Thedoods 95 K1500

[thedood]

Hello all. New member here. As the title says my rig is a 95 Chevy K1500 Cheyenne extended cab short bed with 208,000 on the odometer. The engine is a 5.7 and was rebuilt prior to my purchasing the truck. The tranny is a 4l60E and also has been rebuilt. The truck runs well but was obviously a hard working farm truck in its previous life. We removed the interior and found seed corn and lots of straw lol.

This truck will not be run overly hard. Some mild off-roading will be in its cards but nothing radical or crazy. We will be using it to go camping and geocaching.

Here are a few things I know I must do before any long trips:
The transfer case is leaking and needs a new seal
I need to replace the tie rod ends, ball joints, idler arm, idler arm bracket, and pitman arm. The front end isn't real bad, banging or, vibrating but does need the aforementioned parts replaced.
New shocks
Change the antifreeze and flush the cooling system
Change the gear oils.
The rear sliding window has a seal jacked up and is leaking. There is a thread located here with images of the problem: http://www.gmt400.com/threads/sliding-rear-window-leak.37570/
Here is what I have done, or am in the process of doing:
New tires. These are just Goodyear Wranglers from wally world and are the stock size
I have pulled the floor interior out. I have purchased a new ACC vinyl floor from Rock Auto.
I bought two bucket seats out of a 1995 blazer I am going to put in the truck. The 60/40 seat, specifically the 60 portion, is in bad shape. I like buckets and wanted a console so that leads us to
A center console that was pulled from the same 95 blazer as the seats. I would love to read some ideas on putting this in the truck.

Soon:
New stereo
New speakers
Replace door panels
Fix any odds and ends that I find

This winter:
A new engine. The current engine is a dog. My plan as of now, subject to change, a 355 short block, bigger cam but nothing radical, Vortec heads, Edelbrock intake, 454 tbi, a Jet 6 Pack chip.
New paint
I have some factory alloy wheels I am going to get powder coated

I have yet to decide what adventure mods I will be doing. Mostly we will be geocaching and camping. Trips west will be in the cards for the summer of 2018. By the summer of 2018 I will have some excursions under my belt with the truck and camper and will have an idea of what mods I need to do.

Here is the truck as she sits. It is dirty right now and it is in need of a good wash and wax. This side is the worst.There is a dent in the left fender. I am going to pull the tool box. The bottom has been 'painted' with bed liner, I dont know how I feel about that yet.

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The floor of the cab is partially stripped. I am going to coat the floor with something, I dont know what yet. The interior is nasty. Once I get the floor done I am going to work on the dash, door panels, and rear interior trim. I am going to replace all of the speakers and add a stereo. Anyway here are a few pics of the inside. The truck was definitely a farm truck.

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The floor itself is in good shape except one spot. The channel on the drivers side where the wires run to the back of the truck was full and I mean full of mud/ The floor has started to rot in that area. I need to figure out how to fix that as well.

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This is where I am up to this point. Thanks for looking and if you have some suggestions I would love to read them.

 

[twomanymontes]

Nice project truck.

 

[thedood]

@twomanymontes Thanks for the reply. I agree, the truck needs a little tlc and I plan on giving it to it. Its a solid driving truck but has the issues one would expect a 22 year old truck with 208k miles to have.

 

[thedood]

I ordered more parts yesterday. I ordered an idler arm, idler arm bracket, and a pitman arm. Later this week I will order all new tie-rod ends, tie-rod connectors, and ball joints.

I am debating changing the control arm bushings at the same and just being done with it.

The steering and suspension components will all be Moog.

Prior to the suspension work I will do a good inspection on the cv shafts and if needed replace those as well.

I will also be inspecting all of the u-joints and replacing those if needed.

New shocks will come after all of that. I haven't decided what brand of shocks yet.

 

[thedood]

My new vinyl floor has been in. As soon as I get the floor itself fixed in I can lay the flooring down. The first batch of front end components arrived as well. I have received the new pitman arm, idler arm, and idler arm bracket.

My alternator failed, the bearing started whining but still charging. Last night I picked up a new alternator. On this way into work this morning the alternator quit charging, it didnt lock up and I made it in to work. I have a long commute and when I arrived the truck turned over like it had charged the whole time so I guess the battery is good.

I bought two more seats. These are power buckets out of a 97 Chevy. I am going to clean the 4 seats I have and see which the Mrs. likes better. If she likes the seats out of the blazer I am going to mount them on the power seat risers I just bought.

Obligatory truck ****.

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[Jorge6.5]

Right on! Where did you get the vinyl floor covering? Do you mind if I asked what you paid?

I'm looking to ditch the carpet in my truck and replace with vinyl. Trucks shouldn't come with carpet

 

[thedood]

I bought it from rock auto. I think it was 144.00 to my door.

 

[thedood]

I'm also with you on the carpet vs vinyl thing. The places the wife and I enjoy going are no place for carpet.

 

[thedood]

@Jorge6.5

I just double checked and it was $141.78 to my door. If I ever get the floor fixed and get it in I will let you know how it went.

 

[sethel]

I was going to replace my 1995 k1500 carpet with vinyl... did you get that in and have some pics?