in the new spindles and springs. This took a lot longer than I expected and we spent the whole day wrenching on it.



Since I was already at the shop I decided to "borrow" a few items from Cannonball C10 like headlight buckets, turn signal lenses, and the Comfort Grip steering wheel. We also ditched the rear rollpan and bolted on the bumper from Cannonball too. It ended up taking us till 1am to get things running smoothly.

This morning I brought it down to the local guys to get a proper alignment done, so I convinced the kid to come with me. Her first time in a square



The truck rides pretty well now, though I need to get some proper drop shocks for the back. Its very low though, and I ended up scraping ground on the front k-member 3 times driving home last night.

One more shot from this morning...

[Advanced Design]

You did a lot in a short time. Looks good. Hopefully your daughter enjoyed the trip...she doesn't look too sure about it?

[91short]

Truck is looking good, I'd drive that everyday.

[Jonboy]

My kids give me that same look. A lot. I think they get it from their mother.

[mikentosh]

Got some miles on the new ride this weekend. As the speedo is broken, I don't actually know how many miles. The family enjoyed cruising around on the bench seat with the bikes in the back. Unfortunately it was a little hot in the cab to do any big distances...hope the vintage air shows up soon. This weekend has definitely proven to me that its time to move on phase 2...more on that later

Anyway, the only thing I got to today was painting the cab corners. This was a test to see how good the paint choice was, and it definitely looks to be a winner.





I'm using SEM Trim Black for all the exterior black, and Krylon Pumpkin Orange for the GMC logos.

[Zach079xxx]

How'd you remove the paint off the GMC lettering?

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by Zach079xxx

How'd you remove the paint off the GMC lettering?

Its hard to see in that first picture but the letters were actually masked off. Took me about an hour to mask both corners

[Crcrft78]

Cab Corner trim looks good. What other prep did you do before spraying them?

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by Crcrft78

Cab Corner trim looks good. What other prep did you do before spraying them?

It was actually pretty minimal prep, just a good wash and a scrub with green scotchbright pad (trying to avoid the main anodized areas).

[Low Elco]

Good progress!

[Zach079xxx]

Good god lol I could imagine the fun in that! I remember taping my door panels when I sprayed those.

Originally Posted by mikentosh

Its hard to see in that first picture but the letters were actually masked off. Took me about an hour to mask both corners

[mikentosh]

Tackled two big items yesterday. First was to pull out the remains of the A/C unit in preparation for the Vintage Air install. This one was a little more involved than Cannonball C10, seems to be a lot more little things on the factory A/C trucks:



After pulling the unit, I wiped down the 41 years of grime, and figured I'd try out the re-dyed dash pad:



Finally it was time to tackle the wiring. I've been sitting for two years on this really nice reproduction wiring harness from M&H. This particular harness is their Classic Auto Fuse model which uses blade fuses and has space to accommodate the electric fans and fuel pump for my LS swap. It comes with all the correct connectors and proper wire colors, so installation was pretty straight forward.

[mikentosh]

Got the new headliner installed this evening. Was also nice to get up some of the trim I've re-dyed:

[MTCK]

Good progress. I bet it is fun to have one to drive as involved as the first build is.

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Good progress. I bet it is fun to have one to drive as involved as the first build is.

Yeah, its nice to actually have a truck to drive. I only got three trips in the other truck before we blasted it apart, and it was 13 years prior to that since I last drove one hahaha

We've decided to accelerate the plans for phase 2 on this truck so it will also be off the road for a couple of weeks in early November.

[dragonball98312]

What did you use to dye the interior? SEM? Thats the blue my interior was but havent found that color blue, only darker

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by dragonball98312

What did you use to dye the interior? SEM? Thats the blue my interior was but havent found that color blue, only darker

I ended up going with OER interior paint in PP808 Medium Blue. I think it's actually a little darker than the factory slate blue, but this trim was so faded that I'm not positive. I also re-dyed all the trim so it matches.

FYI, I've also got a new carpet kit waiting to go in. It's an ACC kit in 33 Dark Teal color, which is a much closer match than their recommended medium blue.

[slammed427]

Love it! Can't wait to see the LS go in.

[conman585]

Originally Posted by mikentosh

Got the wheels mounted and balanced. Hope to get them on the truck and driving tonight...



If anybody is interested in the old wheels then PM me. I need to get rid of them.

Truck looks great! I saw that the rears were 15x10 what size are the fronts? Did you order them w custom backspace or just off the shelf bs from Wheel Vintiques? Love the stance, mind sharing your tire sizes?

[mikentosh]

Originally Posted by conman585

Truck looks great! I saw that the rears were 15x10 what size are the fronts? Did you order them w custom backspace or just off the shelf bs from Wheel Vintiques? Love the stance, mind sharing your tire sizes?

Fronts are 15x8 with 4" BS and rears are 15x10 with 5" BS. This is stock back spacing from Wheel Vintiques. Looks like Jegs still has both these sizes in stock. Tires are 245/60 and 275/60. Was going to go with 295/50 but tire rack didn't have them in stock.

[mikentosh]

Pulled a couple of really late nighters and got the vintage air unit installed in the cab and wired up. Also got most of the interior together with some NOS door panels, newly rebuilt vent windows, door seals and a freshly repainted dash bezel.

[conman585]

Thanks!!