July 04 Truck of The Month Voting

[Liz]

YukonJack

I saw that I was nominated for the project of the month and would enjoy sharing some info (I would love to be in Indy with you all!!!)

I bought my truck in about July of 1999 after drooling over a buddy's 1970 1 ton that he converted to four wheel drive. My truck appears to be have spent it's life on a farm doing farm tasks. My first modification was adding a 4" lift and larger tires. It seems that each year I have focused on a different project. My second year was rather minor, just added power steering and got some other maintenance issues addressed.

My next project was getting a flatbed built. I was going to do the install but in the end it was just alot more convenient to let the flatbed company do the install. Soon after doing the flatbed I added some leaves to the rear spring pack and made some changes to approximately 6" of lift.

In July of 2002 I received a call from another board member that he had located a wrecked 1989 1 ton truck with a good 454. I purchased it and had a fun time getting it brought home. I spent evenings getting the engine pulled and then the cleaning and prep began. I got rid of the TBI and went with a Stage II Jet 850 cfm carb, a Weiand Action Plus manifold, a Crane Cams cam, gear drive, new aluminum water pump, oil pump, fuel pump and some good looking valve covers.

When it was time to prepare for the transplant I had blazer boy and Barn9 come over to pull the old engine. We got it pulled easy enough but saw some rust issues that would be easy to take care of while the truck had the front clip removed. Barn9 and blazer boy told me now was a good time to paint the truck to which I just laughed and told them NO WAY!

Well, what do you know, before long I found myself thinking of doing just that. I started sanding the cab and before long I had the cab completely stripped and committed to painting it myself. Doing 1 1/2 to 2 hours of work every few evenings makes a project go slow and I soon decided that body work and paint was above my level so I selected a body shop to take over.

Today the truck is very close to coming home from the body shop. I am so eager to get it home and fire up the 454. I've never owned a big block and as this is replacing a tired 307, I hope to be very impressed.

My family and coworkers think I'm obsessed, and they might be right. All I know is I get huge amounts of satisfaction working on my truck and am so glad to have this board to help me along with my project. I've gained alot from the board and hopefully given back too.

Here are some pics of my trucks progression.

Mark Scott aka Yukon Jack

Truck when I bought it


Initial 4" lift


Flatbed Installed


454 with all its goodies


Prepping for body work and paint


As she sits now with about 11" of lift