hi new guy to this forum and to working on a restoartion project. My ? is I had the cab dip stripped and when it came back the bolts for the radio filler piece where gone or disolved, anyone know if they are avalaible anywhere? also what is the train of thought for either getting the gauges to work or replace? I geuss some history would help, bought on ebay from rick burnett in tenessess(shady seller not only one duped by him) was only to need paint /intiorer/box wood. I have blasted and paint frame stripped and primed cab truck has camero front end, some kind of newer rear end with disks and a 350/350 combo thinking of a 700r4instead of 350 depending what tranni shop says about existing tranni . thanks
Welcome Welcome to the forum new guy. I have only been coming here for a couple of months but have found great help both in straight answers and opinions. Over 90% of the parts that you will need whether you are restoring to original or restrorodding like you are can be found on the Classic Parts site. Another one that I have used with good results is LMC (Long Motor Company) I think they are at lmctrucks.com. I only used them for the one or two items that CP didn't have. Members on here also have spare pieces and parts that we don't need for our projects anymore. In fact, I think I have one of the radio blanks that you are talking about. I will check the next couple of days when I get up to the barn and see. Again, welcome! Bill
WELCOME . I see you're hot rodding not ' restoring ' but that's cool too . Plenty of those radio block plates so don't pay much for one . did you know modren radios are now being made to fit the dash hole with NO cutting ? . Several guys here know all about the V-ate conversions , forget about the DPO , just get your new truck up and running , it'll be better now you own it .
thanks for your help, i do know about lmc and classic parts and a few others, however i did not see the radio parts other than new one , the other thing i have not seen is the trim to go on the inside of the windsheild there is a good picture of it @ http://www.chevsofthe40s.com/catpagesCHEVS/truckclickfront.lasso?Dept=Truck The next thing i have to figure out is wheather to update the seat and steering colum or leave orig
Welcome to the forum here - it's OK to use your name you know. On the gauges point, I had mine rebuild by Classic Parts, no worries. I simply sent them the old ones and they came back good as new couple of weeks later. I'm sure CP send them on to a pro shop and you'll find a number of people who specialise in gauges if you shop around. I guess the advantage for me of using CP is that we've all got to know them over the years and if something goes wrong they'll more likely get it fixed than someome you just pulled off the web. Two things: make sure you get the voltages correct (like don't get 6v rebuilt with 12v) and my distance counter came back set to 0.
What's up GMC man, welcome to the site. I too am street rodding my truck. My opinion on the tranny is yank the 350 out and drop that 700R4 in. On second thought leave the 350 and ship me the 700R4, I wouldn't want it to clutter your garage ! The reason I recommend the 700 is because it has overdrive and your engine will thank you for it. It will give you better top end speed and better fuel economy. Not to mention it will be less stress on the engine. The interior in my opinion should be a custom set of buckets with a console, but that's just my opinion. You know what they say about opinions, They're like ---holes, everyones got one! Maybe I should have put that one in the old sayings thread, HHMMMMMMMM!!! The steering column of my choice would be the flaming river chrome that is adjustable, with the shifter in the floor not on the column. But I could go on and on. The great thing is this is your truck and you get to be the designer, engineer, mechanic, owner all in one. Enjoy the truck and if you have any street rod questions then let me know (because I don't know a thing about going original).
thanks everyone advise is all good. this seams like it should be fun chatting here this is another new thing I am not a computor wizard, to nate the link is right just click on interior and ytou will see the trim piece at bootom of windsheild, and what DPO? Kevin I don,t have a 700 or i would put it in for all the reasons you said. as far as the buckets the wife likes the one in my 2000 gmc and i have a 86 cutlass colume that is like the one in my 85 cutlass, go with what is familular (sp) the truck came with a genie shifter, witch of coarse i have to fix like everything else. I bought the truck because i thought everything was done old looks c/w newer drive line, but now i am into going over EVRYTHING with who's ever help i can in list i love older vehicals but am not a moneky wrench, have limited knowledge but mech inclind so wil forge through rebuild of the truck THANKS VERYONE AND THE NAME IS SCOTT D
Hi Scott ; ' DPO ' means : darned previous owner and can be blamed for anything wrong with the truck from now on , evern the boo-boos you make Living in Canada I know you can find a rusted out Chevy with a good 700R4 tranny in it for cheap..... Sell off the trim bits and etc. on E-pay to recoup some of the $200.00 purchase price .
Many folks call these RestoRodded or RestoRods . After all the back breaking work that goes into one , I can understand why they'd want to say ' ! restored ! even if it isn't . I doubt you'll ever get anyone to agree on this....
