Diesel does a build

[dieselarmy13]

Long story short: I bought a truck, had a million ideas that changed, and changes from day to day. If you've been on the board for more than a day, you've seen this truck before, and the progress she has made, but I've always wanted a build thread, so here we go. It all started with an impulse eBay purchase while I was in Iraq many moons ago that looked a little like this:

[dieselarmy13]

Not sure of the actual conditon, I had my mom send me few pics of her, and this is waht she sent me:








Keep in mind, this was after she was delivered, and there is now turning back at this point. So, yeah, I now see what's wrong with these pics.

[dieselarmy13]

A few more

[dieselarmy13]

So now knowing that I was in over my head, I did the natural thing, and started ordering parts for it. I was still a resto virgin and yet to discover this board yet, so I went balistic on eBay and CPP. Lesson learned. Oh well. My main purchase was a front end kit from CPP, with 2.5'' drop spindles. So I guess I'll start with that. Here is how she sat:



Couldn't have that stance. Got to get lower. The plans include bags, but for now, static will do.
Sooo, I bought some beer, invited a couple of buds over, and went to town.
The rotors and pads were actually perfect, I hated pulling them off, but oh well.

[dieselarmy13]

So that brings me to the front end tear down:




By this time, I'm discovering the awesome Maaco paint job and the farm/ranch hadiwork that has plagued this truck that I now have to un...well, I have to undo for the lack of better words. Lets just say this was a farm truck and everything that was laying around, unemployed on the farm, was employed to keep this heep runing over the years. I now realize that I am a true member of this board, cause I'm in wasy over my head.

[dieselarmy13]

So that brings us to the front drop. I ended up cuting one coil off of the stock(?)springs, and she sat just as I wanted her to with the 2.5' spindles.
Here's what I had:





I also felt these would make me the coolest kid on the block

[dieselarmy13]

This is how she looked fresh off of the jackstands:




This is a shot with a boatload of parts in the bed:

[Spray-Bomb]

Sweet bro

What is it with POs putting hideous bucket seats in GMCs ???
Mine had em 2 & the next day I swapped in a stock bench, which prolly raised the trucks value $500 dolla

[67ChevyRedneck]

Came out very cool. I like the gray top. Nice touch!

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Very cool build keep up the good work...

[packrat42]

Looks Really Good. Just one question where did you buy your flip kit?

[dieselarmy13]

Originally Posted by packrat42

Looks Really Good. Just one question where did you buy your flip kit?

Thanks guys. I've done some more to it, just haven't taken pics yet. I'll get em up soon.

You can get the flip kit HERE

[lytemup454]

Great stance! I was wondering how it rode with the flip kit? I've heard that they don't ride well. I have leaf spring truck as well and want to convert to truck arms but this seems to be more cost effective.

[dieselarmy13]

Originally Posted by lytemup454

Great stance! I was wondering how it rode with the flip kit? I've heard that they don't ride well. I have leaf spring truck as well and want to convert to truck arms but this seems to be more cost effective.

If you leave all of your springs in, it will ride exactly how it rides now. You arent changing your spring rate, just the placement of the axle. I pulled a couple of leaves out of mine, and I think it rides fine. It's no Caddy, but I've rode in a lot worse.

[Hillbilly Deluxe 65]

looks good man

[92306HO5]

kool build up.truck turned out great.

[dieselarmy13]

Sorry guys, been slackin lately. I leave for work when it's dark and get home when it's dark, so I haven't accomplished much lately. I did rebuild my heater control unit and painted the housing the same color as the wheels and roof.

Also found a 1972 Nebraska truck plate on the bay, so thats what I'm rockin on the front now.

And some crappy weather pics just for the heck of it. Boy, she could sure use a nice wash

[LuckyHenriksen]

Hey bro, that thing is lookin awesome! I really like the stance in the pics with all your stuff loaded in the back. Good job telling the story! I can't wait to get mine lower....

[packrat42]

Any more updates on your truck?

[tcb-1]

Brady,
glad I found your build. wow, I didn't know you had slotted and drilled front rotors! those look great!! really dig the fact that you left the "GMC" on the rear window, kind of a tribute to the way she used to be.

and I about crapped my pants when I noticed the bottle opener! I may have to "borrow" that idea.

keep us posted 'cause I am subscribing to ths one!!!!

[dieselarmy13]

Thanks Doug! I did have to get rid of the old GMC letters in the back, though. They were off center and didn't look right. As you know, I've been pretty busy lately. I'm taking my new bedsides and fenders in tomorrow to have the marker lights filled. Also, my parents sold one of their houses and had to get rid of a bunch of stuff ASAP. One of the items just so happened to be a GM Goddrench 350 with about 40,000 miles on it out of one of my ol man's work vans. I've been bugging him for years to sell it to me. He called me up the other day and told me to come get the damn thing. For free! Original plans were to clean it up, paint it, maybe, just maybe stick a cam in it and put it in the truck. Well, you know haw that goes. It's now sitting in a pile of parts in my garage. I figured I might as well do it right. Going to leave the bottom end stock and the only thing I'm doing to the heads is having them machined to accept my new rockers. Here's how she was when I got home:


This was after Me, Myself, and I with help of a floor jack, two ratchet straps, two blocks of wood, a six pack, and alot of bloodied knuckles got the damn thing on my engine stand without a cherry picker. Funny how all of your buddies are busy and the only local rental place is out of cherry pickers when you need to get a damn engine out of your truck.

[dieselarmy13]

So this is how she looks now. I'm waiting on a valve spring puller to come in the mail (hopefully tomorrow) so I can pull the valve springs and get the heads to the machine shop.

Here's a little bit of whats going in.

The cam is a Comp Thumpr. If you've never heard one of these, do yourself a favor and get on Youtube and check them out! Combined with the roller rockers, Edelbrock intake, and headers, she should have a little giddy up to her. I have a couple of Holleys laying around, one of them being a Street Avenger that I might throw on, but I'm really getting sick of dealing with them, so I might get a nice 'built' Q-Jet.

[nuke1]

very nice, and yah those thumpers sound like music to your ears.

[dieselarmy13]

Originally Posted by nuke1

very nice, and yah those thumpers sound like music to your ears.

Thanks! Yeah, I was going to go with something halfway mild with good torque, but then I heard the Thumpr and had to go with that. I wasn't going to go with the gear drive but my neighbors have been p!ssing me off lately, so they will now get a little dose of Pete Jackson every morning at 5:00

[OLDIRON69]

Cool build! That notch is massive, but then again like you said it will lay frame when the time comes.