89 GMC Sierra SLE Restoration Journey

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89Sierra305

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I found this truck on FB Marketplace and kinda fell in love when I saw it. The guy I bought it from had bought it for a transmission swap. It didn't go as planned for him because of some compatibility issues. He posted it on FB and that's where his loss was my gain. It's an 1989 GMC Sierra SLE RCLB. It has the 305 TBI matched with the 700r4 transmission. The 305 is a remanned one I had put in shortly after I got it.

So far this is what I have done to spruce it up:
Dakota Digital instrument cluster.7/1/24
4-HI light mod.7/7/24
Painted the air cleaner.7/7/24
Weather stripping.7/11/24
Hinge pins.7/11/24

To-do list (will move to DONE list as finished):
Air Conditioning.
Exhaust.
Fix cab corner.
Minor body work.
Paint.
Recolor interior vinyl.
Door panels.
Bench to Bucket swap.
Carpet to rubber mat swap.
 

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Last edited:

HotWheelsBurban

Gotta have 4 doors..... Rawhide, TOTY 2023!
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Dad made a jig to go in a floor jack, from 2x4 and 2x6; when I find it again I'll take pics and measurements. It worked quite well on our squares and on the door swap on Burb a few years ago. I need to find it again since I still have 7 doors requiring service....
 

Erik the Awful

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Yup. It was a fantastic car until the engine harness started disintegrating. My son's driving it now.

True story of the picture above, my wife was driving a quarter mile from our house and saw a herd of deer. She slowed down to 25mph and a deer ran out from the side of the road into the passenger door. Fortunately, Pull-A-Part had another silver door, and the wire harness on the doors simply unplugs. My son and I had the door swapped in about half an hour with the door fixture.
 

someotherguy

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Knocked out the Weather stripping and hinges today! Boy am I tuckered out! That is definitely a two person job.
Erik's door dolly is a neat contraption and a nice DIY project.

Forever ago, I cheated and used an engine hoist, strap, and folded-up towel (to protect the weatherstrip and paint from the strap.)
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It worked a lot better than just muscling it around on my own and trying to set it down on a step stool. You would think I'd know better, having done it differently so many years ago.
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Richard
 
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