72 getting rid of the 90's mistake.

[hdrolling]

Bought this 72 last year. Decided it's going to be a lot more work than I thought when I bought so I figured I'd update as I go.

I'm going on 50 years old and disabled so the progress is slow.

Previous owner installed a 69-70 front clip and 90's bed, as well as a bunch of other questionable mods.

Pics when I bought it 9-10 months ago.

[Warrens69GMC]

in to see the results

[hdrolling]

Skipping ahead, replaced most of the interior/wheels and tires. All new front and rear disk brakes and slotted drill rotors and brake lines, new 5" rear shocks/C-notch/ shock relocators and adjustable pan hard bar.
March pulley system and new Holly 600 carb, new summit ceramic long tubes with the Flowmaster American thunder exhaust kit w/ 44's and a H pipe.

Replaced the floor pans and inner rockers, pulled the 90's bed.

Led Truck-Lite headlights, and LED front turns signals.

Every window was replaced with tinted windows.

[hdrolling]

Currently fitting the new bed, seems good just figuring out the tail light location. Decided on 55 LED tail lights with no reverse lights.

Mark -k white oak pre drilled bed kit.

[hdrolling]

Next up is to disassemble prep and paint the bed and stain and treat the wood. Looking at using a darker stain but not ready to start that until the bed is painted so I can do my last wood checks before I drill the side pieces.

Already have some marine spar ready to go for the wood.

Just installed a new TCI 500 hp TH350 trans and have a new Blueprint Vortec 350 with 376 hp and 406 tq ready to install. Will be using a 26-2800 stall

Holly sniper EFI has been sitting in a box for a few months, will be going on after the 500 mile engine break in.

[hdrolling]

I'll be updating now as I go along, hoping to get some paint done by next week.

Free more pics of the upgrades.

[CG]

Coming along nicely! Are you going to stick with the monochrome front and rear (painted everything vs stock) ?

[hdrolling]

Originally Posted by CG

Coming along nicely! Are you going to stick with the monochrome front and rear (painted everything vs stock) ?

Yes sticking with the full cover match vs chrome, I have a little chrome here and there but wanted to be a little different than every other fully restored stock looking C10.

I already painted the rear bumper, bought a small amount of paint that the store matched for me to make sure it was going to be good.

Paint looks black or dark gray in low light but its a metallic gray that looks blueish sometimes and greenish at other angles.

[hdrolling]

Forgot to mention I'll be installing CPP front and rear sway bars, I'll do that while the paint and stain are drying.

After the bed is done I need to do the front lowering, I was going to do just cpp 3" front springs but now I plan to order CPP 2.5 lowing spindles and either a 2" lowering spring or just try the 3" I currently have.

And then I add lowering blocks to the rear to match what ever I decide to use on the front.

More pics

[68Gold/white]

Glad to see the Mountain Dew (cold snack!!!)
Be careful of the rear lowering blocks. They can allow suspension parts to get VERY close to the ground. Sometimes a flat tire can cause the suspension to drag.
Carry on!!!

[hdrolling]

Originally Posted by 68Gold/white

Glad to see the Mountain Dew (cold snack!!!)
Be careful of the rear lowering blocks. They can allow suspension parts to get VERY close to the ground. Sometimes a flat tire can cause the suspension to drag.
Carry on!!!

Hey thanks for the warning, something I haven't seen or heard about so I'll research that for sure.

Maybe a good reason just to go with a 1" and keep it a 4.5/6 vs 5.5/7.

[MySons68C20]

Looking good in for the ride!

[Jason Banks]

Think twice about the CPP roll bars. I'm not so happy with them. Wish I had spent a little more and bought the No Limit roll bars. They have to be more well thought out than the CPP.

The way the front sway bar connects to the control arm will interfere with my tie rod sleeves unless I have the bolts clocked a certain way.

The no limit rear bar ends up over the frame and not the lowest point of the entire truck. Not to mention how CPP expects you to somehow put one of your mouting bolts in the center of the rear trailing arms(where the middle part of the I beam is) and their tech department is no help.

Edit to add: CPP7401 is what I used rear and CPP7423 is front. It appears they make many different ones and wanted to specify.

[hdrolling]

Originally Posted by Jason Banks

Think twice about the CPP roll bars. I'm not so happy with them. Wish I had spent a little more and bought the No Limit roll bars. They have to be more well thought out than the CPP.

The way the front sway bar connects to the control arm will interfere with my tie rod sleeves unless I have the bolts clocked a certain way.

The no limit rear bar ends up over the frame and not the lowest point of the entire truck. Not to mention how CPP expects you to somehow put one of your mouting bolts in the center of the rear trailing arms(where the middle part of the I beam is) and their tech department is no help.

Edit to add: CPP7401 is what I used rear and CPP7423 is front. It appears they make many different ones and wanted to specify.

Yes those are the same two part numbers I have here at the house, I watched a few youtube videos before buying and didn't see anyone mentioning the issues you had. Install seemed pretty straight forward, while watching. So did you ever get them installed or did you go with the no limits parts first?

I don't really need the sway bars since we take it pretty easy and just cruise around, it was more of a "since the bed is already off why not" impulse buy.

I was also looking at the Hellwig sway bar since I use them on my 2018 silverado dually, but those are in the $500 range vs the $100 range for th CPP bars.

I'll do so more research before I get to far into installing them, thanks for the heads up.

