Michael’s GMC Topkick:
“Armoredhaulin'”

Here is the inside of the truck. Nothing in it right now but I have some huge plans for it in the works. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The original dashboard will be removed. I will be fabricating a new dashboard out of fiberglass to house the many new components that I will be installing for the stereo system.

Removing the original dashboard.

 

 

 

 

 

The original inside walls & ceiling will be getting re-enforced with thicker 3/16" steel plate and all new insulation will be getting installed. The original framework will be getting re-enforced as well. The outside skins will be getting Multiple layers of Second Skin Audio sound control products.

Stripping out the interior skins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go Doodles Go!

 

 

 

The rear most floor support cross-members need to be replaced due to severe corrosion. I have decided to replace all the cross-members for the body while I have the body off the frame to fix the floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new cross-members will be made from 3" x 3" 1/4" wall structural tubing.

 

 

The original money bag storage trays had to go. They were going to be in the way of the new amp wall that I will be building for the 16 Soundstream Tarantula amplifiers. These were really heavy, they had to be around 250 lbs. each. They were welded to the floor and the walls and needed to be cut out. We had to cut them up into smaller sections to get them out of the truck because of the weight. They were to heavy to just carry out in one piece. Thank god for Plasma Cutters!

Plasma cutting the old money bag storage trays out of the truck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything is gone from the inside of the truck. Now it's on to repairing the floor and cross-members.

 

 

 

 

Floor Rebuild

 

 

Here is the floor of the truck in the drivers area. Looks really scary right now. The entire floor is flat so it can be replaced fairly easy. Water got trapped under the floor mat and caused all this damage over the years. Keep in mind that the floor is made out of 3/16" thick diamond plate. I will be fixing the floor with the same 3/16" thick diamond plate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the begining of the floor replacement. The floor is just as poorly built as the rest of the truck. The entire floor will be getting re-enforced and done correctly.

Cutting out the floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The front floor area above was just a single layer of 3/16" diamond plate but the rear floor area is a double layer with insulation foam in between them. The bottom layer is 1/16" steel sheet & had to be cut out with an air saw to get to the foam. All the foam has to be removed first before the top layer can be cut out with the plasma cutter because of the obvious fire hazard.

You can see in these pictures the metal has been cut away & the foam is now exposed and can be removed.

Cutting out the sub-floor.

 

 

 

Replacing the floor has become more of a project than originally planned because of the insulation foam. The foam is as hard as a rock and can't easily be removed. The floor has to be cut into sections and pushed through the bottom. Cutting the floor with a circular saw with a 7 1/4" metal cutting wheel is proving to be the best way to get this done.

Cutting the floor in sections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the front 1/2 of the floor has been removed, we can start to lay in the new floor cross-members. The mounting locations need to ground smooth and all the crud needs to be removed with the wire wheel to allow for good welds. All of the joints to be welded will be sprayed with a coat of Bloxide weld thru primer to help prevent any future corrosion.

Prepping the mounting locations.

 

 

Welding in the new front cross-members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the front 1/2 of the floor has been re-enforced with the new cross-members, we can continue with the removal of the original floor.

Starting to cut out the middle section of the floor.

 

 

 

Here is what's left of one of the original body mount bolts. Alot of strength left here, huh? The rest of the body mount bolts were not much better!

 

 

This is just a sample of how bad the original cross-members & floor are rotted out. I guess that is what happens when things are not done correctly the first time! All of this was falling on me as I cut out the sub-floor.

This is what's left of one of the 3" cross-members!

 

 

And here is the rest of it! Anyone want some rot?

 

 

Before we could start installing the middle cross-members, the top of the frame rails needed to be cleaned because they were badly rusted. I sandblasted them and treated them with a coat of POR-15 rust preventative paint so they will never rust again. The rest of the frame and undercarraige will be getting the same treatment soon.

Sandblasted and POR-15 painted.

 

 

 

Installing the middle cross-members.

 

 

 

 

Before we can finish the rear section of the floor, the old fenderwells need to be cut out and new fenderwells need to be installed. More info on the fenderwell replacement can be found on page 4.

From this angle, you can see how badly bent in the fenderwells were.

 

 

Cutting out the rear passengers side fenderwell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rear passengers side fenderwell removed.

 

 

 

Cutting out the rear drivers side fenderwell.

 

 

 

Now that the old fenderwells have been removed, the new ones can be mocked up and welded in place.

Installing the passengers side rear fenderwell.

 

 

 

 

 

Installing the drivers side rear fenderwell.

 

 

 

 

Now we can continue on with the removal of the rear section of the floor and cross-member replacement.

Removing the rear floor section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we could start installing the rear cross-members, the top of the frame rails needed to be cleaned because they were badly rusted. I sandblasted them and treated them with a coat of POR-15 rust preventative paint so they will never rust again. The rest of the frame and undercarraige will be getting the same treatment soon.