Project Karma

[Tahoedonner]

Just as I had all my cooling issues ironed out and took the truck on a 30 mile drive I decided it was time to make her inoperable again. I had a decent leak coming from the t case and didn't have the confidence in taking the truck long distances until I resealed it. It was pretty much leaking out of every orifice. Also wanted to know if the seal between t case and transmission was leaking. Pulled it out, ground off at least 3 inches of crud from all sides, pulled it all apart, and put it back together. Was a relatively easy deal. While the t case was out it was the perfect time to change out the transmission mount and clean/paint the crossmember. Old one was about as bad as it could get. Picked up an rpt transmission mount from IH parts awhile back. Seal between t case and transmission wasn't leaking for the first couple days but after I replaced the trans mount I noticed the next morning it had started to leak. Glad it took me so long to clean, paint and reseal the damn thing.

Trans mount old and new

T case old and new

 

[IHRunner]

Never thought a transfer case could look sexy. But good job

 

[punjig]

Lookin' good. I got to compliment you on the craftsmanship and attention to detail. Even made an old xfer case look nice!!!

 

[Tahoedonner]

Been working on a custom tonneau to cover the area from the backseat to the tailgate. I decided to make a frame out of square aluminum tubing. Will cover that in hardboard on both sides. All of that will be covered in marine vinyl. I'm using c channel aluminum as the rail covers as well. Turns out it's also a perfect fit to latch over the back or the tailgate. Gas struts to open and will also keep it from rattling around when down. I will use locking hood pins to secure it shut. It's not theft proof by any means but should help protect the rear carpeting and stereo components from weather and those looking to quickly snatch something out of the back.

Aluminum frame

Rails

Decided to round the corners to flow better.

The rear channel piece fits perfectly over the tailgate and the weather strip. Still waiting for full length piece to show up.

Vinyl and hood pins

Rough mock up

 

[Tahoedonner]

Final piece of the puzzle showed up today. Hope to have this finished out in the next couple weeks

 

[Tahoedonner]

Got a bunch more work done on the tonneau today.

For the hinge I'm using a 2" x 1/4" bolt with nylon sleeves in all 3 pass throughs. Pass throughs are the rail and both frame holes. There's also a .5" nylon spacer on both sides creating a gap between the rail and frame. I'll have .25" "padding" underneath the vinyl, only on the frame and rail sides, to fill in the gap. It will be malleable and should mold to make it gap-less. My rear bed area is not perfectly square edit (turns out my bed is 55" at hinge and 54 5/8" pre tailgate. Nowhere near as non-square as I had originally thought) so I need some minor play side to side. I'll set the gas shocks in place for an approximate 17" opening above the tailgate. That's the angle you see in the pics. Once I can get the gas shocks set it'll be time to cover it all in vinyl.

 

[Tahoedonner]

Got a bit more done today. It's slow going because of all the measuring, remove, measure, replace, measure, remove, measure, replace....

Got the gas struts installed today and started with the vinyl work. Hope to have the rails and top covered by tomorrow night so I can get a good feel for how it looks.

 

[Tahoedonner]

It's in and mostly finished. The bottom cover is currently being covered in vinyl. The rail bolts are temporary as I have decided to get some black finishing washer styles to use. I ordered a heavier duty set of struts as the ones on now hold it fine but don't raise it. I'll probably end up reusing the current ones for the lift gate glass anyways.

 

[Scooter]

I'm liking the tonneau cover tool storage area you created. I have been contemplating something similar with drawers

 

[Tahoedonner]

I'm liking the tonneau cover tool storage area you created. I have been contemplating something similar with drawers

Thx kimball. I .ove the way it turned out.

 

[Tahoedonner]

Spent the last week installing a Holley sniper efi system. Took a lot of time but was worth every second of it. Hot and cold starts are both markedly improved. Throttle response is as crisp as my thing I currently drive. I couldn't be happier with the choice to go efi.

 

[Tahoedonner]

Put almost 400 miles on the truck since efi install and I'm loving it.

Finished up the last couple parts of the tonneau. Swapped out the rail bolts for some black flush mount washer style. Really cleaned it up. Also got the bottom piece installed. Added a couple shots in the sun to get a good look at it.

Got a quote on covering the back seat and it was $950. Ouch. About double what I thought it would be. Up in the air what I'm going to do.

 

[ScoutBurton]

That tonneau came out really slick looking! Matches the bikini top good. Nice rig.

 

[Tahoedonner]

That tonneau came out really slick looking! Matches the bikini top good. Nice rig.

Thx. I'm loving it so far. About to come off though because the top needs to go back on.

 

[Tahoedonner]

Been awhile because I've been driving the rig a bunch this summer. Time to start back on the next project though. I've moved on to finishing off the interior. I'll be making my own headliner and covering it with black vinyl. I'll also be covering the top side panels, door panels, trans cover, and visors in the same vinyl. I've found an exact match to the corbeau vinyl available at Miami Corp FL3722 Enduratex Corinthian Black. The Corbeau vinyl is a ridiculous $50/yd.

I had Jeff Jamison do my rear seat and re-cover the armrest that comes with my center console in the above vinyl. It is a perfect match. Jeff did a great job. I haven't been able to install the rear seat cover yet but the armrest is in and my OCD about it not matching is now gone. Here's a couple pics of his work.

Rear seat

Vinyl comparison - armrest on left Corbeau seat on right

Couple of installed armrest pics

 

[Tahoedonner]

Finally got around to tackling the back seat. It was in pretty rough shape on the outside but surprisingly in good shape underneath. I soaked the foam in my bathtub full of soap and oxy clean for a couple hours. They weighed about 70 lbs when I tried lifting them out. Had to let them partially dry in the tub before attempting to move them. Pretty sure they would’ve fallen apart from the weight. Sanded down the frame underneath and painted with rust preventative. Sanded down all the brackets and painted them with Eastwood satin chassis black. Here’s a couple pics of before and after. Not completely done yet very close.

Old ratty seat

Had to make a new back plate as the old one was beat up pretty badly.

Painted frames

Backrest. Contemplating adding more foam.

Seat pics

 

[Tahoedonner]

Back seat is in and looks amazing. Can't thank Jeff Jamison enough for what a great job he did on this. These aren't the best pics but I had to share due to excitement. Turns out I measured the tonneau perfectly as the back seat ends right at the tonneau lip.

 

[Scooter]

Awesome
I'm in need of redoing the rear bench seat in my 72 ole yeller scout. Which I Finally was able to drive it home a couple days ago

 

[BisonFan02]

Nice work with that bench!

 

[MrKenmore]

I just treated myself to 14 pages of a wonderful build. Great work. You should be very proud of all your hard work.

But now I know why my local hardware store always has a low supply of grade 8 bolts.....you bought them all!!!! I too love the finish color of grade 8. I think if you did some digging, you could probably get the same finish on grade 5 and save yourself a few bucks. But at that point you would probably have to order every size to cover yourself.