Weekend Projects W/Pics

This is kinda cool. My co-worker Rob is a big outdoors guy and is good at "deals" like I am. Anyway for the past four years he's been tinkering with a red 89 Jeep Cherokee 4x4...the little boxy ones. He got it with a blown 4.0 I-6 and replaced that with a salvage yard engine, then fixed this and that making it mechanically sound. It was a weekend toy. Well over 200K miles, but a Texas rig, so no rust out, and Rob has raided the local yard on weekends getting this and that, and last summer he had it re-painted at Econo-Paint, and it looked pretty good.

ANYWAY Rob was at the local salvage yard in it and an older guy there really took a shine to the Jeep. Ask Rob if he might want to trade him for it. He told Rob he had an old Silverado and he wanted something that got better mileage. They swapped numbers and Rob ended up calling the guy.

Holy Cow, the "old" Silverado turned out to be a '99 Crew Cab longbed 3500 1-ton. It's an LS, so it has the cloth captains chairs, power locks and windows, the a/c works, and the only damage on it is a kick in the driver's door. 170K miles. Kinda surprised it only has a 350 Vortec in it, being a 1-ton, but it was not a full-bore work truck.

So Rob did not hesitate, he said it took all his energy not to jump up and down in the guy's yard, and he swapped last night, and got him a HUGE 10-year-newer truck that he says runs and drives just great.

Well here is where I come in, he walked over to my desk about 30-mins ago to gloat about his "deal" ha, and he mentioned he was about to pay the local car wash to clean and detail the truck this weekend.

Now I made a deal!

He's dropping the Silverado at my house tonight and I'm going to use it to get my 3-yards of Roadbase and Pea Gravel to go under my carport tomorrow morning, and then I'm detailing the Silverado tomorrow afternoon, and Rob is paying for the dirt! Ha! It was going to take 6 loads in the S-10, and I bet I can get all the dirt in three loads with this beast, and I'm getting it for free as far as I'm concerned! And you KNOW I love a detail project! Especially a GM detail project.

I bet I can make this truck glow. The guy lived in the country and it's got a lot of white Texas caliche dust and dirt on it. I'm not scared! Local truck since new so not a spec of rust.

So here we go gang, here are the "before" pics. Can you believe he got this even-up for an 89 Cherokee?? Dang! I'll make it pretty. "After" pics later in the weekend!

Mike you sure you dont want to detail it before you get the pea gravel?I mean you might get a better grade of gravel
with a detailed truck.I bet $10 bucks that you will do some kind of cleaning on that truck tonite.You cant lrave it alone
that long.I am not kidding Mike you cant leave it dirty although it looks pretty good to me like it sits.
Just Kidding or am I
Jim Gordon

Can't.....not......clean.........

I may have to get the first layer of scrunge off it tonight....

Wow. He made a good trade. Good you can use that to move the gravel.

I moved once a few years back and only had access to a 93 S 10. The job was ten times longer because of the tiny bed, lol.

Must. Not. Comment.... Wheels.

I picked up the truck tonight. It has hydroboost brakes.....I didn't know that and nearly threw myself through the windshield at the first stop light.

Some good, some bad. The engine runs fine and it drives well. It has a little peeled paint in the rear roof, and one spot on the hood. Some dings, some dents, it was used for work after all.

The inside will be the most work. I slapped the seat and created a dust cloud, pretty nasty.

And this sucker is LONG. It's in my driveway next to the wagon and the bed sticks out a good two foot behind the Roady. The wife's Suburban feels short compared to this beast.

We'll see what I can do with it tomorrow.

-Mike

Ok yanked off the headache rack and tool box. Truck looks much cleaner without those.

It's taking all my energy not to dive into this project tonight.......

Here are a couple more "before" pics of the big beast Silverado I took early this morning. Notice how much longer it is than the wagon? It's pretty loaded out for a 1-ton, but it's pretty dirty too!






Now I'm not detailing the truck until tomorrow. Somehow I've turned into and old man. I was able to haul 1 yard of Roadbase gravel per trip and then shoveled and spread it all out. Started at 8:30 am and just finished. I can't seem to lift my arms any more......jeez working in an office has turned me into a total wimp.....but the carport looks better!

Before, this morning, under the carport was grass and mud.



And after three trips to the rock place and shoveling out three yards of Roadbase gravel. I like it, just wish I could lift my arms.....LORD I'm SO out of shape!!






There is both the local cruise-in and the meet at the Top Notch drive in tonight. I'm going to take some Tylenol and sack out a few hours. I want to go to the cars shows....but we'll see. If I go there will be pics to follow.

And I'm planning to spend most of the day tomorrow on the Silverado. FYI it hauled that dirt like it wasn't back there, and runs and drives great....I just don't have the energy to clean it right now.

-Mike

Hows it feel old man?If you think you are hurting know wait until tomorrow brother.You wont be
able to piss without the wifes help.You have been warned old man.
MHO
J E G

I sacked out for a few hours and then went to the Cedar Park cruise-in. Feel better now. Not 100%, but better.

