the stepside: a drivabeater thread

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98chevy2500SS

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Liking the upgrades, some new paint to that hitch and it will look sweet. How come you are leaving an incandescent bulb in the parking lights? Just curious.
 

dusterbd13

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Honestly, to have a constant amber for inspection purposes. The crees done provide that on the running light circuits. Just a fog light pattern.

And i should have painted the hitch, but needed to use it today. So it went in.

Hopefully ill use this truck to pull home a lotus europa next week....

Tube frame build with a rear engine b series honda is the plan.....
 

Bigpatsz

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Budget first:

previously was 2534.41

new money:


headliner material: 19.59

spyder headlights: 76.99

dash cap: 210


new total: 2840.99


my test driving and tint revieled a flaw with the cheap ebay headlights I ordered. They sucked at night. Horrible beam pattern, and useless. Couldnt have that. So I ordered what I should have in the first place, the spyder glass headlights. The lens is glass, the reflectors metal. The backers fiber reinforced plastic, etc. much. Much higher quality pieces. The benefit is the fit better too. At the same time, I tossed in some cree switchback LED bulbs, and the clear corners that I used krylon stained glass paint on to turn orange. Came out nice!


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20180608_135433 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


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20180608_140648 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

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20180608_152120 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


lights need some more aiming, but far better already.

Also finally got my new hitch mounted.


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20180610_143443 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


getting ready to do interior and call it done!
I was reading and dont know if I missed it or not but was the back bumper originally chrome? If so howd yall prep to paint it? I recently ls swapped my truck and now its time for the same body treatment except I have much more body work to fix. Awesome thread.
 

dusterbd13

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Back bumper was originally painted. Front was chrome.

36 grit flap wheel on the grinder to break through the chrome. Etching primer followed by high build followed by sanding and paint.
 

98chevy2500SS

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Thanks for the "how-to" on that for the chrome bumper. If only I knew that before I had my truck painted two years ago. Question: what's the "high build"?
 

dusterbd13

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A two part sandable primer. Kinda like sprayed on, easy sanding bondo. When you go the paint store, just ask for high build. They'll know what youre talking about
 

dusterbd13

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Thanks! Picking up the last leg of the Hot Rod Power Tour with it today. Kind of wish I had had something this nice and capable in 1999 when my dad and I did it with a 456 geared 70 Duster
 

dusterbd13

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Budget first

previously was 2840.99

new money:

blower motor and resistor and epoxy: 69.99

4 cans SEM medium grey: 59.97

mode door actuator: 40


new total: 3110.95


so, the AC took a dump. Blower motor quit being reliable. And it barely blew through the vents.


Step one was remove broken dash.

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20180618_192335 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


step 2 was remove blower motor and resistor, vacuum box out, spray coil cleaner a few times and flush with water hose.

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20180620_081228 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

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20180620_081223 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


I swapped to a 99 escalade blower motor in the process, as well as pulled part of a wal-mart bag out of the HVAC box.


I then took a while cleaneing, prepping, and epoxying the seperate pieces of dash into one structure again.

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20180619_082309 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


I then prepped, fit, tweaked, refit, tweaked, refit, reprepped, glued, and clamped the accu form dash cap down.

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20180619_163329 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

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20180619_163339 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

without every clamp I own (after adhesive cured)

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20180620_071913 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

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20180620_071924 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


a few light coats of sem medium grey later

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20180620_145040 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

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20180620_145030 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


I recolored the rest of the dash pieces prior to re installation. Also, this picture doesn't show the rest of the interior out. The greys don't match, and I needed to redo the headliner and add sound deadening and insulation. It also doesn't show the mode door actuator that died in the making of this post.

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20180620_211052 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

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20180624_173546 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr


still need to figure out why the bottom piece doesn't fit anymore, and why the ashtray wont stay closed.


Remember: we are privileged to have our problems today.
 
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