64-72s The Best looking Trucks to Customize? Dreams, Goals for your ride.

[Reumster]

I as well as others here probably have seen the rising influance are Trucks are having on the Custom Truck craze. Everywhere you look you see a 64-72 truck customized and restored. It seems every month on the cover of at least one magazine there one will be staring back at you. Truckin,Classic Truck,Chevy Truck,Street Trucks,Sport Truck, all have at least one 64-72 in every issue.

Will I ever sell my 1972 2wd Blazer? I say nay!

I have Two words Escalade THIS!

That will be my Blazer signature. Air Brushed on the tailgate.

Quick run down of the goal for my Blazer

Body
um it's a 72 so why screw with a good thing. The body will be mostly stock with these exceptions. Shaved gas tank filler neck, notched rear bumper for exhaust tips. Fiber glass fenders,hood,doors. Um got to have the KMC 20" Stealths
Color will be a dark purple almost black with heavy flake. And silver color shifting painted moldings in stock locations. All lights LED! of course!

Engine
350 Over head cam, TPI Ram air, Twin Turbo,Red line at 9,000. Direct inject NOS

Tranny
4L80E full race, full programable shift points.

Chassis
again why mess with perfection, so C-notch, fast bags, poly bushings. Ford 9" rear, disks all round big cross drill rotor kit. Stainless bolts everywhere. Stainless brake lines.

Interior
Well the name says it all, Escalade! Starting with rhino lined interior, carpeted, then electric Escalade seats front and back, custom speaker box, and amp rack, A/C,Cruise control,Ididit tilt, B&M mega shifter built in to custom consol, Autometer gauges stock location, aluminum covers. Power windows door locks.

That should do it! LOL

Lets here your Truck goals

[Cheyenne Super]

...Stock body except conversion to '68 front clip. only chrome will be the grille chrome front and rear bumpers. stock emblems for a '68. Color will be '68 camaro Butternut Yellow.

Engine: 427 small block with holley efi. hopefully in the 550 hp 570 tq range

Transmission: 5spd tremec tko III or richmond 6spd.

Chassis/ Suspension: To start with, stock with 1.25 sway bar front and custom setup for the rear.
SSbrakes force 10 front package and rear disc conversion.
Americna Racing CL205 (Thorq Thrust D look)
18x8 Front w/ 255/45 Nitto 555
18x10 rear w/305/45 Nitto 555DR
Stock rear axle w/3.73 posi.

Interior: '72 Buckets with Black leather stitched similar to '60s vintage road race cars. Full stock cluster including vacuum gauge.
Roll cage if necessary.

[justin]

http://home.att.net/~justin.lewis

Okey dokey
Slammed 4 wheel air ride,disk brakes,one piece windows,gas tank relocated,shaved firewall,c-notched,custom paint,huge freaken rims,327 bored 60 over with a ton go fast goods and look good items,vintage air,leather interior, and a partraige in a pair tree.
Hopefully all done in a few more months!

[nroden]

GRANDPA/GREAT UNCLE WAY
I want to get a Bass Pro sticker like my great uncle put on the back window, and one of those swan hood ornaments but I'm not gonna bolt it on. Stick it on somehow else. I already have my old steering wheel knob back on. This is stuff my grandpa and great uncle put on the truck. Fix up the old camper shell or find one like it wouldn't be bad but I don't want to turn it into a total "Grandpa" truck yet. Maybe when I park it for a weekend driver in garage after I get done useing it for my daily.

Body
Its getting painted back to ochre/white (at the shop right now). Get all new chrome and woodgrain trim. Replace the front inner grill and possibly the outer. I also want the woodgrain strip across the tailgate like the old worn out one. I have considered buying the stainless piece for the top of the tailgate, edge of door, and maybe even that runs along the bottom of the body. I love that stainless stuff.
The rear bumper and tailgate is new along with patch panels and minimal body filler for welded places and small little dings.

Engine
Edelbrock Carb, (or one of the new HOlley Truck Carbs, they any good?), HEI, chrome valve covers, chrome breather, clean it up a little more under the hood, Eventually after another 100,000 miles or so have the engine (its a 350) rebuilt.. whenever I get the money. Its running pretty good I think and it only has almost 89,000 miles on it BUT is 30 years old

Tranny
Have the TH-350 Rebuilt sometime. Its in good shape right now and does fine.

Chassis
Good. Already has new stainless brake lines. WE cleaned it all up pretty well. Brake parts have all been replaced.. Steer well.


Interior
I have new carpet. I have new seat cover but I would like to get the original type along with some new foam. Get a little better face for my original AM Radio. Get the kick panel and lower door carpet. I am making my own woodgrain inserts in Woods class and the door panels themselves I am gonna use Vinyl Die since the new ones aren't molded well. New headliner trim, windshield, and gauge panel would fix some small wear but aren't neccessary. Get a replacement wheel to replace the cracked one I have now.

ITS HAPPENING SLOWLY But I am glad to be getting it painted.. and be able to put all the stuff I bought on.

