My M1009 Restoration Thread

[67_C-30]

I have been driving this truck daily for several months and since my summer side business is about played out for the year, I'm going to freshen it up. Right after I bought it, serviced all fluids, replaced the batteries, replaced mirrors, replaced a faulty blackout light, and got all the dash lights working. Everything is functional and it is mechanically sound, and I've put over 3000 miles on it last 3 months.

The plan is to do a practical frame-on restoration. I am going to stay as close to stock as possible. I am going with the old pattern Woodland camo and I am going to use the correct stencils to replace the tire pressure, bumper numbers and star markings. I am going put in a litter bigger tire on it, but I have no plans to lift it.
Here's a few pics when I got it.

 

[67_C-30]

The tailgate, the driver's side rocker, and the passenger side fender was the only sheetmetal that wasn't really nice on this one. The tailgate and fender could have been fixed, but I decided to start with nice, straight, rust-free sheet metal instead. I bought a tailgate, and installed a new regulator and new crank assembly. I have a new rocker, and am going to weld it before I paint it. I'm going to have to blast the chrome off of it so I can paint it. I also bought a Banks turbo system (a spare 6.2) for it that I'm going to install as well.

 

[67_C-30]

I ordered new tires last week, so I decided to go ahead and paint the rims. Since I am replacing the current tires, I took them off, did a quicky masking, and painted them with the tire on. When I had it lifted, I pressure washed the underside, and bought a gallon of alkyd equipment enamel and before I was done EVERYTHING under the truck had several coats of satin black paint on it. It looks really good and should help with rust prevention. I painted the rims with a quart of BBQ heat paint, and they look really good as well.

 

[67_C-30]

This is stands today. It looks so much cleaner not seeing the old dirty, brown colr in the wheelwells and axles. The tires should be here tomorrow and I'll get some new pics when I get them put on. I went Friday, and had the color matched from one of my NOS mirrors. It matches great. There's a dab of it on the mirror pictured, and you can't even see it in the pic. They mixed it with a higher percentage of flattener, and iit seems to be really flat. I put a little on the pintle hitch just to see how its going to look.

 

[67_C-30]

NEW SHOES!!!

They are 33 X 12.50 Mudstar Radials. The are actually narrower than my most 12.50's I've had, which is good because it turns lock to lock and still has plenty of clearance. I look everywhere for a old school looking with squared off edge that looked similar to an old GoodYear R/T or Gateway Buckshots, and this was as close as I could find. They are making some REALLY ugly tires these days...

 

[chevyCUCV]

Thats a sweet truck!

Keep up the good work

 

[pgwaldner]

Where in Alabama are you? I am in Prattville in central AL a few minutes from Montgomery. Have you got it painted yet?We will be replacing the hood on my son's m1009 as I have one from a parts truck that will require less prep. The hood now on the truck is plenty workable though.

 

[donalloy1]

great idea 67! love that you have started a m1009 resto thread. shoes look great. how does she ride? throw your speedo off a little? cannot wait to see what you get into next.

 

[McCluskey]

Lookin' good! Keep it up!

MORE PICS!!

 

[67_C-30]

Thanks guys.

Where in Alabama are you? I am in Prattville in central AL a few minutes from Montgomery. Have you got it painted yet?We will be replacing the hood on my son's m1009 as I have one from a parts truck that will require less prep. The hood now on the truck is plenty workable though.

I'm in Valley, right on the AL- GA line on I-85. I am about 45 mins from Montgomery. I drag raced at MMP for years, so I have spent many a weekends there.

I have not got it painted yet. I am going to try to get the rocker panel welded in this weekend, and I'm going to try to paint in the next week or two.

 

[67_C-30]

Lookin' good! Keep it up!

MORE PICS!!

I don't have many more pics yet, but here's a few more. The PO and UPS paid me a visit today, and my NOS antenna guard and tailgate cables came in.

 

[WARWAG]

Nice!

 

[Timber]

We've chatted on 67-72, I didn't realize you were registered here. I'm in Montgomery and would love to see your truck. Maybe if you meet up with Glen for the hood, send me a PM and the three of us could meet up. Truck looks great so far.

