Project Burro Viejo

[steinepstein]

I've been a loyal follower of this site for many years now and have learned a ton from the followers and contributors and feel like its time for me to give a little back and share my project. This was originally a NM truck that had an Olds 455 in it. Most of the exterior trim and marker lights were shaved and it was lowered about 2 inches in the front. The truck was very cool looking when I bought it, but the more I started tearing into it the more problems it had. I decided it was time to go completely through it and update things, and have some fun. In the last two months I have moved the truck from NM to Chicago.

Exterior shot on the trailer

[steinepstein]

The motor is a 383 sbc with vortec heads and a Holley 950 commander. Instead of using the Holley computer I wanted to go with a Motec M48 because I have some previous experience with these and they are very adaptable. The trans is a 700r4 with all the goodies.

[steinepstein]

Many changes to come, but for now my main goal is to get the engine running, which is not easy. There are a ton of fittings and parts that need to be created to adapt.

[Puropedo]

Sweet project! I like the project's name, is your truck a GMC?

[steinepstein]

Yea, 1968 GMC 1/2 ton. That blue on the fenders is the color when I purchased it 15 years ago. It's still a great color, but I feel myself leaning toward something else, maybe a Porsche gray.....

[GASWAGON]

Nice truck! I like the welds. Is that a GM performance parts acc. drive set-up on the front of the engine?

[VA72C10]

Looking good!!!

[nuke1]

NICE TRUCK!!!! I like your thoughts and how your are going about everything, Motec huh? we have played with megasquirt up here some. That is what i want to use for my truck, but may consider the motec yet.

[steinepstein]

Nuke,

I used to work for a guy in Dallas, Bob Norwood, Norwood Autocraft, that used Motec a ton, he knows it backward and forward. I was able to play with the software a bit, it's a good system. The M48 is an older version, but still fine, you can find them on ebay once in a while for a lot less. I don't know a lot about Megasquirt, but I know a lot of players are making big time power with Big Stuff 3. BS3 seems to be the best out there from a hardware standpoint.

[steinepstein]

sourkrat,

Using a EZWiring harness with 21 circuits. Wanted to get as many as possible because of the extra relays on the FI harness. Since there is so much custom wiring already, I wanted to use a basic harness, since an exact fit harness may have gave me problems and cost much more.

VA72C10,

Thanks, going to get my crossmember drilled up today! I'm excited to go full bags.

[Hart_Rod]

Nice project. You could always use 6 cylinder motor mounts to get your motor set farther back. They should bolt right to your frame and crossmember without any modification. That's what I've got in my 68 S/C truck and it sets the motor about as far back as you can go with a SBC.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

This is gonna be one killer truck when done..

[mcbassin]

Looks like some serious ponies under the hood!

[steinepstein]

I've been asking a lot about how to get the engine back further I will try the I-6 mounts, thanks.

I've got a set of vortec heads on there with 2.02/1.6 valves and bowl work completed by Rehrer Morrison out of Dallas, TX. The cam should idle nicely and take it up to about 6500rpm, so I'm hoping to make north of 450hp. It also has a nitrous relay that will automatically dump more fuel into the motor when I hit the switch. Good mule motor.

[mx574]

Nice, nice project. Your starting point is already great and i dig your motor setup. Way over my head but i like it. Quality stuff if you are getting welds done at rad rides. That picture that they welded is that stainless?

[steinepstein]

Yes, 2.5" stainless. I bought the flanges and tubing on ebay, great deals on both. Both sensor bungs are stainless so I needed to use stainless tubing. I'll probably run stainless all the way out the back.

Thanks.

[steinepstein]

Tore the whole burro down to nothing, repainting and cleaning up everything.

The front suspension will go on first then going to work my way to the rear and convert over to a trailing arm setup. Will have to do a little more grinding and cutting back there.

Flipped the bed up against the wall, serves as a good paint drying station.

[VA72C10]

Looking good. Good idea on the bolts also!

[steinepstein]

Thanks for the comments on the bolts, that is a cool trick I saw from a guy on one of the pro touring sites. Saved me a lot of hassle and everything looks new, I highly recommend to anyone doing a frame off build.

Ordered a PB trailing arm crossmember and SS brake lines.

More painting and assembly to be done this weekend and more pics to come.

[steinepstein]

Reassembly has begun. Ran into a hiccup on the ball joints. I bought a CPP disc brake kit several years ago and they must be a different year spindle, so I'll have to press out the ball joints from my older a-arms and put them in the Strong Arms.

[steinepstein]

I sent this picture off to Porterbuilt to double check before I start cutting, everything looks good to me. The two circled holes should align. The circled hole on my frame was a ground shock mount rivet.

[VA72C10]

Cool! Looking good!

[steinepstein]

I'm working my way back on the frame, sanding and painting. I will have a lot to do before the final paint job. The whole rear (leaf spring) suspension is out! I picked up a good set of trailing arms and a 12 bolt rear for a great deal at a big auto show in Wisconsin. This time, I painted far enough back that I can bolt in the Porterbuilt crossmember. Tomorrow, I will be cutting out frame notches and installing the PB mild notches. I will be doing some fabrication work for the shocks and panhard bar. I am going to relocate both the shocks and panhard bar, I want the shocks as close to the wheel as possible and the panhard bar as low as possible. That will also require a new crossmember for the panhard bar.

[steinepstein]

When I originally picked up this truck, it had a hurst ratchet shifter in it, I loved it. I was strongly considering the Lokar shifter but really needed something to beat on. Well, Hurst stopped making these, but I found one on ebay.... Excited to get this back in there....this time it's hooking up to a 700r4 instead of a TH350.

[VA72C10]

Keep up the progress!