-TheBandit-

iTrader: (1)

Did you clean the metal at all where you welded the batter tray in? All that white chalky residue around the welds is suspicious. Prep is very important. You've got to use a grinder or flapped wheel to get through the rust and factory coating down to bare metal before welding.

Looks like very good progress!

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Yep, I cleaned the areas to be welded. You can tell in the pic with the box on the workbench when I welded the plate to the side. I cleaned those even though they were both new pieces of metal and theres still white residue. Possibly since Im running fluxcore when welding this? I only use mig with gas one stuff people will see since my argon/co2 tank is pretty small and barely lasts one spool of wire.

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Cleaned metal before welding.

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Back to running and driving to the end of my 100ft drive and back, Rained all day and now everything froze up so without a bed and the fact that the trucks clean I didnt want to take it down the street plus I need to put zip ties on the wiring and hoses.

-TheBandit-

iTrader: (1)

I'm glad to see you did a good job prepping the metal. I realize fluxcore is a bit dirtier to work with, but something I noticed in this picture below is that most of the white chaulky stuff is not on the BTF metal, but rather on pieces of metal you added. There may be a coating on the added metal. I would just be cautious of inhalation and be sure the area is ventilated when you weld that stuff.

Your truck is a true sleeper. Wish it were mine.

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Tied up all the wires and lines, Took a brillo pad to the ss brake lines running across my axle and shined them up real nice. Cleaned all the grounds on that rear part of the frame then took her for a drive down the street and back without the bed running the summer treads while its 31* out. Boy I forgot how much she likes to go! She likes the cold thats for sure cruising at 2k rpms in 3rd and bliping the throttle kicks the back end out. Couple uncles are coming over in the morning to help me lift the bed back on then shes going back in the corner of the garage for winter .

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Some pics before the bed went back on.

Jimbo1367

How hard is it to install fittings on that braided line? Keep up the good work!

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Pretty easy. its the same procedure as ss braided lines. Cut the hose, put the silver part on then screw the black swivel end into the silver part. Its just easier because you dont have steel bits of the hose getting in the way of the silver part when putting it on. I didnt even wrap the hose when cutting and installing the silver part just cut it with scissors and slid the silver section on by spinning it while pushing it until it bottoms out on the hose.

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Well since I dont have anything planned to do with my truck until income tax time when there seemed to be good sales last year, I thought I'd post some pics of whats keeping me busy now.

Here she is at 4 weeks when I picked her out.



9 weeks when I brought here home.









and now at 11 weeks.





Shes a handful!

Jimbo1367

Very cute puppy. Shes getting big FAST. Enjoy!!!

-TheBandit-

iTrader: (1)

It's amazing how fast dogs grow in the first few months. Starting with a puppy is a challenge, but also a great way to bond and mold their personality. That can be a great thing if you're disciplined. Congrats on adding a new member to your family.

BSmiff

Beautiful dog my friend. One of the greatest experiences in my life was raising my puppy(Lab/Sheppard mix) from 3 weeks old into a well trained dog.

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Havent been up to much, just trying to figure out why the rev lockout doesnt work, getting tired of using 2 hands to throw it in reverse. I got a new phone with supposed hd camera and camcorder so since it was decent out I took the truck out to turn it around and grabbed a vid while it was out.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3rWOnjkh2k

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Made the non fold down maxima seats fold down to fit new buckets for the truck.





Theyre so darn comfy! Need some cleaning though.

futureuser

iTrader: (1)

Looks and sounds good. I got rid of my vvt and mine idles and sounds very similar with a similar sized cam. Any plans to get on the dyno?

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Im not getting them reupholstered so any ideas to get the gto badges less noticable? I was thinking just a permanant marker or possibly vinyl dye?

Yea this spring itll be getting a good dyno tune. I know a few members on here are interested on what it can put down.

01WS6/tamu

iTrader: (37)

Damm I want a set of those seats for my sonoma. My *** slides all over the stock buckets when I start playing with my sexy little six liter.

tiresmokinV8

iTrader: (6)

Before, for future reference.





Emptied out.



Close to the same seat height.




Marks in drivers seat Ive mentioned earlier.



Hmm got some work cut out for me, Making the left look like the right. Rails are 2" wider on the Gto seats too.

-TheBandit-

iTrader: (1)

Actually that looks pretty good for adaptability. On a set of seats I adapted, the rear mounting "ears" were pointing downward the same as your GTO seats and I needed them to be flat like your Sonoma seats. On one side I simply bent the tab back to flat where the 90 was. On the other side I cut the ear partway down and welded a piece of flat on with a new hole. It worked out pretty well. I would have used the same method for both sides, but the seat design had some constraints I was working around.

The seats in my Nova sit too high and there's nothing I can do to get them lower without modifying the floor. Hopefullly you have plenty of room to work with in your truck.