"The Beast" 85 Chevrolet Crew Cab Dually

[MrBeast]

Well many of you may remember this thread Well last night I bit the bullet, and after working from 6 AM to almost 7 PM, I borrowed the wrecker from my boss, and pointed her in the wind towards Houston. 4 hours and $1,000.00 later she was mine!



I had to yank the Duals off of it to get it on the deck of the wrecker, but I got it loaded up, hauled it back home and fired up the smokey knocking ole 454 for one last time and pulled it into the shop where I am going to yank the motor and transmission.



The plan is to clean up the engine bay, possibly even paint it, and then stuff this puppy in there!



It is the 454 from the Boss Hoss, it has a Forged Steel Crank, Forged Rods and pistons, and a full roller top end, and let me tell you this puppy will pull and pull and pull and pull, and it wont stop! I love this engine. And yes that is a NV4500 behind it, and yes it is going to be used too!

Once it is installed I have a set of Alcoa Aluminum wheels that I will be mounting up on it, the running boards are going bye bye, as well as the roof rack and farmer john special headache rack, I am going to do a rattle can touch up on the paint in a couple of places to hold the rust back, fix the electric windows and locks, install new carpet, and possibly the seats out of a 97 tahoe, We will see on that though.

Now here is the crazy part, I am going to try to have this truck totally on the road ready to leave by the 30th of April. Why is that you ask? Well because I am fixing to make one heck of a...

ROAD TRIP!!!



And what would be the purpose of this road trip one might ask? Why to go pick up a very pretty girl of course!

[MrBeast]

So we will see if I can get it done in time, it is going to mean a serious wrench fest! But I am game for it. Then this fall after I have picked Kena up, and I get a trailer built, I will be making another road trip to Montana to pick up the rest of my cars and haul them to Texas.



93 Z28 Camaro, 6 speed 383


79 Trans AM WS6, 455CID


71 Oldsmobile Cutlass, 455CID


I might also have room on the trailer for some furniture... You can clearly see where my priorities are!

Future Plans also Include Air ride Suspension, and Eventually I want to paint it. Before I get to any of that though I will need to get the Boss Hoss finished and back on the road again with the Cummins 12 valve in it.



Also I am going to wind up buying a newer trailer than I have now, currently I am living in a 24' Bumper pull Camper, which is getting a little small, I am trying to find a good used Jayco Designer or something like that in a 5th wheel that I can pull with this truck that has dual or triple slide outs. It isn't exactly the most high class living, but it sure beats the heck out of a mortgage with never ending payments!

All in all though, I am pretty excited about this project, I am sure it is going to keep me plenty busy! I will be starting on the motor tomorrow. I will keep yall posted!

[Driveway Dreams]

Wow, you got your hands full dont you? Get it all done and keep us updated on it. Looks like a cool truck too. I have always liked the Dually.

[thirdstreettito]

Cant wait!

[MrBeast]

So this morning I drug the 72 frame and running gear into town with me on the back of the wrecker, and then I turned around and put the Alcoa Aluminum wheels on the 85.



As well I started getting everything ready for the motor swap, I pulled the pedals out of my donor truck here, and need to get em cleaned up here pretty fast.



If things are slow tomorrow, I am going to pressure wash it inside and out, then I will get it back over to the shop and get the motor drained and hopefully pulled within a couple of days.

[MrBeast]

So I have basically been living in this thing...



And it keeps me mighty busy, but tonight I got lucky and got enough time to take the motor out. It was a bit of a bearcat but at 4am victory was finally mine!



I also have a theory on why the engine developed a knock, it had a lot of dirt and dust caked on it, which tells me the truck spent a lot of time in West Texas with out getting washed out, secondly...



It had a Fram oil filter, and in my Oppinion, they are garbage. I always use Bosch or K&N

Today I am going to head back down, finish tearing the smog stuff out of the truck, and then drag it outside and pressure wash the whole thing, get the bay as clean as I can, and I will probably pick up a new heater core and get it installed.

Then I need to pull the seat, and the carpet out, and start working on cutting out the solid low hump, and getting it setup for the bolt in high hump.

I am hoping by this coming weekend to have the engine back in the truck and to have it running!

Lots of work to do between now and then though, I had best get busy!

[bigarmzz]

i agree about the fram oil filters...i remember reading something on the web a few years ago where some dude bought every brand of filter, cut them open, and ran individual tests on them..seems to me like the purolator pure one did a better job than any of them, oddly enough

super nice shop there by the way

[84 400]

wow suprised you ended up getting that. This is one heck of a build good luck

[MrBeast]

Originally Posted by 84 400

wow suprised you ended up getting that. This is one heck of a build good luck

Thanks, It is seeming like it is going to work out well. Going to be a bit of work to get it running and get it right, but it should be a mighty fine truck until I am able to get my 72 finished with the Cummins in it.

[tvblazer78]

Hope you get more free time to work on it.

[MrBeast]

Quick Update, so the motor is out, and I took it down and pressure washed all the accsessory drive off, and cleaned up what was left with a wire wheel, then shot em with some rustoleum.

I spent a couple of hours working on getting the Boss Engine cleaned up, discovered that the back valve cover bolts had worked thier way loose, thus explaining why it was using so much oil.

None the less, the engine is out of the truck, I am putting a new rear main seal on it along with a Fel Pro one piece pan gasket, a new gasket set on the timing cover. As well as a new water pump.

I am currently working on getting the old pedals out, I have the front seat and carpet out of the truck, and I was happy to find no rust holes going through the floor.

While it is all apart I am sorting through the labrinth of wiring in the dash and trying to sort out what is what, and im going to get rid of some of it, like the wiring for the old cruise control system that uses the mechanical speedo, and all the emissions garbage.

