Funny that you say that because I just order more sandpaper this morning to polish up my shifters. They’re meant to be shiny but both mine had been painted over. They make coatings you rub onto polished metal that’s supposed to protect it pretty well so there’s always that option. Technically the more polished metal is the harder it is to rust as far as I understand.
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I believe the shifter rod is chrome, don't get too crazy with the sandpaper
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Shifter polishing went well, although I probably have at least five hours wrapped up in the job. 
It’s a lot of work and elbow grease but I’m happy with the results. I ended up using a flap disk to get past the heavier pitting and then started at 40 grit and worked up to 2500, then polishing pads. The transfer case shifter has some very deep pitting but it will be covered up by the boot.
It’s a lot of work and elbow grease but I’m happy with the results. I ended up using a flap disk to get past the heavier pitting and then started at 40 grit and worked up to 2500, then polishing pads. The transfer case shifter has some very deep pitting but it will be covered up by the boot.
So they were stainless too?
I’m not sure what it would be if it isn’t, it’s a very hard metal whatever it is.
Then they're stainless. Stainless is really hard, it usually breaks before it bends but only has the strength of about Grade 5.
Where did you source your shift boots? Mine last 18 months before they both ripped. The 205 has been shifted once or twice when I first assembled the truck so it's pretty annoying to say the least.
Wow really? That blows. I’m about 80% sure I got them from LMC, if not it was classic industries.
I need to go through my receipts to confirm however I’m pretty sure I bought them from classic industries.
I cleaned up and repainted my Silverado badges. 
I don’t think the yellow is an exact match to the factory but it’s close enough for me, im happy with how they turned out. I know a 73-75 blazer would have had the Cheyenne badge since Silverado wasn’t a trim option but I prefer the Silverado badge personally and I think it’s cool to keep some of the original parts on it. I noticed though that I have the wrong front fender emblems for a 73-74 K5.
The top one is the pair that I have and they started in 75 and ended in 80 I believe. The bottom one was 73-74 only and although it’s not a big difference I do prefer the 73-74 one. I bought mine well before I even considered a full vert conversion. A new set of those are over $100 but if I find a set at a reasonable price I’ll probably pull the trigger. On a side note if someone wants my 75 and up fender badges I’ll give you a good deal on them, they’re brand new!
I don’t think the yellow is an exact match to the factory but it’s close enough for me, im happy with how they turned out. I know a 73-75 blazer would have had the Cheyenne badge since Silverado wasn’t a trim option but I prefer the Silverado badge personally and I think it’s cool to keep some of the original parts on it. I noticed though that I have the wrong front fender emblems for a 73-74 K5.
The top one is the pair that I have and they started in 75 and ended in 80 I believe. The bottom one was 73-74 only and although it’s not a big difference I do prefer the 73-74 one. I bought mine well before I even considered a full vert conversion. A new set of those are over $100 but if I find a set at a reasonable price I’ll probably pull the trigger. On a side note if someone wants my 75 and up fender badges I’ll give you a good deal on them, they’re brand new!
I believe they used "ochre" instead of just yellow.
Martin
Martin
I had seen that somewhere and actually when I searched for “ochre acrylic paint” that’s what came up so that’s what I bought. but one company’s interpretation of ochre can obviously differ from another. It’s a little different in person but still too bright I think.
One Shots Imitation Gold was a better match for ochre than anything else I could find. I actually restored some old '73 to '74 emblems before they started selling them. I wound up buying a new set on a Black Friday deal. Unless you're just really needing them now that's what I would do.
I just ordered a pair yesterday for $94, not cheap by any means but better than $140
Sorry in advance for the huge photo dump, what follows is months of work restoring the hardtop. Started by stripping it down, pulling the glass and getting all the old tint off (this did not go smoothly). All three of the captured nuts in the top were free spinning so I had to cut them out and went ahead and remade them. Then came the fun part, sanding the old coating off. Seems like it may have been bed liner, lots of block sanding and orbital sanding and lots of hours. There were plenty of places that needed attention and repair including the sections of roof I cut out for the captured nuts. Lots of fiberglass work and resin to get it straight and solid again. I also got started on building a roof rack, love the look of the old luggage racks and I based mine off of some pictures I’d seen online. Really simple design, a roughly 6x4 hoop with six legs and feet, all stainless. The feet were 1/4” so they could be drilled and tapped. The legs were 1/8” and so were the plates on the inside. Stainless flathead screws on the inside and I counter sunk the heads for a nice flush look. I had a friend make the hoop and had him come over to weld it together for me since I don’t weld stainless and couldn’t make it look that nice even if I could. Super happy with how it turned out. I stuck a piece of 1/16” gasket rubber under each foot and put thread sealer in each hole before putting the screws in so let’s hope it’s water tight. Once I finished getting everything straight with body filler I gel coated the whole thing, first the inside then outside. Here’s a link to the thread where I got a lot of help with how to do that, thanks to everyone over there. https://ck5.com/forums/threads/gel-coat-questions.350476/
The texture turned out just how I had in my head, a heavy orange peel texture from the rollers, really happy with it. Last step was getting all the weatherstripping on, getting the glass in which is a lot of fun by yourself, and putting the finishing touches on like the lights and clothes hanger hooks. I repainted the light plate with a shiny metallic silver spray paint I had laying around and I got new lenses and bulbs. I was missing the plate that covers the wire connector for the lights so I went ahead and made one out of steel, turned out pretty nice if you ask me even if the letters are too big. Overall I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out, it’s a huge part of the overall look of the interior and exterior and was the last big thing before getting back into the body filler and getting it painted and finally put back together.
The texture turned out just how I had in my head, a heavy orange peel texture from the rollers, really happy with it. Last step was getting all the weatherstripping on, getting the glass in which is a lot of fun by yourself, and putting the finishing touches on like the lights and clothes hanger hooks. I repainted the light plate with a shiny metallic silver spray paint I had laying around and I got new lenses and bulbs. I was missing the plate that covers the wire connector for the lights so I went ahead and made one out of steel, turned out pretty nice if you ask me even if the letters are too big. Overall I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out, it’s a huge part of the overall look of the interior and exterior and was the last big thing before getting back into the body filler and getting it painted and finally put back together.
Thank you!
Looks good!
Martin
Martin
Wow that looks like a ton of work but it turned out great!
