Gary Lewis

Thanks, Scott. I think it is going to turn out well, but I need to order the other 5 switches. However, I'm working on the interior at the moment. And, on that front, I got four things painted today, and I used exactly one can of SEM Color Coat in doing that. Here's the equivalent of a before & after of the rear trim. In this pic the new-painted one looks good, but there are flaws in it. The issues are where the old texture remains as there are several really rough spots, and the rough spots look poor. So, on the other one I'm going to do more sanding and try to smooth it out a bit. But, these would have been good candidates for the SEM texture. Here's the door panel I painted, and while it looks gray it is exactly the same color as the other things I painted today. So it is just the lighting that makes it look gray, which I'll prove tomorrow by laying it side by side with some of the other parts. But the paint came out of the same can, and I've put one of kick panels I painted side by side and they are the same color. And here's a before and after on the kick panels:

The switch bracket came in today so I had to see what it would look like. Here's a shot of the OX locker switch popped in and held in place. (Trust me, you don't want to put the switch in the bracket before you are ready. It ain't easy to get out!) And here 'tis held up backwards so you can see how it works: Last, here 'tis the right way 'round so you can see how well it fits:

Thanks, John. That, too, fits the theory. And I got this back from the guy who has the '82 black door panel that David found: "This panel is in my off site storage warehouse, next time they go pickup parts I'll have them photo it."

John - You need to check your monitor! The carpet is BLUE! The paint is SEM's 4130 Regatta Blue, which is correct for 1985 and '86 trucks, as shown here: Documentation/Specifications/Interior Paint. And on that page you'll see a link to Vinyl Pro, who mix SEM paint and ship it out. That's who I've used, as have several others, and they are super to work with. Oh yes, in the VAST majority of cases you'll have to have the paint mixed to get a match as SEM's off-the-shelf paint isn't a match.

Absolutely! I thank God for her daily! And, her opinion, which is shared by me, is to paint the door panel blue. Here's how we got there:All Blue: The kick panels and rear corner panels must be painted as they are gross, and the new dash cover must be painted as well. So paint them blue and the door panel blue and I'm done. It will all match. Blue & Black: Paint everything blue but leave the door black. Seems odd. And I have to buy new arm rests or paint these. All Black: When painting paint the kick panels, rear corner panels, dash cover, arm rests, and even the metal trim that goes above the windshield, below & above the back glass, and above the doors black. And, probably have to paint the door panels as the black won't match. Oh yes, don't forget the map pockets. But, the dash itself will still be blue, and while new cars have a dash with color and the cover is black, it just seems odd. When thinking through it we realized how much more work there would be to go all black. And the blue/black combo seems odd.

Interesting. I sent the seller this note: Note here that what I think is the grommet, an E3, is the replacement for the E0 boot. So it is possible that the panel has the studs and someone replaced the boot with a grommet. Or maybe 1982 was a transition year? And here's the panel on ebay:

Yipes!!!! I'll be happy with the LMC ones if I decide to go that way. I'm temp installing the passenger's side pieces and will ask my consultant to come out and help me decide. But she is going to see the ugliness of the badly faded panels, so it will be obvious something needs to be done........

I seriously doubt that is the right package. Dad's truck, a 1981, has the studs and the black rubber piece that mounts from the back. I'm willing to bet that's an E3TZ-D. Unfortunately the matching ones I have don't have any numbers on them that would help us solve this, other than the "L" you can see in the pic above, and an "R" on the other one.

David - Excellent! Fits the theory perfectly. Now if we had an '82 door panel we might be able to nail it down as it should have the studs.

Steve - Thanks. That fits the pattern. Jonathan - If your grommets are pliable you might be able to pull one w/o pulling the card/panel and reach inside to determine if there are studs. You can see their position in the pic above, and the one at the bottom of the angle where it starts back up should be easy to reach. But don't break the grommet! I have two blue ones that are as hard as a board and would surely shatter if I tried to remove them. On the medium duty one, that fits the trend. Thanks!

Scott - But at least yours fit with my theory. So good data points. Thanks!

