Well, the trigger has been pulled. I just ordered the dark brown carpet from StockInteriors.com. Ultimately I keep feeling the darker brown has a hue that is closer to the tan of the seats and trim, where as the lighter brown has a bit too much red.
This weekend I helped my buddy move his project car down to Paso Robles from here in SJC. That took much of Saturday, so no progress on the truck until Sunday. Fortunately Sunday was terrifically productive.
I got the '87's engine sold to a guy who needed it for his '89 Suburban project. So that's a bit more $ and a bit more room I have now!
I started by cleaning up the floor patch panels. The passenger side needed a few pop rivets to hold down the front edge where it had lifted as it cured. I think I just didn't have it properly weighted on those areas, not that this was something inherent in using the product. I also found I'd cut the panel a little too far in one spot and left a sliver of hole open right at the kick panel, so I made another little piece and glued that in place, this time using pop rivets to hold it while it cured. This will all be covered over with carpet in the end, so all I care is that it is sealed well and strong, which they appear to be.
I did a little grinding too to smooth over some edges, then took the flappy paddle wheel quickly over the whole floor area in preparation for priming. But, before I got to painting I wanted to get the gas tank sender access panel installed. I've had to drop the gas tank on my old truck a couple times and it is a major ordeal. I also have fittings on the sender I'd like to have access to so I can install the tank now and connect the fittings later. This is a fairly common mod for square body off-roaders who have the center-mounted tanks. I'd ordered a 10"x10" metal access panel from Amazon since I didn't want to have to fab anything myself and I wanted a clean install. I've seen guys do this with just a piece of sheet metal screwed over the hole, but I feel like this is cleaner.
Anyway, I got the hole cut, nice and centered over the gas tank area. Then I swung by Lowes and bought some marine weather seal that was tall enough to reach above the raised area of the floor to fill in the lower areas. The lip of the access panel frame sits on top of the raised parts of the floor, so I ran grey RTV all the way around the lip. For the moment I used some very low-profile self-tapping screws to hold it in place and there'll will be a rubber floor mat covering the entire back, topped by my storage base, so I'm really not terribly concerned about having everything SUPER flush to the floor.
Once I got the access panel in I got to cleaning up the floor from all the paint and debris left from scuffing the floor and installing the panel. I also realized I didn't have as much primer left over from the previous painting as I thought. It was starting to get late by then so I used up what primer I had, got the shop cleaned up and headed home.
Today I'll be swinging by Home Depot to pick up a couple more cans of primer, then finishing the floor primer. Weds I'll be shooting the Lizard Skin sound deadener, and that'll be it for the floors! :wings: Then it'll be on to fabricating seat brackets, painting trim, waiting for the carpet to get here... still lots to do and that's just for the interior. Wiring will come after that, then finishing up the engine bay.