70' GMC Seirra Grande restoration

[QAS Bob]

First post, appreciate your time and feedback.

I was recently given the honor of restoring my Father-in-law's (original owner) Dark Olive 70' GMC pickup. It has been all over the southwest on numerous camping trips and is like a member of the family. Unfortunately it has been sitting in the driveway for several years due to a broken timing chain. According to the parts sticker in the glove box it is optioned with; power steering, tinted glass, A/C, HD springs, 400cuin big block (Father says it is a 396?), Aux fuel tank, custom sport and gold trim package. The truck appears to be accident and rust free however everything needs attention. Which brings me to my question, does anyone know of a reputable shop in the San Diego CA area that can help me get his baby back on the road? Also, does anyone know how much a "rebuild everything" project like this will cost?

[JointTech]

what do you mean by rebuild everything? frame off resto? fix the broken stuff? paint?
im at over 9k in parts alone and im doing all the work myself. and im shooting for a driver quality not a show truck or race truck. If I had somebody do all that ive done it would be double that at least and I havent even gotten much done in the way of body work/paint yet.

[davepl]

If you mean what you say when you say "rebuild everything", then you're talking about 2000 hours labor and maybe another $50K in parts, plus rust repair. So figure $90 per hour being about normal these days and you're in for about $230,000.00

If you'd rather do it all yourself, you can check my own 1970 GMC 400 build:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=507395&page=4

I'm into it for about $40K in parts, $20K in paint/body, and 3 years of my time.

Others can restore a truck for $10K, but I just can't manage.

[70cst]

Hey QAS Bob ...

: to the forums and hi: from Ohio

as that is one ride.

As far as cost ... once you find a body shop they will be able to give you some estimated. Price do vary

We luv pictures.

[SuperC10Tex]

Welcome from Texas!!! Looking forward to some pics of your 4-eyed

[QAS Bob]

Thanks everyone for your insight. Now that I think about it, maybe "rebuild everything" wasn’t the best term to use because $230K is a bit more than I wanted to spend. I was hoping $35K would get it back on the road ($5K paint, $5K inside the cab, $10K under the hood, $5-10K suspension/rims/tires, $5K for the little things that come up).

[BLT gmc]

Depending on how much work you do yourself, I think you would have an extremely nice pickup with a 35K budget. Best wishes, Bruce

[Lattimer]

I've got about $30k into mine in the last 20 months. Thats new interior, new engine, new trans, new cooling, aftermarket AC, rebuild suspension, new wheels, new tires, new floorboards, new rockers, complete new braking system, new gas tank, replace cab corners and door bottoms, new gauges, new steering column, all new interior, decent stereo, and probably some other stuff.

With the exception of the cab corners and door bottoms, I did all of the labor myself. Probably need about another $10k to get the body done, lots of dent repair and smoothing before paint.

I probably have another $5k or so in wrong turns and bad ideas that I spent that I am not including.

So if you have a fairly straight body with minimal rust, and you are willing to do a lot yourself, $35k will get you a very nice truck.

[Lattimer]

BTW, I love the side pipes!!!!

[davepl]

As the guy who said $230K if you're not doing a lot of rust repair and you do a lot of the work yourself you can make a really nice truck for $35K.

I was talking Pebble Beach. But you don't see a lot of C20s at Pebble Beach these days...

[71meangreenc10]

Like mentioned before, a lot depends on your skill set. I have less than 10K in mine and I just painted it myself this past month. I have also done all of the mechanical work except for rebuilding the 700r4 and making the ac lines. Painting is easy, it is the prep work that is a pain. I would show this truck against any body shop truck and I also have a truck that was done from a body shop. If I would have paid to have all this done, easily over 35K.....

Also,
Glad to see another Sierra Grande!!!! Good color too....

Smitty