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Well here is my 1994 Sonoma SLS pickup. My brother bought this
to use the body to update his boxy style S10 on his mud truck. He then couldn't
pass up the opportunity to buy an extended cab pickup. So this one got set out
back for a year until my dad and I decided to fix it up to serve as my daily
driver.
Now with a little cash and time invested in it, it is quite a
nice truck. The 4 cylinder and 5 speed make for good gas mileage and the a/c
blows ice cold.
So here is the truck on the lift. The driver's door is smashed, the fender is crunched, the side mirror is broken and the passenger mirror is missing.
No frills here. Just 2.2L 4-cyl power with A/C.
Mechanically all is well. Except for a leak in the radiator.
So here is the truck on the lift. The driver's door is smashed, the fender is crunched, the side mirror is broken and the passenger mirror is missing.
New rotors and brake pads were needed.
New brake shoes were needed in the rear.
New rotors and brake pads were needed.
Below is our method for cleaning up the wheels. The clear coat
needed to be removed before any polishing could be done. This was made easy by
using the 2hp Leeson motor from the table saw to spin the wheel on the front
hub. This removed the clear coat fast and also polished the wheel quickly. Then
the insides of the spokes were painted a metallic green to somewhat match the
exterior. Finally fresh clear coat was sprayed on to seal the wheel like new.
The drive train is now finished.
The rear tires are just about new from the previous owner.
The front tires are new and almost match the rear tires. Only the sidewall lettering changed.
The drive train is now finished.
One of the "General's" not so good ideas, the '94-'97 trucks have these bumper end caps that usually do not hold up after being hit a couple times.
The idiot before me tried to snap them back on and misaligned the pegs thus folding them over so they got ruined. The fix: a little JB Weld and some #10 bolts.
Front and rear bumper after being sandblasted and had rust reformer applied (which turns the steel black).
Wonderful Rustoleum red primer.
New front bumper shell and front chin spoiler.
One of the "General's" not so good ideas, the '94-'97 trucks have these bumper end caps that usually do not hold up after being hit a couple times.
The clear coat on the hood, front fenders and bumpers was starting to peel
off badly. Naturally we sanded, primed and painted with new metallic teal paint.
Test fitting primed door.
Newly painted pass. fender.
Newly painted tailgate, bumper and bumper caps.
Newly painted driver fender.
Finished hood, fenders and door ready for clear coat.
Baby blue metallic junkyard door.
I'd say it matches up to the old quite well.
Finished hood, fenders and door ready for clear coat.
Why even bother cleaning the original carpet? It was much easier to order new carpet from JC Whitney!
A little trimming here and there.
A cleaning of the cab floor and carpet insulation was all that it needed.
Got that new car smell back too (well almost)!
Why even bother cleaning the original carpet? It was much easier to order new carpet from JC Whitney!
The original seats just needed some shampooing to clean them up.
The previous owner was quite large (and heavy), which resulted in the seat foam being sliced like cheese through the seat springs. A sturdy piece of vinyl trimmed into place did the job to prevent further slicing.
The original seats just needed some shampooing to clean them up.
One interior convenience upgrade was the sound system. Polk dB series two
ways were added to the doors and dash. Also a factory Delco AM/FM/CD player was
sourced off eBay to keep a factory look.

And finally, the finished product.