86 C30 Dually Slow Project

[tip]

Here is my new project. Its an '86 C30 Dually with a 350 and 105K miles. I traded it for some work I did for a guy. He owned it since 1995, and used it to tow his tractor. He bought a new truck 3 or 4 years ago so it has been sitting this whole time. I will be the third owner.

It currently runs okay, but doesn't like to start cold. There are tons of other little issues due to it sitting so long. My plans are to get it roadworthy, do some serious, serious cleaning, bring it up to speed on maintenance, and use it to tow the boat and cruise around town. I had to sell my 4x4 to go back to school, so I was stuck without a truck until this thing came along. I thought about selling this one to get a 4x4, but I decided I like this thing too much. If I could find a K30 parts truck I'd probably go that route, this body is in too good of condition to get rid of.

So, now that I made up my mind to keep it, and the fact that the boat won't tow itself, I'm committed to get this thing up and running. Progress will be slow since school is keeping me busy... and broke

Some pics:

where it sat:








after lots of pressure washing

[tip]

Well, a little update. Lots of hours into the truck... but seems like there's not much to show for it...

The truck's radiator was leaking bad, but the previous owner had a used one sitting behind his shop that was supposedly good. I took it to the radiator shop and had it pressure checked and flushed... low and behold it turned out okay, score!

Most of my time has been deep cleaning the engine bay. Once I got the radiator out, I noticed a few areas of rust starting on the lower core support and on the inner fenders (just enough to bubble the paint in a few spots). The battery trays are horrible. I plan on cleaning them as best I can, then hitting the rust spots with some Eastwood Rust Encapsulator I have laying around and then a few coats of semi-gloss paint. Wishing I had a sand blaster...







Since the front of the motor will be coming apart for the water pump, I will be painting anything I can get to or take off.



Also pulled out a bunch of hacked up aftermarket wiring crap... a dual battery setup, air horns, camper wiring relay thing, etc....

[cochino12]

I like that truck!!!

[tip]

haha, thanks... I do too

I am now waiting on a big order of parts... tune up stuff, maintenance stuff, water pump, etc. While I've been waiting and between coats of paint, I've been attempting to remove the vinyl stripes. First I heat gunned them off, but the adhesive left behind is a B**** to get off!!! I ended up just using denatured alcohol and a rag... 6 inches takes me about 5 minutes...






I got all the sticky stuff off the drivers side fender and couldn't wait any longer to see how the paint would look. I washed the truck, and clay bar'd the fender. Then used my PC with compound, then polish, then wax on one section. Turned out pretty damn good!!! It looks much better in person. I can't wait to get the whole truck looking like this!!! Lots more work to go though.

[rs74]

Looking good. I was just getting ready to say that it needs waxed and buffed but you are already on it. That fender cleaned up real nice. I bet with the whole truck done it would look like a different truck.

[meatwagon83]

i bet that will look great after a buff job, i wish my truck had paint on it so i could buff it

[Tx Firefighter]

Neat truck you're working on there. I'd kill for those wheels.

[northeimcustom]

looks awesome after a bit of elbow grease! more pics!

[chevyboy73]

wow, i didnt think the fender would clean up so nice! keep the work and pics flowin!

[tip]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Parts are in! Too bad I'm leaving town for a few days...



Got the front of the motor painted along with the inner fenders and core support. Also got a coat of paint on the new water pump, which will go in when I get back.




What do you guys think I should do with the grille? I have it prepped for paint. Leave it silver or? I thought about painting it silver, then painting the middle band black. Also thought about blacking it all out, but now I'm thinking that won't look that good.

(I have it just hanging there in this pic)

[muddnutz]

Nice truck. I would leave it silver. I painted mine black a while back. It didn't take me long to get tired of looking at it. I reprinted it silver last year.
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[Tx Firefighter]

Silver grille for sure. GM got it right when they built them originally.
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[mrolds88]

Finally I can say this without being sarcastic. That will buff out. Looks like it will be a nice truck when you get it done.

