My '77 K-30/V3500 Monster Truck Build

[thirsty]

Looks great!

[Captkaos]

Great update, truck looks good.

[bake74]

     The truck is going together great, you have done a very nice job so far.

[cruisinc10]

Im guessin since your a fan of the cards (the world champs) then your from MO. Lol. What pulls do you usually pull at?

[Engineer]

Haven't pulled in about two years. But I would attend mostly any pull that has a "'pro-street" class in SeMO, SoIL, WeKY, WeTN.

After I get the truck back together I'll probably stay within about an hour, or two's drive of home for the first year, or two. My youngest son still has three years of high school baseball, and as long as he is playing baseball, that will take precidence. I gave up OTR trucking to watch my kids grow up, and I am going to see that through. Watching him play baseball, and being an integral part of that is really important to me.

But all good things must come to an end. I realize at some point I'll need my own hobby again. Three years will give me sufficient time to figure out my new chassis, and build a new engine.

During the summer, if I want to travel up to 5hrs away from home, I can pull every weekend. Sometimes multiple times a week if I catch the county/state fairs at the right time. Problem is with the youngest playing baseball the two conflict too much.

[Engineer]

One other point, I have acquired the rules for every significant pulling organization in the MO/IL area. No two organizations have the exact identical rules. So while building this truck, I'm trying to build something that is compliant with everybody. Odds are I'll not be going back to the TN/KY area with any regularity.

Certain rules will make my truck more competitive with certain pullers moreso than with others, so I'll have to deceide at that point who I'll favor, who has the best competition, is it worth my time/money to drive to their pulls? Another factor I'll have to look at is if I deceide to run for points, will one pulling organization's pulls be close enough to home so I can make all of their pulls, and still get the maximum amounts of points?

[SmokeShow]

Absolutely stellar work, sir!

[Engineer]

Time for a small update, but first some reminicing:

Dug out some old photo albums from when the Ol Chevy first came home.

My '77 K-30, er um, K-10 in the summer of 1988:

Getting the 6" lift for the first time:


6" lift with 15-35-15 Super Swamper TSLs:


When I first bought this truck it had no mirrors. The mirrors in these photos are new GM. They were bought as a "mirror kit" with all the bolts, and brackets.

These pics are after I painted the grille black from the O.E. grey/silver. Not long after these photos were taken I found a white painted front bumper that I painted black to match the grille.

Summer of '89 after the gaudy black body side molding fell off:


In this pic you can get a better view of the retro General Lee 15x10 turbine wheels. I have no idea where they came from, but at least they were aluminum, and the proper size for the 35" Swampers. If I would have had to buy wheels for this first lift project, I'm sure it would have been the $29.00/ea white painted wagon wheels. The $600.00 for the Swampers, and the $210.00 for the 6" lift, and shocks had totally eaten up my budget. LOL!!! Thank God for small miracles, eh?

Fall/early winter of 1991 After the transition to Dana60 front, GM 14Bolt rear. 18-44/16.5 Gumbo Monster Mudders. At this point, but not visible, the 396 BBC was already in the engine compartment:




Summer of 1992, off for a day of mudding:


Hope you fellers, and fellerettes enjoyed my little skiff of nostalgia, it blows my mind to think that these pictures are 20 years old. 

Fast forward to today........

Single piston master cylinder with clutch linkage finished:


Finally added the driver's side fender. It lined up almost perfectly with only one body shim under the bolt on top of the cowl...........

Also, observe the body plain:




The body plain with wheel opening molding:


And the body deluxe with wheel opening molding, and body side molding with "Bowtie3500" emblems:




This last little display was to showcase how beautiful these 73~87(91) Chevy full size trucks can be in different styling configurations. With trim, or no trim these things are a work of art. One word to the wise, if going non-trim, those body panels had better be straight.

Thanks for looking! 

[bake74]

     It is always a good thing to remember where we ( our trucks ) came from.  Nice pic's.

