LAB Tested and approved.

[324matt]

yes I like the stock wheels also. But the aluminum wheels have so much less unsprung weight. I glass beaded the wheels and had them powder coated white. this is how they look now. I paid $175 at the local shop.

[77K10Silverado]

Man I here that! Unless your going for a factory restore, why not?

[324matt]

And on to my next battle. Realistic tires for driving, or tires for looks. I had a set of Nitto Trail Grapplers size 295/75/18 on my 2012 GMC Sierra. They were great until I just had, had enough of the road noise. So I then put on my all time go to tire Michelin LTX M+S. They are my personal favorite tire. Actually Michelins are my favorite tires. Any vehicle I buy immediately has Michelins installed and the old, (or new not Michelin) tires are sold on CL. Anyways, I wanted to put tall skinny 255/85/16 on this truck. I looked and searched and debuted. I finally settled on Toyo open country MT in 255/85/16 (33.5"). best price I found was $1064 shipped to the house from treaddepot. Then I said well, the Nitto Trail Grapplers in 285/75/16 are 33.3" and I got discounttiredirect beat down to $888 for a set shipped to the house. So I was going to buy those. Then I received my annual Costco AMEX Refund check in the mail last week, so I got on their websight and they had, wait, wait for it, MICHELINS for $70 off a set of 4 instant rebate. Well, that was all she wrote. I ordered myself a new set of Michelin AT2's size 285/75/16 (32.8"). I got all 4 tires shipped to my local Costco's for less than the price of 1 of the other tires I listed, sans nice refund from AMEX. I guess I can live with the .7" inch difference for that kind of $$$. Im going to use the stick on the inside wheel weights from ebay rather than have the old skool on the outside the rim wheel weights.

[324matt]

I also had a few friends come over and help me install the bed last week. it was a piece of cake. I wired up the tail lights and unbutchered the mess the po had installed. I used shrink tube and heat sealable wire connectors (kind of overkill). the wiring is stout. I then cut to length the new Gates fuel neck filler hoses and installed them. I tried to use the old rotten vent hoses because I figured they were vent hoses. Welp, I got mad because I can not find pre bent vent hoses for less than $20 each (LMC). LMC's stuff is so so, And I wasn't impressed with the last crap I bought from them. I ended up ordering them for $40 each from classicparts. Darn it. For a set of vent hoses. I paid $25 a piece for the new gates filler neck hoses from NAPA. But whatever it is what it is.
back to the height of the truck. There is still a slight rake with the new springs. it measures 1/2" higher in the rear wheel well than in the front. So ive already decided that if I get the new wheels installed and its still a smidge lower in the front, I going to order a set of fitted add a leafs for the brand new skyjacker front springs and that should be that.

[324matt]

Mudflaps. I refuse to pay a rolling big price for vintage or nostalgic or heavy duty mud flaps. My wife wanted the grandpa running boards put back on so she could get up and into the truck easier. They were bound for CL so I said why not. I looked online and found some really, really, really nice mud flaps for squares. But not $300 for the flaps and brackets nice. I went to Farm and home and bought (2) semi truck mud flaps for $11 each and made a template out of cardboard and went to town. I decided to install the front first. I will make and install the back ones after I get the new tires mounted and installed. I am going to use 1x1 angle iron and 5/16 hardware to install the rear flaps. I will weld up a removable bracket to bolt to the frame and hang the mud flaps once I see what proper clearance is for the rear tires

[bohmankid]

Nice clean truck.

[324matt]

I got the tires mounted on the wheels today. I then install them onto the truck. What a difference. The old Junk yard tires are Waaaaaaaay out of balance and are now a spare set. Here are some pics from today. More mods to come.

[324matt]

more pics

[77K10Silverado]

Son yeah!!!

[77K10Silverado]

Any progress on your truck? I love this thing!!

