Salty K1500
OBS Enthusiast
Thanks! Rest assured, there will absolutely be a lot of project creep, and I'm okay with that haha.
1995 GMC K1500 Reconditioning
- Thread starter Salty K1500
- Start date
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Salty K1500
OBS Enthusiast
In the summer of 2015 I was working two jobs while on summer break, so I did what any responsible, borderline broke young man does and bought things for my truck.
https%3A//i.imgur.com/0jGPkmg.jpg[/img]']
I got HIDs for the truck in the early summer. They were the white ones (5000K I think?). I had 6000K HIDs at some point too. The HIDs are gone now, I started to get older and felt bad about running HID lights in housings designed for halogens. So I put in 9011/9012 bulbs from the newer trucks, more than enough light for me and shouldn't cause any glare. I do miss the colors of them though, much cleaner than halogen.
https%3A//i.imgur.com/t9UvEhV.jpg[/img]']
https%3A//i.imgur.com/6epFLkn.jpg[/img]']
I then put in blue LEDs in the instrument/HVAC panels. Love the blue, even though it can be hard on the eyes. I've since installed better ones in the instrument cluster so there aren't any hot spots.
https%3A//i.imgur.com/EFDG1qg.jpg[/img]']
https%3A//i.imgur.com/AmcgsN5.jpg[/img]']
July of 2015 brought new wheels and tires. The tires are Wild Country XTX in 265/70/R17. I had never heard of them before, but the tire shop I went to swore by them. I think they were about 650 USD for the set of four, I've got approximately 45,000 miles on them and they still have plenty of tread left. They do great in the mud and snow. However, they are old, so they will be replaced before this truck hits the road again. I will likely buy another set, as long as they still have good reviews. The rims I can't recall the brand name of at the moment, but they weren't too spendy, I think about 400 USD. At this point I would like some refurbished sawblades for the truck, but I will keep these rims to use on this truck when it suites my fancy.
https%3A//i.imgur.com/0jGPkmg.jpg[/img]']
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I got HIDs for the truck in the early summer. They were the white ones (5000K I think?). I had 6000K HIDs at some point too. The HIDs are gone now, I started to get older and felt bad about running HID lights in housings designed for halogens. So I put in 9011/9012 bulbs from the newer trucks, more than enough light for me and shouldn't cause any glare. I do miss the colors of them though, much cleaner than halogen.
https%3A//i.imgur.com/t9UvEhV.jpg[/img]']
You must be registered for see images attach
https%3A//i.imgur.com/6epFLkn.jpg[/img]']
You must be registered for see images attach
I then put in blue LEDs in the instrument/HVAC panels. Love the blue, even though it can be hard on the eyes. I've since installed better ones in the instrument cluster so there aren't any hot spots.
https%3A//i.imgur.com/EFDG1qg.jpg[/img]']
You must be registered for see images attach
https%3A//i.imgur.com/AmcgsN5.jpg[/img]']
You must be registered for see images attach
July of 2015 brought new wheels and tires. The tires are Wild Country XTX in 265/70/R17. I had never heard of them before, but the tire shop I went to swore by them. I think they were about 650 USD for the set of four, I've got approximately 45,000 miles on them and they still have plenty of tread left. They do great in the mud and snow. However, they are old, so they will be replaced before this truck hits the road again. I will likely buy another set, as long as they still have good reviews. The rims I can't recall the brand name of at the moment, but they weren't too spendy, I think about 400 USD. At this point I would like some refurbished sawblades for the truck, but I will keep these rims to use on this truck when it suites my fancy.
Those rims look good on your truck.
Salty K1500
OBS Enthusiast
Sorry about the lack of replies, been busy with work and haven't given this thing much attention.
To wrap up my history lecture above, I daily drove the truck until fall of 2017. I then bought a newer Tacoma and have been daily driving that since. The GMC got pressed into daily driver status occasionally when I either borrowed the Tacoma to family memebers or used it to get around muddy construction sites. It's been off the road for about 2 years now as I have been doing major repairs.
Some of the things I have done in the last two years are as follows.
I partially stripped the interior in preparation for welding, and while I was doing that I cleaned up a bunch of surface rust on the floor pan and painted it.
I re-did the entire steering and suspension, minus the lower ball joints, still need to get to that.
Rebuilt the rear brakes.
Installed a new radio and antena.
Did spark plugs/wires/distributor.
Did some misc. re-wiring.
Removed the bed and started replacing the rotted out mounting sills.