[Blazin]

That thing is looking pretty sweet. Nice work!

[Project86]

That's one tough looking truck! Do you have any tips for installing the side molding, getting it lined up and straight? Did you get your molding through GM? I priced it out a few days ago while at the dealership and got "sticker shock".

[Engineer]

My molding is off of a 1991 V-1500 Suburban, so yes, it is factory GM. The little molding on the cab is new GM from a 1988~98 C/K truck since GM never built the R/V series' regular cab with this trim. When I mount my bed sides I will use the trim from a 88~98 C/K longbed since the 89~91 R/V3500 never had this trim either.

Before peeling it off of the doors, I measured from the body line down to the top of the molding. It measured 12", so when installing I measure down 12" from the body line, and then mark with the body with masking tape. When installing the molding I line it up to the masking tape, then just pull the masking tape off.

I also use a 36" stainless steel ruler to keep every thing straight. Also, I used that 3M two sided foam tape. It is specifically for the molding. You have to be careful using this stuff. After you stick it to the truck, it is there.

[Engineer]

Alright, I guess it is time for an update to this old thread, it has been over a year since I did much to this old truck, and there is a story behind why. This is a long post, so if you are interested, put on a pot of coffee. Otherwise click your back button, it might get kind of mind numbing.

Here is one of the bed sides. I skinned the bed so that I can fix the bed skins. When this is all done only the bed skins will be on trusswork on my truck.



Stripped the hood of all of its paint.



A little wet sanding, some warmer weather, and the hood will be ready to go.

I will be going after some more parts next weekend. A guy I know is junking a 1985 C30 Silverado. I plan on getting the stainless trim off the back of the cab, the cab lights, and cab light wiring harness, plus the Silverado30 badges from the fenders. (don't need the cab lights, or the badges, but spares, you never know) The truck had a manual transmission, and a tilt column, so the column is mine. (really, really, rare column type also should mention he never used the tilt feature, so the column is still tight) Also going to get the hydraulic clutch pedals, and master cylinder parts. The 454 radiator shoud, and shroud plate. Plus I have no servicable hood latch release cable, AND I DEFINATELY WANT THAT BEFORE I PUT MY HOOD ON, AND SLAM IT SHUT. LOL! The other thing I need is a set of bumper brackets. Between my sons, and I we have three sets, and don't have enough to install two bumpers. Each set has atleast one or two bent brackets.  I guess I am going to have to break down and buy a new bumper. Any old GM take offs I find are bent beyond use, and not good enough for this project. 



Now here is my problem, and why this project has been idled. Truck pulling has effectively dried up around where I live. It is not feasable to build a truck puller just for one, or two local pulls. Any pulling is going to require that I drive 100~150 miles from home. Gas is at 3.50/gal, and the payoff for winning just doesn't pay enough to offset that. I love truck pulling. It is so addictive. The thrill, the respect you get from other competitors, the admiration from the fans. It is just so cool. But cool doesnt pay much. Add to it that my youngest son still has two years of high school baseball, which will soak up plenty of travelling, and gas.......You can sort of see where I am at with wanting to get away from driving long distances to have fun with my truck.

So here I am at a crossroads. I am thinking of going back and restarting this project. When I was in high school I was obsessed with driving a jacked up truck, as you might be able to tell by the photos of my '77 on 44s. Well, not so much anymore for a daily driver, but the desire to have a monster 4x4 truck has never abated. I went to high school with some guys whos dad owned one of the premier monster trucks at the time.

In this photograph the truck on the left belonged to the guys that I went to high school with.



This photograph was taken about 2 miles from where my wife grew up. I was looking through the other pictures she took the day these trucks were out there. Man that was years ago....... The memories..... Loved that S-10 too.

Anyhow, this followed me home the other day. 66x43-25 terra tire. Probably more to come.





Then I'll need these:



Stay tuned.

[bluecrew]

Wow.   Just wow. 

I will be watching this thread!

[Engineer]