1997 GMC c1500 Project

[Austin97C1500]

I've been lurking around the site for a while and doing a bunch of reading. There are some absolutely awesome builds going on. Thought I would share my new ride, project. It's a 97 Gmc c1500, short wheel base pickup. My buddy bought it a few years after high school and has owned it since 03. I have had it on my mind to find out if he wanted to sale it since last year this time. Any how the time was right and I called him up and sure enough it was sitting behind the house not being driven. He decided he would turn it loose so we did a full tune up and got it running on all 8. Typical vortec distributor cap problems. Any how it's a 305 truck with a five speed tranny. Great start for a pro-touring build. We had lowered the truck 4" in the front and 6" out back not long after he bought her but he never got around to c notching the frame. That's were I had to start. The ride was horrible. Notched the frame this past weekend and installed shock relocaters and new QA1 single adjustable shocks. Man what a difference. Next up is to address the front. Got tubular arms in the closet and matching QA1 shocks. Also bought a rear anti sway bar kit that will go in place soon. Once the handling is a bit more dialed I'm moving on to brakes. Then much further along motor and a t56 variant!

[Austin97C1500]

Installed an Addco rear anti sway bar today to help tighten things up even more out back. I looked at several options but most mounted low under the rear end. I liked that this one mounted higher up out of harms way. It made for a bit of a squeeze getting it and the new 3" exhaust all fitted on the passenger side but it's all in there with no interference so far. The Gibson cat back fits nice and I love the more docile sound in the cab. The muffler shop exhaust was choked down to 2.25" also which was probably like having a potato half stuffed in the tail pipe. More progress to come soon.

[Austin97C1500]

Here's some more pics of the exhaust and the sway bar install.

[Austin97C1500]

One shot from the rear. I've gotta fix the dent in the corner of the bead where it was backed into a trailer tongue by its previous owner. Then the roll pan can be permanently attached. Back and forth about do I want to weld it in for that smooth look or rivet it in place and leave more or less a replacement item??

[Guyt699]

Lookin good!

[Austin97C1500]

Thanks. It's a daily driven work in progress! Gonna do the 411 pcm conversion and start modding the engine soon. I know it's a 305 but if I can reasonably coax 300hp out of it I'll be happy until it's a full on project and not a DD.

[Johnny Blaze]

I just picked up a 88 swb. Looks like you got a good start for sure. I'll be interested to see what else you do.

[snopro]

Lots of these clean little trucks showing up on here I love it. too bad you werent closer I have a frame thats boxed and set up for a body drop for this truck that im not going to use

[Austin97C1500]

Thanks for the compliments. I love these trucks! Definitely got more plans for it. Got some work I'm trying to knock out around the house and then I'm back on it!

[Austin97C1500]

I did wash her today. Pollan is falling like crazy around here.

[Austin97C1500]

Got bored so I installed my lights yesterday. Wanted to wait till I had time to paint the new grill and bumper but here they are.

[Carguello08]

Cool Project. keep it up, looking forward to your engine mods.

[Austin97C1500]

Thanks to Lextech on the GMtruck forum I have my 411 pcm with a base tune on the way. I'll be doing heads, cam, intake, and headers on the little 305. Along with the engine mods will come a dual electric fan set up.

[Austin97C1500]

Thanks to Lextech on the GMtruck forum I have my 411 pcm with a base tune on the way. I'll be doing heads, cam, intake, and headers on the little 305. Along with the engine mods will come a dual electric fan set up.

[Austin97C1500]

I got to accomplish a bit more on the truck this weekend. Pulled the front end apart and started on getting it up to snuff. Did some more clean up work and paint work while the a - arms were out. Installed new tubular uca's and cleaned and painted my lowers. Installed new ball joints in the lowers while they were out and installed slightly shorter bump stops. Upper arms came with new ball joints. I cleaned up the springs just so they were shiny again. I installed qa1 single adjustable shocks up front as well. While the springs were out I wanted to "adjust" the front ride hight a bit so I cut half a coil at the top. It dropped about an inch, what I was shooting for but didn't expect but maybe 1/2.

[RBEAST]

your truck has a 5 spd man. trans? I didnt realize that was an option as i cant recall ever seeing one in a truck .. I am building a 94 for full on auto-x assault looks like i need to find me a 5 spd trans for mind now thanks for info!

[RBEAST]

any updates yet?

[TheJakeLSX]

The build is looking great keep up the good work and keep posting updates. I've got my truck all done up for autocross and still working on it. It's cool to see another OBS being built.

[Austin97C1500]

So... it's been a while since I've posted on the progress of the truck. Life and work have taken place. Haha! Well, after a long break progress has begun again. My Father bought the truck from me to help me out because I was purchasing a new house. Now that's all calmed down and we did some work on Dads truck this weekend. The ride height was a bit to low in the front end for a static drop. So, we decided to run 3" drop lowers with the factory coil springs and the 2" spindles that were currently installed. This was a chance to clean up and do some chassis paint up front. As well painted the calipers and got them ready for new pads. The most exciting part was sitting the truck back down new US Mags Ramblers. Huge improvement as the truck sits level and steers lock to lock with no kiss as they did with the factory lowers.

[Austin97C1500]

your truck has a 5 spd man. trans? I didnt realize that was an option as i cant recall ever seeing one in a truck .. I am building a 94 for full on auto-x assault looks like i need to find me a 5 spd trans for mind now thanks for info!

Yep, my buddy bought the truck in 01. I knew I wanted to own it right away. Haha! The truck was special ordered at Edgewater Motors in Belhaven NC with factory 305, 5 spd, and G80 locking differential in a regular cab 2wd truck. Somebody wanted a hot rod.