[324matt]

Yes. I haven't put any pics up lately but I just ordered a ton of parts last night. I went through the whole crate vs ls vs BBC vs fuel injection vs sell it vs wife vs time debate.
About 2 months ago it started using antifreeze, now there is oil in the antifreeze and it blows white smoke from the pass side exhaust. Leaks oil out of the rear main, and has lost power. Well, I decided that since I don't drive it every day, and it would cost a small fortune to change it all to ls or fuel injection, to just keep it stock.
Last night I ordered a crate 195hp 350 from jegs off ebay. I also ordered edelbrock Performer, summit balancer, tuff stuff water pump, delco fuel pump, and hedman 69830 headers, oh yeah and all ARP hardware. All from ebay. Then I ordered all the gaskets, sensors, filters, hoses, new radiator and all the small stuff from Rock Auto. Total investment was about $1850 to ebay and $275 to Rock Auto. So I'll have a new engine with a new cooling system for under $2200. This weekend is harbor freight time for a 2 ton cherry picker and a engine stand. Then I'm going to have my hei curved by a local guy who has a machine and have him rebuild the Qjet. Qjet rebuild is $150, I read cliff ruggles book, the guy copies his rebuilds. He recurve is $50. Then after I break in the engine with the stock stainless manifolds, after 500 miles or so I will install the headers and have it towed to the muffler shop to have them weld in the 2.5" duals from the collector to the mufflers after they custom bend it like the factory. My budget for all is $3k

[324matt]

Man spell check makes my grammar horrible. Lol. After the engine is in and purring, I will remove the th400 and np208 to have them rebuilt. They don't need it quite yet, but, I'll have a nice new power train in a reliable affordable truck. Paid for. These old trucks are the last of the best. I kept it all stock because if I put 5k or 7k or 10k into a driveline, it would be a waste of money. I'll never ever mud or beat this truck, he'll I've never had it in 4wd..lol I drive it to home depot or costcos, or my mom n dad's house. I haul my yellow lab around. It's just an old truck, no reason to ruin the nostalgia by complicating things more than it needs to be. I get more compliments on it than most people do on their hot rods. Sure it has dents, dings, scratches, and a little rust. But for some reason people including myself just plain like it. I am wanting to get a YouTube channel like mrwhite ls1 has. His videos are sweet and his channel is awsome. He films it all on a gopro. I have a nice Sony camera, and can't justify a 300 to 500 $ gopro. Need vs want. I dunno, I'm getting old (37), lol, I think man, I'd like to retire in 20yrs and if I piss it away in my 20's and 30's I'll have to work till I'm 65 or 70 or till I die if the government keeps giving stuff away for free... anyways, we'll see about the gopro.

[77K10Silverado]

Man hate your forced into a rebuild/new setup. I'm almost there myself but just don't have the budget right yet. This front end rebuild I'm into is gonna surely be a huge thorn in my marriage for a hot minute! Lol. I feel ha on the GoPro. I'd like to start filming myself but... If you and mrwhite ls1 lived on my street.. Well we'd be running 'Squares Garage'!!

[77K10Silverado]

Another thing.. While your pulling the anchor you might think about replacing the brake and fuel lines as they way easier to F with when she's plucked. Do that rust treatment like you did to the rear on the front half!!

[324matt]

debating on wether or not to give it the rust treatment in the front. Its really in good shape up there. I found some killer inner fenders at the wreckin yard last year that were rust free and installed them last winter. I am going to install the ORD bolt in steering brace kit, and new power steering hoses while its out. Im really debating on installing a new radiator also. The old one does not leak, but im sure it has oil in it. And I have a shop that will bench build my th400 with a new torque converter for $800. I just ordered two th400 rebuild books from amazon, ruggles book and some other one. Ill read them and see if my ballz are just big enough to try to overhaul the trans myself. I really wanted a 4L80E and NP21C, but I can buy A LOT of gas for what those would cost. I only drive it 55mph on the highway anyways so i dont need the OD. Ill post some newer pics of the parts getting ready to install on the crate engine. I did try to buy a GOPRO, but when i was at bestbuy the nerd working there tryed to get me to buy a sony action camera. I balked saying i needed to research the differences between the two.