Project Pancho Villa - 1978 SWB

[JohnC]

Originally Posted by BruthaMan

It has been a while, John. Spent some time in the shop getting some tweaks that were beyond my capability.

I sent her back to my painter a few days ago, to add some silver metallic rally stripes down the hood. I went back and forth on whether to do it, but it's something I always thought made the old muscle cars and trucks stand out.

So, hopefully by the end of the month, I will have it back and put half a dozen coats of Zaino on her, then time for final pics!

Been a long journey!

Cool man can't wait to see it. I think the silver stripes will look sweet!

[3r!c84]

trucks loooking good!

[Zane M]

Fabulous job! kudos to you!

[BruthaMan]

Thanks Guys!

I"m so looking forward to getting it back and enjoying it. I sent it off to get rally stripes on the hood about a month ago along with some other minor touch ups, including the top of the cab.

We never could get the fenders lined up "just right," they were after-markets. The driver door was gapping also. Part of me wanted to enjoy it, the other part (from years of my wife politely reminding me to have patience) of me said "we've made it this far, let's hold off a bit more and get it perfect."

I scored some NOS inner fender wells, NOS fenders and NOS doors. Couldn't believe it was all together! Was on Craigslist out of Des Moines, Iowa. Kent (my friend that's been helping) made the trip from Amarillo to Des Moines this past week to pick everything up.

Painter is delivering truck tomorrow and will start on those items this week.

I had installed Fat Mat in the truck originally, but after the little time I've spent in it, decided that was not going to cut it.

I ordered some Damplifier and Luxuary Liner from Second Skin that is sitting, waiting to go in. About two hundred points worth of sound deadening material!

Hoping to do some disassembly this week, pull out the interior to lay down the additional sound deadening. Lost a blinker light in the dash bezel, so have to replace that.

It's like the project that never ends!

[menace121978]

it'll get there buddy! its the fine tuning and tweaking that takes the most time and patience cant wait to see her all done!!

[electrician42]

great build man .. lot of work done and in the end it will all be worth it ... i went through almost every post and love dit ... what are the tire sizes... i know it was there somewhere but must have over looked it ...... great ride ....!!!

[78BO]

I would hate to see the price sheet for this restore! But if you can't spend your money on something you like what is there to spend it on? Sure would like to see a video of that truck moving though.

[BruthaMan]

Originally Posted by menace121978

it'll get there buddy! its the fine tuning and tweaking that takes the most time and patience cant wait to see her all done!!

I think I underestimated that that by a factor of 10

Originally Posted by electrician42

great build man .. lot of work done and in the end it will all be worth it ... i went through almost every post and love dit ... what are the tire sizes... i know it was there somewhere but must have over looked it ...... great ride ....!!!

Thanks! Tire size is 275/60/15 all the way around. I added 1.5 inch spacers all around as well, to kick the wheels out to the fender lip edges.

Originally Posted by 78BO

I would hate to see the price sheet for this restore! But if you can't spend your money on something you like what is there to spend it on? Sure would like to see a video of that truck moving though.

It's scary, 78BO! I've kept receipts on all the big stuff and I'm in the 30k range. I never would have thought it would go that high, but it adds up.

I do plan on some good photos and videos when it's done. I romped it for the first time, right before I sent it off for the rally stripes and touch up paint. My wife was riding in passenger and I thought she was going to come unglued! It's a beast!

[78BO]

I know what you mean, I'm at 8k and I still don't have the drive train done! Do you remember what post has the states on the engine? If I remember right, you had that built?

[BruthaMan]

Originally Posted by 78BO

Do you remember what post has the states on the engine? If I remember right, you had that built?

Yes, the motor was built. The builder ordered the lower end kit and did all the work.

383 stroker

COMP Cams Xtreme Energy Cam and Lifter Kit - 268
COMP Cams Ultra Gold Aluminum Rocker Arms
Edelbrock RPM intake with 1406 Carb.

I forget the stats on the heads, but they were new, but not aluminum. I want to say they are 196, but can't remember for sure. Was trying to keep compression down so I could run on pump gas.

By the time it was all done, I could have easily ordered a GM 383 Motor for the same price.

[JohnC]

Can't wait to see it man.

So what did you not like about the FatMat? Sound, heat?

[CaliDude76]

Ok Thanks Bruthaman... are those seats from a Burb, or Blazer as well... or aftermarkets?? I've noticed from other pictures of guys who use the high-backs.. they seem to just hit the back window.. not my style.. too bulky looking in these cabs.. less is more.. i say. I can see how the actual seatback cushion isnt as thick as the stock bench-seat on these trucks are... hence more breathing room.. i suppose. These are awesome trucks.. dont understand why G.M. designed em for shortguys though...lol they could've lengthened the cabs a bit more...in my opinion anyway.. then again.. cant help it if im a 6 foot Mongo... Thanks alot my friend.. BTW.. you aint messin around with your re-build! WOW VERY NICE!!! wish I had the opportunity to do that to mine...

[BruthaMan]

One of the seats is from a blazer (I believe...bought it from Jeff (BigBlock73)), the other is a truck. They are the same seats.

UPDATE!

OK, so a few weeks ago, I scored some NOS inner/outer fenders and NOS door set from a little town in Iowa.

