More winter projects...

[ak diesel driver]

my 141 is not behind the head

 

[88gmctruck]

Great looking working rig! I love seeing the time spent keeping it alive, also love the fact that it's a 5-speed truck!

I might be selling a set of power doors from a 98. They have only a very small amount of rust on the bottom lip, but im trying to find a set of doors with ZERO rust. They might be good replacements for what you have now. If you are interested ill be sure to give you first dibs. Oh and they even come with pre-installed stainless steel west-coast mirrors

One reason I love where I live. My 88 doesn't have rust anywhere, both doors are still completely solid.

 

[Joey D]

I have a 3 year old GM bumper you could buy cheap from me if you need it. Chrome with the rub strip and the plastic bumper guards

 

[HighSierra86]

I have a 3 year old GM bumper you could buy cheap from me if you need it. Chrome with the rub strip and the plastic bumper guards

Crap....I just put the order in with LMC a few days ago, so I should be seeing mine very soon. I may be interested for another truck though..where abouts are you located?

88gmctruck......I envy you guys and your damn rust free vehicles. I think I would have a vintage auto hoarding problem if I lived out there One question though..you have snow, so what exactally do they treat the roads with that dosent eat up anything it touches?

 

[88gmctruck]

It depends on the area really. Around here, the county roads are treated with the DOT stuff (I think they use the magnesium chloride here) while the city only de-ices the main roads, and simply plows and gravels the rest.

Taken from the DOT website

"Why is WSDOT making its own anti-icer?
By manufacturing its own anti-icer, WSDOT respects the environment by using recyclable, natural products and reduces operational costs. Producing our own product also reduces dependence on commercial vendors, who may only offer limited supply during a severe winter storm event.

How do these chemicals help prevent snow and ice build-up?
Liquid anti-icers are generally applied to the roadway before weather events occur, and prevent ice crystals from bonding to the pavement. Chemical concentrations on the road surface is what determines the effectiveness of anti icers. We us different chemical anti-icers depending on temperature and humidity. WSDOT’s salt brine anti-icer is a liquid compound consisting of salt, sugar, mineral and water. A 23.3 percent solution of salt makes up 75 percent of the compound. De-sugared molasses makes up 20 percent and calcium chloride five percent. The salt is the main snow- and ice-fighting ingredient in the compound. The de-sugared molasses provides corrosion inhibiting properties as well as helping to bind the product to the road so that it has better longevity. Calcium chloride helps the compound maintain its effectiveness at lower temperatures.

WSDOT also uses liquid calcium chloride and liquid magnesium chloride in some areas. Both of these products have corrosion inhibitors. They are suitable for colder climates but are much more expensive than our own salt brine. As new experimental anti-icing chemicals become available, the department evaluates their effectiveness."

Whatever they use here isn't too horrible. I know it's kinda oily and sticky, and a pain to wash off, but it really doesn't seem to cause rust on things with the exception of bare metals. I know they use harsher stuff on the mountain passes, which leaves a chalky white film. I'm also really good about washing my trucks thoroughly and routinely throughout the winter.

 

[Joey D]

Crap....I just put the order in with LMC a few days ago, so I should be seeing mine very soon. I may be interested for another truck though..where abouts are you located?

I am about 6 miles North of Boston

 

[HighSierra86]

So I finnaly got some time to put up pictures of my most recent projects...starting to get busy at work, and I have to hurry up and finish as much as I can before I get kicked out of my temporary workshop

Got the seatcovers installed and I can say I am very happy with them. The color is a very close match and I think goes well with the rest of the interior. They even included covers for the center console/armrest, which i chose not to put on. The fit is very nice...only one complaint I have is that the cuttout for the power seat switches dosent line up that well. They also had a cuttout for power lumbar on the pass side, which these seats did not have. Overall very happy with the quality....and now with mud season here, they will be put into good use!

Now that I had the covers installed (much easier to do this out of the truck) I went ahead and bolted the seats in the truck...or well i had hoped on just bolting them in. Took out the uncomftorable and ugly blue bench seat (for sale I might add) and then scrubbed the entire floor with a cleaner and brush. Removed the sill plate and ran the electrical for the power seat. The seats I got came out of a tahoe in the junkyard and aparently they use a different mount then the pickups. Had to drill a few holes in the floor, but the biggest issue was the tahoe mounts put the drivers side seat much higher than the pass seat. I ended up cutting off the rear single mount and just using the front one for now. Also had to shim up the rear. Not exactally the greatest, but it will work for now untill I can find a set of truck mounts.

 

[HighSierra86]

After polishing the rust out of the front bumper for the last few years...I now finnally have a new one! I will say though that I am not impressed with the quality of the bumper or the impact strips I got fom LMC. The strips of chrome are already seperating from the plastic, the plastic is very brittle, and they didnt mount perfectly flush. The face of the bumper looks nice but where the bottom bend is there are alot of marks/scratches. And this is not shipping damage, but rather just poor casting/forming practices. Hopefully I get some time out of it before it rots out. Looks great for a work truck, but if I was doing a 100 point restoration....it would not have cut it.

