The Motley Crue: White '97 OBS Crew Cab Build

[tcm glx]

What's going on with your headlights lol? In progress retrofits? That thing is so crazy spotless.

RIP is correct, retrofit in progress....lol. We had a issue with the housings we need to correct.

[Becks_Bronco]

What's going on with your headlights lol? In progress retrofits? That thing is so crazy spotless.

RIP is correct, retrofit in progress....lol. We had a issue with the housings we need to correct.

oh dang! They look sleepy haha!

[nubreed71]

Shhhhhhhh, she's sleeeeeeeeeeeping. Ha!

[nubreed71]

Rear bumper is mounted and ready for powdercoat. Next it's time to get the truck up on stands in the driveway and rip into the front suspension. I can't wait to see the truck with some suspension and 35's on it.

[Becks_Bronco]

I really like that bumper. Looks a lot like the Desolate one.

[nubreed71]

it's pretty similar. The main difference is that the license plate sits straight up and down rather than angling out at the top on the Desolate one. It should look really good once it's all powder coated. My plan is to have the top portion of it Linexed to simulate an OEM type plastic bumper pad. Should be pretty sweet once it's all done.

[nubreed71]

So yesterday I finally got my powder coated windshield trim installed. So nice not looking at those ugly ass windshield clips anymore.



So since the truck was looking super nice and all put together, I decided to do the logical thing and tear the front suspension off of it. Here goes nothing!







Just for motivation, I mounted the new wheels and tires on the rear of the truck.

[Becks_Bronco]

Are those brand new mirrors, or do you have a secret to making that black plastic look new again?

[nubreed71]

Brand new China specials. $60 on Amazon for a pair. The chrome finish doesn't really hold up that great, and has to be polished pretty regularly, but overall they're decent, especially for the price.

[nubreed71]

The sad thing is that I worked on the truck in 2 hour blocks the last 3 days, and it doesn't look any different than the pics above. What the pics don't show though, is all the cursing, grinding, drilling, sledge hammering, etc... 13/14 rivets have been removed, along with both OEM radius arm brackets, and the OEM beam pivots.

There are actually only 12 rivets holding those brackets on, but there are 2 more rivets a little higher up holding on the OEM motor mount on the drivers side, and I plan to replace my motor mounts with Autofab units, so I figured better to take advantage of the suspension being out of the way to get those rivets replaced with nuts/bolts to make a motor mount swap infinitely easier down the road.

[Pickuptrucker]

Good idea throwing on the back tires lol

[nubreed71]

Progress!

[ChaseTruck754]

Can't wait to see it with the front end together. Loving this thing!

[nubreed71]

You and me both! At least most of the heavy lifting (rivet removal) is done. At this point, I just have to hang the radius arms, and then pull it all back apart for powdercoat. I'm not really looking forward to wire wheeling the frame and crossmember so I can give it a coat of paint.

[ChaseTruck754]

While rivets definitely suck, wire wheeling an oily/dirty/dusty frame has it's own set of issues. Hat and full face shield are a must. That crap flies everywhere!

[nubreed71]

Good call on the full face shield. It's not gonna be fun, but the finished product will definitely be worth it!

[nubreed71]

Thankfully I gave the frame a good power washing, so it's relatively clean. Famous last words...

[nubreed71]

Today's big update. No more rusty ass calipers.

[nubreed71]

Just for kicks, I bolted up the little behind the bumper skidplate this morning. I can't wait to see it with the OEM bumper back on there.

[nubreed71]

Christian from Vital Designs brought the old '94 extra cab by yesterday to meet the new crewcab, and lend a helping hand getting the radius arms hung. It sure was nice to have a second set of hands for this portion of the process. I've got one more final fitment I need to do on the passenger side beam/radius arm, and then I should be ready to take everything to the powdercoaters.

I also need to space the factory bumps down a bit, but cannot for the life of me get a socket on the bolt or nut that's on the backside of the frame rail. From what I can tell, it's countersunk into the frame, and there's 23 years of gunk in there, as well as the nut or bolt head does not appear to even be centered in the hole. Any suggestions on how to get that out of there? Sawzall and get new factory bumps?

Here's a quick shot of yesterdays progress.