New truck and new member...

L48Shark · June 23, 2003

Well, finally I am the guy who scores the unheard of car deal. My wife's uncle has had an '80 Silverado short-wide sitting in his driveway since before I met my wife (about 9 years total). He bought a new crate motor for it, but never completely installed it. (It had never even been turned over.) He also bought new aluminum wheels and tires for it. He was the 3rd owner after his brother, who bought it when it was only 1 year old in '81.

Anyway, we were visiting and I started giving him crap about not having it on the road yet since he had a motor and wheels and mostly all parts needed. He said he was not able to complete the job because he was "mechanically declined". He added that he was probably just going to sell it at a loss to get rid of it. I asked how much and he said if I was interested, he would only want $1,000 from me. With him being family, I talked him up, but could not get him past $1,500, so we struck a deal.

A few weeks and about a thousand dollars later, she is now on the road after a long hiatus with a nicely detailed and chromed, well running small block 350. Next I will be gutting and restifying (restoring/modifying) the interior as well as getting her painted. The interior will probably be black and I am going to strip all exterior trim and badges for a clean look and give the truck a solid color treatment. The leading color right now is the old Vette favorite Steel Cities Gray.

I know everyone likes pics, so check some out in my "Truck" album. For a good laugh, be sure to check out the pic of the crap removed from the duct work! (Yes, that rolled up tube sock was removed just like that! The black thing was the remains of a candy bar. ) I wonder if he got frustrated about the defroster not working? PHOTOS

OK, now a few questions... I have a nice Alpine CD/MP3 player for the truck, but what is the best way to get good sound in a pickup as far as speakers go? Also, where is the best place to purchase interior parts? I have a catalog that supplies original fit components for Chevy trucks, but is there a more sensible option? It seems like catalog interior parts are unnecessarily expensive for little details, which just seems unreasonable when you can pick up engine components so cheaply. Just wondering how others have done it since this will be my first time to tackle an interior. I am also wondering where people get those nice custom interiors I see in the hot rods at cruise night. I may be adding or deleting certain components, but would like a clean look in the end. Appreciate any help you can provide!

Bender · June 23, 2003

Reproduction Chevy truck interior parts aren’t cheap. You may be able to find some of the parts in the scrape yard. What do you need? I have an old Chevy truck in my backyard that may have some of the parts you need.

If you need a new dash pad, be prepared to spend a good bit of cash.

I’m not sure what ebay has to offer, it might be worth to check out.

I read an article many years ago how they fabricate the custom interiors. It looked like a lot of work that took a good bit of skill and special equipment.

If that’s what you want, I would go to a car show and ask the owners where they got it done and if they would recommend them. If they did it themselves, they might give you pointers.

As you can see, this isn’t the most popular section on this forum. If people would post here more, I would post here more.

Good luck with your truck

L48Shark · June 24, 2003

Yes, I did not expect to wait 25 hours for a reply! Appreciate your input, though. Thanks.

PFHunter · June 24, 2003

I have to agree. I too, would spend more time here if there more things posted.

If you find a good source or method for all you are doing with your pickup, please post it here. I also have a 1980 4x4 and am in the same process. Drivetrain stuff is about done. I started some of the interior, but am not happy with my results. I could use some tips and ideas from you...

Bender · June 24, 2003

One tip is that vinyl paint works very well, if applied correctly. I changed my whole interior to charcoal gray and the only thing that doesn’t look good right now is the seatbelts. (I sprayed them also)

So in other words, you don’t have to be too picky about scrap-yard parts that aren’t the correct color.

Cyclic · June 25, 2003

If you want "custom" door panels try here.............

http://www.roddoors.com/

For the speakers Q-Logic makes kick panel speaker pods that work great and fit nicely.

For seats I would try to go with a 40-20-40 from a new GM truck. Great comfort and style for an older truck. Also would allow you to remove the factory seatbelts from the truck adding to the custom look.

The cleanest dash set up I've seen is when you cover the dash with a cloth to match the door panels. Usually some sort of tweed, see roddoors.com above.

Good luck with your new toy.