Gotta long day tomorrow cleaning up that Silverado....oh boy.

I worked on that 3500 from 10am-6pm....no joke. It was NASTY. I started by de-greasing the engine. It wasn't really greasy, but it was sure dusty and dirty. Next I did the bed. I ended up pulling out the rubber bed mat and scrubbing the bed floor with Lysol, it was too dirty for my normal car wash liquid. Then I gave the entire the truck a really good bath and then attacked the lower body with bug and tar remover, and scrubbed the wheels and then Ajax'd the tires.

The inside was truely nasty. The guy lived on a white dirt road, ran cement trucks, smoked, and spilled coffee all over the seats and carpets. It REALLY smelled in there.... WHOA...

Started by vaccuming the entire interior, then used spot remover on the worst areas, followed by the steam cleaner on the seats, carpets and door panel carpet and cloth trim. You should have seen the color of the water in my machine after that job...yikes.

Used surface cleaner on the dash, doors, console and plastic around the windows. Ended up pulling off the dash face because I could not get all the dust and grime around the insterments and controls. Next used son-of-a-gun on all the interior plastics, cleaned all the window glass, and sprayed the headliner with Ozium to get the smoke-smell out further.

The leather on the top of the steering wheel is shot, but other than that, MAN the inside came out GREAT!

Lastly I scrubbed the rubber bed mat and re-installed it, treated the black bumper trim and tires with Armour-All, and wiped down the bumper and grill chrome one more time.

I think I earned my $80..... I'm totally wiped out, but the truck looks really good, and smells A LOT better inside. That's a nice truck actually. It runs and drives super. Weird to see a 1-ton work truck with only a 350 in it and with all the luxury power options inside. It even has power lumbar support. Odd truck. Rob is going to ask $4500 for it. I bet he gets it the first day.

Here are the "after" pics:










That's going to make someone a nice towing/hauling rig.

I'm wiped out. Night all...

-Mike

Looks great! Way better than it looked when you got it! Nice work.

Buff them headlights though...

I was going to detail my truck this weekend, too. But instead I decided to throw my back out shoveling 4" of slush on Friday night and then snowblowing 7 inches today. Boo.

Still getting snow? Yikes, well it's nearly March, so that's gotta stop soon right??

I'm pretty sure our winter is now over here in Central Texas.....March and April tend to be really nice, but by mid-May God will turn up the heat on us!

10-Day Forecast for Austin, TX High/Low

Mon
Feb 28 Sunny 74°/41°

Tue
Mar 01 Sunny 74°/48°

Wed
Mar 02 Mostly Sunny 77°/49°

Thu
Mar 03 Sunny 77°/57°

Fri
Mar 04 Partly Cloudy 77°/58°

Sat
Mar 05 Partly Cloudy 71°/42°

Sun
Mar 06 Sunny 69°/49°

Mon
Mar 07 Mostly Sunny 76°/54°

Tue
Mar 08 Partly Cloudy 77°/53°

Last Updated Feb 27 10:21 p.m. CT

toomanytoyz wrote:

Looks great! Way better than it looked when you got it! Nice work.

Buff them headlights though...

I was going to mess with the headlights but the sun started going down. He got his money's worth and I'm happy with how it came out. Will drive the beast to work in the morning and show it off to Rob. I think he'll like it a lot.

Fun-Fun!

-Mike

Oh and my son who loves trucks freaked out when I told him Rob was selling it. Said I HAD to buy it. He loves it. NO WAY KIDDO! Ha!

I need to go sack out but the wife is watching cooking shows in our bedroom again. Is there anything more gay than "Cupcake Wars"???

.....Lord.....

Be sure to park it next to a Smart if you can. Just for jokes. Hell I bet you could fit one in the bed. LOL

Stingroo wrote:

Be sure to park it next to a Smart if you can. Just for jokes. Hell I bet you could fit one in the bed. LOL

Load 'em in sideways and you could fit TWO!

Rob's tickled with the truck. I'm glad.

Interesting morning, we had a freak 30-min rain storm come through late last night from the west. Those actually pick up dust in the winds from West Texas and when it rains, it rains mud...no joke. I HATE it when we get these.

I woke up to a brown truck, so had to hit the car wash on the way in to the office. The Roadmaster is also brown, and I'm going to spray it off at lunch. Never a dull moment...

Monday Monday!

-Mike

Awesome job Mike and your friend well I hope he is happy because he got one hell of a deal.You could have had the gravel delivered cheaper than what it cost you in time and effort.I know you
love cleaning and detailing cars and trucks but you have to put some value for all of your time and effort.That is unless you are doing one of my vehicles.LOL.Okay gotta go so truck looks great.
Take Care
J E G
PS How do the arms feel?

toomanytoyz wrote:

Must. Not. Comment.... Wheels.

Humm....they kinda look familiar....


Looking good Mike!!

Nice truck. Minus those rims. Always liked the crew cabs.