My first truck. 1985 GMC C10

[Zach079xxx]

Hello all! I just joined the forum yesterday, but I have been reading on here for months! My thread is based on my first truck, a 1985 GMC Sierra Classic 1500 2WD. Started out by a run to the grocery store, keep in mind I live in a SMALL town, I mean SMALL! Checked the poster board on the way out, saw an ad for this truck. Called the man the next day, took it for a test drive, following day it was sitting in my garage.


The ad was listed for $3,200. I showed up with $2,100. The story goes as the man who owned it, his son in law did body work and paint 5-10 years ago on it. The body is GREAT, no rust what so ever. The clear coat is peeling on the driver door and a couple spots on hood, but surely I can live with that. This is how it looked the day after I brought it home.

The cab was in pretty good shape also, the dash is pretty much junk, but did come with one of those fabric covers! the door panels were great, just that hideous color. It was for sure owned by an old man, huge 8 foot antenna and CB radio inside the cab, that all had to go! The rear window had a window tint, that turned to a awful purple, so I removed that. Being that the panels were ok, I bought some SEM color coat and transformed them! Here's a before and after!
Next came some tunes; here I come crutch field! Came out with 6 x 9 kickers, an Infinity Basslink, and a Pioneer unit with bluetooth. Let me tell you, this basslink is amazing, it'll kick like a 12" sub! I know there is speaker panels in the back, but the wiring was bad, and this was just easier at the time! Here's how she looks!

Next came a new project, by accident! Was heading home after grabbing some fast food, had an unexpected stop, and bam, dumped soda all over my freshly dyed carpet! My buddy pushing the lumber said "Man, you need some cup holders in here!" so I turned the truck around, went to loses 40 dollars later, custom cup-holder/ speaker box! Not to bad if you ask me.



Next came time for a steering wheel. I felt like I was driving a school bus with that monster! Looked around, and settled on this Grant, 13.5 inch walnut steering wheel.



Uploading as I go, Please continue to follow!

[Zach079xxx]

Next was my babies first snow! We got close to 12 inches, she wasn't going anywhere!
Oh yeah, right before the snow came, I had true duals installed, 2.5 inch pipe with flow master 40s, it sounds mean.. My dad thinks when I'm coming up the drive that its a tractor trailer!

My grille was worn out, cracked, paint missing so I went onto ebay, for under 60 bucks, I had a billet aluminum grill! I think it changed the front end look a lot! LMC wanted over 100 dollars for chrome headlight bezels, nah! I sanded, primed, and spray bombed them the best I could, and I couldn't be happier.

Next came rims and tires! I traded a rusted and pitted mossberg shotgun for 4 steel 15 x 10, what I consider, outlaws! And beside them is 33 x 12.50 BFG with 200 miles on them! $500! SCORE..! Mounted and balanced for 40.

She wasn't liking those 33s at ALL! As seen here, it would be impossible to drive lol so I ordered a 3 inch level and it worked its charm!

[Zach079xxx]

Here she is after the 3" level and 33s bolted up! She looks like a K10 not a C10 haha oh well, I was going for looks not usage, this truck will never see mud or salt in the winter!

Here is my baby sitting beside my friends 82' F150 4WD also on 33s and leveled! Paint scheme is similar, we call them twins!


Went to the junkyard one day, found an old 350 emblem in another c10 grill, got that cleaned it up and slapped some paint on, bolted on behind the grille with the help of some washers, and done! I am very happy with the look, its the little details that change it.


And finally last night, I installed a class III Reese hitch! Boy was that fun.. not. Really happy with the outcome, putting to use this weekend, hauling a load of mulch. My bed will never see dirt / rock haha. Previous owner said 1 ton springs are installed in the back so we'll see how it sits.

Last but not least, I have a Chevy air cleaner and matching valve covers. Those along with a thumper cam will hopefully be installed before the end of the year! So I'm really excited about that also. Might need some tranny work done soon, forward gears seem to be ok, fluid is fine also, but reverse acts like it slips and doesn't wanna go unless you give it more than what is usually need gas, to get it moving. We shall see, any info would be greatly appreciated! Also my gauges are pegged beyond max, volts, coolant, and oil! Can't seem to find the problem, I know its a ground probably so a 3 gauge cluster is coming soon.. :/ Thanks for viewing my build thread!

[l92powered77]

strong first post ^^^^^^^ hey man good start to a build journal especially with all the pictures you have! Truck looks really taken care of and no rust geeez. Glad you have a chevy parked next to dads ford!

[Zach079xxx]

Originally Posted by jott_06

Looks good. I love stock paint schemes with nice wheels and tires. Sort of the same look my suburban has going.

Thanks, I am a fan of stock paint schemes also, luckily this one only has minor clear coat issues. Post a pic of your suburban!

Originally Posted by l92powered77

strong first post ^^^^^^^ hey man good start to a build journal especially with all the pictures you have! Truck looks really taken care of and no rust geeez. Glad you have a chevy parked next to dads ford!

Believe it or not, one day I was at the junkyard and the owner told me the story behind this truck. A mennonite bought this truck new in 85', it was his first gasoline engine, drove it around and used it on his property and at some point met with a deer.. Must've been god awful, because the truck was almost totaled, from then on, the owner of the junkyard I go to, bought it and fixed it, then the man I bought it from, his son works in body and paint and he painted it! Crazy story, I know! I wanna get a car fax on it, but 40 bucks..?! NO.

And also, hahahah the ford isn't my dads, the ford belongs to my buddy pushing the cart at lowes, pictured above! Thanks for the response

[my86lb]

Originally Posted by Zach079xxx

Here she is after the 3" level and 33s bolted up! She looks like a K10 not a C10 haha oh well, I was going for looks not usage, this truck will never see mud or salt in the winter!