Replaced the passenger side rocker panels and cab corners with new metal welded in. Currently working on the driver side.
Last month I removed the gas tank to weld part of the cab near it, looked at the shape it was in, and decided hell, lets replace the tank. That quickly snowballed into buying pretty much the entire fuel delivery system. Pics to come on this.
To wrap up my history lecture above, I daily drove the truck until fall of 2017. I then bought a newer Tacoma and have been daily driving that since. The GMC got pressed into daily driver status occasionally when I either borrowed the Tacoma to family memebers or used it to get around muddy construction sites. It's been off the road for about 2 years now as I have been doing major repairs.
Some of the things I have done in the last two years are as follows.
I partially stripped the interior in preparation for welding, and while I was doing that I cleaned up a bunch of surface rust on the floor pan and painted it.
I re-did the entire steering and suspension, minus the lower ball joints, still need to get to that.
Rebuilt the rear brakes.
Installed a new radio and antena.
Did spark plugs/wires/distributor.
Did some misc. re-wiring.
Removed the bed and started replacing the rotted out mounting sills.
Replaced the passenger side rocker panels and cab corners with new metal welded in. Currently working on the driver side.
Last month I removed the gas tank to weld part of the cab near it, looked at the shape it was in, and decided hell, lets replace the tank. That quickly snowballed into buying pretty much the entire fuel delivery system. Pics to come on this.
Salty K1500
OBS Enthusiast
Here's some pics of the panel replacement on the driver's side of the truck.
This panel was fully welded in, just didn't take a pic of it. I find it amusing that I was unable to cut the original panel in a straight line, yet when I fit the new panel, I was able to mirror my original cut so well that only minimal trimming was necessary after the first cut of the replacement panel.
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This panel was fully welded in, just didn't take a pic of it. I find it amusing that I was unable to cut the original panel in a straight line, yet when I fit the new panel, I was able to mirror my original cut so well that only minimal trimming was necessary after the first cut of the replacement panel.
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Salty K1500
OBS Enthusiast
Here's some pics from the passenger side of the cab.
First the backing plates (I think that's the name for them anyway). They don't sell a section for the rear portion of the cab, so I cut down one for the front. I used some flat 16 gauge metal for the upper portion that welds onto the rear cab mount. It appears that all the inner structure is 16 gauge, and the outer skins are 18 gauge on this truck.
While doing the backing plates, I replaced the rear most cab mount. The original was holding on by a thread. I also had to patch up the frame side mounts, as all six were rotted on the inside. I used a washer the same thickness as the mounts. This is temporary. I intend to buy some quality replacements and have a professional weld them on, but this will work for now, there was still plenty of good metal left on the originals to weld to.
Up next was the inner cab corner and part of the rear floor/wall. The rear floor I used flat 16 gauge metal again.
After that came the rocker panel.
And last, but not least, the cab corner.
First the backing plates (I think that's the name for them anyway). They don't sell a section for the rear portion of the cab, so I cut down one for the front. I used some flat 16 gauge metal for the upper portion that welds onto the rear cab mount. It appears that all the inner structure is 16 gauge, and the outer skins are 18 gauge on this truck.
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While doing the backing plates, I replaced the rear most cab mount. The original was holding on by a thread. I also had to patch up the frame side mounts, as all six were rotted on the inside. I used a washer the same thickness as the mounts. This is temporary. I intend to buy some quality replacements and have a professional weld them on, but this will work for now, there was still plenty of good metal left on the originals to weld to.
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Up next was the inner cab corner and part of the rear floor/wall. The rear floor I used flat 16 gauge metal again.
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After that came the rocker panel.
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And last, but not least, the cab corner.
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Salty K1500
OBS Enthusiast
Here's some pics of the new gas tank, fuel pump, and associated parts for the fuel tank. I have new fuel lines from Lines To Go as well. I'm waiting to put them on until I can grind down all the rust on the inner part of the frame they run down and paint it before I install them. Only problem is, it's winter in Minnesota, so it's too cold to apply paints to it currently, but once we get a day in the mid 20's again, I think I'll be able to heat up the garage enough to get it to cure somewhat properly.
Here's what all this stuff is replacing.
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Here's what all this stuff is replacing.
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Salty K1500
OBS Enthusiast
I believe I bought it from LMC, they have the whole assembly and most of my parts come from LMC or Rock Auto, but I didn't see the metal part of the vent on Rock Auto. Here's a link to LMC's product: https://www.lmctruck.com/1988-98-ch...d-1992-96-gas-tank-filler-door-and-components
