This shot of my gauges is the only interior shot I have hosted on the internet right now.  I'll have to see if I have any old shots on my other computer.

Interesting how you converted the dash like that...

Are you going to use the same setup like the one I posted? I think that with a turbo would be sweet!
DS79

Here I will repost the pics of the article,
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/deerslayer1979/c8a8b178.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/deerslayer1979/Scan10002.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/deerslayer1979/Scan10003.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/deerslayer1979/Scan10004.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a399/deerslayer1979/Scan10005.jpg
DS79

Ahhh now I remember.  I'm afraid my pocketbook isn't nearly deep enough to even touch what they did in that article.  They really went all-out on that mill though.  Definitely a cool article.


Thanks!


It is an autometer piece, and it is made for '81-93 trucks.  One word of warning, it is made for trucks that have interior trim covering the A-pillar.  My truck does not have any trim whatsoever, but it still 'fit' decent.  I did end up using some foam at the top and bottom of the pod to fill the gaps.  Also, the upper pod angles the gauge to high IMO.  But, it works.

BTW--I do not believe the 5" tach/speedo will fit in the dash facia hole (at least on my truck it won't, which is why I went with the smaller tach & speedo   )

-SM

It wouldn't be the first time I (or my memory) was wrong.   If you do the modification, be sure to post up some pictures for us!


Thanks again.   I still have a lot of work to do.  I cleaned up the wiring under-hood when I built the engine.  But the wiring behind the dash, for the most part, is still a disaster.  I hope to get that cleaned up when I work on the interior (carpet).  Now that I finally have an FSM for this truck, I will know what wires I can safely remove.

Thanks Nick.   I actually just rebuilt the Holley this last weekend.  First time I have completely disassembled a Holley 4160.  They are not too bad, but I was glad I bought a Holley book to guide me through the process.  It actually runs MUCH better now (my secondary fuel bowl was all gummed up and leaking a little).  I still have an off-to on throttle bog in teh midrange I need to sort out.  I have a feeling I need to change to a lighter secondary spring.  Fortunately, I installed a quick-change secondary spring kit when I rebuilt it, so it'll be a snap to change it out.

I also removed the factory mechanical clutch fan and installed two electric fans.  I have pictures, just haven't sorted through them and posted yet.

Haven't found any in quite the shape I was looking for yet.    Definitely post back with that link.  I responded to your other thread as well.

looks good man I like that silver

Hey man nice truck  bummer i never got to see it in alaska... however I'm driving my rig through Idaho tomorrow and saturday, maybe if you get this in time we could meet up somewhere. I'm going to be heading to Pocatello from the Ogden Utah area and staying in Pocatello for the night, then driving to Coeur D'Alene on Saturday. Gimme a shout if you have time! 307-630-8699 (it's a Wyoming #, been at Wyotech for the last year)
Justin

 i don't remember if i posted in my mirror thread or not, but the last part #'s i posted were the correct ones. i got them earlier this week.

Fiddling around with different accelerator pump cams and secondary springs, I have eliminated the bog.   Now I am just waiting for my secondary metering block kit to come in so can get rid of that lousy plate that I feel is holding my (relatively heavy) truck back when the secondaries tip in.

Let me say this:  the $15 I spent in my Haynes Holley Book is one of the best $15 I have ever spent.  Surprisingly, Haynes does a MUCH better job with the Holley carb manual than they do with the truck manuals...

And I have finally begun my latest project, the interior.

Stripped out the old vinyl flooring, and low and behold:





Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but the driver's side is definitely in need of some help.

After spraying some rust converter paint:


Floor patch for the old auxillary heater I removed:

I do not own a welder (yet ), so these patches were done with rivets and silicon.

Driver's side after much rust grinding, and application of rust converter paint:


Once the silicon cures, I will scuff the entire floorboartd up again, and apply two coats of Hurculiner.  Then I will install my new carpet, and Sillplates.com stainless sillplates.  I will update over the next few days. Stay tuned.

-SM

"In time"....barely.  The floorboards themselves are in pretty good condition, mostly surface rust casuing the factory paint/primer to flake & peel, but the structural integrity seems to still be intact.  They supported my weight (175 lbs) without flexing, and I was unable to stick a screwdriver through them.   Thats the good news.  The bad news is that at the pinch seam on the drivers side where the kick-panel meets the rocker panel and the floorboard, rust has eaten about a silver-dollar sized hole (about that wide, not nearly as tall).  I could not think of a very good way to patch that up, so I chipped away all the cancer, cleaned up what was still actually metal, doused it in rust converter paint, and filled the hole with silicon to prevent water from getting in.   Again, seemed to be structurally ok, so that is the route I went in leiu of major sheetmetal surgury.  I guess time will tell if it will hold up.  The silicon I am using is metal roofing sealant, so it is made to stand up to the elements.  And it will all be getting covered with Herculiner, so I hope things stay waterproof.

-SM

100 Degrees?!?!? Wow! Am I glad I don't live there anymore! I grew up in Caldwell, still have family out in that area. Also lived in Phoenix for 8 years, so 100* is not too bad. Of course it was only 80* here in Ohio today...
Bill

Looks awesome. Are you sure you want to put the carpet back in, it looks good the way it is.

haha, I see now why you where wearing nothing but shorts and saddles when applying the stuff

The floorboards were quite a bit warmer than expected.

A couple teaser pics.  "Project creep" has limited me to merely fitting the rug tonight.