For this bumper I chose not to remount the licence plate bracket. I never liked the looks of them...kind of goofy as they stick out so far. So to stay legal, I drilled some holes in the lic plate and mounted it directly to the bumper. I used some pieces of rubber to shim it out so it sits flat and dosent rub.

On a side note....Bought a replacement bumper for our 97 pickup at work from rock auto. Bumper was the "economy line" but was of much better finish than my front bumper from LMC. And to make the deal even better, it came with all the brackets, hardware, lamps, and wires. So for anyone needing a replacement rear bumper....I would highly recomend one.

-Nick

 

[bk95td]

So I finnaly got some time to put up pictures of my most recent projects...starting to get busy at work, and I have to hurry up and finish as much as I can before I get kicked out of my temporary workshop

Got the seatcovers installed and I can say I am very happy with them. The color is a very close match and I think goes well with the rest of the interior. They even included covers for the center console/armrest, which i chose not to put on. The fit is very nice...only one complaint I have is that the cuttout for the power seat switches dosent line up that well. They also had a cuttout for power lumbar on the pass side, which these seats did not have. Overall very happy with the quality....and now with mud season here, they will be put into good use!

Now that I had the covers installed (much easier to do this out of the truck) I went ahead and bolted the seats in the truck...or well i had hoped on just bolting them in. Took out the uncomftorable and ugly blue bench seat (for sale I might add) and then scrubbed the entire floor with a cleaner and brush. Removed the sill plate and ran the electrical for the power seat. The seats I got came out of a tahoe in the junkyard and aparently they use a different mount then the pickups. Had to drill a few holes in the floor, but the biggest issue was the tahoe mounts put the drivers side seat much higher than the pass seat. I ended up cutting off the rear single mount and just using the front one for now. Also had to shim up the rear. Not exactally the greatest, but it will work for now untill I can find a set of truck mounts.

Same goes for a suburban seat. The mounts are way wrong for a regular cab pick-up. I'm not shure about extended cab trucks.

 

[HighSierra86]

Same goes for a suburban seat. The mounts are way wrong for a regular cab pick-up. I'm not shure about extended cab trucks.

My concern is that I dont think many regular cab pickups ever came with this seat configuration...which is going to make finding a set of mounts very difficult

 

[88gmctruck]

I've seen the regular cab trucks with a 60/40 bench before, they are very, very rare. The easy way to spot a set is if they don't have the "entry" lever for the rear.

Also, I've not had any good luck with LMC. I bought an airdam from them for my 88 awhile back, it wouldn't even bolt up to my bumper, and when I tried getting the holes lined up it shattered.

 

[Matt Bachand]

I've always had to use the factory mounts, and find a way to resecure the new seats on the old mounts.

I've never done it on this platform, but in the past I've swapped alot of seats, and the only challenge was to mount them on the old frame, and it always bolts up perfectly because its the original.

Looks nice btw, I like the license plate without the plastic now that you did that. nice work.

 

[88gmctruck]

I agree, the plates without the plastic holder is much better. My plate has been like that for YEARS on my 88. I did it a little differently by bolting a flat plate to the bumper and bolting the plate to that.

About the best shot of mine

 

[HighSierra86]

Ive bought alot of parts from LMC over the years, but it seems the last year or so Ive been dissapointed with the quality. Kind of like the pitman arm for my 96' that had the spline machined a 1/16 in off so that you could never get the wheel straight. They refunded my money but I still had to go to gm and buy another one. Just alot of cheap products it seems.

Ya know....looking at the front of your 88' reminds me how much I like the dual headlights. Id be curious to see how they would look in place of the single lense, or if they would even bolt up. Ill have to check my part bins to see if I have a set. Gonna have to replace mine at some point in time anyways as all the lenses are fogged over.

 

[88gmctruck]

They bolt right up, all the grilles are designed for them actually. The only thing is you have to switch the connectors out.

I plan to put a set in the 99 with e-codes and HIDs as well.

 

[HighSierra86]

Ordered a factory fog light switch from rock auto the other day as well. I had plans of using a fog switch from a volvo which i found matched the dash controls very well, but when I saw this one for $20 I said the hell with it. Looks much nicer. Ive never even seen a gmt400 with factory fog lamps other than the 2wd sport models or the ss454 i think. Regardless, finding a used switch wasnt gonna happen. Now all I need to do is to see if I can get a plug to match up with the switch and to figure out a wireing diagram. And of course mount the fog lights...

 

[HighSierra86]

They bolt right up, all the grilles are designed for them actually. The only thing is you have to switch the connectors out.

I plan to put a set in the 99 with e-codes and HIDs as well.

I wonder how they match up with the contour of the grill though...Im trying to remember, but i think our 89 had almost like a filler plate around the lights??

 

[88gmctruck]

Looks like a S-10 or Astro fog switch to me. I just bought this on GMT400.com from a Denali

The lights look ok, definitely different since they really never put the lights in the other grilles, except some export stuff.

 

[tanman_2006]

possibly a suburban or tahoe part?

 

[88gmctruck]

Nope, that is definitely NOT from a gmt400.