Project PRPLHAIZ: Bagged '80 C15 SWB

[ccrane0044]

Just redoing my thread since I lost all the pictures in my other one, not sure what went wrong but O well. This is my Semi-Budget build. Its a '80s C15 SWB that I purchased when I was 18. Started building it shortly after. Working on classics is nothing more than a hobby for me and I do not have much experience so any help or tips are appreciated.

Here are a few pictures of the journey...

These are (unfortunately) the only 2 pictures I can find of the truck before I started ripping it apart...





After driving it for a few month I decided to do a frame off restoration on the truck over the winter, If everything welt as planned I would have been done the build a long time ago but the plan of a simple restore changed to having an air ride system and a few other goodies to go with it.

I blame the wheels for the change of mind. It was when I found an insane deal on some MHT 22"s wrapped in Nitto NT555's that I decided a simple Restore wouldn't be enough, from there I ended up buying an air ride kit, and a 4 link suspension system.





Here Is what I did with the chassis...





































Once I finished up the cross members (Which I know are nothing spectacular but all I had to make them was an angle grinder) I ended up getting the frame blasted.



Then threw some paint to in. I ended up going with Chassis Saver. My brother recommended it due to it's durability and I'm pretty happy with it. It's not quiet as nice of a finish as I was hoping but that partially due to me rushing. Winter was quickly coming and I don't have heat in my shop so wanted to get the paint on A.S.A.P. so I would be able to work through the winter.









Decided to go with a Green for the secondary colour. Should look pretty good with the Deep Purple I'm going to choose for the body.











As for the body, my cab was pretty rough. The cowl and firewall were the worst part, and floors needed some work. I ended up shopping around and found a really good deal on a complete Georgia Cab and Box. Had to drive down to Chicago to pick them up but I wasn't complaining.







And now for the build...

For the drive train I picked up a 383 Stroker and 700R4. The Stroker is pushing about 400hp and 450 ft-lbs.







The brakes look tiny behind the 22"s



Got the Rear End rebuilt for me since I didn't Have the experience or tools to do it myself. Also didn't feel like taking the risk and have it blowing up on my. If your wondering it's 3.73 gears.











Now that most of the chassis is put together I started with the body. Unfortunately I had to cut away some of the Georgia sheet metal. This caused me a great deal of pain since they were completely rust free but it had to be done. Looking back now I should have gotten a 4x4 cab...

















Here are a few pictures of the exhaust I put together... (I know my welds are crappy for the most part, I blame princess auto Powerfist products. Was having some issues with my welder but I got it sorted out towards the end)



















After the exhaust I thew the body on to check clearances for the wheels and a couple other things.



Since I was getting closer to the end I decided on relocating my battery. A friend of mine ended up giving me about 20ft of 0/2GA so I decided on mounting if on the frame rail behind the rear tire. I ran out of money a long time ago so instead of buying a box I found some left over steel from the floor and made one...







This is where I am at the moment. Because I ran out of money I decided on building the truck with the body as is and I will drive it for a little while with the multicolour look until I get some cash to paint it.





And this is the part I'm least looking forward to...



There is a show in a neighbouring town on fathers day. I'm really hoping to be able to drive the truck on and off the trailer for the show. So far I've been making good progress but we will see how things go.

[motornut]

Cool seeing other trucks getting fixed up locally,hope to see it at a show later this year.
I see the first two (before) pics are just 5 min from me.

[ccrane0044]

Thanks Motornut, you probably won't be seeing it cruising the streets this year (hopefully next) but defiantly planning on trailering it to a couple of the bigger shows in the area. First one I'm hoping to go to is the show in Kempville on Fathers Day. The goal is to be able to drive it on and off of the trailer.

[ccrane0044]

Haven't posted in a little while so here's a bit of an update.

Got the truck running for the first time in 5 years, was an excellent feeling and sounds amazing.



Got it washed up a bit to attend the Fathers Day Show and Shine. Was a pretty good turn out despite the weather. Ended up raining a bit in the morning then was overcast the rest of the day. Ended up getting 2nd place for Peoples Choice Truck corral, didn't get anything for it except bragging rights, but I'm not complaining. A great feeling considering the truck is still far from being complete, and I lost to a completely built truck.





















After getting everything as ready as possible for the show it started bothering me that the front wheels would come off the ground slightly at full drop so I ended up finding some stock height spindles locally for the low cost of a bottle of 40 Creek. Since the show I've changed the spindles (sits much better now), started on some electrical. Got all the the exterior electrical done for the most part and about half way done with the interior wiring and also started cleaning up the firewall.

[ccrane0044]

Another small update: Finally have the electrical just about buttoned up minus the door wiring. Still waiting on a few connectors and relays for the door locks. Also got my fire wall filled in. I ended up having trouble with my welder again (Gotta love Princess auto) so the welds didn't turn out to pretty unfortunately but since I'm not going to be able to get around to finishing the body for a little while it will serve until I get around to that. Also started throwing the interior together and made a temporary switch box for now. Will be getting an Accuair system in the future. Here are a few pics...

[ccrane0044]

Here's a little Video. Pretty happy with how it sounds. The video doesn't really do it justice.

[cochino12]

Great looking truck. Maybe I missed it but what kind of arms / crossmember are you using? pictures look like a stock xmember but ???? Thanks!

[ccrane0044]

Thanks cochino12. The front cross member is the stock one, all the others except for the one at the rear of the frame I made myself. As for the arms, they are Airbagit. I DO NOT recommend these to anyone (There are other companies that provide far better product for a similar price out there. The big full page adds sucked me in unfortunately). Wish I looked into things more before I started this project (this is my first project and didn't really know what I was doing). The upper arms seem fine so far, I actually like that they leave lots of room for the factory steering shaft, but the bottom arms need to be modified for the lower shock mounts as the ones that are welded on there do not work at all. I'm just about to start working on the upper and lower mounts for the shocks.