Aftermarket armrest pads[LMC]: https://media.lmctruck.com/pdf/FD/0056.pdf Thanks, David. I might buy those. We shall see. I say that because I'm torn with whether to paint the panels blue or leave them black. On the one hand the other factory trim is going to be blue - and I have three cans of expensive paint telling me that. So that says maybe I should paint the door panels blue. On the other hand, the Highliner will be black, so maybe the black door panels will be fine. And, if I go with black right now I can always come back and paint them. But it would be hard to take the paint off. So, as of right now, I'm planning on installing the door panels as they are - black.

Let's have a discussion about door panels and the boots that go on/in the door panels and surround the interior door handle. I'm looking for info to help us nail down some differences I've seen. Basically, I believe that the door panels from 1980 through 1982 had studs to hold the door handle boots, and for 1983 they changed the boots to a grommet style that mounts in the opening instead of on the studs. I don't know when the studs were dropped from the doors, but by 1985 they apparently had been dropped as none of the 1985 panels I have include the studs. I come to this conclusion by looking at the part numbers for the boots/grommets, shown below Note that through 1982 they mixed and matched E0, E1, and E2 part numbers, and since the early boots mounted on studs, apparently they all did through 1982. But, in 1983 the earlier part numbers were no longer used, so I think that's when the boots became grommets and mount in the opening in the door. In fact, note that the black E0 boots were replaced by E3 boots, which can be popped into the opening of the door panel with or without the studs. So, I'm asking y'all if you can help figure this out. Do you have original door panels and boots? If so, what year and what style of boot do you have? Do your door panels have studs? Here are the details: On Dad's 1981 truck the boots are flat and mount on a stud on the back of the panel like this: And they look like this from the front: But the door panels I have from 1983 and later trucks don't have those studs, and the boots are actually grommets that go into the opening in the door panel and look like this:

To me this emoticon seems like 'eye roll' but I sometimes use it to mean I'm looking up at the post above. But I like the chin scratching one! Just like I appreciate the head scratching one, which I sometimes use for puzzling rather than confused. I guess this all says that each of us "see" each emoticon differently - and differently over time. So I won't worry about what the line at the lower left says as we hover over the emoticon before clicking it.

Good point, Jim. As you know, I didn't do the SAS/RSK/SD springs swap to get height. But I did get height - something like 4 1/2". And that leveled the truck very nicely.

I expect to buy it over the Thanksgiving holiday, so it will be after that before I can measure it. But I do plan to measure it closely and share them.

I LOVE this scene in the original movie... "Did you bring a horse for me?" "Haha, looks like we're shy one horse" Charles Bronson shakes his head and says "You brought two too many". Nothing compares to those old movies.

Excellent! I hope the hunting trip goes well. That's what you've been planning on using Rusty for all along, so I sure hope it pans out.

I looked through LMC and JBG's web sites today and couldn't find the boots. I have a feeling that I'll wind up painting these brown ones. Which is another need for the SEM black. As for Keith, I'll ask him to chime in.....

Well, it looks like I'll need some black. It just dawned on me that the carpeted map pockets are blue. So I'll either need to find some other black pockets of some kind or SEM these. So I could also SEM the arm rests black.

My father was wont to say "Buy you books and buy you books, and you eat the covers off." Anyway, glad it helped. Good luck!

Wouldn't that be 7A034 in this illustration from Documentation/Driveline/Transfer Case and then the NP208 and Illustrations tab? If so, go to Part Lists tab and it will show you the part number.

No, it is dark blue. Don't know if I have any SEM black, but will look tomorrow.

Ok, here's the plan, Stan. I'm going with black door panels so need black grommets. I got to looking at the existing door panels and started wondering if I really want to replicate the original panels. But I've never been fond of the velour on the panels, and as I inspected the velour from these panels I found that they need a thorough cleaning. But I seriously doubt that I could use fabric cleaner w/o damaging the basically cardboard backing. And the plastic speaker grilles are badlly UV damaged and it would be very difficult to repair them. So I asked Janey and she suggested going with all black panels. No velour and no chrome trim ring. I like it! The black door panels will tie in with the black thresholds and the black instrument and radio bezels. Plus, if I do black windshield trim, grille, etc it'll fit with that as well. And it makes the truck more utilitarian, which is the plan. (Not to mention, it will be a whole lot easier!) But, I either need to find black arm rests or paint these.

Scott - You snuck in there and I missed your response. BUT, hold the horses a bit as there's been a change of plans and I think I now need black grommets/boots. I'll explain in the next post....