First restoration

[Casey]

This is my first restoration and I was hoping that maybe ya'll could help me with ideas. i have the way to keep it stock, but keeping it stock is no fun. So what do ya'll think that i should leave stock and what not to leave. The motor going in it is a cadallac 427, so that ain't stock. Help me out please.

[ratlover]

what is it???

[Casey]

It is a 1977 3/4 ton chevy single cab long bed truck. I bought it for $250, but it had nothing with it. I really mean nothing.

[ratlover]

go to car shows and look at mags and eventually something come to you. A particular stance and paint scheme will just stick with you. Youll decide if you like the looks of something shaved, jacked up, lowered, cromed out....yada yada yada.....

I like carcraft and super chevy.....check out some message boards with lots of pictures and such. fullsizedchevy.com has lots of guys into tricking out the looks of their rides

if you want to build the ultimate plow vehical then we could help;)

BTW the caddy motor will take a BOP trany. cadys are more expensive to build but torquey and very unique:cool:

It just come to you as a vision....its car love, a wonderfull thing;) My idea of ideal probably aint yours so it probably wouldnt help if I told you of my ultimate "hot rod" build up

[wyldman]

Most important thing to start with would be choosing a budget.I have seen way to many projects that were never completed,as the owner didn't realize the costs involved.

Decide on how much you want to spend,then try to estimate EVERYTHING needed to complete the truck,worst case scenario.

[ratlover]

Chris forgot one step.....after you get the estimate take that x2 and it should get you close. I've still got a 69 velle sitting in peices :(

[Casey]

ratlover i have a paint scheme picked, but going through and making the interior match is where i have been coming into the most problem. I understand theat the interior should set the ex off, but it has come to some difficulty for me. This is my first and i want it hopping. I do not do second best on anything.

[ratlover]

What are your interior problems? A popular method is to take seats and such outa another vehicle(like nice buckets outa a suburban or something) and get a center consol or make a consol filled with electronic goodies and have that aplostered to match the seats and the rest.

One thing that works is getting ahold of some vinal in the color you want and streach it over your interior panels like the door cards and use a bit of spray adheasive. Then bolt the door crads back on the doors with the handles and you got some instant leather covered looking stuff. You could match you shifter boot or the like.

Another cool trick is to take your factory insturment cluster and put autometer guages in the place of all the factory ones. The smaller ones are a perfect fit for your factory oil and temp if you cut out the hole a bit and the bigger ones fit for the speedo and such. Looks better IMO than guages stuck on the top of the dash.

[Casey]

replacing my guages won't be a problem because when i bought the truck there was none. As far as interior problems i have no interior. There is nothing but a steering wheel in the truck.

[ratlover]

search the junk yard for possible donor stuff. Dont worry about color since you can reapolster it to your liking. Just remember if you go with car seats then you will need to come up with building brakets to raise the seats up. If the interior is out now would be ther time to paint it. And then the outside. Get your interior scheem all thought out, go get it and fit everything, take it out and paint it and apolster it, then do the final fitting. Power leather buckets rule

Unless you want to smooth/shave all the interior you can in wich case its time to start shaving and then paint her up. You gota come up with a vision before you can come up with a game plan. Searching car shows/mags/and junkyards(or new cars to see what you can pirate) and mold into your truck can be almost as much fun as doing it!

Unless you are great with sheetmetal you will probably need to come up with a dash pad and insturment bezel. Other than that you can cram homemade or worked factory stuff in to your liking.

[JCurtis]

Hey Casey, I have a brand new Rug for a 4wd 86 Chevy K10 pickup with a column shift automatic.

Never been used (I sold the truck with the rubber mat in it)

The rug is black.

If you are interested in it, email or PM me and we can discuss price.

[Casey]

jcurtis,
if you will email me at Marlinredneck@yahoo.com we can discuss that. I would be kind of interested, expessialy if you can send some pics of what it looks like and the condition of it.:cash