Things are still moving forward...I haven't been keeping this thread as up to date as I wanted to, but better late then never, right?
Well...since the last time this was updated, there was quite a bit of tweaking done to get everything on the body done as 'right' as is reasonably possible. My truck had the not-so-rare issue with one of the cage nuts that retains the door striker getting out of it's cage. The metal in that area looked like it had seen better days too. The guys at the new body shop fixed the hell out of that one. They did some really fine welding and replaced a section of the sheet metal that originally held the striker with 1/8" plate. Since that cavity is normally closed off, we cut a small access port in the post to deal with the striker bolt nut. When it's all done, a standard body plug should make that blend in pretty nicely.
There were quite a few other little sheet metal issues that have been sorted out too. Now everything is about as straight as it's going to be.
As for paint...I decided to go for the indigo blue metallic that I had originally been thinking about. I like it...a lot. It looks great on the truck, and it's actually a Blazer color...my truck is a few decades older than the ones that were that color from the factory though.

I was surprised at how much the paint itself costs...I had originally figured (and hoped) that since it was a factory color GM used, it might be less expensive. Yeah...how about no.
The bed area and floor pans are covered in bed liner urethane now...I plan on putting carpet and a decent interior in it, but that should keep the floors safe from rusting in case it ever sees any moisture. I am hoping it will keep the road noise and vibration down a little bit too.
So...over the next month or two, the rest of the body should get wrapped up. Now I've got to figure out what I want to do with the axles and powertrain.
