Project "The Beibs" (For now...)

[tex_waco_usmc]

So, a little background on this build. 11 months ago I married my beautiful bride. Long story short we have both been married before and we both brought children into the marriage. I have known her since we were little and she and I just plain work. We are the odd couple that everyone said we were crazy to get married, but we dont do anything the "normal" way and that works for us!
I now have a 14 year old step daughter who is, well, awesome. She can be a handful at times, but what teenager isnt. One day we started talking about what she is going to drive. We looked at newer vehicles and older vehicles, she finally said she wanted an older pickup. So after a long process, she chose the squarebody chevy/gmc pickup. I was in luck because my old man had an 86 model GMC LWB sitting out at my workshop.



But, she hated that truck the first time I showed it to her. Come to find out, she has a hard time seeing what it could be over what it actually looks like now! LOL... Her problem with it was that it was a LWB and she wanted a SWB but not one with the funny bed (stepside) on it. So I told her we can make it a short bed and basically make it look exactly like she wants. After much talking and reassurance that this is the vehicle she wants we sat out for a good SWB frame and FLEETSIDE bed. In the meantime I happened to snag this from my father as well.



This is an 87 GMC LWB 1/2 ton. Dad bought it because he was going to put the drivetrain from the 87 into the 86. The 87 has 48K miles from factory and runs like a top and of course it was TBI with the 700R4. It was ugly and I had to quickly get the drivetrain out and get rid of the remnants before the stepdaughter saw it. LMAO

Next step of my journey took me out into the country to a piece of land that was owned by the mother of a contractor that put a metal roof on my house who has since become a friend. His brother had this one and it was exactly what I needed. Price was right and so she got loaded and hauled to the shop, one problem is that he had lost the title and had no aspirations of going down and filing for lost title for me, but not too worry...



So it began... The agreement that I made with my stepdaughter is simple. As long as she is out there with me I will turn wrenches on her truck. But, if you arent out there I will turn wrenches on Project Heaven (My 67 build) instead. She agreed and we began the tear down of the 84.

We decided to use everything from the bed forward off of the 86, except the stuff we needed to make the TBI drivetrain work (gas tanks, fuel lines, wiring, etc...)

So, this is what my shop looks like today. Hopefully before the end of the week I can get the trailer to scrap and get the 86 hauled to the shop to begin tear down on it.





We are calling this "The Biebs" temporarily until she comes up with another name. Reason is simple: She is a teenage girl who is hopelessly in love with Justin Bieber. The truck will be painted purple (his and her favorite color) and as far as interior I am not sure yet, but I am thinking either a black or grey on the interior.

Plans for drivetrain and suspension setup are going to be simple. 3.5/5 drop with a stock drivetrain (cleaned up and painted with all the pretty chrome, of course) from the 87 and probably 20" wheels on all four corners. The plan is reliability and so it will most likely get better/bigger brakes up front and maybe a disc brake conversion for the rear. Also thinking about doing a rack & pinion steering setup for the front.

So Hope you guys enjoy! I have exactly 18 months to complete it, wish me luck!

[tex_waco_usmc]

More pics...

[rktolds]

Good luck with it. I have an almost 10 year old that wants my 72 Cutlass when she's older. I love your deal about turning wrenches. I will have to use that on my Cutlass and the 87 SWB my boys will want.

[tex_waco_usmc]

Originally Posted by rktolds

Good luck with it. I have an almost 10 year old that wants my 72 Cutlass when she's older. I love your deal about turning wrenches. I will have to use that on my Cutlass and the 87 SWB my boys will want.

The way my dad put it when I talked with him about it was "She needs to have some skin in it too, otherwise she wont respect it or take care of it."

[tex_waco_usmc]

Thought you guys might like my rednecking on this one... Couldnt get the cab to level out while removing it. It kept rocking back and forth, so a little 2X4 action across the cab (Im not keeping the cab)... and she was out and loaded on my trailer... A pic for proof!

[68Timber]

I probably screwed up my daughter's dating life unintentionally. She helped me with my projects and when she was nearing 16 we bought a project truck for her that we fixed up together. Most 16 year old boys don't speak wrench. Anyway, make the most of it, it's over and they are gone pretty quick.

[Greenlee]

Nice project!
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[Low Elco]

Great project! I like the kid being involved!

[BigMike608]

it will be great bonding time for you and your daughter!

[Jabes1]

Awesome build... even cooler that your daughter is helping. My daughter is 3... lol, she's into squares early. She never wants to take my Subaru, always, "Daddy's truck." I'll definitely be checking back on this build as I plan to do the same for my daughter or heck, her and I do a build and give her mine since the bugs will be all worked out by then. Good luck. Girls can wrench too!

[LEEVON]

Great start, I'll be watching. I apologize for mucking up your thread, but here's my "square daughter" I hope she wants a truck someday too!

[rollin thunder]

Awesome story and sure will be a sweet truck!

[tex_waco_usmc]

Thanks for all the kind words! This should be an awesome build! So we got a little done. It all starts with the frame! This is the basis of the build so it should look good and it also gives us a chance to make sure we have no damage that we didnt know about before!

A Couple of steel wire wheels and we were off to the races! (I forgot how much I hate this part!!!!!!!) LMAO oh well! Its getting there slowly!