The fenders that were on, inner and outer, were repops and just would not align right. Driver side door had bow issue from when we re-skinned them, so now I have all new original GM parts to replace.

First up, one layer of Fatmat was just not going to cut it. I decided to splurge for the good stuff and ordered some "Second Skin." 200 lbs of sound deadening material! Below is a pic of the sheets. After adding those, we added some luxury liner (about 1/4 inch think) on top. The luxury liner are the longer sheets, they are 2ft x 4ft.



Hood, inner/outer fenders are back off:



Michael, a friend of mine that's doing the paint work, wet sanding/buffing out the inner fenders. I added three coats of Zaino polish to each after he finished buffing out. They are like black chrome now!



New GM NOS driver/passenger doors:



New GM NOS fenders:



Decided to take the bucket seat mounting tab/sliders off and put some base coat/clear coat on them:



Here's a shot of the air brush on the tailgate. John was my lifelong best friend, for more than 25 years. He passed away about five years ago and left a hole in my heart. This truck is dedicated to him and our friendship:



Touched up the center console with some SEM Black and added Frank's (forum member) billet center console cup holders:





And finally, first glance at the rally stripes on the hood. Michael did the paint work last night in my garage. Wet sanding and polishing today:





We tuned the stereo system last week. Ever since installing it, it always sound a little "not so right." My son came out and spent a good hour manually tuning the amp, the highs/lows/gains, and the sound is now phenomenal.

I'm really pleased with the RetroSound unit. This unit sounds amazing, retains the factory look, is a post mount and had modern day electronics with an USB stick input instead of CD (which I prefer). The JL Audio amp and speakers flat out right sound amazing, no distortion. The Boss Audio enclosed subwoofer gives the exact kind of bass I wanted (not the "2 block away thump," but rather good clear bass to compliment the system overall).

I'll post more as we progress!

[baclay9]

Amazing man. Beautiful work!

[silvereagle07]

Nice work! With all that deadning material it should be very quiet inside. The console turned out really nice and the paint looks awesome. I can't wait to see the finished truck. It is very cool that you are dedicating the truck to a friend. Good job man!

[JohnC]

Nice to see some updated posts man!

I really can't wait for you to be driving and enjoying this beast!

[Jonboy]

When you were talking about adding the stripes, I was a little teary about how it would look. They look a lot better than I would have figured. Everything looks like it is turning out great, and I am sure pictures don't do it justice. Do you have your door panels yet?

[BruthaMan]

Originally Posted by baclay9

Amazing man. Beautiful work!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by silvereagle07

Nice work! With all that deadning material it should be very quiet inside. The console turned out really nice and the paint looks awesome. I can't wait to see the finished truck. It is very cool that you are dedicating the truck to a friend. Good job man!

Thanks, yeah he was a special bud. Those come around once or twice in a lifetime.

Originally Posted by JohnC

Nice to see some updated posts man!

I really can't wait for you to be driving and enjoying this beast!

I hear ya, bud! Just when I thought it was done, then I had to go and change things!

Originally Posted by Jonboy

When you were talking about adding the stripes, I was a little teary about how it would look. They look a lot better than I would have figured. Everything looks like it is turning out great, and I am sure pictures don't do it justice. Do you have your door panels yet?

Thanks Jon! I really like them as well. We spent a good thirty minutes going over various metallic silvers at the paint store and picked that one, now I can't remember what it is! It's a medium metallic, I believe it was silver mist. It was a GM color. I really like the way it turned out and glad I changed my mind to do just the hood.

I did get the door panels, but one arm rest was on backorder. I had a set of 73-80 interior door handles, but couldn't find them (story of my life), so I ordered some more.

The door panels are not NOS, as I misstated before. It's the insert and the trim ring that goes around it, that was NOS. The door panels were after markets, though Henry (at Cheyenne Parts) did have some NOS ones. Too rich for my blood. truckandcarshop.com has some NOS panels listed there as well, so there are some treasures out there still waiting to be picked up!


I'll take pics of those

[Jonboy]

I am curious to see how they come out. I have the aftermarket base model replacements, and I am not too keen on them. I had a dash cover too, but found a pretty nice (especially for Texas) OEM pad with one crack it it that was already red, so I went that way. I think the woodgrain in the door panels from my Blazer are in OK shape, but the trim rings were shot. The Cheyenne trim package did not use a pull strap like the Silverado did. Keeps you from having to source the covers. I still have not found the set I had.

[blakeduren]

Any pics of the RetroSound Model one radio install?
Just bolt it in the factory dash area and go?
I see you used the stock knobs off of the original radio.
Looks good.

[3r!c84]

woah!!! this truck is going to look killer! keep up the good work..ill be droping off my truck in a week...

[STOCKISH]

WOW! Looking great. Nice attention to detail.

[Ru5tyNut5]

coming along great, keep up the good progress

[menace121978]

Beautiful! i love how you "finished" and then went back to the things your werent 100% happy with.

i'm sure i'll have to do the same thing... did some one say IFS?

looking good Wade! cant wait til im at that point!

[texasfunk]

Man the truck is looking good!!! There any car shows near there any time soon? Be an excuse for me to head that way and check out the truck!