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73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Members Rides => Topic started by: Thompson335 on February 26, 2020, 10:56:51 AM
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Hi everyone
Wanted to start a build thread. I have had the truck about a year. The goal is a fun everyday driver.
To that end the plan is
LS swap, and turbo with around 600HP
4L80E trans
Suspension improvements
AC, Sound proofing, and better seat.
This is what I started with
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Custom Delux with 6 cylinder and 3 on the tree.
in desperate need of a new stance I added Western Chassis 4/6 drop kit
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Cool truck, I'm planning an LS engine in the future as well. I've got an '84 GMC 1500 and look forward to your future posts. Good luck! 8)
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Did some cosmetic work to the front.
Chrome bumper
painted the grill and headlights black.
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It was not very long before the old 6 cylinder gave up. It was on its last leg when I got it.
started prepping for the LS swap!
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every thing all removed and painted up.
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had a small leak in the cowl I needed to address, and I wanted to add vintage air.
welded up the seam where it was leaking, added new seam sealer and covered everything inside the cowl with flex seal. Man working and cleaning the cowl area is a pain!
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reducer and an acid brush works great for smoothing out seam sealer.
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added hydro boost to it while I had the front clip off
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here is my 5.3 straight out of the pick in pull.
Gave it a good pressure was and a set of shorty headers from Speed engineering I believe.
next up is a Isky Triple 12 cam, some springs, and some paint.
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Keep them pics coming! :P
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added a 4L80E from the pick and pull. unfortunately it had a crack in the hsg I had to weld up, but it all worked out well.
Reworked the original harness per LT1 swap info.
Installed some Tejas Steelworks engine mounts and trans mount. It set the engine in a very nice location for a daily driver and gave me great room for factory AC compressor.
Only issue I had was the headers hitting the big ears on the 4L80E. Had to cut them off to make room.
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here are a couple installed pics before the front clip went back on.
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painted up the front clip and reinstalled, added big block radiator, made a shroud and installed a couple fans I picked up from the junk yard.
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Here she is front clip installed with 5.3 all wired up and running.
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Installed a 87 fuel tank sending unit and in tank fuel pump for the fuel system.
She runs well, but I am still not satisfied with the way she drives. I have changed all the bushings and tierod end. I thing what I am going to do is modify the ball joint location to increase castor to make it drive straighter.
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Here is a solution for improved castor I found on line. I can not take credit for it, but it works well. basicly it moves the ball joint 1 inch forward and about an 1/8 inch out. Gave me about 7 degress castor when it was all said and done. Truck definitely drives better.
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added some Camaro Wheels for a new look. What do you guys think so far?
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Looks very cool thus far.... 8)
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Yup, very nice.
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painted up the front clip and reinstalled, added big block radiator, made a shroud and installed a couple fans I picked up from the junk yard.
Thank you for sharing the build. I'm guessing you didn't have to modify the transmission tunnel/hump to accommodate the new trans swap?
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I did not. Used tejas Steelworks mounts.
The trans is very close to the floor board though.
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Yep Very NICE. You do do quick work. What that take you about 3 weeks?
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No, I have had the truck about a year now. I did a lot of this work over that time. I had never made a build thread. I have just been shrinking down a lot of pictures and loading them into this build tread.
The truck is actually torn down to the frame right now. I am attempting to install a 1972 rear coil over suspension into it right now. I am about 75% of the way complete. I will start adding some pics of how I did it pretty soon.
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In for more pics.... :D
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here is what I have for adding the 72 rear suspension to my square so far.
installed the cross member 2.5 inches below the upper frame rail to position the bracket where the arms did not hit the frame compression.
added some 4 inch pass thru holes for exhaust.
Working on making some upper and lower coilover mounts as I have decided not to use the coil springs, but to go with coilovers instead.
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Made some frame notches to allow the rear end to come up to about a 1/4 from the bed.
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Mr. Thompson, you draw some mean welding beads!
Very clever adaptation of the swing arm cross member. I take it that it offers a smoother ride than leaf springs, yes? And are you air bagging?
What did you use as the ball joint seats?
I'm working on the same year and model, Thanks for the pics and progress !!
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Thanks man, not to tough to weld it on the bench in front of you. It is the odd angle stuff that gets me.
Look on speedway's sight for gm ball joint sleeves.
Going with coilovers, and I hope I get better ride and handling out of it.
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That's a great idea for a C10, wish my K10 were as adaptable...
Does a sway bar come into play with this setup? I would suspect some sway will be introduced.
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Thanks man, I have a sway bar from a 80s Camaro if I need one, but I am not going to put it on unless there is a need.
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Some more pics
upper and lower mounts, panhard bar, and frame bracing. think this is probably all I am going to do with the frame.
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I don't know man, may not be sturdy enough, might need a little more steel to stiffen her up... 8)
Really NICE work!
How low are you going for?
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Yea that triangulation makes a huge difference. Only running a 4.5 / 6 drop. I daily drive it so I am looking for the best ride / handling combo I can make. I like the 5/7 look a little better but you start having more clearance issues.
