72 C10 build up

[lilbill72]

I'm pretty fresh to the site but I figured I'd share my slow and steady buildup of my daily driver. My progress is at a bit of a standstill since I'm deployed to Afghanistan but my parts list is growing. My pictures are are limited since most of them are of it in its current state. So far I've rebuilt the rear with a 3.73 posi, mild shift kit in the trans, put a lopey bump stick in it, vortec cyl heads, drop spring and spindles for 5.5" drop in the front and 5" in the rear, front and rear sway bars and other smaller things. Keeping it drivable on a daily basis kills money for speed parts but it's nice to drive a classic everyday.

Here's a couple of it when I first got bit by the handling bug and lowered it 3" all the way around

[lilbill72]

Had to pull the inner fenders due to rubbing. I consider it weight loss

[lilbill72]

Here's the inners, or lack there of

[lilbill72]

The previous owner bought a remanned engine from advance auto that was on the receipt as a 350 but the casting was a 307. This kept me wondering what it really was until I pulled the old 305 heads off found out it really was a 350. The vortec heads really woke it up but the cam is almost too big for a stock converter

[CruizinKev]

good work so far! :twothumbs

[lilbill72]

Back together and looking pretty

[lilbill72]

Did the head swap over a 4 day weekend and drove to work on Monday. My back was pretty much done for the rest of the week. Still trying to upload some. The internet is about what you'd expect in the middle of nowhere

[lilbill72]

Got caught by the road gremlins for not taking spark plug length into consideration. Had me fooled for a bit but finally got it straightened out

[lilbill72]

Pretty much the last of what I have with me. My son treats the cab of my truck like a playground and is always helping me work on it. Once he gets bigger he can bring me the right tool instead of all of them one by one

[lilbill72]

If anybody has a decent gm 4 speed for sale for pretty cheap let me know. That's the first thing I'm doing when I get back to the states

[the dan]

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

we had the same exact truck, different generation!
looks good!

[SparkyRnD]

great start on a cool project

[snopro]

nice long box its great that there is so many pro touring trucks being built

[lilbill72]

Thanks man, kinda toying around with the idea of cutting it down to a short bed but I still use it for hauling stuff around. My family thought I was crazy for wanting to build a truck for handling.

[69FB]

I love these old trucks. I have a 77 GMC Sierra Classic but I really like the body lines of the late 60's and early 70's trucks. As it is right now I'm going to pro-tour my 69 Fastback Mustang but I would love to build my truck for handling as well. Really excited to see this project progress, and thanks for your service both of my brothers have and are serving today. I know the sacrifices you make on daily basis.

[lilbill72]

I love these old trucks. I have a 77 GMC Sierra Classic but I really like the body lines of the late 60's and early 70's trucks. As it is right now I'm going to pro-tour my 69 Fastback Mustang but I would love to build my truck for handling as well. Really excited to see this project progress, and thanks for your service both of my brothers have and are serving today. I know the sacrifices you make on daily basis.


thanks for your support. all of my suspension is cpp, theyre parts are extremely affordable. just lowering these trucks make a huge difference in body roll alone

[85coupe50]

Nice to see a LWB truck get some love! Good work so far.

[lilbill72]

So i havent updated this thing in quite a long time. Admittedly I forgot all about my build thread on here. Ive been through a handful of modifications over the past few years. I made the swap to a 4 speed manual trans, spun a bearing in my motor, rebuilt it in the living room of my apartment and put it in out in the parking lot, moved from GA to NC and then the motor started knocking and had low oil pressure. I scored a 99 LS1 off an army buddy and am currently in the middle of completing that swap. Ill be updating this thing in order of all the things ive done the past few years to kind of keep it in chronological order over the next few days

[lilbill72]

Starting with relocating the turn signals and swapping in the 4 speed. I had to make my own hydraulic setup since I couldn't get all the linkages. Used a wilwood 7/8 bore master cylinder and a 7/8 bore slave cylinder from I believe a Toyota pickup. 158797158798158799158800158801158802158803

[lilbill72]

Up next was the living room engine build. This was a long part because I spun the bearing while I was moving and still had to haul one last load. Limped it there and back successfully but then it sat forever because I went to Europe for 6 months. When I got back I limped it to the local junkyard and snagged a motor. Went through the thing and replaced all the bearings but never noticed the horrible ridge ring at the top of the cylinders, the block was already .080 over... I realized this after firing it up and having a God awful amount of blow by.
Yanked that motor out and put the crank and all the bearings in my old block. Slapped it together and then drove it from GA to NC loaded down from getting out of the army. After I got back it started a slight knock and had about 5 psi of oil pressure at idle. Then an old army buddy hit me up with an offer I couldnt pass up158804158805158806158807158808158809158810158811 158812158813158814158815158816

[lilbill72]

Bringing this up to the current state of the truck is the LS1 swap. I picked up this motor off one of my army buddies from Afghanistan. It's a 99 LS1 from a Camaro. I got it with the harness and computer. Me and my brother swapped the engine in an afternoon and it's still backed by the muncie m21. I spent a while going through the harness trying to straighten out the mess my buddy made of it from when he lengthened it. Currently it won't fire up but it does spin over. I havent dug into it too far because the weather has been cruddy. I put in a "sloppy stage 2" cam and some pac 1218 springs. The last picture is a temporary setup until I get some swap headers in it.159085159086159087159088159089159090