78 gmc heavy half stepside project

[Low Elco]

Keep it hustlin', baby! I like the whole lo-dough thing! Cant wait to hear it barkin'!

[INSIDIOUS '86]

So lets look at the budget and how I got here with the little money I have spent.

The truck cost me $500 and was just a shell with the wheels that are on it. I had a back window,The seat and the steering column. Months prior I had gotten a gmc grill for about $35. I already had bumpers and headlight bezels but that was it trim wise. Before I even bought the truck I traded a Holley 600 carb and $200 for a complete sm465 pedals and floor hump conversion and a hydro boost for my red red truck all from Cory D and easy Steve on the forum here.
I got the 305 engine and tpi intake on trade with one of my freinds friend with another Holley 600 I had laying around. These carbs I all got free new for helping people with projects.

And right now my two year old is showing his awesome tantrums so I will give you the rest in a bit
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[96twodoor]

very cool , your red truck is sweet man

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by 96twodoor

very cool , your red truck is sweet man

Here's the edited versions
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[INSIDIOUS '86]

I sold the tpi for $50 and got some paint with that. Then I put up on northwest c10s Facebook group a trade offer for a edelbrock performer rpm intake. A guy was selling one for $150 an I offered him a trade no gear head can refuse, a 75th anniversary snap on wrench set that was black chrome and gold inlay lettering. Back story on those is I bought them a few years back for $75 on Craigslist just as an investment. I'm glad it paid off. I had a set of gnarly holley valve covers that were polished at on time in the early 80s I sanded them down and sold them for $60 and went up and got some front upper and lower grill trim and bumper guards. A fan and other things as seen in my post about my junkyard score earlier in the thread. I got the seat an dash from the trucks pervious owner. And once again I traded for some interior stuff again with easy Steve by making a cnc cutout of his truck by custom order and got a gauge cluster and some door panels to help complete the interior. I have about $400 Into the engine. Got a front window for about $75 off my Facebook group as well. So you can see how low budget this really is and how it pays off on getting extra parts when you can and stuff you may not need now but have use for later. And as always don't be afraid of trades. Carbs make good trades and tools and anything that may be desirable parts wise. Also Facebook is a great place for clubs and parts as well. Always be on the lookout for parts even if you don't need them.
I will try and do a little more detail in how I go about the business part of building the truck. Not often seen in the forums.



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[INSIDIOUS '86]

Alright so good news and good news with bad news and good news. I've been back in school welding doing gtaw but as a result hours for me are low so money is spent on gas and insurance and not the project truck-the bad. Also I'm also expecting my next kid anytime here in August! :woot: but in a fortunate turn of events I've gotten more hours since a co worker went on vacation and I got $98 for a bunch of scrap steel and aluminum about 800lbs worth. All carried in my red truck with no c notch riding the frame for ten miles. Wasn't to bad since I just put some 4600 bilsteins in the rear for a c series van

So in the next coming weeks it should be fired up and MAYBE even moving! I have to get a new master cylinder for it and pinion yoke. Lets keep our fingers crossed!
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[INSIDIOUS '86]

Got some parts this week at the wrecking yard and a battery. Hopefully this week I can get it started!
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[INSIDIOUS '86]

So my junkyard scores for the week were a rust free original passenger side inner fender. Off a near mint 76 k5 blazer. A beautiful radiator from the same truck. Some carb fuel line a gauge lens. Radiator hoses that were new some msd plug wires. Some brand new accel spark plugs. Some brake line hose. My freind got a rear swaybar and a stacked plate cooler. And to top it off. Got a stuffed shark teddy bear for free.
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[solidaxel]

Tell me about your steering wheel, where did you find it?

[INSIDIOUS '86]

The grip royal? My freinds are into the import scene and all that but a member here posted a pic and I thought...damn that's a nice wheel. Then I saw it in a freinds car and it looked like a great quality wheel compared to my grant in my red truck. Both good wheels don't get me wrong but its like comparing a Kia to a Cadillac. A face book group called fresh on stance had some a run of 20 special editions so I went ahead and bought it. I like it enough I think grip royal will be my steering wheel choice from now on.
Now here's a secret that I found out. These are aftermarket steering wheels for c3 corvettes and can be had on eBay for about $90
But grip royal paints these and engraves and can do a whole bunch of custom finishes metal flakes, colors polished not polished. Wood and leather, just really neat stuff to personalize the wheel to match what you want. Check them out they have some neat stuff.

http://griproyal.com/


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[solidaxel]

Hey Thanks!
How do I find them on ebay, I like the wood wheels and need one for my 53 Chevy

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by solidaxel

Hey Thanks!
How do I find them on ebay, I like the wood wheels and need one for my 53 Chevy

seller:nxtstepperform. Search that on eBay and look at his items and you should find some.
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[moregrip]

Nice wheel!
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[INSIDIOUS '86]

Alright so today's update. I got some of the misc bolts and screws for the truck at my local wrecking yard and installed my radiator and fan shroud. Got some oil a filter and some of comp cams break in lube additive and filled the engine up. Found a new set of accel header plugs behind the seat of a truck that day too hah. My headlights are mounted and I got one of the fuel vent hoses replaced. Installed my $20 wrecking yard battery and got the engine harness plugged in and got power to everything! I just need to put the tanks back on and fill them with gas and add my distributor headers and carb an I can fire her up.