Here is my baby sitting beside my friends 82' F150 4WD also on 33s and leveled! Paint scheme is similar, we call them twins!


Went to the junkyard one day, found an old 350 emblem in another c10 grill, got that cleaned it up and slapped some paint on, bolted on behind the grille with the help of some washers, and done! I am very happy with the look, its the little details that change it.


And finally last night, I installed a class III Reese hitch! Boy was that fun.. not. Really happy with the outcome, putting to use this weekend, hauling a load of mulch. My bed will never see dirt / rock haha. Previous owner said 1 ton springs are installed in the back so we'll see how it sits.

Last but not least, I have a Chevy air cleaner and matching valve covers. Those along with a thumper cam will hopefully be installed before the end of the year! So I'm really excited about that also. Might need some tranny work done soon, forward gears seem to be ok, fluid is fine also, but reverse acts like it slips and doesn't wanna go unless you give it more than what is usually need gas, to get it moving. We shall see, any info would be greatly appreciated! Also my gauges are pegged beyond max, volts, coolant, and oil! Can't seem to find the problem, I know its a ground probably so a 3 gauge cluster is coming soon.. :/ Thanks for viewing my build thread!

bad ass truck!!! do u happen to know the backspacing on your 15x10 trying to replicate the look.

[jott_06]

Looks good. I love stock paint schemes with nice wheels and tires. Sort of the same look my suburban has going.

[Zach079xxx]

Got 4 Cat Bobcat scoops of mulch today. Here's how she sat. The hitch needed to be flipped but its my grandpa's and I'm returning the ball and trailer tomorrow.

[Zach079xxx]

Saturday I entered a car show. Weather couldn't get any worse for being april. With that being said, 30 cars showed up out of the usual 100 if not more. Anyways, it was my first show. I got beat by a silver fox body mustang oh well, maybe another cruise in!

YEAH! Maybe I lost because it was a FORD dealership! :P

Here's a pic with mine beside my friends 82' F150, seen above.

[Zach079xxx]

Big update!

Been saving up for months now. Decided it was time for a rebuild.

Things purchased / done

- Holley 600 electric choke carb.
- Weiand polished aluminum intake
- Chevrolet aluminum valve covers (Believe pro-form makes them for gm?)
- New water pump, fuel pump, oil pump
- New flywheel (Old one was a ticking time bomb, had 4 cracks!)
- Entire engine gasket kit
- New heater hoses
- New radiator hoses
- Painted the block
- Painted exhaust manifolds
- Comp thumpr cam kit with timing chain
- 2500 stall torque converter
- ALL working gauges! YES! ( new senders / gauges)


I didn't do the work myself, I paid a guy who built my transmission to build this to. I believe I mentioned everything. Every piece of my engine was torn apart and looked at. SO happy with the outcome. Was nervous about going with a thumpr but I LOVE it so far. Everything is brand new except for the pistons and crank, things like that. Otherwise it was replaced if worn or broken. I used Fel-pro gaskets & AC-Delco as much as possible besides the carb and intake. Still going to clean up the engine bay with wires and hoses going everywhere. Just glad to have her back. Heres some updates! All in all, I have $2500 in it.

Picture of my engine before being dropped in the truck.



Picture of the beast inside the truck!



Lastly a video, sorry if the quality is bad. I recorded it with my iPhone 6; so it should be fine!

https://youtu.be/tZjl1BNUQcQ

[Yellow81c15]

Like the truck. What did you use to level it? I have a 81 gmc c15. That I've been wanting to level.
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[Zach079xxx]

I used a 3 inch coil spring spacer, around 50 bucks. The hard part is finding someone to install it or installing it yourself. Shops wanted 500 bucks to do it and I had a friend install it for 250. I had to get an alignment afterwards as well.Sorry for the delayed post. I have some updates here as well I'll be posting!

Originally Posted by Yellow81c15

Like the truck. What did you use to level it? I have a 81 gmc c15. That I've been wanting to level.
Posted via Mobile Device

[TrailerTrash]

nice build man!

truck sounds great

[Zach079xxx]

Thanks. I sure do love the thumpr cam. The lope just drives me crazy.

I have some updates over the past few months.. Some good some not good! But before I get into that heres some more pictures of my rebuilt engine.

A before and after shot.




Now onto the bad part! I was heading to a local scrap yard to ditch our old microwave, about 15 miles round trip. I was about 500 feet from pulling into the scrap yard and "sierra mist" shut off. Drifted to the side of the road and tried restarting; NOTHING. She was dead in her tracks. 50 dollar tow and a new MSD Dizzy later, back in business. I did paint the coil cap on the dizzy red to match, IDK why it wasn't read in the first place. Anyways, as you can tell from the picture, the wiring was just old and tired. Figured I might as well buy the whole distributor while I'm at it.








Now onto something more fun.. I have kicker 6 x 9s throughout the truck. 2 in the front and 2 behind the bench, they sound great but sometimes i'd have my radio up to 30-35 on volume to listen while cruising around. I headed to crutch field to look at amps and came out with a 800 watt MTX. Its powering all my 6 x 9s now. Really love it.. it brought out all the speakers potential! 300 dollars for the amp/ amp kit / accessories ect.



Well, now my build thread for "sierra mist" is up to date. Enjoy, its been something else!

[Yellow81c15]

Did you buy the mcbay coil spring spacers?
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[Zach079xxx]

I used eBay part number 261129731256. It says it only fits 85+ but I don't understand why that is either.

Ebay part number 261662616420 says it'll fit yours