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#1 |
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Posts: 77
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So you've rebuilt/restored a truck (or more) and learned a few things in the process ...
Is there anything (minor or major) you'd do different if you had the chance to go back and do it over again ? |
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#2 |
motor exploder
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 2,346
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
I would've had a better plan laid out for body and paint instead of just throwing a huge heap of cash at it, and I would've used some of that money to get the engine that I really wanted from the get go. My paint turned out super nice, but cost a fortune. Then the engine I had built dropped a valve and ate itself, so now I'm building what I should have built the first time around. I keep telling myself it will all be worth it in the end, but the hard truth is that I could've built two totally badass trucks for what I've spent on this one.
The main thing is just have a plan and stick to it. I made WAY too many changes along the way to 'upgrade' this or that, so I ending up buying parts twice. This is the enemy of builds that take a few years to complete. Every time something new and cool came out, I told myself I just had to have it. "Perfect is the enemy of good", so the saying goes.
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Adam 1969 Chevy CST/10 stepside, DART Big M/TREMEC Magnum Extreme/3.73's w/Detroit Truetrac 1965 Chevy Bel Air Wagon (daily driver), 327/TH350,10 bolt w/3.08's 1961 Chevy Bel Air Sport Coupe, ZZ454/M21/9" rear w/3.50's & Detroit Truetrac 2005 GMC 1500 ccsb 2wd, 6.0L/4L65e/3.73 G80 2006 GMC 2500HD ccsb 4x4, DMax LBZ/Allison 6spd/4.56's w/Detroit TrueTrac ![]() ![]() Use the SEARCH function on this forum - it is your friend!! |
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#3 |
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Durango, CO
Posts: 827
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Number one thing I'd change: Remember to multiply my original cost estimate (for any job, full restoration on down to changing the fuel filter) by at least 1.5. Maybe x2. Sometimes even more... hell, I can't remember a time that my original estimate has been correct.
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1972 K10 Cheyenne Super | LWB, fleetside | 350/350/205 | KEEPER 1971 K10 Cheyenne | SWB, fleetside | LS Swap 5.3/4L60 | SOLD 1976 Trans Am | 400/4-spd | SOLD 1976 Trans Am | 455/4-spd | TOTALED ![]() |
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#4 |
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: tuolumne,CA
Posts: 74
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
I totally agree with BossHog69 about making a plan & sticking to it. I personally am in the process of a chassis swap for my 70 GMC 2500 to 4x4. I spent about a year planing & another 4 years after that gathering parts. I now have 2 complete trucks & 2 rolling chassis's for my main parts. This is the last truck I will own, so I only want to do it once.
Make your changes in your plan not in your build. Andy |
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#5 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Lake Tapps Washington
Posts: 386
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Have a plan and stick too it. Also label anything that's not obvious, bag and tag it. Nothing, and I mean nothing is more frustrating then having to go to the hardware store searching for something that's probably in your pile of nuts and bolts, and spending 48 cents on it. But also make sure you enjoy it!
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1967 Chevy CST 10 1969 Chevy C/20 Longhorn 1969 K10 Suburban 1972 Chevy Cheyenne Super 10 turned K30 (sold) ![]() |
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#6 |
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: California
Posts: 971
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Don't add up the receipts!
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--------------------------------------------------------- I'm not crazy, I'm chosen, there's a difference. ---------------------------- '72 K10 SWB, 350, sm465/np205 ---- ---- |
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#7 |
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: bisbee, arizona
Posts: 1,529
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
yea, Id buy a ford next time.
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#8 |
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: West Virginia
Posts: 6,421
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
I'm not done with my truck yet but I have already noticed some areas I could have done better.
1). Keep a "work journal" where I log what I did each day and how I felt about it. 2). Kept a better record of costs, receipts, etc. 3). Not painted anything in the engine bay gloss black as I think the original color was more of a satin black. 4). Put in a better fuel shut off valve (I'll have to redo that part this spring). That's about it. I haven't gotten too far along actually. |
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#9 |
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: canton ga
Posts: 12,728
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
I love my truck as it is but I would probably buy a finished truck next time .
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#10 |
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Carnation, Wa
Posts: 142
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Similar to a work journal, make your own manual as you go.
