New guy build. 79 swb k10

[Tdubbyount]

Well im pretty new here, i thought id start off with a build thread. My parents bought me this truck when i was 13 years old as a christmas present. My grandpa and i have spent the last four years fightin and cussin at this pile of s*** until we were so tired of it we didnt even want to look at it, and sure enough it turned out to be a pretty nice little rig. A few long summers working my ass off and an after school job helped pay for a lot of it. Enjoy!




This is the day we first pulled it into the garage. It had a very tired 350 olds that was destined for the scrap yard, and a turbo 350 and half ton running gear that werent gonna stick around for very long either. I also threw in a pic of how it sits now.

[Tdubbyount]

First things first. Yank out that POS 350 and start cleaning.

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Interior's next.

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In the meantime we built this fine 4 bolt main 350. Stock piston, rv cam, nothin special. First motor i ever built. Still has less that 100 miles on it, and its been over three years. Runs like a dream!

[Tdubbyount]

After all that, i painted my firewall, did a little clean up with the wiring, and got it ready for the fresh 350.

[Tdubbyount]

One day, grandpa decided to trade my lift kit for a new front clip and a hood. I was not very pleased at the time but i got over it lol. A lot less rust to fix. We got the engine in, everything started coming back together and sure enough, it ran!

[Tdubbyount]

Cleaned a little more up, got it running somewhat smoothly. Threw the hood on, and the bodywork began!

[Tdubbyount]

I discovered that i hate bodywork, and im not exactly good at it. It wasnt long before i hired some help.

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Long story short, i found an article in Hot Rod magazine about a dirt cheap satin black paint job they did on a camaro. It didnt look half bad, so i thought, what the hell, might as well give it a shot. It turned out Ok looking, definitely better than the nasty brown it was before.

[Tdubbyount]

This BEAST is a slightly less than cherry 1980 GMC jimmy that i picked up in the fine town of Snohomish Washington from a long haired dude in a single wide way up in the sticks. It had a decent sm465 four speed and a 205 and was on 3/4 ton running gear, the only pieces of the truck i was interested in. So....then i had the adventure of driving this...thing...3 1/2 hours back home.......over a mountain pass. Let me tell you, it was a little more interesting than i had expected. You should have seen the look on the guys face when i told him where i was driving it. It was an ok trip, other than the missing windows, defective heater, and gaping holes in the floor. Not a very good combo when driving over a pass in February.

[Tdubbyount]

We got the sm465 rebuilt, swapped out the trannys, and the front and rear axle (dana 44 3/4 ton front, 14 bolt rear w/ locker, 4:10 gears) We put the 4 inch lift that was on the jimmy on my truck, bought some new shocks and all the goodies. Wish i had more pics.

[Tdubbyount]

I then dropped it off at a body shop because i was already tired of the black. While it was there i did some rear suspension work (pulled the blocks, put on an Offroad Designs shackle flip w/ the stock springs...and yes, i know my shackle hangers are on backwards. I swapped them around.) also put on a procomp lift steering arm, ORD swaybar disconnects, extended brake lines and some other stuff. Oh yeah, and i bought some new wheels and tires. Still payin for those lol. I went with Pro Comp Xtreme mt 315/75 on 16" Pro Comp Rock Crawler wheels.

[Tdubbyount]

After wayyyyy too long of a wait, it finally turned orange! I mixed the paint myself, its a little bit of a spin off of "Competition Orange" with a bit more florescent yellow. The paint job was not nearly as nice as what i expected and paid for, so im pretty disappointed about that. It was at this shop for nearly 5 months and he barely got anything accomplished. His body work was almost as bad as mine. There are still dents in it that i remember trying to fix. So,if anyone is looking for a paint job in the Ephrata / Moses Lake area in central WA, stay away from "Tripple D Ent." they do some pretty horrible work. And one of the worst guys to ever try working with. He lost numerous parts of mine and claimed to do things that he never really did, i ended up just taking my truck back and assembled most of it myself.

[Tdubbyount]

First coat.

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A bedliner stripe went along the bottom and re-assembly began!

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Well, here she sits today with the left front torn apart, all to ATTEMPT to remove the stock steering arm that's been making me lose sleep for weeks. This thing is freakin solid. No sign of moving yet. Not even after four days of PB blaster showers. WTF!!!!!!!! I'm gonna pull the spindle and take it down to the shop. maybe i can press it off. Anyhow, i bought a ProComp 4 inch raised steering arm to correct for the 5 inches of lift the truck has. Also got a new steering box, all new hydroboost/ps lines, stainless brake lines, and a dual stabilizer. Talk about a blown paycheck

[squaredaway]

Very nice work. It's great to see a young man put HIS money and time towards a goal.

[Pop's C-10]

loving tha orange

[Tdubbyount]

Originally Posted by squaredaway

Very nice work. It's great to see a young man put HIS money and time towards a goal.

Thanks! It's been a great experience building this truck. You cant imagine how much I've learned. I'm excited to finally be able to drive it daily. I ended up pulling all of the hydroboost system off the other day because of difficulty finding parts. I'm in the process of converting to vacuum now. Hopefully if all goes well it'll be on the road tomorrow.
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[Tdubbyount]

A few updates! Started some interior work, got a gauge cluster, and fixed my rear main / pan gasket leak. It's officially my daily driver! I'll get some pics up of the rest of the interior tomorrow. I found a '85 gauge cluster on eBay for $50 to use until I get my factory tach cluster figured out. Oh, and I found a new friend! Turns out there's another '79 shorty runnin around town
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[y5mgisi]

Are your vacuum lines still hood up like this? If so, me thinks you have a problem. The big line off the front of the carb needs to go to a PCV valve. Not a breather.