My 86 Silverado Cummins Project

[BigHemi353]

Well, Since I'm finding some time to work on it again I thought I would start a thread. I bought this truck in mid December after my fall semester of college for $1300. In this pic it has the 31's mounted on 15in chrome wagon wheels. Going to sell the wagon wheels and get some nice 16in wheels.. I bought it as a mud toy at first but then soon wanted to redo it and make it a weekend cruiser/chick getter . haha It sure would beat my S-10.  Needs rockers, cab corners and some very minor work on the firewall as of now. Going to get another bed for it since the one on it has a half ton of bondo on it.

Right after I bought it

Right after I made the mistake of playing in the mud with it....worth it thought 


I just bought a sm465 and 205 for it last week in ohio.  350 should be out tonight and the 700r4 and 208 by next weekend. Hopefully tonight I'll making another trip to ohio to get the rest of the parts for the front end conversion(73-80) tonight. Should be nice, have all my Silverado features but have the great look of the 1973. Its also getting 6in of lift and 35's. Probably going to have it painted black and switch the interior to black too. I'm going to do this restoration right unlike alot of my friends. lol. Hoping to get this done by june for the county fair. Comments and suggestions are very welcome  Thanks for looking and I'll keep you guys updated. Andy

[hotrod24]

nice keep us updated

[1983stepside]

thats a nice truck man sounds like you have a good plan for it, keep us posted on the progress

[BigHemi353]

Kind of a bummer all ready.... Was buying a hydraulic bellhousing on ebay for my sm465 and I forgot about it selling tonight and went to a friends house. Lost it so now I got to find another one...  

[BigHemi353]

Motor is out, Tranny coming out tonight...

[1983stepside]

thats cool your working on your truck, that sucks about your ebay find, i hate when i foreget that im bidding on something that i really need or want also im sure youll find another one, keep us posted on your progress

[BigHemi353]

Thanks, I love my truck and thats why I'm going the hard way putting it back together like it like it. A 4speed and 73 front end will make it worth it. Andy

update....Tranny is out

[1983stepside]

ya i was thinking of putting an older front clip on my 83 stepside as well, i realy like the round head lights alot but im not sure yet, because ive had my truck since i was 14 so im realy use to seeing it with the squrae headlights ya know, so i know how you feel bout your truck cuz mine has been in the family since 1993, my grandfather bought then gave it to my dad then my dad gave it to me, where i drove it for awhile all rusted and faded blue with a flat black hood, and a 250 straight six and 3 speed on the floor then last may i decided to tera it apart to the frame and now, just waiting on the weather to warm up and me go back to work so i can put it back together but keep us posted with pics and every thing and keep up the good work and take your time,

[bigkountry]

Let us know how the auto to maual swap goes. I am really wanting to do this to my 81 but have no clue all the parts needed and parts trucks are scarce around here now.

[BigHemi353]

Alright, I'll let you guys know how the swap goes. Im going with a hydraulic clutch set up(85 and up) so it'll be a bit easier(no cables to route, just simple lines). Just still looking for a bellhousing, I'll go call around some junk yards tomorrow and see what i can find. Andy

[84chevysilverado]

keep us posted should be a great project
marc

[Flamingbig10]

nice project

[BigHemi353]

Update: I got a sm465 bellhousing on the way for an 88-up. little bit different but i hope to make it work.  This weekend I got a manual steering column for $30 and also clutch/brake pedal assembly, slave cylinder, clutch master cylinder, lines, and reservoir for free from a guy switching his blazer to an automatic. Also got most of my parts for my 73 front end conversion too. I'll post some pictures soon of it.
Thanks, Andy

[BigHemi353]

Finally some progress....I think   
now you see it!

Now you don't!


It was an absolute pain to get off. used a fork lift and put 8x2's on the forks and picked it up from the passenger side. I rode in the cab against the forklift while dad drove so the cab wouldn't fall off. very dangerous but did the job. I'm not doing that again that way so if anyone can tell/show me how they put their cab back on it would be awesome. going to power wash the frame this week and sandblast the hard to get spots. Wirewheel and grind the rest and then lift and paint.
Andy

[hotrod24]

yea man get 4 guys to help you put it back on