[lukecp]

For my '72:
A full frame off-restoration, new everything. For the chassis, just a replacement of most stock parts, except for 4-wheel disk brakes, front and rear sway bars, 2" front 3" rear lowering springs, and the 3.07 one-legger gears will be replaced with a 3.73 posi unit.
The engine will be a HO LS6 out of a Z06 covette (if i can lay my hands on one). The motor will be internally stock, but with some minor bolt ons on the outside (headers, K&N filter, ect). It will also have a 100 shot of nitrous. I will want some kind of OD tranny, proably a 4L80E.
I will add AC to the truck, tilt steering, a 60/40 split bench seat, relocate the gas tank to the blazer location (room for subs behind the seat ), put in shoulder belts, and get woodgrain dash and glovebox covers.
The body will be painted the stock color and scheme, ochre body and a white stop. All the trim will be replaced, as well as all the grilles and bumpers. For wheels, i will have some 15x10 Centerline Hellcats in the back, and 15x8.5's up front.
The goal would be for a bad-ass truck, that could pull off 18mpg, be comfortable in any wheather, and look both stock and modified at the same time.
All of that is a long, long, way in the future though. Right now all she needs is the TH350 rebuilt and i will be happy (for now )

[JoetheMobster]

For mine, I'd like to add a little bit of a lift to it. Just enough so I can cram in some Yokohama Geolander M/T's.

I'd like to rebuild the engine, as it's had a hard life! I'd like to do some body work on it, would like to get some of the rough spots out.

I need to find a new headlight switch, as I was impatient one day, and couldn't figure out how to get the knob off, so I used a pair of vice grips to maul the knob off!!! (dumb I know, and now am a bit wiser on how to properly remove the knob.)

I would love to paint the truck up a bit, and maybe redo the box.

Geolander M/T's:

[mikep]

I just want to get around to scraping off the "Girlz kick ass" sticker that one of the lesbians I work with stuck to my rear window a few months ago. Its a Vashon Island, Washington thing.

Otherwise I got new exhaust today, put a new engine in it last month, new tires and wheels two months ago, new interior two months ago, I'll have the body work finished next week and I am right on track to having it sprayed with black lacquer by the end of september. I have a thousand dollars with of chrome and trim on order... yada yada yada.

[palallin]

Ah, Dreams!

Well, the ultimate goals:

Frame-off. Box the frame. I may do a lift, 4" highest, more likely 2". New springs, no blocks. Poly-U bushings all 'round. My custom rear-bumper/hitch combo stays, though the bumber will be "finished-off" with diamond-plate. I will keep the 6-bolt drums, but I will replace all brake hardware and lines, using SS where ever possible. Max tire size: 33". I want the rims to look as stock as possible. I will keep my closed-knuckle Dana 44 and Corp 12-bolt; I'll go to 4.11 gears if I max my tire saize.

The body will be rust-free (talk about dreams!) and all metal. The fleetside bed is due to be replaced with the stepside (should have that home in a little over a week). New wood in the bed, of course: oak. The strips will be painted the bosy color: white. The interior will remain light green. New wiring throughout. I already have a '72 front bumper in place to augment the lighting. There will be additional lights up front--fog and aux--plus lights on a cab-mount rail and an extra pair of back-ups in back. The overhead console will hold additional speakers for the factory AM-FM and a CB (along with controls for the lights). There will be a high-amp alternator w/ welding set-up under the hood to handel the electrical load. As much of the wiring as possible will be in conduit. The tach-dash (w/ air gauge) is being prepped for installation right now (thaks again, HYPERMAN); the air compressor is ready and waiting. There will be a tank with fitting hard mounted front and rear for air and electricity. The spare will sit on the left step fender; there will be a tool box on the right; I hope to make provision for two jerry cans aft of the fenders.

The ultimate engine wil be a tall-deck (med-hvy truck) 427 built for grunt BUT with a tri-power intake I can't improve on the SM465/Rockwell combo, but I will contemplate providing for a PTO winch to make better use of it. naturally, the dual exhaust will empty through stacks behind the cab.

The interior will be essentially stock (other than the electrical mods): the bench seat on these trucks is the only vehicle seat I've ever found that my back will tolerate for lengthy drives (and I've driven some pretty expensive seats). The floor will reamin uninsulated and covered only with the rubber mats for easy cleaning. The tank will remain in the cab, out of harm's way. I already have West Coast mirrors on it, and I will not leave home without them

I have a grill guard already and a bug shield. The CB antennae will mount to the bed; there'll be a spot-light on the overhead rail. I will find/convert/engineer an aluminum shell for the bed, but it won't be permanently mounted.

One last detail: my hood ornament: it is a boat bow-light, and it makes a distinctive glow on the road at night. It is mounted via straps to the underside of the hood: no holes on top.

My truck's name in Cynehelm /kin-uh-helm/: from Old English, it means (more or less) "the great protector." (My '67 was Cynewulf: "the great wolf.")