I also modified my cluster a bit since I'm no fan of factory gauges. Sooner or later I will do a Camaro tach in the corner from a 70s Camaro and and a small fuel gauge in the other corner. Prob scratch built and I will show you guys how.

Also here's a pic of my freinds $40 factory tach cluster that he put in his '84 recently. I found it just laying on a seat haha
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[INSIDIOUS '86]

Alright update this week. Got closer to getting it running but as with any project sometimes you regress before making progress.
Basicly the first part of this week didn't go to great but I got closer to my goal anyways. I hooked power to it again but a part of the insulation for the main engine harnes was bad and it grounded out. As a result it blew my fused junction block and fusable wire so I lost all power.

So after I got that repaired I hooked the battery up again only to have my ears billed from the horns sounding off right beneath me...they work really well. Luckily the previous pos owner that is a wiring expert...ugh, had installed a removable link for the horn power so I pulled that. My suspicion is the aftermarket grant steering wheel wasn't installed to good from the prev owner. So now I just need to figure out why the fan and wipers have no power but that I will do later along with hooking up the tank switch.

Got a new vent line for the drivers tank since the old one was falling apart and got both tanks put back in. Funny how you take things apart and by some witchcraft bolt hold don't line up unless massage by rubber mallet.

And then I decided I was sick of pine needles and looking at half a truck so I put a bed on and now it's suddenly a truck again. Still can't figure out what do about the pine needle problem but I can tell you guys misery starts at a but rack full of pine needles and 100 spider nests in your hair all the while its sunny outside and pouring rain-Washington-



Also decided that the gas cap should quit being ugly so I polished it. Two wheels and two compounds and five minutes later it went from decades old to new again

Now here comes the nasty part again this week. I got headers and spark plugs installed and throttle brackets and everything else and I went to put some water in and to my dismay the intake started pouring it out the the front left and rear right water crossover passages. Basicly my intake was warped. So I took it to my buds shop and had it trued up and got new gaskets and put it back together. Luckily no water got into the cam valley so it was all external leaking.

Once I finished the intake I got a surprise in the mail any guesses?
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[CamraMaan]

Love the (local) build! And the curiosity (^) is kinda killing me...

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by CamraMaan

Love the (local) build! And the curiosity (^) is kinda killing me...

You on Facebook at all? There's a group called northwest c10s. All the local guys are talkin it up in there.

Once I install this part I will post the reveal. Just gotta stop being lazy and drill some wholes haha
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[INSIDIOUS '86]

Alright so huge update today guys
My mystery box had my mirror mounts, found some $10 mirrors at the swap meet a while back and have identified them as first gen Camaro mirrors. So now they are mounted up and I can see that fat sexy A$$ of the fender sides haha.


Also put water in the motor again and the intake is sealing so its all good now


Got out my handy dandy cast iron distributor shaft priming tool and set off to prime the engine

*video*
http://youtu.be/51R6_znTPuo

Got the engine set at tdc and stabed the distributor in then installed my BG 750 for engine break in. Used a fram xtra guard filter that will be replaced when the oils changed with wix filters. I used comp cams break in additive which is a good additive to run daily as well when you have a flat tappet cam. No specific brand oil was used just the cheapest ****tiest oil I can find

Here's some videos of it running

http://youtu.be/Y8u5liDf48Q

And after 20 min of running I ran the idle back down and I'm not sure but it sounds like its loping haha of coarse none of the valves have a final lash an a few are a little loose and the carb isn't tuned to idle with this engine really and timing isn't set for sure so the idle may smooth out but it don't sound half bad for a 305.
http://youtu.be/v-HvWN0WPFw

And a close to final finish pic.
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http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/j...ps075df85c.mp4

[mattcrp1]

Nice truck INSIDIOUS, did I read that rite that 4600 bilsteins shocks for a van work with a flipped diff?

thanks
Matt

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by mattcrp1

Nice truck INSIDIOUS, did I read that rite that 4600 bilsteins shocks for a van work with a flipped diff?

thanks
Matt

Indeed. I had to push the metal sleeves out of the shock ends then install them with brute strength but I love them. Shock extenders are prob a great idea to add just in case.
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[Pop's C-10]

That lil 5.0 sounds good..

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Originally Posted by Pop's C-10

That lil 5.0 sounds good..

Yah being the LB9 305 from an iroc the factory hp was about 215 and had factory flat tops. I'm thinking with this slightly larger cam the headers and intake its prob almost 300 which is enough for what I need. I could have gone more on the cam but I wanted mileage more than power and a 305 fits the job best.

I find myself pondering about carburetors now though. My plan is putting my demon 650 on which gets decent mpg on my red truck which is why I kinda want to keep it there haha. I was thinking since a metering rod carb such as an edelbrock are better at metering at cruise conditions that I go that route still unsure. But defiantly no quadrants haha
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[mattcrp1]

Thanks again for the tip on the G20 shocks. I went to O'Reilly's today and asked about them. They have a 9 inch compressed length. My static ride length is 14". only $24.00 each for Monroe shocks. Much appreciated.

Matt

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Got the front shock mounts re welded where they wallowed out the hole and the other inner fender back in. Pics soon!
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[68Timber]

Cool build!