New Guy From GA

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78 Chevyrado

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Joined
Aug 15, 2012
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119
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18
Location
Georgia
First Name
Kenny
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
C20
Engine Size
350
Hello all! I just signed up and this looks like a good site with good info and people on it. I look forward to contributing.

My truck is a 78 C20, all restored except the original engine and trans are still in it. its got a 350/400 and about 130k on it.

Kenny

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I do actually use it too. get it a little muddy to at times.
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Just added the new wheel this week.
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Guardian

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May 22, 2012
Posts
254
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Location
Texas
First Name
Jeff
Truck Year
86
Truck Model
c 10
Engine Size
350
Nice looking avatar.
 

HotRodPC

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47,017
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Location
OKC, OK
First Name
HotRod
Truck Year
85 K20 LWB
Truck Model
Silverado
Engine Size
454 - Turbo 400 - 3.73
Nice looking avatar.

Avatar?? :nutkick: What about the damn truck?? :nutkick:


Dayum !! Is that truck for real?? Without a doubt, I think that's the best looking round eye truck I've seen. And just about original other than a couple added touches like the tach and steering wheel. I've only got one complaint. Those auxilary front lights. How about you keep those lights for good memories, and let me pick up the rest of it and give it a good home???
 

foamypirate

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Jul 30, 2010
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453
Location
Central TX
First Name
Jake (Mr. Wilson)
Truck Year
1980
Truck Model
El Camino, baby!
Engine Size
5.3L/4L60E
Welcome aboard! I've always loved your truck. It's perfect.
 

Stroked

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Dec 26, 2011
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Location
Beloit, Kansas
First Name
Jared
Truck Year
1984
Truck Model
K10
Engine Size
305
Welcome to GMSB!

Beautiful truck! I love red interiors on gray/silver/black trucks. :drool::drool: I know I've seen it before though. Must have been on another truck forum.
 

78 Chevyrado

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Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Posts
119
Reaction score
18
Location
Georgia
First Name
Kenny
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
C20
Engine Size
350
Avatar?? :nutkick: What about the damn truck?? :nutkick:


Dayum !! Is that truck for real?? Without a doubt, I think that's the best looking round eye truck I've seen. And just about original other than a couple added touches like the tach and steering wheel. I've only got one complaint. Those auxilary front lights. How about you keep those lights for good memories, and let me pick up the rest of it and give it a good home???

I think I didn't have pics up yet when Guardian replied...

Thanks man! Ill let ya know when I get done with it. :)


Welcome aboard! I've always loved your truck. It's perfect.

Thanks!

Welcome to GMSB!

Beautiful truck! I love red interiors on gray/silver/black trucks. :drool::drool: I know I've seen it before though. Must have been on another truck forum.

Yeah I used to be on 4 or 5 boards with this truck but they mostly dried up.
 

78 Chevyrado

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Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Posts
119
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18
Location
Georgia
First Name
Kenny
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
C20
Engine Size
350
This is the first day I had. My granddad bought it new. it had been sitting in the garage about 10 years before this pic. it had no rust and only 85k on the odo.
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HotRodPC

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Location
OKC, OK
First Name
HotRod
Truck Year
85 K20 LWB
Truck Model
Silverado
Engine Size
454 - Turbo 400 - 3.73
Glad to see you changed those mirrors.
 

Jims86

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Aug 3, 2010
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Location
Patterson,Ca
First Name
Jim
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
K10 Suburban Silverado
Engine Size
5.7 TBI
This Truck made my heart flutter...both before and after.
Welcome to GMSB!
 

bucket

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Usually not in Ohio
First Name
Andy
Truck Year
'77, '78, '79, '84, '88
Truck Model
K5 thru K30
Engine Size
350-454
Howdy Kenny! I recognize you from 67-72, your truck has always been one of my favorites :)

If I'm not mistaken, you once did a write up on restoring a tailgate band, right? Any chance on getting a quick run through again?
 