I've got into the habit with my trucks and Jeep that I've built. You have to when you deviate so far from stock; Be your own Haynes or Chilton, make sections (electrical, engine, brakes...) You aren't going to remember that the calipers are from a '73, and that you switched to a Ford style starter solenoid after the headers cooked the last two, and that Camaro steering wheel horn button is a totally different set of parts. And what brakes do I get now that I'm running a Ford 9" rear?... Oh , and U joints, those are different now. Write down part numbers or what year you need to lie to the parts counter guy to get the right parts. You know you've got it bad when you start modifying the manual ![]() |
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#11 | |
Still Learning
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Central Oklahoma
Posts: 10,108
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Quote:
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#12 |
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Edmonton, Alberta
Posts: 77
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Yup, I'm all for being diligent with records, it's a lesson I'm learning right now.
I took my truck apart thinking "I'll record this and that and I can just remember the rest ..." but at that time I was planning to start putting it back together in the next year or two. It's finally going back together not a year or two later, but a decade or two ! ![]() My tip(s) would be; (1) take lots and lots of pictures, of everything, a hundred pictures would not have been too many. (2) bag and label everything, the few extra minutes of time I'd have spent labeling things better would have saved me countless hours of 'research' and frustration trying to figure it out now. |
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#13 |
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Redmond, WA
Posts: 6,332
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
I would have taken way more photos during disassembly. I took 300, should have been 1000. Detail shots of how things go together/come apart.
I also would have kept the TH400 and been done with it, since the overdrive transmissions have been a huge cost and frustration for me. I would have found a better way to organize fasteners. I bagged and tagged everything, which was fine, but I can't tell you how many times I had to flip through every darned bag looking for what I wanted. I did keep a journal, and when I was done, I typed it all in so I now have the complete set of assembly and disassembly steps for the entire truck!
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1970 GMC Sierra Grande Custom Camper - Built, not Bought 1969 Pontiac 2+2 427/390 4-speed Coupe 1969 Pontiac 2+2 427/390 4-speed Convertible |
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#14 |
Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: California
Posts: 971
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Even though I have close to 10k photos, I still wish I had at least wrote down a few notes on a daily basis.
Now that the truck is almost complete... I've got some photos to sort!
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--------------------------------------------------------- I'm not crazy, I'm chosen, there's a difference. ---------------------------- '72 K10 SWB, 350, sm465/np205 ---- ---- |
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#15 |
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Corvallis, OR
Posts: 712
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
I would check and double check every part, and not half-a$$ anything. All the stuff I've done thinking that will work, has come back to bite me later on and it is always so much more work later on.
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1972 GMC Jimmy Custom 4.8L (L20)/6L90E/NP205 1989 Chevy Suburban V2500 350/Turbo 400/4.11 gears 1996 Chevy Suburban K1500 350/4L60E |
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#16 |
Registered User
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Wairarapa, New Zealand.
Posts: 782
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Don't EVER consider converting to RHD a good idea!!! NEVER!
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1972 K2500 Long Box 400/350 |
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#17 |
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Rockport, Texas
Posts: 192
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
Start with a truck you REALLY want to build up.
I was looking for a '63-'66 longbed when I found my '72. I grew up riding in a '71, & had an uncle that had a '72 this color scheme, so I had a soft spot for these trucks. I owned a '68 years ago that was the biggest POS I've ever had. This one's been a PITA, too. Don't get me wrong- I like my Cheyenne. But GM's quality control on this body style sucked, bad. They feel like riding in an aluminum can. Some days, I really regret not staying on the hunt for the truck I really wanted. |
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#18 |
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Covington, GA
Posts: 386
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Re: Anything you'd do different ?
If you're going to do an LS swap, get the motor and transmission as a matched set. This will save you the trouble of trying to mate the old TH350 to an LS... then a year later when the TH350 dies, swapping in a 4L60E anyway.
I converted the stock tank to an in-tank pump to see if it could be done. It can... but it's noisy and the cab still smells like gasoine. An in tank pump would have been a better idea if the tank weren't in the cab.
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Matt Cramer 1972 Chevy C10 - 4.8 swap, long bed, and maybe one dent free body panel somewhere - SOLD 4.8 LS build thread |
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