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Are you going to ditch the ugly shackle hangers?
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Yes, ditch the hangers paint the frame with some rust encapsulator, new poly cab mounts, and make some new bump stops. Probably going to add a frame style hitch also. Looks Like I will probably need to totally rework my exhaust as well.
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I found a product by 'DupliColor' called 'Rust Barrier'.
I am doing a '80 C10 and have the front down to frame, this stuff is incredible!
I bead blasted the frame for loose rust and crud, and this product just pours into the metal, encapsulates the rust, and has a durable rubberized finish, semi-gloss.
I did the suspension components as well, it' going back together, going to look great. I'll post pics later ;D
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Pollen is falling so heavy in GA now I really can't paint outside, So I have moved on to setting up my axle and rear disk brake set up.
Welded up my Axle tubes to the hsg with nickle rods. Had not picked up my stick welder in about 25 years. came out better than I expected especially for nickel rods.
installed some 2000 camaro backing plates and emergency break pads. Soon I will have lines and calipers on. Need to work out the metric vs standard stuff.
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8)
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Nice job, should be fun to drive.
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Well finally the frame, rear suspension, and Breaks are coming together.
Pulled off all the old leaf spring brackets and installed some bump stops.
Installed a 3.42 posi and a set of 2000 camaro rear disk breaks on the 12 bolt. had to use a 96 Impala rotor to keep my 5 on 5 lug pattern. probably need to put a piston spacer on as well since the Impala rotor is not as thick as the camaro one.
here are some pics. just need to take it apart and start painting it up.
having trouble trying to load pics, will try again later
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pictures
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That is going to be a Sweet Ride!
Showing my ignorance, but there must be more to the rear brake system than is in the first pic?
Looks like the trailing arm xmember is under the cab?
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I just don't have the rotors on.
Yes you are correct it will be about a foot under the cab. That is pretty much where it is on a factory short bed 72 C10.
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do you mean calipers? 8)
I see the shiny new rotors.
So with the Xmember under the cab to that degree, I would expect a much smoother ride than having it aft, where the bed would hop.
Like the cab is floating- Have you owned a stock truck like that before?
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added exhaust and finally got it back on the ground.
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8)
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making more head way. installed parking brake cables from a S10 blazer, and made some mounts for the cables from a 2000 Camaro that I welded to the axle.
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installed cab, new urethane bushings , doors with new hinge pins, front clip, and adjusted fenders.
Man the work on the frame really stiffened it up. I am really looking forward to getting this thing back on the road to see how all this work turned out.
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so we are all back together, took her for a slow ride around the neighborhood. brakes and everything did well. only issue was when I got on the street and got up past about 35 MPH she shook pretty bad. I am pretty sure it is drive line angles doing it. I have a 4 degree shim on order that I believe will fix it.
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That is a nice stance, looks very good.
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Very nice! 8)
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Thanks guys, really appreciate it. Can't wait to get my shims
and get it out on the road.
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Where did you buy Hydro boost from?
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Picked it up at the junkyard from a SUV
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Now that I have the truck bar rear end sorted out and working well I need to address the front suspension. Currently I have the lower ball joint moved forward about an inch to give me about 5degress of castor and all the bushings replaced. The steering box is slap worn out both the input and output shafts have excess motion in them. A 12.7 to 1 replacement box is in the $350 range.
I have access to a crown vic front end from a cop car for almost nothing. What do you guys thing about installing it into a square body?
Unless I am missing something it looks to be pretty simple swap. Will need to do a little fab work on the frame to widen it a couple inched on each side.
Benefits would be
4 -5 inch drop
Increased castor
Increased suspension travel over a lower front with drop spindles and springs
Shock thru coil spring
Be able to place the wheels in the center of the wheel well
Rack and pinion Steering
The negatives I see would be:
Track width, but I currently run 1.75in spacers with Camaro wheels and Like the look of modern wheels. If I drill the hubs to a Chevy pattern I could run just about any Ford or Chevy factory pull off wheel at that point.
Connecting the rack to the steering wheel
The other thing I am not real sure about is Roll center on the crown vic, but I am thinking I can control that with spring rate and sway bars if it does not do as well as I would like.
Considering my 20x8 Camaro Wheels (28.8 inches tall with 1.75 spacers) clear the fender wells with ease, wheels should not be a problem.
I wonder what the turn radius would be like compared to a stk C10
The cost would be very low compared to buying a new steering box. Just my time and effort, got a lot more of that then extra cash laying around.
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no one has an opinion on the crown vic front end swap into a square body?
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The crown vic control arms have a ton of deflection and movement in the bushings. I hate them in CV's and Grand Marquis so I would never put one in my truck. I'm curious why you want excessive caster? You can achieve good caster by adjusting the upper control arms.
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Factory C10 has 1-2 degrees of castor at best. Castor helps the vehicle track straight at speed. Much better for highway driving.That is why modern cars have 6 and 7 degrees. If you use the upper control arm to increase castor it moves the wheel way back in the wheel well. Looks kind of weird. The cost of tubular Arms is just stupid high for C10s
Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
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When you talk about deflection do you mean the bushings or the cast arms them self?