Next on the to do list is to get the torch out and the grinder and get rid of this:





I do have some questions already, Im sure there will be more along the way... But questions will be posted in the open forum so as to not make this a 4 million post build! LOL Please feel free to chime in if you see something that I could do to make life easier or if I am about to make a crucial error. Im trying to take as many pics as possible on this build so Emily will have something to look back on in the future!

Now to the open forum to figure out what this is:

[Low Elco]

Need a wider shot, but I'm betting on support for the clutch z bar. Looks good so far!
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[Low Elco]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Great start, I'll be watching. I apologize for mucking up your thread, but here's my "square daughter" I hope she wants a truck someday too!

Awwwww....
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[maxxxy]

I think its actually where the shifter linkage goes

[67-72crazy]

Nice project. I was told the same way when i build my 72 shortbed. My dad and my uncle would help me if i did 90% of the work.

[tex_waco_usmc]

So for now plans have evolved just a little bit. I recently sold my Dodge Dually because we are going to buy a new Crew Cab dually! But, that left me without a truck, so I am pressing forward to get this one on the road for now and then tear it down again when I get the new truck. Now, before you all say thats a bad idea. Let me expound on the plan. Frame is going to be completely painted and coated! Gas Tanks will be done properly. Transmission gone through, cleaned and painted! The only things that I plan on tearing back out down the road is the front crossmember so I can do the suspension I want and I am going to be adding Rack and Pinion steering at that point in time and the engine for cleaning, going through, painting, and of course the BLING... Everything else will be finished properly before this installation.

Now to make it even more complicated I have exactly 20 days to get her road worthy, from today! Our house that has been on the market almost a year is now under contract and so I have to empty the workshop on or before 23 May!

Now, as far as my step-daughter is concerned. I told her since I was going to be using the truck initially she didnt have to be there every step of the way. Mainly because I was going to be doing a lot of the work while she was at school. She told me a couple days ago I hate not being able to help you with it!

So today this is what the shop looks like!



The front half of the frame under 3 coats of primer. (Gonna do the back half after the move and I get the stuff to complete the rear drop.) And yes she is balanced like that on her own no braces! LOL (Ok, some parts to add weight in the rear of the bed to hold her down! LMAO)



Removing the drivetrain so I can pull the front cross member and then the cab



The front clip

[Low Elco]

Nothing like a deadline! What you need, is some more stuff going on! Looks good!
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[tex_waco_usmc]

Originally Posted by Low Elco

Nothing like a deadline! What you need, is some more stuff going on! Looks good!
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I need more to do like I need another hole in my head! LOL

[tex_waco_usmc]

Update for the day and some good pics!

So with the timeline getting cut short I had to enlist some help and just thought I would post this! Emi is going to shoot me when she reads this but oh well its my build thread and Im the stepfather I am aloud to embarass her occasionally!



So this weekend we got the front crossmember moved over and bolted on and now the truck has four wheels on the ground again! Im a little disappointed that I dont have time to get the crossmember cleaned up and painted but I will be tearing it back out in the future and doing this before she starts driving it!



And now the donor 86 is looking pretty bare!!!



This is what my shop looked like after the weekend!

[tex_waco_usmc]

So today I got out there and got all of the crossmembers reinstalled and the new drivers side tank bolted on and the old passenger side tank got a new fuel pump and is all but ready to be bolted on to my pretty frame!







Tomorrow I am going to get the passengers side tank installed and hopefully get all of the brake lines and fuel lines re-ran and bolted down and probably prep the drivetrain and get it together again ready to set on the frame!

[tex_waco_usmc]

Yesterday was an eventful day. Although, I will say that it definetly didnt feel like I was getting much done, we all know that sometimes the smallest things on the build take the longest. I installed the passenger side gas tank and re-ran all the fuel lines, brakelines, and the breather line that goes up to the charcoal canister. It was a long day of cleaning the outside of the metal lines, running cleaner through the lines to clean the inside out (Truck sat for a long time and I didnt want any bad fluids getting into the newly refreshed systems), running new rubber and replacing all the clamps with new clamps, and a new fuel filter.

Also, I pinched the braided stainless fuel lines that ran down the back of the engine and across the transmission to the frame rail when I pulled the drivetrain. I had to go to a place called Tubes and Hoses in Waco, TX and they are building me new braided stainless lines as I am typing this. Great guys to work with and they can build any type of line you need.

So here are the pics: Oh, if anyone knows a way to protect the rubber fuel lines that run across the frame rails from chaffing, please chime in and help me out.

[tex_waco_usmc]

So here is the latest on the project. I will post pics and explain as I go.

Ok so first up I cleaned up and painted the transmission. Now the paint I bought was supposed to be a gun metal grey. This is what I got:



Not exactly what I was looking for but Im in too much of a hurry to repaint at this point, not to mention Im the only one that is ever going to see it (well with the exception of all of you who see it now!) Also makes this pic cool is the TH400 in front of it. Kind of a before and after style pic in one! This wasnt planned but it did work out!

Drivetrain back together and mounted. Had to redrill holes for the transmission cross member but all is well now!

[tex_waco_usmc]

More pics of the drivetrain down on the frame!