[Jason Banks]

Since you already bought them, you'll probably be alright.

I'm using them but knowing there is something that fits so much better for not that much more money sucks. I feel like they were a compromise on quality, but a good price.

For the front, just make sure to check for clearance throughout the travel of the suspension. I'm pretty sure mine would only hit when the suspension is a full droop.

For the rear, you will probably be able to get the mounts mounted by offsetting to one side. I made some plates to clamp the mount in place instead of having to drill a hole so near to the edge of the trailing arm. I have 4/6 drop and it is undoubtedly the lowest hanging part of my truck. Can't wait for it to collect some road debris and see what happens...

edit: found this pic of the rear install - http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...5&postcount=11 not on mine, but similar to how the instructions say. One bolt ends up uncomfortably close to the edge of the trailing arm.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Great looking truck keep up the good work...

[Getter-Done]

Very nice

I like paint that looks different in different lighting.

[swclassics]

Looking good!! Like the direction you're going.

[dmjlambert]

hdrolling thanks for bringing us along for the ride, this is looking amazing. You've really made major improvements with everything you've touched on it.

So those spring compressors that were on the truck when you bought it, what's the deal with those? Is that something people buy and install permanently to lower their trucks? Or is that a tool?

If you still have that glove box door that came with the truck I'd like to see a photo of it.

[hdrolling]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

hdrolling thanks for bringing us along for the ride, this is looking amazing. You've really made major improvements with everything you've touched on it.

So those spring compressors that were on the truck when you bought it, what's the deal with those? Is that something people buy and install permanently to lower their trucks? Or is that a tool?

If you still have that glove box door that came with the truck I'd like to see a photo of it.

Yeah no the compressors shouldn't be left on the truck, pretty much a tool to compress the springs so they don't go flying when your trying to remove them from the truck.

Here is the the glove box. When I re did my door panels they had inserts that were covered with material, under the cloth was a fake woodgrain that I re covered with my red houndstooth.
I'm guessing that this glovebox had a wood grain cover and the original owner painted on that?
Might have been from a GMC?

[71meangreenc10]

Originally Posted by hdrolling

Yeah no the compressors shouldn't be left on the truck, pretty much a tool to compress the springs so they don't go flying when your trying to remove them from the truck.

Here is the the glove box. When I re did my door panels they had inserts that were covered with material, under the cloth was a fake woodgrain that I re covered with my red houndstooth.
I'm guessing that this glovebox had a wood grain cover and the original owner painted on that?
Might have been from a GMC?

Yes,
That is a GMC glovebox emblem. I have one just like it (without the art).

Smitty

[hdrolling]

Seems I need to get motivated on working on the truck, all the paint supplies for the bed are sitting in a few boxes.
New crate 350 sitting on the stand with a box filled with Holly sniper and accessories next to it.

And now I have boxes of CPP front end suspension parts, 2.5 drop spindle/ 2" lowering shocks/ Tubular upper and lower control arms and my front and rear sway bars are all just sitting here now.

I have all new Moog tie rod/ pitman and Idle arms ordered as well as a CPP aluminum tie rod adjusting sleeve.
Should be everything I need to lower and redo the front end.

Wife and kids were off and home last week so I didn't spend anytime on the truck.

Before that, while I was working on placement for my taillights, I had my truck half out of the garage to give me room to work and stay in the shade.
Went in to cool off and my wife came home and decided out of habit to close the garage door on my truck....

Luckily it only broke one of my wipers blades, they were old and dry rotted anyways so I put some new TRICO Classic blades on, very nice quality by the way.

Hoping to get some progress done this week......

[hdrolling]

New to me part came in, 72 NC Farm Truck plate.

I'm not sure if all states do this since I just learned NC does, but here as long as you keep the current registration and plate in your truck then you can run a plate that was issued the same production year of your truck.

Thought it was kind of neat so I picked one up for my truck.

[OneOffStroker]

Originally Posted by hdrolling

New to me part came in, 72 NC Farm Truck plate.

I'm not sure if all states do this since I just learned NC does, but here as long as you keep the current registration and plate in your truck then you can run a plate that was issued the same production year of your truck.

Thought it was kind of neat so I picked one up for my truck.

In Virginia, you can run the old plates as long as you register it as antique (registration has the antique plate numbers associated). I have 1972 plates on my C-10. And better yet, if you get the vehicle inspected, the antique limitations are superceded, and you can drive the truck every day!

A lot of people here register as antique so that they don't have to get inspections, but I look at it the other way: pay for plates once since antique plates are 'permanent' and still drive whenever/wherever you want.

[hdrolling]

Originally Posted by OneOffStroker

In Virginia, you can run the old plates as long as you register it as antique (registration has the antique plate numbers associated). I have 1972 plates on my C-10. And better yet, if you get the vehicle inspected, the antique limitations are superceded, and you can drive the truck every day!

A lot of people here register as antique so that they don't have to get inspections, but I look at it the other way: pay for plates once since antique plates are 'permanent' and still drive whenever/wherever you want.

That sounds like a good deal, here in NC if your vehicle is over 30 years your exempt from inspections.
And I'm 100% total and permeant disabled Veteran, so my plates are free.
I just need to get the plates for this truck. All my other vehicle already have it, with the old 72 plate I'll still have to use my rearview mirror disabled placard but I already have that.