1986 c20

[jgb7038]

Bought this '86 C20 about 3yrs ago to use as a parts hauler/work truck. Have been tinkering with it ever since I got it. The plan is to just clean it up a bit and use it. Its pretty solid other than the outer panel rust spots you can see in the pictures.

[jgb7038]

I was originally going to keep the hubcaps,but after losing one,paying too much to replace it only to lose another,I decided to get rid of them.

The rims were 16x6.5,and had three different brands of tires on them. I went to a 16x8 on the front and 16x10 on the rear,running BFG Rugged Terrain TA's, 235/85/16 fronts,and 285/75/16 rears. I also like the looks of the earlier style hub caps,so I switched to those also.

[jgb7038]

Someone had done some motor work to it in the past. it still has a sbc,but Im not sure what its from. The front accessory drive has all been flipped and some of the a/c components had been removed. Some of the brackets had been modified to work. I had swapped out the carb for one I had that I knew worked.

[jgb7038]

This is how its been for a little while now,but me being like I am, the urge to modify it has been slowly but surely getting the better of me. I also doesn't help having a spare parts laying around in the garage.

One of those parts would be a 496 BBC. So I checked my "inventory",and found I had pretty much everything to do the swap in the '86.

[jgb7038]

The BBC is a running engine,so I just planned to change the valve cover,and oil pan gaskets,and clean it up a little before I put it in the truck. I did a quick visual inspection while I was doing that,and it looks as clean inside as it did the day it was built.

[jgb7038]

I did do a little modification to the valve covers while they were off. I cut up a pair of sbc script valve covers and made the bbc covers into script ones.

[jgb7038]

After a little cleaning and a bit of spray can paint,I ended up with this.....

[jgb7038]

I decided to pull the front sheet metal off to do the motor swap, I think its easier to work on this way,and only added and extra hour or so.

[jgb7038]

One of the things I wanted to address was the a/c box. I found a company that makes an a/c delete box, so that is the route I went.I also tried to clean up the wiring a little bit while I was at it.

[jgb7038]

And a couple of before and afters pictures....

[ironroad9c1]

Im right there with you , My 86 has a 350 but its a 70 300 hp short block from a 70 impala and a mixed set of heads one 882 and one 993 with a burnt valve . got it id had a spread bore to square bore adapter on it and they used a thin gasket for the qjet and the rear bolts pushed up on the adapter and was causing a huge ass vacuum leak , its a hack job. but the truck is pretty clean and straight I like the color.

[jgb7038]

Well, despite a few hiccups, its back together.....

[LT7A]

Looks good man, how's the power difference? What's next?

[jgb7038]

Thanks. Power difference is night and day, no compairison. I have all the new sheet metal to take care of the rust , so I will probably be starting on that soon.