88GMCtruck's never ending 88 GMC build thread

[88GMCtruck]

But that isn't all. During the time all this bodywork was happening at my father's house, I was working on the axles and brake hardware at my house....
Sand blasted, coated the axles with KBS and painted all the smaller items with Enamel.

SO MUCH PAINT. Also had to re-gear the 14SF down to 4.56 to match the front. Rear axle is all new bearings and seals, front is all new seals as it was rebuilt not many miles ago.

And just because, to keep you all up to date, I managed to get the welds and new tires on the 06 as well as the airbags.

 

[88GMCtruck]

And just to cement in the amounts of insanity I currently compel, A few other tidbits that have "slowed me down" on progressing on my truck.

I decided I was tired of the temperatures outside and insulated and sheetrocked my garage ceiling.

One weekend I helped extract a 26' ex russian lifeboat from a pond.

And of course I found time to take a trip camping.

Then last weekend, a friend from Ill flew here and he, myself and 4 others proceeded to over the course of 3 days to visit 9 wrecking yards... It was kinda a blur. We all did well, and I found things such as these really, really perfect Denali switches and steering wheel....

Oh, and another powr-slider rear power window....

So this is where things are at. We have been letting the body sit awhile to "cure" before painting... which I would expect to happen in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

 

[88GMCtruck]

Going with the original maroon when you paint it?

That was the plan. I considered black as well but decided against it.

 

[Tiki]

Nice scrapyard haul

 

[88GMCtruck]

Made it into the final stages of prepping the cab...

Undercoated the floorpan while it's apart.

Then just more and more primer sanding and those things. I also added the texture chip guard to the cab rockers and front fender edges.

Then got a few things set and shot some color. Painting the roof first then will do the rest of the cab. Just hard to paint the roof and the rockers due to their proximity to the ceiling and ground respectively.

Next few weeks should have more and more paint progress!








































































Oh you wanted to see the paint.

Tangier Orange baby! Have kept the color choice a secret up to this point. I'm SO happy with it though. Tired of seeing all the bland colors these days.

More to come!

 

[Tylers88]

That’s going to look awesome, I wanted to paint my 88 Hugger Orange but decided a color change would suck to much to do.

 

[88GMCtruck]

That’s going to look awesome, I wanted to paint my 88 Hugger Orange but decided a color change would suck to much to do.

It's not for the faint of heart, that is for sure!

 

[88GMCtruck]

It's simply amazing how life gets in the way sometimes. Or at least in my case, life has been so busy that I have had zero time to update the forum as it takes a good deal of effort VS a quick instagram or facebook post.

So, one thing that wasn't really discussed during all of this, I had learned that the company I had worked for for 12 years was closing it's doors. Shortly after starting the paint, I begin a career at a new company, with new people, commuting more and working more. I'm currently on a "mega project" of which I currently can't name. I also had some water/ant damage to my house I had to repair, as well as my normal trips. So free time has been quite minimal. I spend most of my free time working on the truck, and I've actually made really, really good progress.

So, to that end, let’s get you caught up.


So finishing out May 2019

Painting: There was a lot of it. 3-4 coats of single stage enamel followed by 3-4 coats of acrylic clear. This thing really pops. Pictures don’t do it justice.

Between all this painting, I also got the axles re-assembled, and under the frame on the old springs.

 

[88GMCtruck]

So this brings us to June. At this point the fenders, doors, tailgate, hood and cab were all painted. Those panels were moved and stored in a storage unit. This is also the time where I ended up with my new “Work Truck” that you may recognize as my father’s old truck – The company I work for has a vehicle allowance to purchase your own vehicle as a work truck, so I ended up with my father’s 2009 K1500 SLT Sierra with the 6.2L and 44k miles. He got a new 2019 Duramax.

A few generations

Then we moved onto the bed

Just look at that shine – mind you this is with zero alterations from how the paint was applied.

 

[88GMCtruck]

We finished all the bodywork on the 4th of July weekend and off to storage it went.

Now that all that was done and out of my dad’s shop, I could concentrate on the rest of the truck… or so I thought. This was about the time I found an ant infestation and water damage to the entire back wall of the master bedroom. So that took up the rest of July to completely rip down to foundation and rebuild that portion of wall. Then I had a planned quad trip (which I desperately needed), and a wedding to attend to. On top of regular day to day things.


At this point, its late August. Time to start sorting bolts, brackets, etc, etc, etc

The plastic frame ID tag original to the truck. Still haven’t quite figured out the meaning behind each set of letters, colors or shapes I’ve seen.

 

[88GMCtruck]

Moving into September, the frame was starting to take shape.

 

[88GMCtruck]

Then sometime in October, I moved on to the powerplant.

And began the Vortec transformation

 

[88GMCtruck]

November I kept at the engine/transmission side of things. Wiring ensued, to remove things not needed on the 98 harness (auto trans, rear 02 sensors, etc). I also rebuilt and installed an offroad designs SYE for the NP241.

 

[88GMCtruck]

Right after Thanksgiving, I flew a fabricator friend out to help me build custom exhaust – all from 3”, 304 stainless.

And not too shortly after, it once again started looking like a truck.

 

[88GMCtruck]

And between all the holiday madness, I was able to keep working on details here and there.

After the arrival of 2020, I turned back to the underhood area… Cleaned and painted brackets, a new Sanden AC pump, and more power in the form of a Whipple Supercharger. Or as I like to call it, the “Whip Whip”.

 

[88GMCtruck]

Also spent some rebuilding the hydroboost, and installing all the various lines and hoses.

And just for fun, I installed the cab lights and harness with OEM Topkick/Kodiak LED inserts.

And painted the D-rings up front red as an accent color

 

[88GMCtruck]

And got the rest of the braking system plumbed up, including the addition of Wilwood dual piston calipers.

Then came the clutch master cylinder and pedals.

And just because I’m going this OCD, I completely dis-assembled and painted the steering column….

 

[88GMCtruck]

So, that is about where I am currently to date. I keep going farther and farther down a rabbit hole with this, it was originally intended as a clean, easy refresh of the truck and after doing the bodywork and paint, has turned into a full on restore everything type of frame off restoration. It slow, but the light is nearing…

 

[Huck]

That’s awesome dude. I’ve been following along in IG, you’re doing a hell of a job with this thing


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