MY '70 GMCCHEVY SWB Build: Keep it Driveable

[KRUSTY 51]

Well I'm new to the site and I thought I should share my trucks story. Back up the time machine to 9 years ago, I was in the middle of remodeling my house when the '63 VW truck I had borrowed from my dad caught fire on the highway and burned up.( He was really bummed, but insurance fixed it), so I needed a cheap truck to drive. A friend found this truck and after haggling with the owner I paid him $2300 & drove it away( stuck in 1st. gear) about 5 miles to my dads house.
This is what I had :1970 GMC swb,good running396 motor, 3spd manual trans with funky Hurst floor shifter, manual drum brakes, manual steering with a 14'' wood wheel, 15x8 E.T. Turbine rims,all 4 tires a different size,crappy old glasspacks turned out in front of the rear wheels (nascar style) really shoddy wiring that the P.O. did to get lights,wipers and misc. things to ?work?. My dad wouldn't let me drive it away from his house until I fixed.....
1. new tires
2. tranny linkage issues
3. All the funky wiring strung across the front of the truck.
4. Headlights issues (they were wired straight to the battery)
So the lights just needed a new dimmer switch, tranny linkage was a broken Z-bar pivot & broken shift rod, bent rod from the pedal to the Z-bar, adjusted the brakes, and bought new tires. Now it was road worthy, quick scrub/wash and I drove it home. My son was 3 in the first picture (sorry it's a pic of a pictures) I drove it this way for about 5 years, then decided to start upgrading so things.
First I ordered a 4-wheel power disc brake kit from CPP, then 2.5" dropped spindles,2" dropped coils &5" dropped coils from ECE,their hidden trailer hitch, their 1 1/4" front sway bar. and I picked up a chrome sport bumper from the Truckshop at a GoodGuys swapmeet, swaped out the E.T. rims fora set of 6 lug rallys.(pic 3 is how it turned out).I drove it like that until Last Dec.