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Modern cars do not use SLA type I suspension systems with parallelogram steering, so that comparison isn't exactly a good one. Excessive caster in this design will cause wheel shimmy at high speeds and although spec is around 2° you can achieve more than spec when aligning. Either way, I would never go past 5° on these trucks. As far as the CV suspension, stomp on the brakes or accelerate and watch the amount of fore and aft movement, it's astonishing that they let them leave the factory this way. The aftermarket replacement parts are no better so again, I wouldn't if it were mine. Tubular arms aren't too bad, You can get a set for around $450
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I run about 5 degrees on mine currently without issue, but to get the modern style wheels I like I have to run 1.75 adapters. Not the end of the world but I would like to go without and get some of my turning radius back. By the time I buy a steering box and control arms I am about $1k in. CV cost Would only be any maint parts I need, and will have a Rack and much more suspension travel then my lowered front end. I think I could probably fix some of that flex if I made some Delrin bushings for it. Other then the flex do you see any issues?
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I'm sure you'll find them along the way :D Good luck
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moving forward with the crown vic swap. So far I have positioned on frame and made the front mount. looks like it will fit well.
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Clever, are those aftermarket adapters, or your design?
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This is a low budget hot rod built in the garage. Mostly old parts and rust! If I can't get it at the junk yard I make it for the most part. It is the main reason I went with the crown vic. The front end was wore out. It would take $3K to rebuild the GM steering, lower it 5 inches, and make it come anywhere close to the kind of geometry already built into the CV. I only have $100 into the CV so far.
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Good job man!
I'm from the old school too, if you don't have it, can't find it, can afford it, MAKE IT!
Learned that from my Auto shop teacher in '77.
He told of making main bearings for a 4 cylinder Ford by pouring molten babbit into the block with the crank positioned perfectly.
Only problem was that the crank was now frozen in the block.
Cure: drop block into the truck, load rocks, tires and kids if available into the bed of the truck. Put truck into 2nd gear, drag around the yard with mules until the crank freed up. Trim 'new' bearings, finish rebuild.
I never challenged the story, but it sounded feasible.
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made some motor mounts to go with the crown vic cross member.
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getting very close to getting back on the road again.
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@Thompson335 Thanks for posting pictures of the adapter brackets! Can't wait to see how you connect the steering column to the rack.
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Picked it up at the junkyard from a SUV
Like the build.. keep it coming!
What did you use for a backing plate for the hydroboost. I have one from a suburban/tahoe/yukon, can't remember which. Not sure it I want to put it in the V10 or K5 blazer.
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Finally getting around to working on the truck again. here is a current look of the truck
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started some work to raise the stock front inner fender wells. This is my current progress.
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Finally getting around to working on the truck again. here is a current look of the truck
Can you show and explain what parts you used to connect the CV rack to the C10 steering column?
Did you have to modify the frame or exhaust manifold?
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un fortunately I can not take a good pic. the first two are what I am using now and the steering is smooth. the third pic was an initial try that did not work well it had hard spots. you can see the angle up top is to sharp but it gives you a good pic of what you are dealing with. It may have worked with a double joint up top. the lower joint looks like a double joint but is really two joints with a really short D shaft in between.
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sorry about the quality of the pics.
ask any question you want. I am glad to help.
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Great progress! I'm not good at body work, always like to see others make progress!
Crazy, but any chance you can get a picture of the lower clips that hold on the door panels? I can't get mine on. No worries if your panels are still on or the clips are already gone.
Thanks! Mark
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Really interested in doing the swap after seeing how it turned out. Do you have any pictures of the lower rear control arm mounts? Just curious how you attached them and where they landed on the frame
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Very simple home made bracket with a urethane bushing . bolted on the side and bottom.
Bottom hole is slotted to allow for caster adjustment. I modified the frame to make a flat surface to mount because of how low I went.
i am sure there is more than 1 way to do it.
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Doing a little more work. wanted a better universal way to mount just about any kind of seat that I found in the junk yard that I might like. currently i am running maximia seats with a dodge center section.
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I hate having hardly any options for seats....(all the way back is barely enough).
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Added in the 4x4 high hump to the floor. making a little more room to improve the drive line angle or possibly go with a manual in the future.
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Your have made a lot of nice progress and I enjoy looking at your thread.
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Started working on the turbo install for Ruby and added a aluminum block 6.0
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some more pics
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Man, you are really putting the work in on this truck.
Good job. Keep it coming. 8)
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Thanks man, I have more tools and time than I have cash. I just keep working at it as funds allow.
Hopefully more to come in the fall when things cool down a little. Plan is to get the turbo in during the fall.
I have one of those cheap E-bay cast log manifolds. Looks pretty durable but there is a tone of casting flash everywhere that I have been cleaning up.
Trying to decide if I want to use shorty header or a factory cast manifold for the other side. I do not thing there will be much of a performance difference, but the cast manifold would probably hold the heat better. The shorty header would save a lot of work as it already has a v-bad flange on it, and I would not need to port match.