77 yellow gmc swb

[73gmc454]

First off I have to say thanks to all the group members very nice gathering of trucks, I've been truck drunk for the last 2 weeks since I joined !
Well heres my project a 77 gmc I have had for about 15 years , it was all still factory when I bought it other than it had aluminum slots on it , it was starting to rust in the normal spots , I drove it for 5 years it even made 2 trips from Oh to Fl and back , I parked it because it was getting rusted out bad after 5 years it was time to either fix it or scrap it, I just couldnt part with it ,So here is a pic from as far back in the begining of the project as I could find by that time I already had the cab repairs and the 4 link done ,i picked up a bed in Alabama , doors were from a local ebayer ,it has cheap fenders on it and a harwood hood that I replaced later on with gm fenders and a goodmark hood ,
I put bags on the front and rear , turned the 454 into a 496 , back dated the front end to look like 73-74 , I'll try to just post pics of how I got to where it is now

[73gmc454]

heres is the 4 link setup , I ordered the bars amd mounts from thorbeck bro's , I put the 4 link in for traction and the bags for ride hieght adjustablity , also a 496 pic when it had cast 781 heads on it ,

[73gmc454]

here is the frame after painting and some ss brake lines ,

[Thrmn8r]

Very nice.. can't wait to see finished product !

[73gmc454]

before the bed went to the body/painters I had it along with the cab and doors media blasted , it takes it down to nothing and left a freshly stamped looking part , the front of the bed still had factory markings on it ! after the body work was done he sprayed on the 4 coats BASF R-M base mixed up to the factory GM53 colonial yellow followed by the 4 coats of R-M clear , it turned out great ,

[baclay9]

What media did they use to blast it?
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[Pop's C-10]

looks sweet

[spudz]

looks nice!

[73gmc454]

Thanks guys , they used plastic pellets , a guy that works at the shop does it on the side , it works great for removing paint but wont take off any rust

[73gmc454]

ok after the bed was painted we started on the cab , I repaired the floor rockers and cab corner ,I filled in the holes for the a/c unit to put just a heater box out there , I didnt notice till after blasting that above the front window rotted away for about 30" across an 2" up so I made a patch and repaired it also ,I should have scrapped this cab but for some reason I fixed it ,

[73gmc454]

after the cab was cut in, we mounted it up an the chassis and got the front end tuned up , I had to get a goodmark steel hood the body guy would work with the glass harwood hood , I knew it didnt fit well so I agreed to buy the goodmark it fit good for the most part

[73gmc454]

I forgot the pic!

[73gmc454]

try again

[73gmc454]

I had to get the big block ready to go in next , it had been run and was fine with 781 iron heads but I changed them at this point to alm. heres a run down of what all the 496 is , I started with a .060 over 454 block,changed the rotating assembly with a 4.25" stoke crank , .250" longer rods and keith black #kb284 9.5:1 pistons, the cam is a Comp # CL11-254-4 , I bought a set of gm performance aluminum oval ports (same head that the zz502 has) changed the springs out for the comp cam # 930 springs that were for the cam, push rods are .100" long with roller rockers,I shaved em down smoothed the ports out a bit and stuck them on ,the intake is a edelbrock airgap with a 850 vacuum sec holley ,

[dlhughes2005]

love the build! i'm about to start my 85 big block build, will be subscribing for sure!

[baclay9]

Nice work man. I am converting my cab from AC to Non-AC as well. Just out of curiosity how did you go about cutting the hole for the heater box in the correct place?

[73gmc454]

Originally Posted by baclay9

Nice work man. I am converting my cab from AC to Non-AC as well. Just out of curiosity how did you go about cutting the hole for the heater box in the correct place?

When my buddy said he was goin to scrap his 81 dd i went to his house and remove the entire heater assembly, after I got it out I took a hunk of cardboard and cut it to fit the shape of the firewall from the top down the folded edge on the right taped it on really good then marked the holes from the inside , cut those holes out taped it to my firewall and seen what I needed to fill in and cut out , I did fold an edge in on the part that filled in the big hole that area wanted to oil can - like pop in an out but the fold stiffend it up, it wasnt really that bad I'm glad I did it the gm a/c box is huge !

[73gmc454]

I finally got it back to moving under its own power in these pics , got the fuel tanks I made at work, heater installed ,stainless brake booster and aluminum master cylinder from CCP are finally on for the final time! the alm master cylinder is chrome plated I tryed to get a plain 1 but they wouldnt do it , the chrome is good but the polish job before it has some bad grinding marks in the lid, may see if I can have the top powder coated ??

[73gmc454]

off to final paint pics , I'm glad I'm about done typing for today ! after paint and buffing , I put the headlight buckets in the NOS bezels I searched for 2 years to find in the local online paper classifieds ! a buddy found me a complete core support from a 73 so I robbed all the grill mounts from it and cut ,bent and welded the 2 middle brackets to fit on the later style flat supports, I added the nos gmc letters and tuned up the 454 emblem, from the used grill I got from ebay ,thats where its at today , I'm waiting on the 7 and 10 " ralleys to get back from the powder coater and a cover to keep the dust off it so i can take it to the fab shop I work at to finish the final assembly , I still have a long way to go and I'll be snoopin around to get some good ideas of what you guys did, if I would have found this group a long time ago I would have done some changes along the way I'm sure ,

[bigblock73]

Truck looks great...reminds me of mine quite a bit!

[73gmc454]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

Truck looks great...reminds me of mine quite a bit!

Oh yea I was blown away by your 73 , thats about what I'm goin for , its VERY NICE , I've looked at your pics 100 times ! I didnt know if it would fit in with the super low trucks here until after I seen they liked your old school effect ,

[big_b]

nice build! you are doing an excellent job and have an awesome truck!!

[manimal]

inspiration,inspiration.....did I say inspiration! VERY NICE!

[Chlsnk]

Is that the original grille or an aftermarket repop?

[Thrmn8r]

I would say it's a stock grill off of a 73 GMC. I used to own one my self. After restoring it.. had to sell it, then moved on to dad's 68 GMC