My Build Thread (Sort of)

[engineer_gregh]

I waited 25 years after selling my last one to buy one of these trucks to keep. I bought and sold half a dozen or so in the 80's to make extra money while I was in the Air Force. I always had to sell them as family came first and being enlisted with three sons meant I was floating the restores on credit cards. So in January 2012 I bought what I thought was a restored truck. Big Block Cheyenne Super, Turbo 400, with A/C and tach, with the SPID in place. Cosmetically it was and is in pretty good shape. Mechanically is was not so good. So I'll start this with pictures of the truck as I bought it. For all you first time buyers; if I had gone and seen the truck in person and done a close inspection I probably would have passed on it missing all the fun I've had over the past three years.

[engineer_gregh]

a few more

[engineer_gregh]

I didn't drive the truck very far in the beginning because I wanted to make sure it was reliable. Well it wasn't and it stranded my numerous times. The gas tank was full of gunk as the truck had done a lot of sitting. After beating my head against the wall thinking it was electrical I changed the gas tank and blew out the fuel lines. It ran much better. Bought the gas tank from LMC along with a new speedometer; I wanted the miles to reflect zero as it was a new truck to me.

[engineer_gregh]

After driving the truck a couple of hundred miles it was obvious the transmission was oozing into gear. So off to the transmission shop. Once there I noticed the rear end yolk was slinging oil on the bottom of the bed, so I also had all the seals and bearings replaced. I don't think the transmission had ever been rebuilt or even out to the truck. The rear end is an open 3.08. The ring and pinion were in good shape.

[engineer_gregh]

Couple of hundred more miles and I was not happy with the way the truck ran. It seemed to run hot and was underpowered compared to a big block I had owned in the 80's. So I found someone I trusted to rebuild the engine. I don't have the space, tools, or experience to do it myself. Once torn down we discovered 6 402 pistons and 2 396 pistons, 4 burnt valves with bent push rods, and a crank that was so far out of tolerance it couldn't be turned. Just behind the rear lobe on the cam there was a grove cut all the way around. Believe it or not the truck actually ran ok and didn't skip at all. My mechanic has been rebuilding engines for 30+ years and was amazed it ran at all. So the rebuild begins.

[engineer_gregh]

I do believe the engine block is original to the truck. The heads are from a 65-66 325HP 396 Impala according to the numbers. The heads and intake were ported and polished.

[SierraMtns]

Cool build. Its crazy why someone would use different pistons. I can't believe the things that people do sometimes.

Keep us posted and thanks for sharing.

[engineer_gregh]

With the rebuild; steel crank turned 10:10, bored .30 over, Comp Cam HE 268 cam, lifters, springs, and retainers. Steel 1.5 roller rockers, double roller timing chain and gears, reused the Edelbrock performer intake and Edelbrock 750 carb. Three angle valve job and summit powder coated headers. I did not go with a high volume oil pump, Summit, Jegs, and my mechanic said go with a standard oil pump.

[engineer_gregh]

While the engine was out we tackled the front end rebuild. The upper and lower control arm bushing were shot, ball joints bad, and pretty much everything needed to be rebuilt. It was all original and considering its age to be expected.

[engineer_gregh]

Once rebuilt and the 20 minute break in was accomplished we discovered the original stock 4 row radiator wouldn't cool the truck. Ordered a new 4 row radiator and a high flow water pump and installed. it was better, but would still run hot at a red light with or without the A/C on. Large Griffin radiator with dual 1600cfm fans solved that problem!

[engineer_gregh]

Next I wanted to address the worn out seat foam. The upholstery guy pulled the seat apart and glued foam on top of the old foam and said he thought I would be happy with it. I'm not but its better for now.

[engineer_gregh]

Next was improving the noisy cab. I used Frost King A/C duct wrap that I bought from Home Depot. For a total of ~$75 its much improved! Had to sneak a shot of one of my grandson in on this thread.

[engineer_gregh]

I did miss the fact that the truck had the wrong front bumper. No turn signals, So I added LED turn signals with upgraded headlights and new relay harness from LMC. I like the look.

[engineer_gregh]

Other adds; 20 inch Boss 338 wheels, new stock height coil springs from LMC, Monroe shocks, CPP front stabilizer bar, trailing arm bushings from LMC, ECE track bar, B&M shift kit, and B&M Hole Shot 2000 RPM stall converter. I do like the lowered look on trucks but I decided to go more old school. I might change my mind in a couple of years.

[engineer_gregh]

If someone can tell me how to post a video I'll post one of how it sounds. I hope that some of the pictures and how much work has been done over the past 3 years is helpful to someone. Take your time when purchasing one of these trucks. I can tell you from experience its more cost effective to buy one already done but its not nearly as much fun.

[hdff]

great write up! nice looking truck, sounds like you did it up right. i like the new head lights, was the wire harness hard to install? where are the new turn signals in the pic or is that before you replaced the bumper? also with those wheels you need to move up the 2 years and lower that thing a bit now, i think it would look a lot sweeter. i have a 402 in my truck that was just rebuilt to stock with headers and hei just before i bought it and i am not impressed with the power. how does yours run now?
i like the color of yours, i bought mine in june and it was listed as a super, but me not being educated enough at the time i didn't know till i got home and started learning about them( drove 11 hrs to get it so no takin back) that it is not. oh well i felt like i got a good deal on it and i like it alot overall.

[keh27]

Very nice..........

[zamboni2354]

if you can't figure another way to do the video directly you could upload it on photobucket or youtube and simply post the link.

jeff

ps. nice truck!!

[engineer_gregh]

Hdff the headlight harness is very easy to install. Look at #13 above and you can see the half moon yellow lights at the very top of the headlights. Those are both parking and turn signals. Zamboni thanks for the suggestion for YouTube. Here's the link of how the truck sounds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge-F...ature=youtu.be

[engineer_gregh]

hdff I noticed in your signature you're running a 700R4 tranny. If you have 3.08 gears with 28" tires it won't really matter how much power your engine has it will be slow out of the hole. The OD tranny is great for highway speeds but cannot over come the rear end gearing and tire size when launching from a dead stop. My truck is the same with the Turbo 400 and 3.08 gears, slow out of the gate. But if I manually shift down into first at 20 mph or so its pretty strong as I'm in the power band of 2000+ rpms. Make sense?

[zamboni2354]

Sounds good. Nice truck.

I'm pretty pleased with my 3.73 rear/700r4 combo.

Jeff in long beach

[engineer_gregh]

Thanks Jeff. The 3.73 gears with the 700R4 is a great combination. You have the best of both worlds with really good take off power and low RPM highway speeds. I think I'm going to go with a gear vendors overdrive for the turbo 400 and change my gears to 3.42. I would love to have 3.73 but I don't want to change the carrier to get them.

[hdff]

i'm not sure what rear end is in it. I need to get the yoke seal fixed soon and I plan on finding out whats in there then

[SKT]

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Any updates on this one?

Truck looks great, despite the unexpected surprises after purchase.

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[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by engineer_gregh

Thanks Jeff. The 3.73 gears with the 700R4 is a great combination. You have the best of both worlds with really good take off power and low RPM highway speeds. I think I'm going to go with a gear vendors overdrive for the turbo 400 and change my gears to 3.42. I would love to have 3.73 but I don't want to change the carrier to get them.

I used a spacer plate from a car 12 bolt to do mine. I did have to take it to a machine shop and have it surface ground from .333" down to .250".

That being said, I think with the 700R4 you will be happy with the 3.42 gears.