I am actually quite impressed with the carpet from JC Whitney.  The molding on the carpet is nearly perfect.   The only molding deviations I have found are the trans tunnel is slightly too tall ( I think I can make it up with an extra 1/4" of insulation on the trans hump) and the floor-mounted high-low switch indent is WAY off, though it is of little consequence.  They molded the spot for the high/low switch so far off it is on the firewall.   Since I need to cut a hole for the switch to protrude through anyway, no big deal.  Overall, I am extremely happy with the JCW carpet.

On to project creep....what other projects have I decided to take on?  Besides deciding to redo ALL of my radio wiring (which was mostly last done a decade ago in high school ) I have decided now is the best time to convert the rear cargo light to a third brake light.   The wiring is all there, I just need to pick up a trun signal/brake signal isolator and wire it in.  In leiu of that, I may attempt wiring it in directly to the brake switch.   Of course, I need to find some acceptable red bulbs (I am leaning toward LED's) to mount behind the clear lens of the cargo light.

Progress, slowly but surely.

-SM

I never get as far as I hope to, but.....

Carpet is back in.



After a little wiring cleaning up.



Fully wired.



I went to test it....and it worked!    I even got the left and right speakers on the correct side (it was a blind guess, as I did not label the identical wires beforehand ).  I was soooooo happy both amplifiers came on, and worked.  They were bought used and I had never tested them.   Everything sounds great with more power, but I  think I have a blown door speaker.   I'll have to tear down the door tomorrow to check.

Additional tasks left are finishing seatbelt re-installation, trimming carpet around the edges, reinstall seat, reinstall sill plates.  I have all weekend, but unless I run out of beer and need to take a break, I should finish up the interior tomorrow.

-SM

Thanks Bill.   I hate nothing more than wiring that looks like a squirrels nest.  I have now re-wired approximately 70% of my truck.  All that is left is about half of the wiring behind the dash.  I cleaned up a good portion of it going through this litlle escapade.   I plan to re-so my dash as a new project, and will likely finish removing unused wiring, and cleaning up the remainder when I do so.

Awesome work there SM , looks Great. Now comes the hard part, keeping it clean.

Did the heat duct foil help anything with the noise?

The subs barely make a sound without the amp.  And there is a world of difference between the door speakers powered by the head unit (approx 15 watts rpms, 25 watts peak) and the amplifier (100 watts rms, 200 watts peak).  The door speakers are rated at 75 watts rms and 220 watts peak, so the head unit grossly under-powered them, and now I am slightly over-powering them.  As long as I don't go nuts with the amplifiers gain, and keep the high-pass filter running, they should be fine.

Yes I want your mirrors!  PM me with the details.

-SM

That is friggin sweet!! Clean and uncluttered. Yet customized......I like it!!

Some updated pictures and a mini how-to:  Covering your armrests with cloth.

I had been wanting to cover my door armrests with the same material I covered my seat, sun visors, steering wheel center, and dash gauge backing with for a while now.  I had just enough of the original material left to accomplish the task, this Holiday weekend provided me with the time I needed to do it.

First, a before picture of the door.



Remove the door facia, (remove window crank, remove door handle, and one screw directly behind/below the door handle, then carefully pull the facia off, it is held on by about 15 metal snaps).  Then remove the armrest from the facia, it is held on by 4 screws.

With the armrest removed, all you need to vocer the armrests is some fabric, some spray-glue, and a pair of scissors for trimming.



The more flexible/stretchy the fabric is, the easier this will be.  In fact, you really need fabric that has some stretch to it, or you will end up with visible seams (from cutting the fabric), or a covering that will not conform to the shape of the armrest.  I used the same polar fleece that I used elsewhere in my truck, which has a lot of stretch to it.  Here I have strated to glue the fabric to the armrest.



I started on the straight portion of the armrest.  Then apply a light coat of spray glue (too much and it will bleed through the fabric) , and wrapped the fabric over the armrest.  This covers the major portion of the armrest.



Now the hard part.  Doing the corners.  A few cuts will have to be made to wrap the fabric around the tight corners.  Make all of the cuts on the side of the armrest that will be hidden by the door facia, and wrap/stretch the fabric around the visible corners.  Here is how my corners looked.  It is not all that pretty on the backside, but since it is the side bolted to the door facia, no one will ever see it.





Here is the finished armrest, from the side you will see.



Remount the armrest to the door facia.



Remount the facia to the door.



And the finished product.



I trimmed the fabric as I went, after allowing the spray glue to cure.  One nice thing about this spray glue is it is more of a 'tack' than a glue.  If you mess up, you can carefully peel the fabric back off, reapply some more glue, and set the fabric again.

One door took me about an hour, but I spent probably half of that time cleaning 20 years of dust and grime off the inside of the door facia, and sanding & painting the metal door bracket that supports the facia at the door handle.

Other pictures, earlier in this thread someone had asked for interior pictures.  Here are a few current pictures, as of today.









I know, I need some new floormats.  Mine are getting pretty tired and UV damaged.  But for now, they protect my nice new carpet.

I have always had a fire extinguisher in the truck, but it was behind the seat.  I was at the parts store yesterday picking up some Parts for my Holley, and came across this little chrome one with a quick-release mount that I decided I just had to have.  I mounted it between the door and seat on the drivers side.  I could probably get to it in the truck if I had to, but not very easily.  I figure if there is a fire in the truck, I'll be getting out anyway, and releasing the fire extinguisher with the door open takes about 1 second.



That's all for now folks!

-SM