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83' M1009 Rebuild to Civilian

Thanks 305. Have to get it appraised before I can start driving it. Will probably take me another couple weeks to finish the interior now as it's in my Cooooooooooooooold garage now! Got notification yesterday that my bed side panels have been shipped. Should see them in about 10 days or so. It should really finish it up with those.
 
Made the passenger seat support brackets and installed the passenger seat. Ran the seat heater leads under the rug and tied in the switch lead to the power feed for the lumbar motor. I ran a relay powered up directly off the driver's side battery which feeds both seats. The relay is energized off a ignition tap off the fuse box. Works great and the seats get warm fast with the motor running. If you look close in the pictures you can see where I put the heat switches in the lower seat base plastic skirts.

Forgot I had all the jute padding for underneath the rear passenger area rug. This will help even more to keep this truck nice and quite. Waiting on the side panels now as I don't have a lot more to do now.

My lock outs were original M1009 stock units painted black and not polished under the paint. My next door neighbor is a professional polisher and has a business set up in his large garage. Took him a spare set I had from one of my other axles and he polished them up. He also repainted the "lock-free" and the ring with black paint. Super nice job and now nice and shiny.

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97' Tahoe. Seat folds forward enough and with it slid all the the way forward there is plenty of room to get to the back. Need to take a picture of that too.
 
They are very close in shade to the original velour seats but they could've been just a little darker and that would have been good. The guy I got them from had another 2 pair and one pair was a little darker but it was hard to known that until it all started going together. No big deal though.

Today was like Christmas when the UPS truck showed up. My new Brother's bed side panels came in today and so did the cargo area rear rug trim. Looks like the trim might be OEM as it has a made in Canada sticker on it, same as what used to be found in a lot of the OEM Blazer parts.

The bed panels have all the original holes punched through the backing but not through the material in the case you don't want to use them. There is the spaces for the ashtrays and speakers. There seem to be pretty nice quality and come with a break in the backer board over the wheel well area so they can be shipped folded. Will need to get to work this weekend as there is a good chance I'll have the interior done or mostly done.:woot:

Here are some pictures. I included a picture of a picture of my old 1st gen Blazer I had. My dad bought it and I redid it. It had a roll bar, soft top, 2" add a leaf lift, 350 built, and a 4spd trans. It was an awesome truck that I needed to sell when I got divorced. To top it all off that damn woman is the one sitting in it in the picture. I lost a lot in that divorce but gained the knowledge that there are many more, much better woman out there.:D

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Installed the jute padding under the rear rug and installed the rear seat lock trim in the floor. Put the new side panels in place and the rear rug trim plate. Nothing is screwed in yet. Installed the two rear seat belts and the bracket for the bar that holds the seat folded forward. Really looking nice and plush.

Included a picture of the passenger seat folded and moved all the way forward. Easy to enter the back. Really like the way these seats turned out. I am going to try and install a arm to the seat slider lever that can be actuated from the rear so a passenger in the rear can move the seat forward without having to have someone else move the seat for them. Hope to use a arm from another slider mechanism so it has a factory look with a factory knob.

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Thanks Irish. Started screwing the side panels in tonight. Realized that these panels do not come with the metal support at the seat belt mechanism end. That metal helps to hold the panel good and tight at the bottom especially. So I altered the panel by pulling the staples along the edge, releasing the material from the edge, freeing up the padding off the cardboard, punching two holes for the metal support's tabs, and slid the metal in. Used spray adhesive to reinstall the material and bent the tabs back to hold the metal firmly to the panel. The panels do not come with the screw grommets either. I removed the ones from my old panels and installed them. Had to make the holes slightly bigger so I could get them into the panel.

.Made cut outs for the speaker and measured to install the panel support brackets. There is four bracket for each side and what I didn't originally realize is all four are at different lengths. If you closely in the picture you will see notches on the edges of the brackets. From one notch to four notches. The single notch goes the furthest to the front of the truck, the four notch one goes all the way to the back by the speaker location. Installed my new speaker and bent up a metal support from one speaker screw that goes to the body so the speaker won't be flexing around on the panel.

Got the seat belt mechanism installed and the upper belt mount. Still need to glue the lower kick panel carpet in and then install the lower belt mount. The belt mechanism really pulls the panel tight because of the metal piece I installed. Glad I took the time to do it. Need to finish the driver's side panel tomorrow. Not a lot more to do before the roof goes to paint.

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Today was like Christmas when the UPS truck showed up. My new Brother's bed side panels came in today and so did the cargo area rear rug trim. Looks like the trim might be OEM as it has a made in Canada sticker on it, same as what used to be found in a lot of the OEM Blazer parts.

Where do you find those...they don't list them on the Brothers site and they don't seem to have a search button
 
When you go to the Brother's site click on the "door" section in "interior". When is asks for a sub department click on "door panels and accessories". You will then see "Blazer and Suburban Side Panels".

Like posted earlier. The are nice panels but are missing a few of the stock things the OEM panels have. The metal plates at the seat belt mechanism and the screw grommets for the holes.
 
Thanks for the compliments guys. Once it starts going back together it's hard to stop working on it. I owned it for damn near 10 years and procrastinated starting it. Now I can't wait to see it all finished.
 
they got 60-72 and 81-91. no 73-75 :doah:

Ya, I saw that. I would think they would fit but I'm not sure considering the area where the seat belt mechanism goes. While there are no holes in that area, there is no cardboard or padding either. You could add some backing and foam easily enough though so they might work for you. If you look in my other pictures when I first got the panels you will see that there is nothing cut out until you do it.

Ted
 
Worked on getting the driver's side bed panel mounted in. I line up the four panel supports with a piece of clothesline along the bed so I get them all the right height for the screws. I put them in the exact location the stock panels were. Got the panel in and the speaker in the panel. Found out the driver's seat belt mechanism has a pawl inside that is broken so I need to find another gray seat belt mechanism.

Installed the rug trim at the base of the front of the rear floor. I found my old OEM carpet which is cut in a distinctive pattern to go over the hump and allow for the trim to mount properly to the back of the front floor area. Using the OEM rug as a pattern I cut my new rug exactly like it and it installed with the rug trim piece easily.

Screwed down my new rear carpet trim piece also so that is done and put the rear seat in to try the fit. The seat is dirty and needs a cleaning but is in decent shape other than that. It is not locking in place yet but I think the new rug is just too plush right now and won't let the seat go down enough for the latches to lock around the pins. I'll give it some time before I look at a way of adjusting that latch system. Also found one seat belt on the rear seat is not retracting all the way back in. Will have to work on that too. Got to go and pick up the grilles for my Alpines. Forgot to get them when I bought the speakers.

Almost there.:woot:

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Worked on the Blazer these last couple days. Found the back of the rear seat that it was bent up and wouldn't let the latch go deep enough into the pins. Straightened the back and now it latches properly still somewhat tight. Got the speakers grills in and got the driver's seat belt fixed and installed. I am done on the inside other than putting some glue on the kick panel carpets in the passenger area. I am not screwing them in like the originals were.

Got my 1 1/2" wheel spacers in today and put them on, then put the tires back on. Looks real nice now.

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Your truck makes me wish I could go to the dealership and buy one tomorrow.
 
In about another month we can hook up so you can see it first hand. At least you saw it way before I got this far with it and know how it looked originally. I would have to say it's more of a slight resto-mod than a restoration as I didn't go OEM with everything and I don't think a M1009 ever came through like this!:D
 
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