Once I have that done, the brake and clutch pedal that I reconditioned will go in, and I will work on getting the truck ready to go to the car wash in the morning to get hosed out really damn good.

Then I will be coming back here, getting the seals installed, and the motor closed up, then it will be time to put all the accsessory drive on, and get it dropped in the engine bay and start hooking everything up.

Then it will be on to the NV4500 install, which is going to be interesting because I dont know if it is going to clear the floor pan.

I am going to start out by making a drawing of the boot base, and hopefully I will be able to cut a big enough hole under it for the shifter tower to fit through the floor, giving me enough clearence for the whole tranny to fit under the floor.

If it doesnt I am going to wind up having to make a couple of cuts in the floor and raising it how ever much is required to make it fit, then I will be dealing with carpet fitment issues. Oh the joy!

I am hoping that it doesnt come down to that.

The tranny install other than that should be fairly simple, the NV4500 is slightly shorter than the TH400, so I will have to have the drive shaft leingthened, and I will have to possibly redrill holes in the frame for the Tranny X member, but other than that, it should not be too bad of a job.

Anyhow back to it. I will hopefully have pics tomorrow, I forgot my camera at the house today.

[84 400]

great progress. keep on truckin............

[MrBeast]

THE ENGINE AND TRANNY ARE IN!!!

So right about now, its 4 am, but I'm severely stoked, I got the engine in the bay tonight, and test fit the transmission.

\

This right here is what it is all about!



I love that big beautiful NV4500 gear shift pokin out through my floor, I really cant wait to drive this thing!

Tomorrow I am on call for work, so progress will be a bit slower, I don't have the transmission all the way installed yet, I need to raise the floor just a wee bit to get it in there all the way. It is going to have to come up about an inch. I have a 4x4 hump out of a 79 crewcab that I am thinking about welding in to the floor, we will see how it goes here tomorrow I am going to come up with a final plan, the big thing I am worried about is getting my carpet to fit. Outside of that though everything is going pretty damn good.

[SBTork]

congrats on the progress, this truck will be a blast to drive with that nv4500. Keep the progress pics coming

[MrBeast]

So I actually took some time out to take pictures...

Last night when I test fit the tranny, it wasnt anywhere close to clearing the floor, it still needed to go up a substancial ammount, and was making full contact with the floor, so I had to get creative.

I started off by doing a bunch of math, and figured out that if I put a 1" raised hump in the center that tapered back, it would bring my carpet in aproximately 1/2" on each side, not a huge ammount, so I decided to roll with it because you would probably never notice anyhow.



Then I grabbed an old door that I drug down from the donor truck that I got the peddals off of, and I set to work marking out the new hump I designed and proceded to cut it out of the skin of said door.



A couple of quick bends, and I had the hump about to its final shape, but first to check the height that it was going to give me, I set my level on top of 2 rattle cans, and then measured to the top of the new hump with my combo square, then pulled the hump out and set the square back down showing me how much the floor would be raised.



Satisfied with the mockup at this point, I painted the floor orange around the line I was going to have to cut out, stuck the new hump in over the top of the old one, and then sprayed around the edges with black spray paint to clearly mark my line. It worked great.



With the hole cut out I was able to easily get the tranny up in place, measure it out for the shifter tower hole, get the new hump cut, and I think it is looking mighty fine.



All that is left to do now is get it all welded up, and do the final install on the transmission, then I can get to work getting the engine all hooked up and ready to roll. I am hoping to have it running by sunday. Allthough I wont be able to drive it until next week after I get the drive shaft leingthened.

[Boog]

Well hey fella. I haven't looked in down here in a while but I see you are into another big project. Finally got a dually. Good deal man.

[MrBeast]

Originally Posted by Boog

Well hey fella. I haven't looked in down here in a while but I see you are into another big project. Finally got a dually. Good deal man.

Yeah, I needed another project like I need another plate in my head! but oh well. This one will be a driver in a couple of weeks though.

Hows things out your way?

[Boog]

Originally Posted by MrBeast

Yeah, I needed another project like I need another plate in my head! but oh well. This one will be a driver in a couple of weeks though.

Hows things out your way?

Just so so. Right now I am home recouping from a heart attack. I am here so it wasn't "the big one". I'll sure be glad when the weather warms on up and I can get out more.
I'm glad to see you are still plugging along. I'll check in more. Take care.

[MrBeast]

Originally Posted by Boog

Just so so. Right now I am home recouping from a heart attack. I am here so it wasn't "the big one". I'll sure be glad when the weather warms on up and I can get out more.
I'm glad to see you are still plugging along. I'll check in more. Take care.

Well glad to see you are still with us man. It isnt the end of the road either, my grandpa had a heart attack when he was 51, he is 76 now, and has remodeled 4 houses all by him self since then along with countless other projects, you just have to take care of the ole ticker.

The best of luck to you on a speedy recovery.

[86Hoopty]

aww man your build is awesome!!
I don't have any spare time to work on my trucck ahahaha!!
lookin good though dude B)

[maxreps]

Is the girl in Greensboro, NC ? That's where I'm at, weird to see that map.

[MrBeast]

Originally Posted by maxreps

Is the girl in Greensboro, NC ? That's where I'm at, weird to see that map.

yeah in that area.

I am figuring it is going to take 600.00 worth of go go juice to make the trip. Gonna be a fun trip though.

[Palf70Step]

I like your build on this. Can't wait to see it when you head up to the NC region.

[thirdstreettito]

Lovin the build! Cant wait until I have the time and $$ to convert my K10 to a 5 or 6-speed. It'll be up to about 25mpg hwy then! Good work.

[greygoose]

It only to you four hour to get to Houston..at what speed?