 

[mf5129]

tailgate m1009

The tailgate, the driver's side rocker, and the passenger side fender was the only sheetmetal that wasn't really nice on this one. The tailgate and fender could have been fixed, but I decided to start with nice, straight, rust-free sheet metal instead. I bought a tailgate, and installed a new regulator and new crank assembly. I have a new rocker, and am going to weld it before I paint it. I'm going to have to blast the chrome off of it so I can paint it. I also bought a Banks turbo system (a spare 6.2) for it that I'm going to install as well.

i could use the internal parts to the old tailgate.i have one that is gutted except for the glass.the tailgate is the most problem area on a m1009.i wish gm would have used barn doors like a suburban

 

[Recovry4x4]

NEW SHOES!!!

They are 33 X 12.50 Mudstar Radials. The are actually narrower than my most 12.50's I've had, which is good because it turns lock to lock and still has plenty of clearance. I look everywhere for a old school looking with squared off edge that looked similar to an old GoodYear R/T or Gateway Buckshots, and this was as close as I could find. They are making some REALLY ugly tires these days...

You ain't kidding! Most of them look like the fell out of the top of a very tall UGLY tree and hit every branch on the way down.

 

[67_C-30]

i could use the internal parts to the old tailgate.i have one that is gutted except for the glass.the tailgate is the most problem area on a m1009.i wish gm would have used barn doors like a suburban

The internals were pretty much shot on the old gate. The regulator may be useable with new rollers, but the crank was broken and window guides are pretty rusted.

We've chatted on 67-72, I didn't realize you were registered here. I'm in Montgomery and would love to see your truck. Maybe if you meet up with Glen for the hood, send me a PM and the three of us could meet up. Truck looks great so far.

I'm not in the market for a hood, but if I head up there anytime soon, I'll sure give you a shout.

You ain't kidding! Most of them look like the fell out of the top of a very tall UGLY tree and hit every branch on the way down.

LOL - no doubt.

 

[pwrwagonfire]

looks good

 

[67_C-30]

I installed the NOS antenna guard and made some plugs to replace the grommets where the radio wires came through the top. I looked all around for some of these, and even ordered some that were wrong. I was making some parts at work today out of Delrin, and I went to the M1009, jotted down the dimensions for the grommets and just made some that math them perfectly. Alll the rubber is painted with CARC on my truck anyway, so I'm just going to paint them. I made them short enough to press one on the outside and inside of the top to make appear like they are stock grommets.

 

[67_C-30]

I have been doing nitpicky stuff like replacing the speedo cable, fixing the fuel gauge, replacing door strikers, installing the block heater, etc, but none of that stuff is pic worthy. I did come with a pretty slick idea on some wheel spacers, and I have some pics. I have always been bugged by the fact that the front axle tracking is so much wider than the rear on these old 4X4's. I've had a bunch of 70's and '80's Chevy 4X4's, and I've added a 1.25" spacer on the rear and it makes it look MUCH better, However, I've usually had Ralleys or some kind wheels that had a center cap that covers the "hole" left by the center of the spacer. Since I'm sticking with the factory wheels on this truck, there would be nothing to cover it up. I had a few ideas, and finally settled on making a hub for the wheel spacer with a dummy axle end. I took it step further and machined the rear of it to have a nice slip fit over the factory axle end, and machined the dummy axle end to saame dimensions as the factory axle so it would actually remain hubcentric. I machined the OD of the hub with step, machined a stepped bore in the spacer and pressed it in. I indicated it before and after, they ran perfectly true. They turned out really nice. I even popped a center drill in the ends, and they look like a good aftermarket axle. I am going to paint them black, and no one will ever notice them then, but I took a few pics before I do. The stance of the truck looks SOOOO much better, and the wider wheel track can't hurt on one of these short, already top heavy little monsters!

 

[combatmech]

Where did you get your spacers? Nice job on the replacment grommets!! Truck is looking great !!