78 Chevyrado

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Posts
119
Reaction score
18
Location
Georgia
First Name
Kenny
Truck Year
1978
Truck Model
C20
Engine Size
350
Howdy Kenny! I recognize you from 67-72, your truck has always been one of my favorites :)

If I'm not mistaken, you once did a write up on restoring a tailgate band, right? Any chance on getting a quick run through again?


I copied this from one of my saved files...

Here's a writeup I did about fixing my dull faded tailgate band when polish just wouldn't do the trick.


First thing, If your band isn't too bad you can probably just wipe it down lightly with some WD-40. I used to do that on my 87, and it made it look like new until the oil went away again.

On to what I did to this band:
I got a used band off of ebay. It was faded like they usually are, so I tried a new to me way to fix it that has worked so far with no problems.

First thing to do is get any and all old paint off of it, like the outer trim like and the chevrolet letters.

Then I used some of that etching aluminum wheel cleaner on it. I let it soak in good for 5 minutes or so and then rinsed. The etching cleaner got all the stains out so the aluminum was all the same color with no splotches. At this point the band will be white, but don't panic....yet lol.

Then take a scotchbrite pad to scuff the surface LIGHTLY. you don't want scratches on the smooth part of the aluminum, and on the brushed part make sure to only rub WITH the grain, not across it. Also be sure to get down in the paint line groove and the in the chevrolet letters good. It won't matter if it gets scratched where black or yellow paint is to go, just don't scratch it where the aluminum will show.

Like all paints, you need something for the paint to "bite into" however, more bite means less good looks on the smooth parts. I can say now though that after4 years and 50k miles, this tailgate band still looks like i just painted it. I keep it polished and waxed, same as the body paint.

Once you have it clean and oil free and scuffed up, spray it with a clearcoat. Lay the panel face up, and put on a light first coat just to make sure the panel is as clean as you think it is. Then put on a second coat just enough to get good coverage. At this point the band will kind of look milky, again don't panic...

I left mine out in the sun all day and within a couple of hours the clearcoat had lost all the milkyness and cleared up and I ended up with this:
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Now it's time to paint the letters and outer stripe on it. The reason you have to clearcoat it first before doing the letters, is if, like me you have to mask off the letters to paint them, you need the clearcoat for the tape to stick to. I put tape on the raw aluminum after the etching cleaner, and when I pulled the tape off, every single bit of the adhesive came off the tape and stuck to the band. Big mess... Make sure to use a tape with an easy relase adhesive. remember you didnt scuff up the surface much and used no primer, so be careful with the clearcoat when sticking things to it. Let it dry in the sun a day or two before using tape on it.

Then mask off and paint your letters and stripe and then let them dry a day, then put another layer of clear over the whole thing. I put mine on kind of heavy, where it wouldn't have as much texture to it when it dried.

Here's my finished band, with black stripe and Gold Chevrolet letters.
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The emblem on the right side isn't stock, but was part of a broken fender emblem, and it cover the small dent in the band quite nicely and looks stock to people who don't know any better.

I later added the silverado part of the fender emblem too, but it's not stock. All they do is hide a dent. I filled the emblems in with epoxy so the back would be smooth and then just used double sided emblem tape to attatch them.
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dhamp

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Joined
Jan 18, 2011
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Location
Atlanta Area, GA
First Name
Derek
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
R-10 Custom Deluxe
Engine Size
350
:cheers:
It's about time we got some more GA boyz on here!
 

Old77

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Location
Kansas City, Mo
First Name
Jacob
Truck Year
1977/1990/1991
Truck Model
C10 longbed/R1500 Burb/R3500 Dually
Engine Size
350/350/454
:welcome: I've been admiring this truck on a few other forums and I love everything about this truck :)
 

DavieL

Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2012
Posts
47
Reaction score
15
Location
Alabama
First Name
Davie
Truck Year
86
Truck Model
Silverado
Engine Size
5.3 LS with Holley EFI
Welcome, that's a good lookin truck!
 

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