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Please refresh my memory...remind me what it's like

erik59

erik59

Registered Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Posts
52
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Location
Parkersburg, WV
Where to start. I traded my 91 Mustang GT that I fixed up real nice for an 89 GMC Jimmy w/51k miles. I figured it was a good trade. The car had 120K on it and was a money pit and an insurance nightmare. Well, I had the truck and drove it for about 2 months before I decided it was time to restore/lift it. The guy I traded the car to is a friend of mine that went to school for body work/paint. He told me he would do it for free as long as I paid for material. Should cost me around 400 bucks. Anyways....that was in June when he got it. And as you know it is December. He still has it...granted he works for UPS and is always on the road, but this is starting to get old. Back to what I was asking. Can any of you refresh my memory..remind me what it is like to drive one? I sure can't remember. As of now I am driving a loaner Dodge Stratus (turd). I've spent about $300 on it just to keep it going. I am done ranting, just thought I would share some of my misery.

Erik
 
That's the other definition of OffRoad. Dude, drive that thing! Sheez, '89 w 51KM, wow! Start with upgrades that take hours, not months.:D
 
I woud do it myself, but I don't know sheet about body work and paint, and I am not about to mess it up. On a good note, I always get my tax return in Feb, so I should get the truck back around then and have plenty of money to spend on her.

Erik
 
I would like to know also I have owend my rig for 4.5 years and put about 2000 miles on it! its a snowball effect take somthing off to upgrade and the next thing you know your doing a frame off LoL LoL
 
little update

Just to update anyone who might care...here is what is happening with my Jimmy.

All that is left for the body is a final coat of primer and wet sanding before the painting begins.

So far I have laying around in the kitchen and my bedroom: Shocks, steering stabilizer, box kit for lift, steering arm, speakers, cd player, 2 35's mounted, and two wheels w/no tires, door handles, door handle gaskets, splash shields, all new weather stripping for the doors and top, rear deflector panel, clip rods for the door locks, and one ball joint. Maybe some day soon I will get this thing back and get her back on the road.

Erik
 
Another update. I opened up a new can of worms the other day. I decided to completely gut the interior except for the dash board and see what was going on under the carpet. Well, of course there was the usual. Basically everything from the drivers seats back need to be replaced to fix all of the problems completely. Both of the rear sets of body mounts are shot too. The last coat of primer was sprayed on over the weekend and it is ready for a final bit of sanding and wet sanding the whole thing. Paint is up next then I can bring her home on a 5th wheel flatbed and do the rest of the work at my place. Sure will be nice to have it back within a month if the weather clears up so the paint can be sprayed on. That give me some time to rake up some money for the 400 bucks worth of panels that I will have to buy to complete the interior rebuild. Oh yeah...the battery is shot now too. Sweet!

Erik
 
cool, glad to see your keeping up with it. Sounds like you have a hand full. If you have any snags, let us know :)
 
This afternoon I am going to take try and get the rear two body mounts removed and also the tailgate hinges so I can take them to work and sand blast them and possibly do a little r&d on the pins for the hinge. I think the hinges are why my tailpan crossmember has broken welds on the passenger side. With the tailgate off of it I can't hardly even move the hinges and I weight almost 300 lbs. They need to be drilled and have the pins removed and replaced along with some oilite bearings. We'll see if I can get them out tonight without breaking the spot welds that hold the nut on.

Erik
 
PICS coming soon

I just got back from picking up my bed floor patch panels. I am going to go over to where the truck is now and get a test fit on the panels. If they fit well then I am going to cut all of the bed out of it this weekend. I still have yet to find the two pieces that are located by the rear passenger foot area like a kick panel, but I think they are going to be custom fab jobs. The only panels that I haven't got yet that are still made are the rear cab floor panels. I am going to wait until next payday to get them. After that I am done with replacement panels. I borrowed my girlfriend's mother's digicam today so I am going to start taking some pictures of what I have do deal with. I don't have the cable that links the camera to the printer, nor do I have any software, so I think I am gonna have to make a trip to the wally world so I can get them put on a disk from the memory stick. Stay tuned for the pictures. Hopefully I will be able to get them up in a day or so.

Erik
 
replacement panel fitment

I just got back from test fitting the replacement panels. Although I didn't have a micrometer or a set of calipers it appears to me that the replacement panels that I got are of the same material thickness as the OEM stuff, which reallly suprised me. I got them from a local place called Action Crash Parts. I have dealt with them before, but mostly for markers lenses, etc. If only they carried the rear floor panel sections and the footwell sections for the rear. Guess I'll have to suck it up and pay for shipping on those pieces. That is all I can do until I get some body mounts for the rear fabbed up and a welder so I can weld the rear tailpan back in place. I was really wanting to cut the rest of the bed out, but there would be nothing for the rear fenders to rest on anymore. Basically it would be the rear half of the truck haning from the cab and only welded on one side of the tailpan. Guess I'll just have to wait. Sorry I am so long winded.

Erik
 
Finally got ahold of a little welder. It is a hobart 135. I figure it will work fine. I am not the greatest welder I will admit, so I got a buddy of mine that is in the sheetmetal union that is going to do the welding for me. He is going to weld the tailpan on it tomorrow so I can get started on cutting the bed out of it. I am going to snap some pics again tomorrow. I figure that I will have some pics posted up by mid next week. Stay tuned.

Erik
 
update no. 236

Here is the order of events today.

1. Started about 11 a.m today using the ol air chisel to remove the OEM bed floor
2. Removed the bed floor supports and rear seat latch pocket from the old bed material.
3. Mocked up the new bed floor and made any adjustments that needed to be made.
4. Tack welded the new bed floor sections together.
5. Attached the floor supports to the floor panels.
6. Started welding up the seams and ran out of time at 6 p.m.

I went to wally world later to get the pictures transferred to a disk, but found out that you can't do that unless you go in during the normal business hours of the photo center, which I believe is a bunch of crap. I had some other stuff that I had picked up and was going to purchase. After finding out that I had wasted a trip to that damn place I put all of my stuff back that I had intended on buying and walked out as I came in...with a memory stick and thoughts of transferring pictures.

Erik
 
Still waiting for my g/f to take the SM card to wally world to get the pics transferred, so no pics yet. I ordered the rear sections of the front floor pan today. The weather is warming up pretty quickly in my neck of the woods, so I should be able to get some paint sprayed on here before the end of April. That is if the weather does cooperate. We'll see. I'll keep you all posted as if anyone cares...ha.

Erik
 
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