[Outlaw87]

Love the truck! I'm a big fan of the single cab duallys, lowered or lifted.

Mosdef keep the grille original.

[truck87]

I like your 86. I'm a big fan of the 2 door also. Here is a pic of my 87. Looks like yours has bucket seats. You should put a pic of the interior. I'd like to see what the inside of the cab looks like.

[tip]

Thanks for the suggestions, silver it will stay!

I got the water pump in and everything put back together yesterday. Filled it with coolant and fired it up. Everything seems to be in good working order except the coolant gauge is pegged at max (the needle is way over 260). I remember the guy I got it from saying the gauge didn't work. It scared me at first, but after it sat for 6 hours it was still over 260 and the motor was cold to the touch. Will have to look into that.

Now just need to install the rest of the accessories and paint the core support and grille. Then to move on to other things like tune up stuff and maintenance. It also has a stumble under load that I'm still thinking is the accelerator pump. More to come on that.

truck87 - nice freakin trucks, wish mine was TBI. Yep this thing has bucket seats, unlike any I have seen before. Here is the only pic I have of the interior, this is where the truck sat. I will get more once I get it cleaned up and presentable. Right now its holding parts

The floor mats say "Trail Boss", anyone heard of that? The PO says it was some special edition (hence the vinyl stripes and interior) but I can't find any info on it and think it might be BS.

[tip]

Well school is back in session so my free time has dwindled to almost nothing again.

I was able to get some more work done today though. Got all the loose odds and ends tightened up enough to drive it. The fan shroud wouldn't fit the "new" radiator so I had to make some modifications to fit. Seems like it will work now. Didn't snap any pics of the engine bay but I will once I'm done in there.

Test drove it up and down my street (no tabs yet) and made sure everything was working. Runs great so far. I didn't feel the off idle stumble I felt before, but I didn't get to drive it too far so I'm not holding my breath.

Need to wait for my next paycheck to get it street legal, buy some more paint for the core support and grille, then drive the crap out of it. I want to get a decent baseline before I start putting all the tune-up parts on it. Seems to run well with 4 year old plugs with 500 miles on them

Anyway, I was able to snap some pics in between torrential downpours. She ain't much to look at now, but miles better than when I got her. She's a work in progress! I have one more door and half a fender left of pinstripe adhesive to remove, then its buffing time.

(note my hood latch isn't in since I'm painting the grille support, etc. And my light lenses are off since I will be doing more compounding):

[truck87]

I like what you've done to the truck. Interior looks pretty clean. Looks like the floor mats would be something to buy at the local auto parts store.
Mine is TBI. I've done a lot of modifications to the motor.
I think a stock chrome bumper would look good on the back of yours.

[tip]

Yeah, a rear bumper is definitely on the list. I'm hoping I can get the kink out of the front as well.

Is yours lowered a bit?

[truck87]

Yea mine is lowered. 3 1/2 inch drop in the front. Shackles and hangers in the back with the overloads taken off.

[rs74]

Updates?

[tip]

Its been a while since I've been on here! Updates coming. Had a busy summer including getting married and a 3 week honeymoon. The dually has been putting in work all summer towing the boat and now its back to sitting in the driveway. Wish I had a nice dry shop to store her in.

Long story short I am back to work so truck money should be coming back again. Next up is probably rebuilding the quadrajet and lowering it.

Here are some blurry recent pictures. Paint turned out amazing. Just got a new camera so hopefully I can get some better shots.

[Low Elco]

Cool ol truck! But to hell with that, you got a Glastron! Awesome!

[tip]

Haha, thanks - one of my many other projects.

[tip]

Well as much as I hate to say it, the truck is for sale.

See ad here: http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/4138056030.html

As much as I love the truck, it just comes down to me really needing 4 wheel drive. I wish I could afford to keep this and buy another rig, but its not looking that way. I wish I could just trade straight up to get this truck in 4x4.